20 Questions: Truman Capote

Each of Truman Capote's books has generated strong opinion-most (but not all) of it enthusiastic. "Music for Chameleons," his latest, is no exception, so we dispatched syndicated television reporter Nancy Collins to discuss that and other subjects with him at his New York apartment. "He had a terrible cold," she told us, "but that didn't muffle any of his opinions."

1.

[Q] Playboy: Americans seem obsessed with other people's opinions-especially yours. Why?

[A] Capote: My own opinion is that people don't have good opinions. Everybody borrows his opinions from other people, who have already borrowed theirs from somebody else. That's why conversation is so difficult.

2.

[Q] Playboy: Do you think your opinions are the basis of your appeal?

[A] Capote: I don't have any appeal. I just arouse curiosity. Actually, that's about 70 percent true. I do think I have a largish following of people who really just like my writing.

3.

[Q] Playboy: What is the state of man/ woman relationships today?

[A] Capote: The same as it has been and always will be; I don't think anything is ever going to change between men and women. The real difference between men and women is nature. There's something in the nature of a woman that makes her want to be dominated by a man, at least in some sexual sense. And that's something that can't be eradicated.

4.

[Q] Playboy: Hasn't the women's movement changed that?

[A] Capote: Women's liberation has gone a long way and it's done a terrific lot, economically speaking. Actually, inflation has more to do with women's liberation than anything else-you know, the need for a second income. The old husband is glad to push the old wife out to work nowadays. Before, he would have said, "Oh, honey, I wouldn't have you soiling your hands down at the garage." Now he has her pushing an 18-ton truck.

5.

[Q] Playboy: What have women lost because of the women's movement?

[A] Capote: I don't think they've lost a thing, or at least they've gained a lot more than they've lost. They gained economic independence. What they lost-if they lost it-is what their actual role is in relation to a man. That particular seesaw, balancing a successful career and a successful marriage-well, I've never seen it work. I've never known a career woman who didn't essentially dominate her husband.

6.

[Q] Playboy: But isn't power in a woman sexy?

[A] Capote: I think power in a man is sexy, but I don't think power in a woman is sexy. I think power in a woman turns men off. It's too intimidating.

7.

[Q] Playboy: Then you wouldn't find, say, Barbara Walters sexy?

[A] Capote: I don't consider Barbara Walters powerful in that sense. She's a television personality. Her power can go like that [snaps his fingers]. It's hanging on a very thin string. By tomorrow, ABC could fire her and she'd be selling lingerie at Bloomingdale's.

8.

[Q] Playboy: Who are the sexiest women you know?

[A] Capote: I think Kay Graham is extremely sexy. Her figure and make-up are great; she has extraordinary eyes and one of the most seductive voices you ever heard-when, that is, she's being seductive. She makes any man she's with totally forget all about Kay Graham, Tycoon. I don't think she's always had this quality; she didn't when I first knew her.

Very few men are attracted to women because of their minds, although for my next candidate that might seem to be the only reason: Lillian Hellman. Lillian is not at all what we would normally call a particularly attractive woman. However, she has this amazing thing-if women have it, they can put themselves over, no matter what they look like. Lillian Hellman simply believes she is the sexiest, most alluring woman in any room. She moves that way; she acts that way; she looks at men that way. The last thing on Hellman's mind is literature or art. Her whole manner is strictly below the belt-the way she moves her hips, her arms, her hands, the whole thing. The funny thing about it is it works; I know innumerable men who have been in love with her.

The next woman is Maria Theresa Caen, the wife of columnist Herb Caen. She is from Louisiana, is small and Spanish. She's not exactly beautiful at all-she's always well groomed-but you always notice that men gravitate toward her. There's something in her voice, her laugh. She's got this real merriment about her. She's also extremely intelligent.

Also, Gloria Guinness is an extraordinarily sexy woman. She has great allure and mystery. She's a self-creation-that's why I like her. All the women I really like are self-creations.

9.

[Q] Playboy: What makes rich women more interesting than poor ones? Or are they?

[A] Capote: I don't think rich women are interesting at all. My idea of joy is not to sit next to Blanchette Rockefeller at dinner, you know.

The only rich women who ever interested me, the only ones who were ever my friends, were adventuresses-people who were total self-creations. Gloria Guinness is a prime example. And Jackie Onassis and Lee Radziwill are not far off the mark. They started out with money, so they weren't entirely self-made. And, of course, there was Babe Paley. She came from a very distinguished background, but, indeed, she was a total self-creation. She made herself look that way; it was her taste, her style, her total invention.

10.

[Q] Playboy: Is the age of the adventuress over?

[A] Capote: A top-class adventuress is in a category all by herself. But she's a rare creature, so when one comes along, there's always a big market for her.

I would advise a lot of women who have brains, good looks, style, and so forth, and set out to make a career as an actress or a model, to forget it. Pretend you never heard of the theater or the movies. Say all that interests you is leading a very subdued, settled, high-society life and you'll make it. I don't know if you'll get what you want, but you'll get more than you would the other way. Unless she's got fantastic drive, a woman shouldn't be too career-oriented. It's Ok up to a point, but you have to have inhuman drive.

11.

[Q] Playboy: In Breakfast at Tiffany's, Holly Golightly says she has taught herself to like (concluded on page 270)Truman Capote(continued from page 259) older men because she thinks it's good for her. Is this still good advice for a woman?

[A] Capote: Indeed it is. Older men are a passport that'll carry you across all frontiers.

12.

[Q] Playboy: Why are older men better?

[A] Capote: Well, first of all, there's so much more security attached to an older man. And with an older man, a woman is just as-probably more-agreeably active sexually. You're not going to get your brains pounded out morning and afternoon, as--I read in Ann Landers-many women are. In fact, to hear Dear Abby tell it, the women in this country are in hysterics over getting fucked to death.

13.

[Q] Playboy: Are the rich really different from you and me?

[A] Capote: Yes, they're more disloyal. In the long run, the rich run together, no matter what. They will cling until they feel it's safe to be disloyal, then no one can be more so. They also serve better vegetables.

14.

[Q] Playboy: It seems as if the rich-that is, the old rich-have lost some of their allure. What was it in the first plate and what happened to it?

[A] Capote: I think the thing about the rich is their great terror. You see, their only identification is their money. They have this real fear about money, because if they lose it, they lose their identity. What they have lost-what you call allure-is their stability, because no one is really rich anymore. Being rich is like the Presidency-it just doesn't have the cachet it used to. On the whole, I don't think young people are interested in rich people today. I mean, who the hell wants a 180-foot yacht and 25 servants? That sort of thing had to do with money being the only thing that gave a person identity, so you had to spend more and more to get more and more identity.

15.

[Q] Playboy: Define decadence-once and for all.

[A] Capote: Decadence is deliberate cruelty. It is any act you perpetrate against another person that you know is going to hurt him-and you do it on purpose, with full knowledge that you are doing it.

16.

[Q] Playboy: Who is America's most unattractive public couple?

[A] Capote: Hands down, Julie and David Eisenhower. No competition.

17.

[Q] Playboy: Who is the person most responsible for pushing America down the tubes?

[A] Capote: Sammy Davis Jr.-if you're referring to television. You simply cannot turn on the damn set without seeing that ugly, hideous face, with his million dollars' worth of jewelry, jingling and jangling, hugging and kissing somebody. Yuuuch! God!

18.

[Q] Playboy: What is the future of democracy?

[A] Capote: The same as Broadway's. Everything seems to be picking up. Theaters last year made more money than ever. Yes, it's like Broadway-everybody always says it's dead, it's gone-but it always comes back.

19.

[Q] Playboy: What is your idea of a fun date?

[A] Capote: Miss Piggy or Anita Bryant.

20.

[Q] Playboy: In a movie about your life, who would you like to play you?

[A] Capote: Greta Garbo. It'll be her great comeback part.

"No one is really rich anymore. Being rich is like the Presidency-it doesn't have the cachet it used to."