Read A Ticket to the Circus Online
Authors: Norris Church Mailer
I
went to the hospital five times the year after Norman died. But I’m still here. Somehow, it doesn’t worry me. I’ve been told three times to get my affairs in order, and I think by this time they all are. I’m living in Brooklyn, in the apartment Norman brought me to the first time I came to New York. It is home to me, more than any other place in the world. My mother still lives in Park Slope, John and Matt live near me with their families, and I see the rest of the family all the time. We had an incredible memorial at Carnegie Hall for Norman in April 2008, one he also would have loved, and his spirit is definitely hanging around. We’ve all felt it. So life goes on. As long as there are Mailers, there will be stories of Dad—funny stories, sweet stories, stories of his misbehavior, his exploits, his achievements. Norman changed my life, that’s for sure, and the ripples from that first meeting in Arkansas have spread through many lives. I am not in a hurry to leave this life, but I won’t be greedy, either. I’ve had so much more than most. I wouldn’t trade with anybody in the world. And who knows what Norman is doing on the other side? I’m curious to catch up with him and find out.
B
ROOKLYN
, N
OVEMBER
2009
I
want to acknowledge my wonderful family, who have given me such joy over the years, and who keep growing! I love you all so much:
My mother, Gaynell Davis
Susan Mailer and Marco Colodro; Valentina, Alejandro, and Antonia Colodro
Danielle Leslie Mailer and Peter McEachern; Isabella Mailer Moschen and Hayley and Colin McEachern
Elizabeth Anne Mailer and Frank Nastasi; Christina Marie Mailer Nastasi
Kate Caliean Mailer and Guy Lancaster; Natasha Annabelle Lancaster
Michael Burks Mailer and Sasha Lazard; Cyrus Force Mailer
Stephen McLeod Mailer and his fiancée, Elizabeth Rainer; Callan Marx Mailer and Theodore Marx Mailer
Maggie Alexandra Mailer and John Wendling; Nicholas Maxwell Mailer Wendling
Matthew Davis Norris Mailer and Salina Sias Mailer; Mattie James Mailer and Jackson Kingsley Mailer
John Buffalo Mailer and his fiancée, Peri Lyons
Barbara Mailer Wasserman (Norman’s sister)
Peter Harper Alson (Barbara Wasserman’s son) and Alice O’Neill; Eden River Alson
Sam and Pam Radin, our cousins.
I have been blessed all my life with dear friends, and I can’t list everyone here who has been important to me—I would leave someone out—but I’ve tried to be a good friend, and I would hope you all already know who you are and how much you mean to me.
I offer a special thanks to Larry Schiller for his ingenuity and his hard work in forming the Norman Mailer Writers Colony and for being a friend and colleague over the years. Sam Radin, also, was
instrumental in the founding of the colony, and is invaluable to me with his sound advice.
A big thank-you and much love to Mike Lennon, Norman’s dear friend and authorized biographer, who is responsible for putting together the vast Mailer archive now housed in the Ransom Center in Texas, and his wife, Donna, who is his partner in all things.
I send special thanks to my agent, Ike Williams, who is always there for me, and a heartfelt thank-you to Random House; its publisher, Gina Centrello; my editor, David Ebershoff, who is a fine writer in his own right, and who guided me with an easy hand; Jynne Martin and Carol Schneider, friends and publicists extraordinaire; Janet Wygal, copy editor; Laura Goldin, lawyer; and the wonderful designers, Kimberly Glyder, Paolo Pepe, and Barbara Bachman, who made the book such a pleasure to look at.
Page references refer to print page numbers in the book ISBN: 9781400067947
| Title page | Francis Delia |
| 41 | Lee Rogers |
| 46 (top) | Bill Ward |
| 46 (bottom) | Bill Ward |
| 69 | Jean Jewell Moreno |
| 70 | Jean Jewell Moreno |
| 84 | Andy Anders |
| 130 | Norman Mailer |
| 146 | Francis Delia |
| 154 | Lee Rogers |
| 173 | Milton H. Greene © 2010 Joshua Greene, www.legendslicensing.com |
| 180 | Lisette Lenzi |
| 209 | Robert Belott |
| 220 | Marco Colodro |
| 226 | Robert Belott |
| 230 | Photograph © by Jill Krementz, used by permission of the photographer; all rights reserved |
| 235 | Photograph © by Jill Krementz, used by permission of the photographer; all rights reserved |
| 245 | Photograph © by Jill Krementz, used by permission of the photographer; all rights reserved |
| 247 | Photograph © by Jill Krementz, used by permission of the photographer; all rights reserved |
| 254 | Joel Meyerowitz © 2009 courtesy Edwynn Houk Gallery |
| 255 | Dotson Rader |
| 278 | Getty Images/Carl Mydan |
| 303 | Tom Luddy |
| 308 | Tom Luddy |
| 314 | Robert Belott |
| 328 | Juan Moreno |
N
ORRIS
C
HURCH
M
AILER
is the author of
Windchill Summer
and
Cheap Diamonds.
She was raised in Arkansas and now lives in Brooklyn. She is the mother of two sons, two stepsons, and five stepdaughters, as well as a grandmother to two, a stepgrandmother to ten, and a “grantie” to one. She was married for thirty-three years to Norman Mailer, who passed away in 2007. She misses him still.
Copyright © 2010 by Norris Church Mailer
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Random House, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
R
ANDOM
H
OUSE
and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Mailer, Norris Church.
A ticket to the circus: a memoir/Norris Church Mailer.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-1-58836-979-6
1. Mailer, Norris Church—Marriage. 2. Authors, American—20th century—Biography. 3. Authors’ spouses—United States—Biography. 4. Mailer, Norman—Marriage. I. Title.
PS3563.A3824Z47 2010
813′.54—dc22
[B] 2009033941
Title page photo by Francis Delia
v3.0