Cocktails with George and Martha

Movies, Marriage, and the Making of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

By: Philip Gefter

Narrated by: Alexa Morden

Bloomsbury presents Cocktails with George and Martha by Philip Gefter, read by Alexa Morden.

"Smart and entertaining . . . Gefter shows why Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? hit the ‘60s like a torpedo." —NPR, Fresh Air

"Delicious." —New York Times Book Review

The behind-the-scenes story of a provocative play, the groundbreaking film it became, and how two iconic stars changed the image of marriage forever.

From its debut in 1962, Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? was a wild success and a cultural lightning rod. It scandalized critics but magnetized audiences. Across 644 sold-out Broadway performances, the drama demolished the wall between what could and couldn’t be said on the American stage and marked a definitive end to the I Love Lucy 1950s.

Then, Hollywood took a colossal gamble on Albee’s sophisticated play—and won. Costarring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, the sensational 1966 film minted first-time director Mike Nichols as industry royalty and won five Oscars. How this scorching play became a movie classic—surviving censorship attempts, its director’s inexperience, and its stars’ own tumultuous marriage—is one of the most riveting stories in all of cinema.

Marfield Prizewinner Philip Gefter tells that deliciously entertaining story in full for the first time, tracing Woolf from its hushed origins in Greenwich Village’s bohemian enclave, through its tormented production process, to its explosion onto screens and its permanent place in the canon of American cinema. This deliciously entertaining book explores how two couples—one fictional, one all too real—forced a nation to confront its most deeply held myths about relationships, sex, family, and, against all odds, love.©2024 Philip Gefter (P)2024 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

not that insightful

Most of the material in this book is available elsewhere. If you've read the Albee bios there isn't much in here to add to that. There's a lot of filler at the end as well.

Insightful commentary on marriage

Loved the questions as well as the answers - asked in a provocative manner and answered in an engaging way

Theater and Cultural History. Very Interesting.

This book is definately for the curious mind. I thought the narration was great. The events explain pivitol events in theater that led to other changes and conditions in society. I don't know who wouldn't find this fascinating. I haven't seen the movie or the play. But the book itself sheds a lot of insight as to the change of tides and dynamics of social intercourse. The power of theater. And inconvenient truths. Very well written. I learned something from this reading. Homophobia is known about. On the other side of that is Heterophobia. Growing up in a traumatic childhood setting with trauma, could cause this to be an issue with a lot of people. The trauma doesn't have to be overt. It can be covert. Neglect is covert abuse.

A Rollicking Good Tale

Couldn’t stop listening to this well researched, astutely observed and wonderfully well written work. Not only does it take a deep dive into the Hollywood sausage factory at a pivotal time in the culture, but it captures the culture—the one we used to share before today’s Balkanization, as Gefter notes, and a circle of gods we all used to admire and or concern ourselves with. It is ancient history brought beautifully to life. I’m left with the image of Richard Burton driving Elizabeth Taylor in the Rolls Royce she bought for Eddie Fisher that always brings a smile.

If you are thinking of — or involved in — marriage, read this

As to the level of detail, think of Farley Mowatt analyzing wolf scats in the Keewatin pine barrens. It’s a meticulous look, but evocative, true to the craft of amorous relationships (and their exposition), and highly entertaining.