Ben Apfelbaum

KATHY LETTE : TILL DEATH, OR A LTTLE LIGHT MAIMING, DO US PART

 

Kathy Lette. Pic Ben Apfelbaum
Kathy Lette. Pic Ben Apfelbaum
Kathy Lette. Pic Ben Apfelbaum
Kathy Lette. Pic Ben Apfelbaum

Hugely successful author Kathy Lette attended a Dymocks Literary luncheon to promote her latest book TILL DEATH, OR A LTTLE LIGHT MAIMING, DO US PART.

Speaking without notes from a lectern  Kathy Lette indicated that she was with her girlfriends (the audience), when her male partner is not around.

It is fortunate that this witty and insightful talk was recorded for the ABC as, in these gloomy times, it will lift your spirits like many of her books and newspaper columns.

She commenced by talking about her breakthrough teenage memoir Puberty Blues and how delighted she was  that it had been made into a successful Australian movie. In fact I came across her work , co-authored with her friend Gabrielle Carey , when they wrote a column called The Salami Sisters documenting the life of the Cronulla surfie scene of the early seventies scene. Looking back at those times she referred to the surfie blokes a s a reversal of the theory of evolution.

The success of Puberty Blues and other work led her to Los Angeles where she was a writer for a sitcom called The Facts Of Life. She was astonished at how many women in Hollywood had plastic surgery., which ‘defied gravity with ankles becoming ears and arses becoming breasts’. She swore that she would never have plastic surgery.  A little later on she was asked to do an episode of the Simpsons where Homer and Marge Simpson are on the run  with Julian Assange for whose character she wrote the dialogue. Whilst on the run Julian cooked a soup for the Simpsons where upon Madge asked for the recipe. Julian replied, ‘I am sorry I do not reveal my sauces’. The audience laughed heartily but  Kathy was miffed that the line was not used.

Kathy was very candid about her marriage to prominent human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson. For a time they hid Julian Assange in their attic as well as Salmon Rushdie. Geoffrey would try to get out of housework by saying that he was involved in seeking a stay of execution for a group of refugees. By the time he used this excuse for the third time Kathy said she would go out and execute each and every one of them.

When Kathy met Geoffrey he was dating Nigella Lawson and left her to be with Kathy. She and the audience delighted in the fact that she can’t cook! Despite their divorce they are good friends and have gone on holidays  together.

She was candid about her son who has autism and the funny remarks that he makes because his mind is unfiltered. Despite the potential drawback, her son is forging a career in acting.

She also has a daughter and gave a tip to those who have a teenage daughter roughly between the ages of fifteen and nineteen when the hormones are racing.  When her daughter exclaimed ‘I hope you die’ Kathy would take a long drag of a cigarette and drolly reply, ‘I am working on it!”

Celebrities had a role to play in her address.

When she was in Los Angeles as a sitcom screenwriter, she was asked out by an aspiring young actor  called George Clooney. Because she felt screenwriters should not date actors, she knocked him back. Nonetheless, the chain remained unbroken as Clooney’s wife Amal does a lot of human rights work with Geoffrey Robertson and so Clooney and his wife are part of a retinue of celebrities who regularly feature in her life.

Despite literary accolades and having an honorary Doctorate of Letters, one of her most triumphant achievements is to have a cocktail named after her in the Beaufort Bar at the swanky Savoy Hotel in London. One day , whilst sitting at the Bar with her gal pals, Jo  Brandt, Jennifer Saunders and Sandi Toksvig, when Tom Jones walked in. So what did this powerhouse  of female British comediennes do? They all threw their underpants at him. Seeing who has thrown the underpants, Tom Jones took the gesture with a good sense of humour.

The main thrust of her fiercely feminist address sugared with her brilliant wit was that women passed the rigours of child rearing and menstruation should live their lives as  freely and fabulously as they could. Previously her literary output could fit into several genres. She intends to create a new form of genre dispensing with chick-lit descriptions for ‘I don’t give a shit’ lit books.

Her latest book Till  Death, Or A Little Maiming, Do Us Part is very much in this spirit. When two women turn up at a beach hear that Jason Riley ha  been taken by a great white shark, they discover that they were both married to him. The book then becomes a revenge caper where the women join forces on a romp through many continents trying to uncover the mystery that is Jason Riley. This ties in with her regular travel column in a British newspaper whereby she has learnt  that 85% of solo travellers are women.

Despite her strident advocation of her feminist views, when she was signing her books for her adoring fans, she was extremely approachable and gentle when she spoke to each individual purchaser  of her book.

Text and pics by Ben Apfelbaum 

 

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.