5 Good Things: Famous People I’d Want To Have Dinner With
Of the non-living variety, all at the same table.
MARILYN MONROE
To be honest, I never had a more than average obsession with Marilyn Monroe. Like everyone else, I admired her beauty and brains mixed with seductive prowess used for what I personally believe was for protection and learning about her broken upbringing, it was mere survival. However all I know about Norma Jean is from Hollywood documentaries and made for streaming movies, which only enforced her as a film icon. Even with her tragedy that still bewilders popular culture, she was probably more than just a stunning beauty, Marilyn had a presence that captivated whoever was in her company.
The main reason I would want to dine with her is to ask one question. In my teenage years I had a dream about her, and again, I had never been a superfan of hers, but here she was very vividly in my dream. I was swimming in a pool, somewhere in Los Angeles, (I didn’t live in Los Angeles, only visited a few times when I was a teenager) a ranch style house, an atypical Hollywood home. I don’t know why I’m there much less swimming in some stranger’s pool, then suddenly under the water there was Marilyn and she was speaking to me. I couldn’t make out what she was saying, I remember being shocked that she was there. I knew who she was, that she died many years ago. Underwater she just kept trying to tell me something, almost desperately. I popped my head up to see if anyone else was around, no one in sight. So I dunked back down and she was gone. That was the dream, which has stayed with me all these years and still feeling like I had recently dreamt it, it remains so vivid in my memory.
What she brings to the dinner table: I would finally know what she was trying to tell me. Also a sharp sense of humor.
SYLVIA PLATH
From articles I’ve read about her, friends say that she had quite a voracious appetite, so she likely would’ve been a foodie. Although I don’t consider her my most coveted literary heroines, I think her conversations would be immense, if not engaging and thought provoking, maybe even humorous. Being with Sylvia Plath didn’t sound like a walk in the park, but righteous, ambitious, emotional women are rarely simplified. She came from a time when women were judged not of their opinion, but the forthright of speaking it aloud. Sylvia would’ve made a very interesting, complex character in the Real Housewives franchise (not that she would’ve wanted to succumb to reality television, but who knows she might’ve gotten a kick out of it). Imagining what her tag line would be is enough to keep my head in the clouds.
What she brings to the dinner table: A possible table drama that would put RHONJ’s Teresa Giudice’s infamous table flip to shame and far more meaningful.
ANTHONY BOURDAIN
There are days when I feel like I’m still recovering and grieving his passing. We have all seen his wonderful, charming table manners, that man loved food, good conversation about food, interesting people, travel, cultures, life, his pet peeves, and a true open-mindedness to everything the world had to offer. He would be the most non-pretentious dinner date, we would share inside jokes and throwing glances and smirks that would be non-oblivious to the other guests.
What he brings to the dinner table: Fun, witty banter and captivating stories from all his travels.
CAROLYN BESETTE KENNEDY
My one fashion card, because at any given moment I may need to talk about Jonathan Anderson to somebody. Last summer at a wedding rehearsal dinner I dined with a majority of Silicon Valley types, and a cousin of the bride who just relocated from Paris after years working at a modeling agency. We clocked each other early on as soon as I spotted her Alaia crystal ballet flats. After dinner and speeches, under the direction of the bride who told her that we would have much in common, she approached me w/drink and a pack of Marlboro Lights with one beautiful sentence, “talk Galliano to me.” That should be a t-shirt right? (Copyright) It’s something Carolyn Bessette Kennedy (full name is imperative) would likely say. She would be my muse all throughout dinner, with her sensible, chic, quiet luxury staples and downtown hair.
What she brings to the dinner table: Tbh, I haven’t a clue but would love a chance to find out. I know that we would talk about our dogs. I would love for her to confide me, I’m the keeper of everyone’s secrets in the friend group. (I can only imagine the insecurities Sylvia would feel in her presence, and in her defense totally normal)
MAYA ANGELOU
Talk about a guest being the utmost centerpiece. Personally, I would just love to feel what it’s like to be in her presence. To breathe in the same candlelit air as her, hoping some of her gratitude and life’s wisdom to rub off on me. She would be the most courageous person at my dinner table, in terms of literary, poetic, socially and creatively. Maya Angelou would be the rock that holds this dinner together, encouraging thoughtful discussions, while discouraging aimless controversies (and maybe prevent a table flip).
What she brings to the dinner table: Everything good, she is the teacher, the giver. We listen and learn.
HONORABLE MENTION - JOAN DIDION
I wouldn’t want to share Joan, my dream would be to have a one on one meal or even a coffee date with her. But if let’s say, Sylvia Plath or Marilyn Monroe couldn’t make it last minute, then Joan is it. Although, I would pay money to see what a dinner would be like with Sylvia Plath and Joan Didion, wouldn’t you?
All my guests are complex, emotionally vulnerable, sensitive, entertaining, intellectual, talented people. Imperfections are always welcome, because I sometimes can’t stand spending time in a room with people who blatantly have all their shit together. Not as fun. A great dinner party has to be diverse in the quality of personalities coming with different experiences, it makes for the most memorable table conversations. (And of course for me, novel fodder)
What famous people would you have dinner with?
Pass the wine,
DNAMAG
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