Everything That Would Be Copy for Nora Ephron Nowadays
by Elyse Sommer
Nora Ephron and her three sisters were raised by parents who were successful screenwriters. All became writers, but it was Nora who most famously followed Mother Phoebe's maxim: "Everything is copy." As a journalist and essayist, Nora's combination of "on the mark" and often unflattering insights with rib-tickling humor remains unmatched. In her TV and film scripts, she managed to make the heroines of her happily-ever-after plots smart and worth knowing.
Unfortunately, Ephron is no longer with us (she succumbed to cancer ten years ago). Ah, but hold on, she is still very much with us -- courtesy of the still-available collections of her priceless scribblings and iconic romantic movies. In fact, I can't think of a better way to escape from the gloomy news cycle than to read or re-read her or to watch one of her romantic movies, which merged her bracing belief in second chances with their shoutouts for women's rights to a place at the male-dominated table.Donald Trump would likely be on Nora's list of people who would make good copy. Actually, this would be a second take. Her 1989 "Famous First Words" article for Esquire cited Trump as different because he wanted more than anything to be famous and have people notice and talk about him. Besides that desire for recognition, Ephron saw no signs of Trump's being intelligent. For sure, she'd now want to address how his pursuit of fame had taken him to the White House and made his self-absorption dangerous.
Ephron was culturally very Jewish even if she wasn't observant, so the current rise in antisemitism would surely be copy for her. She would undoubtedly have her own sharp-eyed take on Trump's being the grandfather of three Orthodox Jewish grandchildren though not visibly involved in their religious lives.
The Ephron movies that became super hits were not only produced and directed by men but also featured all-white casts. This included her three biggest hits --When Harry Met Sally, You've Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle. Undoubtedly, she would feel obliged to address that golden era's non-existing diversity.
One recent example of an updated look at diversity is the latest Broadway production of Our Town, which does address the issue with color-blind casting by making George's parents black. According to this revival's critics, such casting hasn't worked. And while it probably wouldn't work for Nora, she might have written a play in which black as well as white people take center stage. Or, she might track down playwright Bruce Norris, who very aptly did this in 2012 with Clybourne Park (see my review in the Curtainup archives).
Unlike Nora, her beloved sister Delia suffered from but survived the same cancer. True to Mother Phoebe's everything is copy maxim, Delia turned her cancer battle as well as her late-in-life happy love relationship into a play entitled Left On Tenth, which is based on her autobiography and now on Broadway. Unlike the sisters' multi-cast movies, Left on Tenth is a small two-hander and fits the need for smaller, cheaper-to-mount plays. However, despite the starry cast (Julianna Margulies and Peter Gallagher) and director (David Cromer, who helmed a truly eye-opening Our Town), it remains to be seen whether the Ephron-Cromer names will attract enough ticket buyers.
We'll never know whether Nora too would have turned her illness and happy third marriage into copy to work as a stage play. Nor will we know what she'd have to say about two other plays (Vladimir and Yellow Face) now having monthlong runs in October and November. Yellow Face is a diversity-aware replay that I reviewed during its 2007 Public Theater production (you can check it out in the Curtainup archives). Vladimir is the first new political play set in Putin's Russia.
Sad to say, Nora Ephron's witty voice was silenced way too soon.
