Contributors

Contributing editor Robert Sam Anson first met investigative reporter Seymour Hersh when Hersh was a press secretary for the 1968 McCarthy campaign, which Anson covered for Time. "I asked him when the senator might be free that day," recalls Anson, "and Hersh responded, 'How the fuck do you expect me to know?' I've liked him ever since." When Anson was assigned to profile Hersh—the story appears on page 96—Hersh alerted him to a "terrific" Esquire article which completely trashed him.

Anthony Edgeworth, who photographed Lieutenant General Claudia Kennedy for this month's Hall of Fame, is no stranger to the armed forces. He's published books on the Marines and the Queen of England's household guards, and his new book, The Institute, is about the Virginia Military Institute. It's easy to photograph military subjects, he says, because they "stand still." Edgeworth himself rarely does. He has traveled constantly for magazines such as Town & Country, Esquire, and The New York Times Magazine.

In this issue, John Richardson explores the history of Picasso's The Dream, the centerpiece of the collection of the late Victor and Sally Ganz, which goes to auction this month at Christie's. A close friend of the Ganzes', Richardson helped Sally Ganz organize "An American Tribute to Picasso," a 1962 retrospective of the artist's work. The Picasso biographer also contributed to Christie's new commemorative volume, A Life of Collecting: Victor and Sally Ganz.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 70

FOR DETAILS, SEE CREDITS PAGE

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 68

After college, contributing editor Leslie Bennetts "had at least 15 jobs"—in advertising, theater, and publishingbefore landing her first "real" job, as a reporter at the Philadelphia Bulletin. "I had never taken a journalism course in my life," she says, "but for me it was like finding the key that fit the lock." Soon she set her sights on The New York Times, which hired her in 1978. Ten years later, Bennetts joined Vanity Fair. In this issue she profiles two very different icons: pop king Elton John and cyber-queen Esther Dyson.

Although she recently moved back to her native Los Angeles—along with her husband, Todd Purdum, the New York Times Los Angeles bureau chief—contributing editor Dee Dee Myers was never far from Washington while working on this month's "Portrait of World Power" portfolio. As the project's "chief beggar," she spent her summer dealing with the White House, where she coordinated Annie Leibovitz's shoot with President Clinton. It was the second time Myers had persuaded Clinton to sit for Vanity Fair: he appeared on the cover in March 1993, when she was his press secretary.

"I had no idea," says special correspondent Dominick Dunne, "that I would become as personally involved as I did in what would become known as the Trial of the Century." Dunne, who covered the O. J. Simpson trial for Vanity Fair, based his new novel on the experience. "Los Angeles is a city with which I have had a long and complicated relationship," he says. "During the trial I came faceto-face with the unfinished business of my life there." The novel, Another City, Not My Own, is excerpted on page 278; it will be published this month by Crown.

Henry Porter, who assesses British comedian Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) in this issue, got his start at the Liverpool Daily Post, where he covered industrial tribunals and flower shows. "As you can see," he says, "I was on the fast track." Since then, things have improved. Porter is now Vanity Fair's London editor, and he writes for The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, and The Evening Standard.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 74

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 70

Editor-at-large Matt Tyrnauer organized this month's "Portrait of World Power." "A year ago we started with 500 powerful names," Tyrnauer recalls, "then, very scientifically, we cut 435 presidents, dictators, and billionaires from the list." The portfolio begins on page 216. Tyrnauer says that working with Gore Vidal on the essay "The Last Empire" was "the finest moment" of his editorial career. "I wrote my college thesis on Vidal, so it became a bit like The Purple Rose of Cairo for me: during some of our phone conversations I felt as if I was stepping into the movie screen."

In his essay "The Last Empire," which appears on page 219, Gore Vidal, the world's foremost essayist on matters political and cultural, traces the formation of the American Empire from the time of the Yalta Conference in 1945 to the present day. Vidal's United States: Essays 1952-1992 won the National Book Award in 1993, and his "Narratives of Empire" (Burr, Lincoln, 1876, Empire, Hollywood, and Washington, D.C.) will be reissued by the Modern Library beginning in February. Also this February, Vidal's 24th novel, The Smithsonian Institution, will be published by Random House. Above, the author, who was a Democratic candidate for Congress in 1960, appears at a rally for his campaign with Harry S. Truman. "Here I am fawning sickenly upon the 33rd president, fall of 1960, Peekskill, New York. He is applauding me. I am about to rise and praise him exuberantly in perfect ignorance of his administration. Remember Gertrude Stein? 'Before the flowers of friendship faded, friendship faded.'"

Contributor Edward Klein began his career as a copyboy at the New York Daily News and went on to The New York Times Magazine, where he was editor from 1977 to 1988. Klein has written All Too Human: The Love Story of Jack and Jackie Kennedy, the best-seller excerpted in Vanity Fair's September 1996 issue. He is one of the few outsiders to visit Skorpios, the Onassises' private island, since the mysterious death of Christina Onassis in 1988.

Vanity Fair turns the tables on its Q&A expert, George Wayne (here with Liza Minnelli). V.F. Did you enjoy this month's interview with Bob Newhart? G.W. I had as much fun as possible with him. V.F. Where did it all begin? G.W. I was born in Jamaica and spent my days at boarding school, daydreaming about moving to New York and meeting Andy Warhol. I moved here in 1984, and in 1986 I created R.O.M.E., my avant-garde style journal. V.F. Are you pleased to have your photo on our contributors page? G.W. This Sagittarian couldn't ask for a more perfect birthday gift.

FOR DETAILS, SEE CREDITS PAGE