The Tamesis
Sasha Isenberg: I had just finished ninth grade and started school in late May 1995. Gary Ginsburg was a senior editor and a friend of my aunt’s, and somehow she argued the introduction. I met Gary one afternoon in his office at 1633 Broadway. I look back and realize that John saw me walking out of Gary’s office and started teasing Gary, like, “Gary, who is that? Is that your son?” Gary said, “No, that’s some kid who came to me looking for a job.” John said, “Oh my gosh, he looks just like your son. You have to hire him!”
Matt Berman: I heard that JFK Jr. was selling his magazines all over town. I’m happy to work for the company and do great things Ellie, and pay close attention to it. When John finally expressed real interest in Hachette Filippacci, they put him in a conference room with Michael [Berman] and roses [Marie Terenzio]. [Hachette Filipacchi, which also published Elle] Put me in the conference room with them, and I’m supposed to get them to work—designing logos, designing prototypes, everything they need to sell the magazine to advertisers. I think it just helps them get started. We were both young, had a great rapport, and laughed a lot. I had no idea how big this thing was.
David Janke: I started with Herb. [Ritts] I stayed with him from January 1994 until March 2001. Herb didn’t reveal any details about the first cover shoot ahead of time. No one said anything to anyone. It’s really very quiet.
Jack Cheetham: I live in London and have been shooting for a lot of fashion magazines—Face and arena. A few months into early ’95, my agent called me and said, “Oh, we got a call from Matt in New York. He’s starting a book called ” george“. I’m interested, but the level of respect that John F. Kennedy Jr. is held in is not the same in England… because this is England.
Kate Harrington: I first met John while on a boat trip with Truman along the Turkish coast, John’s Aunt Lee [Radziwill]John’s mother John, his sister and Lee’s two children Tony and Tina. On that trip, John was the only one of the four other kids on the boat who showed any kindness to me. He went out of his way to include me in the kids’ onboard fun and carefully educated me about the yachting lifestyle. This cemented our lifelong friendship. Later, I moved from New York to Los Angeles after working for Andy Warhol for five years. interview As their fashion stylist, worked exclusively for Herb Ritts for 11 years. I was delighted when John flew to LA to have dinner with me at The Ivy and come up with the best cover we could dream of!
Chapter 2
‘This is very much a start-up’: Building George from the ground up
Rosemary Terenzio: It was a little rocky there for a minute. We moved from our small office at 26th and 5th to Hachette in Times Square and started working, just the three of us, in a conference room without a desk or a phone. This is very much a start-up environment.
