8 Questions for Graydon Carter, Editor of Air Mail

The former editor of Vanity Fair and Spy — and my magazine mentor during my time in New York City — is this issue's guest contributor.

This issue’s guest is Graydon Carter, co-founder and co-editor of Air Mail, the must-read weekly newsletter, and former editor of Vanity Fair, the New York Observer, and SPY.

I had the pleasure of working with Graydon at Vanity Fair for six years, during which his instinct, wit, decisiveness, and vision made for an invaluable and unforgettable mentorship in the world of magazines. We bonded over a mutual love of desert boots, vintage stationery, pocket squares, and the restaurant reviews of the late A.A. Gill. I’m deeply grateful for the lessons learned, the experiences shared, and the cache of hand-typed correspondence. Graydon afforded me the opportunity to photograph for Vanity Fair, to direct Christopher Hitchens, to be directed by Martin Scorsese, and to share a Nathan’s Famous hot dog with the aforementioned A. A. Gill — experiences I am exceedingly grateful for, and I thank him for taking the time to answer these questions.

Graydon’s superb new memoir, When the Going Was Good, has just been released by Penguin Press [Bookshop | Amazon].

— Hamish

Graydon Carter with Fran Lebowitz. Photograph by Jonathan Becker.

8: How do your surroundings influence your creative work?

GC: With five kids, I learned to work through any kind of noise and disruption. But I do love a tidy desk free of paper and clutter.

8: What is a movie you think everyone should watch?

GC: You Can’t Take it With You.

8: Where do you turn when you’re feeling creatively blocked?

GC: Meditation. And when that fails, alcohol!

8: Can you share a film or piece of music that always inspires you?

GC: George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.”

Above left: George Gershwin by Edward Steichen, for Vanity Fair, 1927.

8: What reading material is currently on your nightstand?

GC: I just finished Barry Diller’s memoir, which is moving, funny, and just smart. I’m in the middle of Joseph O’Connor’s The Ghosts of Rome.

8: What is one piece of art you’d like to own and live with?

GC: Anything by Picasso.

Left: Polish film poster for The Mystery of Picasso, directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, designed by Fangor (incorporating a portrait or Picasso by Clouzot). Right, top: La Pique, 1956, lithograph. Right, bottom: Diurnes, On the Rock, 1962, collotype and stencil.

8: If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?

GC: Don’t start smoking. And treat your family and friends with the respect they deserve.

8: Who are the people (living or dead) you'd invite to a dream dinner party — and where would you host it?

GC: Oh gosh. Edith Wharton, PG Wodehouse, Steven Spielberg, Herman Wouk, Moss Hart, Christopher Hitchens, and Fran Lebowitz. There’s a nice private room at Via Carota in the Village. I’d do it there.

Above: Christopher Hitchens, New York, 2010, photographs by Hamish Robertson.

8: Tell us about a current or future project you're excited to be working on.

GC: Nothing gives me as much joy as putting together the next week’s edition of Air Mail.

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