More Fran Lebowitz

 I live with my sister in a one-bedroom St. Paul, Minnesota apartment. And, yes, I still do miss New York City with all my heart. About the last Thursday of last month, I got hit with a foot infection that rendered me immobile for a couple of days. I couldn't walk. So, my sister ordered me to go to the nearby hospital. She called an ambulance. I was in the hospital for a week and needed physical therapy to help me get on my feet again. I needed a walker. I'm back home again now -- walking around the apartment and raiding the refrigerator every hour. Without a walker, thank you. Being back home, I craved something with an NYC flavor as I recuperated, something to get me back in a New York state of mine.

I went to Netflix and checked another half-hour episode in Fran Lebowitz's PRETEND IT'S A CITY series of interviews conducted by Martin Scorsese. I watched the "Hall of Records" episode.

That was just what I needed.

When I was new to New York in the 1980s and had my own weeknight celebrity talk show on VH1, novelist Susan Isaacs (COMPROMISING POSITIONS, ALMOST PARADISE, SHINING THROUGH) and her husband invited me to dinner at an upscale Italian restaurant. The other dinner guest was -- Fran Lebowitz. I sat next to her. She was the same exact way she'd been on my VH1 show and other national TV shows. Whip-smart, hysterically funny, totally honest, no pretense. She's that way in all the PRETEND IT'S A CITY episodes I've seen. 

In "Hall of Records," Fran talks about guilty pleasures and aging. If you watched the MILLION DOLLAR MOVIE on local TV when you were a kid, you'll dig this half-hour. She explains why Cary Grant is a guilty pleasure for her. About aging -- she had me laughing out loud in recognition of her youth experiences compared to the youth of today who tried to explain Twitter and Instagram to her even though she already knew what they were, she's just isn't a slave to technology and social media. She rather watch Cary Grant. There are clips of the foreign film classic THE LEOPARD by Visconti, THE BOY WITH GREEN HAIR by Joseph Losey and Annaud's THE BEAR that work perfectly as she talks about youth, aging and the arts. My favorite part? Hardcore New Yorker Fran Lebowitz tells Scorsese about the time she went on a trip to Alaska with friends and their guide told them to watch out for bears. He carried a gun for protection. She didn't. A very funny story.

I loved it. If you get Netflix and have never seen the Fran Lebowitz series, here's a taste: