Talk:Joan McCracken

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Joan McCracken has been listed as one of the Media and drama good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.

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Date	Process	Result
March 8, 2014	Good article nominee	Listed

A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on February 12, 2014.

The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that Broadway actress Joan McCracken was one of the models for Truman Capote's fictional Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's?

Facts from this article were featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "On this day..." column on November 1, 2018, and November 1, 2021.

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Blaming infidelity for homosexuality

She met Jack Dunphy, then a dancer with the Littlefield company, in 1937. They married in 1939 and separated after Dunphy's service during World War II, during which McCracken had an affair with French composer Rudi Revil. Dunphy was devastated by the infidelity and blamed it for his change in sexual orientation. He adopted a gay lifestyle, became romantically involved with Truman Capote, and he and McCracken were divorced in 1951. Dunphy remained Capote's partner until his death in 1984.

I'm skeptical of the statement that Dunphy simply chose to be gay after the affair. This sounds like sneaky POV pushing. For the most part, the consensus is that people are born gay, they don't choose it. I think the sources need to be looked at a bit closer here or at the very least, properly attributed to the authors. Viriditas (talk) 22:13, 17 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Yes it's a questionable statement to say the least. I quoted from the McCracken biography, which I have, but you I believe you can access the relevant portions on Google Books and also Amazon. Coretheapple (talk) 22:25, 17 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the pointers. I will compose a followup later tonight. Viriditas (talk) 00:08, 18 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

See p. 139 at [1]. It's a pretty tangential point, but I included it because Dunphy later received considerable publicity for his relationship with Capote, to the point of being portrayed in movies about him. Coretheapple (talk) 00:36, 18 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for pointing me to the source. This is somewhat of a controversial anecdote relayed third person by Dunphy through Dunphy's biographer, Gerald Clarke, and then reported by author Lisa Jo Sagolla. Further, this is a biography about McCracken not Dunphy, so it is not just tangential to the primary topic, it's bordering on salacious anecdote. I would be much more interested to see what other authors on this topic have to say about the same subject rather than relying on just one. I don't know much about Dunphy, but it sounds like McCracken was a beard for him. With the benefit of hindsight, it is incredibly childish and immature for Dunphy to blame McCracken for his sexual preference, innate or otherwise. I'm not sure how it helps the reader understand this topic. People blame all sorts of things in their lives, but we are under no duty to report it. Viriditas (talk) 02:20, 18 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

True, it's tangential and I'd not object to its removal. Coretheapple (talk) 02:22, 18 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I think there is a way to keep it, but to mitigate the implicit POV. Again, if you have access to what other sources have reported on the subject, that could help. Viriditas (talk) 02:24, 18 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I'll see what I can find in some of the Capote biographies. Coretheapple (talk) 02:29, 18 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

This Capote biography, "Party of the Century," puts the onus on Dunphy and makes no mention of Dunphy's contention that McCracken "drove him" to be gay.[2]. Ditto this Jerome Robbins bio[3] and this Capote bio[4]. This book [5] calls it a "rebound gay phase that lasted the rest of his life." On the whole it doesn't change my view that this is a throwaway line, and not something I feel strongly about one way or the other. Coretheapple (talk) 02:39, 18 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Now there is confirmation, in Gerald Clarke's Capote biography. But that's unsurprising as Clarke was Sagolla's source. Doesn't really change anything.[6]. Like I said, tangential. Meh. Coretheapple (talk) 02:47, 18 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]