Way We Lived Then, Signed by Dominick Dunne (Black and White Ball)
[Signed by Dominick Dunne] Dunne, Dominick. The Way We Lived Then, Recollections of a Well-Known Name Dropper. First Edition. 1999. Book and dust jacket are both in very good condition. Book is signed “Dominick Dunne” on the title page. Laid in is an invitation from “the Blue Ribbon and the Fraternity of Friends” to attend A. Scott Berg in conversation with Dominick Dunne at the Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills.
Dominick Dunne achieved worldwide fame when he returned to Manhattan and chronicled the criminal acts of the rich and famous for Vanity Fair. However, his life in Hollywood that preceded it was equally compelling—and, remarkably, even more glamorous. When he lived in California, Dunne might not have been the most successful producer, but he and his lovely wife Lenny gave some of the best parties in town, including a Black and White ball in early 1964 attended by Hollywood luminaries and international society. Truman Capote, a houseguest of David Selznick and Jennifer Jones, attended the party. In fact, Dunne claims it was how Capote conceived the idea for his own Black and White ball, which meant, of course, that the Dunnes couldn’t be included on Truman’s guest list a year later. Dunne held no grudge, however, and if he had, it would be out of place in this scrapbook-style memoir, which focuses mostly on the good times.
“Truman absolutely fascinated me. His fame. His brilliance. The wonderfulness of his life. His interest in society and murder, the two themes that had always interested me. Two years later, when he was the most publicized writer in the world, Truman gave his famous black-and-white ball in the grand ballroom of the Plaza hotel in New York. He didn’t invite [me].”
--Dominick Dunne