Cocktails with George and Martha

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

By: Philip Gefter

Narrated by: Alexa Morden

Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

An award-winning writer reveals the behind-the-scenes story of the 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. The play transpires over one long, boozy night, laying bare the lies, compromises, and scalding love that have sustained a middle-aged couple through decades of marriage. 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 creators’ inexperience, and its stars’ own tumultuous marriage—is one of the most riveting stories in all of cinema.

Now, acclaimed author Philip Gefter tells that 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 across America and a permanent place in the canon of cinematic marriages. 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.

Excellent book, irritating reader

Loved the rich details and history. The reader’s odd pronunciation and stresses detracted, but only slightly.

Absorbing, detailed, well written

The reader mispronounces so many words, it’s exasperating, but she nevertheless gives an excellent performance. No sing song here, she’s really good, has lively energy and makes it interesting.

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.

Well-researched, scholarly, entertaining

Deep background on the playwright, the director, the producer, the performers, the machinations of Hollywood and moviemaking and especially the iconic impact of a remarkable play and movie. Some annoying mispronunciations of words but did not detract too much from my enjoyment.

Fabulous book - narration

This is a terrific book. The mispronounced words were a distraction. Also less than ideal was the narrator’s occasional use of a tone suggesting she was trying to sell a particular point of view.

If you liked the play you’ll love the movie

As a fan of the play, “Whose Afraid of Virginia Wolfe”, as well as the film, this blow by blow scholarly description of the inception of the iconic play about mid-century marriage is fascinating through to the very end. Who could resist the inside tails of the lives of Rich and famous film, stars, subsequently famous theater, and film directors, and one of the most iconic playwrights of our day. The only complaint I have was that the point of view was taken from the point of view of marriage in the 20th and 21st centuries, and it got a little long. But, I suspect the author needed something on which to hang a premise.

Writer had a point of view and carried it out.

Often, these readers mispronounce the simplest words and get titles wrong.
“The Lion in Winter” is “the lion in the winter”,,.
But that is minor. I appreciate not being fed precis of, to me, famous people, the way some recent non-fiction does.
The gossip is terrif, (straight from the producer) and the writing is clear and erudite without striving.
This writer loved the subject and she or he has done the reader a great service.

Interesting but flawed by poor narration.

Thorough and fascinating stories and details about the writing of the play, the first Broadway production, and the making of the film. It is, however, marred by repetition and by the narrator’s inexplicable mispronouncing of common words and familiar names and stressing the wrong syllables of words to the point of making them incomprehensible.