By William Kelly
Famed author and Ocean City native Sun Gay Talese has been inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.
Born in 1932 to Italian immigrants, his father was a tailor who operated a shop on Asbury Avenue. Although he got poor grades, Gay Talese began writing as a teenager at Ocean City High School, first for The Ocean City Sentinel-Ledger, then The Atlantic City Press before attending college at the University of Alabama where he wrote a popular column, “Sports Gay-zing.”
After college he got a job as a reporter for the New York Times where he innovated, with Truman Capote and Tom Wolfe, what they called, “New Journalism.” The method combines research with aspects of fiction to push the boundaries of traditional journalism.
He did most of his serious writing in his “bunker,” on the third-floor office of his Ocean City home on East Atlantic Boulevard, which he purchased in 1967 for $37,000, or the fifth floor of his Upper East Side townhouse in New York City.
He met his wife, Nan, a well-known New York editor and publisher, and took her to Toots Shor’s Restaurant for their first date. They married in Rome in 1959. Though Nan is an editor and publisher, she didn’t handle any of Gay’s work. His primary editor over the years has been Jonathan Segal at Knopf.
After the popularity of his 1964 book, “The Bridge,” about the building of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, he wrote a number of bestsellers including “The Kingdom and the Power,” (1969), about The New York Times and its influence; “Fame and Obscurity,” (1970), a collection of profiles and essays; “Honor Thy Father,” (1971), about the Bonanno crime family; “Thy Neighbor’s Wife,” (1980), about the sexual revolution in America; and “Unto the Sons,” (1992), about his Italian-American heritage.
What many consider to be Talese’s most famous work, however, is a 1966 Esquire magazine article titled, “Frank Sinatra Has A Cold,” for which he failed to get an interview with his fellow NJ Hall of Famer, but in talking with the people around Sinatra filled in the blanks to make a great story.
Talese is known for his style. Always impeccably dressed in a tailored suit and tie, he often wears a hat and has a collection of them, all personally made by Bruno Lavazza of North Miami, Fla. and inscribed under the headband: “Made Exclusively for Gay Talese.”
Talese said he became conscious of his appearance and tailoring at the age of 10 while observing his father at work. “In the course of fittings he would measure the man and take a measure of the man at the same time.” This attention to detail is something he has applied to his own work.
Talese seldom cooked or ate at home but had breakfast, lunch and dinner at local restaurants, as he put it, “not just to eat, but to eat up the atmosphere.” His most recent book, “A Writer’s Life,” isn’t just about writing. It’s also a history of New York City restaurants that he patronized.
When he was still owned a home in Ocean City he was there often, mainly on weekends, and spent many summers there. He isn’t a beach person, and didn’t go to the beach, even though you could see it from his front porch. He didn’t swim and couldn’t read a newspaper on the beach because of the wind, so he avoided it. He did enjoy playing tennis, however, usually doubles, until age took its toll. He’s now 92.
More often Talese was seen driving his garage-kept MG convertible sports car around Ocean City or Somers Point, often observed parked near a popular restaurant.
Talese kept his Ocean City residence – a large, green cedar shingle house with a wrap-around porch – until a few years ago when Nan purchased a house in Connecticut, closer to New York and without the Garden State Parkway traffic backlog.
With their two daughters, Pamela and Catherine grown, they sold the Ocean City home for $1.6 million, without putting a sign out front.
Even though he doesn’t live in New Jersey any longer, he certainly qualifies for the New Jersey Hall of Fame Class of 2024. He was one of the 21 selected for induction from the 50 nominated.
Of the 21 chosen only three are from South Jersey. Besides Talese there’s Elizabeth Coleman White, the first cultivator of blueberries and founder of Whitesbog, now an historic Pinelands plantation; and Reva Foster, who founded the Willingboro Senior Citizens Center.
All of the others, including three-time Academy Award winner Meryl Streep and singer Lesley Gore (“It’s My Party (And I’ll Cry If I Want To),” are from North Jersey. The pre-recorded award ceremony, hosted by Danny DeVito, will be shown on NJPBS TV on Dec. 28 and 29, and can also be seen streaming or downloaded on YouTube or Facebook.
