George Plimpton, Thomas Beller, Gray's Papaya

Reading Thomas Beller's Newsweek essay about George Plimpton - part sweet remembrance of the man and part riff on the challenges of having a literary magazine, a la The Paris Review, or Open City, which is Beller's concern, we noticed a typo on his bio: "...Beller is the author of 'The Sleep-Overt Artist,' a novel..." which could very well be that title of some young literary hipster's book about a narcoleptic, but the actual title is "The Sleep-Over Artist." But we much prefer his short story, The Hot-Dog War which you can find on his site, Mr. Beller's Neighborhood, if you check out stories for the Upper West Side, specifically 73nd Street and Broadway, or in his book of short stories, The Seduction Theory.

The Times' Warren St. John looks at how George Plimpton planned, and entertained at, his parties. Perhaps Plimpton would have approved of Beller's roughhousing at parties.