{"id":797,"date":"2004-09-16T09:44:14","date_gmt":"2004-09-16T16:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp\/2004\/09\/cant_shake_the_times\/"},"modified":"2004-09-16T09:44:14","modified_gmt":"2004-09-16T16:44:14","slug":"cant_shake_the_times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/2004\/09\/cant_shake_the_times.html","title":{"rendered":"CAN’T SHAKE THE TIMES"},"content":{"rendered":"

My interview with Kitty Kelley in her Georgetown home, an ante-bellum Southern mansion,
\ntook place on a sun-baked afternoon back in the Stone Age (to be exact August of 1986). We
\nsipped diet Coca-Cola, not mint juleps. She answered many questions, at one
\npoint “swiveling her body on the loveseat in her living room like a petite artillery gun.” Yesterday
\nthe interview was posted here<\/FONT><\/B><\/A> (scroll down to second item). <\/P>
\n

So what happens today? Frank Bruni offers a rare peek<\/FONT><\/B><\/A> at her Georgetown home in this
\nmorning’s House & Home section of The New York Times. (Kelley loves her privacy,
\nBruni writes, so reporters don’t usually get to see her home.)<\/P>
\n

Not much has changed from what I recall. She still loves big colors (though the color scheme
\nhas been redesigned). She still has her glass menagerie (though she’s no Amanda). The furniture
\nhas been re-arranged, the loveseat re-upholstered, and topiary added to the garden. She still has a
\nfondness for editorial cartoons and political caricatures, momentos of her career that decorate a
\nfirst-floor bathroom (and, when I was there, the upstairs hall).<\/P>
\n

Here’s what I wrote so long, long ago:


\n

It is an imposing house. The freshly painted black window shutters are
\nimmaculate against the tan siding. The slate roof, with many peaks and chimneys, looks like
\nsomething out of a fairy tale. An American flag hangs on a pole set at a rakish angle over the front
\nporch.
\n

<\/P>
\n

In the front yard, set back from Dunbarton Street, behind a vine-covered wall … Matthew, the
\nCaribbean gardner, is clipping the shrubbery beneath a towering magnolia tree. Around the side
\nand back of the house is a vast, red-brick patio dotted with white, wrought-iron garden chairs and
\ntables. A block beyond the wood fence is the brick steeple of the Episcopal Church, whose
\nchimes announce God’s presence every Sunday morning. (“I love to listen, but I don’t go,” says
\nKelley.)<\/P>
\n

It is a distinguished house. U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan lived here for 25
\nyears. Kelley still gets mail for him. … <\/P>
\n

Nothing on the outside of the house prepares you for the inside. A sculpted, horn-blowing
\ncherub, \u00e0 la Chagall, greets you from a wall in the living room, which is overseen by a devilish,
\ngreen-faced Balinese idol with rainbow-colored wings. It sits on a brass sea chest across the room
\nfrom a 7-foot giraffe, also brass, which stands in the parlor near two Chinese Fu dogs perched on
\na windowsill. Meanwhile, a veritable Noah’s Ark of miniature crystal animals crowd the coffee
\ntable, and an elaborate stash of giant starfish fossils fill the shelves by the fireplace.<\/P>
\n

Kelley [has an] insatiable taste for primary colors: blue walls for the living room, where the
\ndark wood floor is polished to a glossy sheen and the white throw rug matches the trim white
\nmolding; red for the flower-patterned loveseats, where we are sitting; red for the foyer with the
\nwhite Victorian armoire; red again for the parlor and the carpet on the stairway leading upstairs;
\nyellow for the dining room, a cheerful sort of breakfast nook with toy parrots hanging from the
\nceiling; and green for the kitchen, where Kelley’s living pets, two stiped alley cats named Darling
\nand Runt, like to hang out. (“I’d have a burro in the backyard if I could,” she
\nsays.)<\/P><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
\n

<\/P>
\n

Here’s what Bruni saw on his “recent visit to her tall, tan house, built in the early 19th
\ncentury”: <\/P>
\n

A brass giraffe, about six feet tall, stands in her foyer. The mantel above the
\nwhite marble fireplace in her living room supports a teeming glass menagerie, including a bunny, a
\nbear, a squirrel and an elephant.
\n

A crystal cat has its own niche on an end table nearby.<\/P>
\n

The red paint on the living room walls is so glossy it looks candied, as does the royal blue
\npaint in the dining room, where one of many vintage French posters hangs. The poster, like
\nanother, depicts a dancing party girl.<\/P><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
\n

<\/P>
\n

This copycat stuff is getting to be a habit with the Times. See what I mean here<\/FONT><\/B><\/A>. Love it. Keep it
\ncoming.<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My interview with Kitty Kelley in her Georgetown home, an ante-bellum Southern mansion, took place on a sun-baked afternoon back in the Stone Age (to be exact August of 1986). We sipped diet Coca-Cola, not mint juleps. She answered many questions, at one point “swiveling her body on the loveseat in her living room like a petite artillery […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-797","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbvgEs-cR","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}