Zoom Event: Manks for the Memories

I’ll be posting some ruminations on this morning’s Oscar nominations in a bit, but I did want to alert readers to what promises to be a highly enjoyable Zoom webinar happening this Thursday evening (2/10) at 6 p.m. EST.

Herman Mankiewicz (above left) was the man who wrote or co-wrote (depending on who’s arguing) “Citizen Kane,” in addition to “Dinner at Eight,” “The Pride of the Yankees,” and dozens of other film classics. He was the first theater critic at The New Yorker, too; Gary Oldman played him in last year’s “Mank.” Joseph Mankiewicz (above right), Herman’s younger brother by 12 years, wrote and directed “All About Eve,” “A Letter to Three Wives,” and “The Barefoot Contessa,” and directed “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir,” among many others.

These two loved each other and hated each other and lived big, loud, lubricated Hollywood lives, and Herman’s grandson, writer-director-producer Nick Davis, has written an excellent book titled “Competing With Idiots: Herman and Joe Mankiewicz, A Dual Portrait” that explores a legendary fraternal rivalry with psychological insight and irresistible dish. Davis, a New Yorker, will be joined by his Hollywood cousin Ben Mankiewicz, another of Herman’s grandsons and a familiar host on Turner Classic Movies, for an hour-long discussion and rattling of family skeletons, and I may pop in to ask a question or two as well. The event is part of an American Inspiration series run by American Ancestors/New England Historic Genealogical Society, and sponsored by Ty Burr’s Watch List. It’s free, but you’ll need to register here. I invite you to come check it out.

Please feel free to share this post with anyone you think might also enjoy the event!