From George Plimpton's vastly engaging oral biography Truman Capote: In which various friends, enemies, acquaintances, and detractors recall his turbulent career.
In this interview, Maria Theresa Caen, married to the famous wit and columnist Herb Caen, recounts how in the 60's she and Herb took Truman Capote to the first legal topless bar in San Francisco.
We took him to the first topless bar in San Francisco. It was called The Condor. The first topless dancer in San Francisco went by the name of Carol Doda. We watched her dancing for a while and Truman turned to me and said, "How can she be dancing up there when my breasts are bigger than hers?"
So he had a few more drinks and he jumed on top of the table and decided that he was going to dance. There was a lot of whoop and hollering and dancing and what have you. The word spread about who he was. He had taken off his coat and tie and was unbuttoning his shirt, beginning to scare the patrons, when we stopped him. After Herb wrote about it in his column, Carolo Doda, who's a very sweet woman,was so hurt that she went out and had silicone implants. Maybe we should credit Truman with starting the entire craze!
This picture of a young Truman was taken in l949 by his photographer friend Cecil Beaton. It's one of many pictures and stories of Truman in the biography at play.
