THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 29 OCTOBER 30, 2019
MESSING: @THEREALDEBRAMESSING/INSTAGRAM. PRINCE: KEVIN MAZUR/WIREIMAGE FOR NPG RECORDS 2011. BOOK: COURTESY OF PENGUIN RANDOM H
OUSE. IGER:
TOMMASO BODDI/GETTY IMAGES FOR SAVE THE CHILDREN. GINSBERG: PAUL MORIGI/GETTY IMAGES. NEWBERG: COURTESY OF SUBJECT. GABLE: NBCU PHOTO BANK/NBCUNIVERSAL VIA GETTY IMAGES VIA GETTY IMAGES. SCHULMAN: COURTESY OF PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE. WIND: MGM/PHOTOFEST. HOTEL: COURTESY OF SUBJECT.The Unconventional Path of Prince’s Memoir
ICM’s literary doyenne Esther Newberg shepherded the rock legend’s book to its posthumous publication:
‘He just didn’t want others writing any more about him. He wanted to set the story straight’ By Michael O’ConnellO
n Oct. 29, Spiegel & Grau published
The Beautiful Ones, an unconventional
memoir from the late Prince. The woman
who helped convince the music legend to lift the
veil on his mystique-filled career — and kept the
project moving after his death in 2016 at 57
(the book was still in the early stages at the
time) — is, no surprise, Esther Newberg.
The 77-year-old co-head of ICM Partners’
publishing department is one of the most
influential forces in the literary world, land-
ing best-selling titles for Bob Iger, To m
Hanks and Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the
past three years alone. But Prince’s book
presented unique challenges; Newberg
shared with THR its atypical journey.How did you come to meet Prince?
Through one of his lawyers, and then I flew out to
Minnesota with my colleague Dan Kirschen. At
one point, in that first meeting, Prince said to me,
“Who’s your favorite?” And I just sort of looked
down, and replied, “Bruce Springsteen.” And he
says, “So you brought your own music guy who
likes me?” (Laughs.) He was adorable.Who else was there?
I brought editors from three different houses —
which you never do. But I knew that he would bebored with meeting after meeting after meeting.
There they all were, trying to curry his favor. He
went with [an] editor [who] had done Jay-Z’s
book; that was a huge thing.How did he envision the text?
He showed us a chart of his family, going
back generations, which was astonish-
ing. He wanted to start the book with his
mother. He almost remembered her from
the crib. He wanted to talk about why he
stayed in Minnesota. He just didn’t want
others writing any more about him. He
wanted to set the story straight.How does he compare to other luminaries
you’ve worked with?
How do you compare Prince or Ruth Bader
Ginsburg to anyone? I just did the Bob Iger
book. There’s an amazingly acces-
sible guy. He calls himself, doesn’t
use staff. Then there’s Tom Hanks,
who decides to write a short
story that we got into The New
York er and then he says yes to
a whole collection. That’s the
very definition of a Renaissance
Man — one who came to me
through Steve Martin, speakingof Renaissance Men. I prefer people who do the
work themselves, not have other people do it.Prince’s book deal was famously wild.
He wanted the ability to buy the book back, in
case he didn’t want to release it — or even after
the book was published. He kept calling, “I want
this in the contract. I don’t want that in the con-
tract. And I’m going to give you all a concert if you
can make it all happen.”How was the concert?
He flew from Minneapolis and performed at a club
in Tribeca. Onstage, he thanked [co-author] Dan
[Piepenberg], his publisher and me. One of my
friends said, “Seriously, did you ever think you’d
be in your 70s and an iconic rock star would
thank you from the stage?”How do you think he would have pro-
moted the book?
He wanted to bring it out in a dif-
ferent way — maybe something at
Radio City or Madison Square
Garden. He certainly wasn’t
going to go on morning shows.Interview edited for length
and clarity.Ian Schrager Returns to the Sunset Strip
Decades after his Mondrian and Skybar launched, he brings
Beverly Hills luxury to WeHo with the Edition By Gary BaumLaughter, Schulman
was newly married
to Ring Lardner Jr.,
who would become an
Oscar-winning screen-
writer (Woman of the
Year, M*A*S*H) and
one of the blacklisted
Hollywood 10. They
divorced in 1945 and
she later switched
gears and thrived in
construction, becom-
ing the first woman
to hold a contractor’s
license in California.
The New York Times
ran no obituary for her,
and in Lardner’s it mis-
spelled her name.
“Silvia was telling a
different story about
Hollywood,” says
Smyth, a professor atthe U.K.’s University
of Warwick, who
discovered the novel
while researching
Nobody’s Girl Friday, a
book about women’s
contributions to the
studio system. The
idea that opportunities
were slim for females
in those early days is
a “devastating myth,”
says Smyth. Schulman,
who was instrumental
in convincing Selznick
to option Margaret
Mitchell’s Gone With
the Wind, captures the
collaborative reality.
Says Smyth, “If you look
at how Silvia framed
her view of the studio
system, you see women
everywhere.”IgerGinsburg3Ian Schrager, the Studio 54 co-
founder credited with inventing
the boutique hotel category via
his Morgans Hotel Group (the
Royalton in Manhattan and Delano in Miami),
has returned to the Sunset Strip. The latest
outpost of his ultra-posh, Marriott-backed
Edition brand opens Nov. 12 where Rat Pack
hangout Scandia once stood — nearly a
quarter-century after the debut of Schrager’snearby Mondrian catalyzed the neighbor-
hood’s gentrification in the first place.
“The Edition is catapulting the area up
to luxury,” explains Schrager, 73, who notes
that the rates for its 190 rooms (starting at
$495) and prices for its 20 condos (upward
of $3,000 per square foot) are in line with
Beverly Hills hotels.
His go-to minimalist architect, John
Pawson, drew inspiration for the West
Hollywood Edition from Louis Kahn’s 1960
Salk Institute in La Jolla. “I wasn’t interested
in doing something that was the thing of this
decade or the next decade,” says Schrager.
The property features art by Agnes Martin
and Sterling Ruby, as well as a veggie-focused
restaurant, Ardor, from Michelin-starred chef
John Fraser, and — unsurprisingly from the
man responsible for Skybar, the lodestar of
1990s al fresco L.A. nightlife — cocktails and
360-degree views are available on the rooftop.
Says Schrager, “I’m trying to hit the zeitgeist.”First
Look