17 h. ago When the Going Was Good by Graydon Carter review – juicy stories from the heydey of magazines

From Anna Wintour’s table manners to Oscar party hijinks, the former editor of Vanity Fair tells all There are lines in When the Going Was Good, Graydon Carter’s memoir of his swashbuckling career as an editor during the heyday of magazines, that will make any journalist laugh (bitterly) out loud. “There was a bar at the end of each corridor,” writes Carter of his first job at Time magazine in the mid-1970s, where expense accounts were huge, oversight relaxed and, “I went five years without ever turning on my oven”. At Vanity Fair, where Carter took over the editorship in 1992, “the budget had no ceiling. I could send anybody anywhere for as long as I wanted.” For a commission on the collapse of Lloyd’s of London, one Vanity Fair hack ran up expenses of $180,000 – and the piece didn’t run.These are the details most readers will come for and Carter, who at 75 remains a symbol of magazine glamour and excess – a fact somehow vested in the whimsy and extravagance of his comic-book hair ...

Politics

5 d. ago Journalist Graydon Carter: ‘If there was another 9/11 this week, I don’t think the world would rush to support us’

The former Vanity Fair editor on how #MeToo changed Hollywood, what Christopher Hitchens would make of the US today, and the value of a handkerchiefGraydon Carter, 75, is a Canadian-born journalist. He co-created the satirical magazine Spy, edited the New York Observer, and from 1992 until 2017 was the editor of Vanity Fair. In 2019 he founded Air Mail, an online newsletter for “worldly cosmopolitans”. His memoir, When the Going Was Good: An Editor’s Adventures During the Last Golden Age of Magazines, has just been published. He lives in New York with his third wife, not far from the Waverly Inn, the restaurant he co-owns, and has five children. Donald Trump has called him a “dummy” and “a real loser” who has “no talent and looks like shit”.Before we talk magazines, as a Canadian-born non-fan of Trump, how’s the view over there?Well, I think very highly of Mark Carney [the new Canadian prime minister]. He’s not going to take any grief. But the sad thing is that in two months, Trump ...

Politics

7 d. ago When The Going Was Good by Graydon Carter: No limit on expenses. Interest

The former editor of Vanity Fair recalls the hedonism of the magazine's glory days in a deliciously gossipy memoir.

Politics

1 week ago Meghan is slightly adrift on the facts and reality, Vanity Fair’s ex

Graydon Carter recounted the story behind Meghan’s appearance on the cover of the magazine in 2017.

Politics

1 week ago Meghan Markle's question about Harry revealed by Vanity Fair editor who calls her 'adrift'

Graydon Carter, former Vanity Fair editor, has criticized Meghan Markle for being "adrift on the facts and reality" following her Netflix series titled With Love, Meghan

Politics

1 week ago Meghan Markle savaged by Vanity Fair boss who put her on cover

Graydon Carter, the former editor of Vanity Fair magazine who was in charge when Meghan Markle appeared on the cover in 2017, has taken aim at the Duchess of Sussex and revealed what happened behind the scenes when she was interviewed for the publication

Politics

1 week ago Meghan Markle is 'adrift on reality', says Vanity Fair editor who put her on the cover as he reveals her eyebrow

Graydon Carter, 75, has claimed that the Duchess of Sussex believed she was a cover star because of her 'philanthropy' - not because she was dating Prince Harry.

Politics

1 week ago Former Vanity Fair editor says just one person was banned from famous Oscars party for life

Graydon Carter is preparing to reveal the thrills and spills of running the Condé Nast glossy during ‘the last golden age of magazines’

Society