Connie Martinson, an insatiable reader and admirer of writers, who interviewed thousand of authors on her long-running cable tv present, “Connie Martinson Talks Books,” has died at her residence in Beverly Hills.
Martinson, who died peacefully on March 9, was 90.
Her cable tv present started in 1979, and by the point it led to 2015, it had been seen by thousands and thousands nationally and in Canada. She interviewed a formidable roster of writers, amongst them an upward-bound Barack Obama, eloquently discussing his then-new ebook, “Goals From My Father,” in 1995, in addition to such different outstanding fiction and nonfiction authors as Walter Mosley, Ray Bradbury, Maya Angelou, Studs Terkel, Norman Mailer, Carolyn See, Joyce Carol Oates and Amos Oz.
“Connie Martinson was a necessary a part of the literary lifetime of this metropolis,” mentioned creator Janet Fitch, whose novel, “White Oleander,” was a bestseller, Oprah’s Ebook Membership choice and movie.
“She was an amazing interviewer, and he or she learn your ebook actually fastidiously. She had such readability and perception and will zoom proper in on what was most necessary. There was additionally one thing soothing concerning the liveliness of her face and eyes. You noticed the spark of delight she had in studying and in speaking about studying. She was the type of particular person you’d wish to sit subsequent to at a cocktail party.”
Practically 2,000 of Martinson’s interviews at the moment are accessible on the Claremont Schools Digital Library web site, the place she donated her tapes in 2008. As of this week , the digital library has 1,801 now-digitized gadgets within the Connie Martinson Talks Books Assortment.
Martinson was “extremely curious, very good and really disarming,” mentioned Rick Wartzman, former govt director of the Drucker Institute, who in that position acquired the gathering and made it out there via the college’s digital library. “I finally got here to know what wide-ranging pursuits she had. Take a look at the listing of individuals Connie landed interviews with — a number of the biggest names in politics, tradition, literature. In that respect alone, it’s priceless.”
She mentioned antisemitism with A. Scott Berg and Alan Dershowitz, talked with Carlos Fuentes about Spain’s colonization of Mexico and questioned Michael Tolkin about his ebook, “The Participant,” and Budd Schulberg about his ebook, “What Makes Sammy Run?” A number of ladies named Amy could be seen not solely discussing their books but in addition speaking about their writing course of (Amy Ephron), entertaining visitors (Amy Sedaris) and her mom’s reception to her ebook (Amy Tan.)
Connie Martinson with Barack Obama in 1995.
(Martinson household photograph.)
Among the many nonfiction writers interviewed have been such outstanding journalists and essayists as Pete Hamill and Maureen Dowd. Novelist Sidney Sheldon did 10 interviews, and Ray Bradbury, with 14, was clearly a favourite. However she additionally had first-time writers. “So long as it’s a ebook, then the creator is a possible visitor,” she as soon as mentioned.
Martinson might chat about virtually something, notably no matter her visitor’s topic could be. She’d get to the studio with a well-worn copy of a visitor’s ebook, regardless of how new the ebook was. Key pages have been marked with dozens of yellow Publish-its,and he or she knew the books so properly she might typically bounce in with a solution if a visitor stalled.
She was additionally a pace reader, famous her son-in-law, Douglas Carner. “She’d learn the books so quick, you’d really feel the breeze from the pages. And he or she would have learn each single phrase. “
Martinson didn’t precisely plan her profession path, mentioned her daughter, Julianna Carner, who manages the household enterprise: “Within the mid-’70s, my mom labored for the Coro Basis, which skilled younger individuals for presidency work. When Coro was provided a radio present and turned it down, my mom mentioned, ‘Oh, that sounds fascinating. I’ll do it.’ She was up for any journey that got here alongside.
“She started by interviewing celebrities and others that she and my father knew via his work as a tv and movie director. Then, sooner or later in 1979, she mentioned, ‘I’m bored and have gone via all my mates.’ That’s when she got here up with placing collectively the 2 issues she preferred doing probably the most: ask questions and skim books. “
So started “Connie Martinson Talks Books.” Martinson began with a number of writers like Bradbury, who she knew, after which moved on to individuals she type of knew. Launched in Los Angeles in 1979, her present appeared on authorities and different cable stations round California, then on a New York Metropolis cable entry station. Her present went nationwide within the mid-’80s, and in line with her daughter, Martinson was at her peak within the early ’90s, when she had 23 million viewers.
Julianna Carner labored together with her mom for about two years within the early ’80s, additionally interviewing authors in one of many three 10-minute blocks that then comprised the present. “Afterwards, I mentioned to my mom, ‘Thanks for doing this for me.’ And he or she mentioned, “In case you weren’t any good, I wouldn’t be doing this.’ And I adored that she mentioned that.”
Constance Frye Martinson was born in Boston on April 11,1932, and graduated from Wellesley School in Wellesley, Mass., the place she was awarded the Davenport Prize for Speech and Literature. “Connie was at all times energetic in assist of Wellesley School, her alma mater and mine, and the Los Angeles Wellesley Membership,” mentioned longtime good friend Lee Ramer, a former member of Los Angeles’ Cultural Affairs Fee. “It was at all times fascinating to take heed to her interviews as a result of she requested questions that every one of us would possibly ask.”
She labored as an editor for Author journal in Boston earlier than transferring to Los Angeles together with her husband Leslie Martinson, who she married in 1955. Martinson, who died in 2016 at 101, directed such movies as “PT109,” the unique “Batman” and such episodic TV reveals as “Maverick,” “77 Sundown Strip” and “The Brady Bunch.”
Martinson attributed the present’s success to her means to get the authors to open up. “I attempt to maintain the viewers’s consideration by attempting to place them in my seat. I additionally wish to know what makes the creator tick, so I attempt to suppose how the concepts and rhythm got here from every creator,” she informed Los Angeles Journal in 2008.
“Writers would come to L.A. and do her present and Johnny Carson’s present,” mentioned her son-in-law. “On the home are hundreds of books, they usually nonetheless have Publish-its in them. It was quite common for her to know issues that the creator of the ebook wouldn’t bear in mind having written.”
Martinson’s present over time was largely self-financed, Douglas Carner mentioned, including that his mother-in-law by no means needed the present to be syndicated or industrial, as a result of she didn’t wish to lose management. “The mission was extra necessary than the cash,” he mentioned. “Her feeling was if she might discover one one who might uncover the enjoyment of holding a bodily ebook, she would really feel fulfilled.”
When every interview ended, she practically at all times requested the creator to autograph his or her ebook earlier than reminding her viewers to assist their native library.
Her ardour for books and writers was clearly famous. “She was the grande dame of letters in Los Angeles for many years,” mentioned creator, critic and Jewish Journal ebook editor Jonathan Kirsch. “Her interview sequence was a venue for individuals selling their books from all around the world. She was an area celeb and a well-recognized face and identify within the ebook neighborhood. There was no book-related occasion that I attended the place I didn’t see Connie.”
Martinson is survived by her daughter, son-in-law Douglas Carner, grandson Richard Carner and grandson-in-law Michael Carner.
Isenberg is a former Instances staffer and the creator of “Conversations With Frank Gehry” and the topic of one among Martinson’s interviews.
