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Capturing Camelot: Stanley Tretick's Iconic Images Of The Kennedys (2012)

by Kitty Kelley(Favorite Author)

4.25 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

031264342X (ISBN13: 9780312643423)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Thomas Dunne Books

review 1: This is a tremendous book. Though Kitty Kelly is best known for salacious unauthorized biographies, she is nonetheless a good writer and presents the content in this book in a very fair way. Stanley Tretick, one of JFK's favorite photographers, was her good friend; he left tons of mementos and photographs to her when he died. She compiled them into this book. Many of the photos are somewhat rare; they are images I--an avid reader of JFK and LBJ biographies--had not seen before. I loved this book and would consider buying it for my shelves.
review 2: I am no fan of Kitty Kelley, but I have to give kudos where due. She has written a loving memoir of her friend, Stanley Tretick and his photographs of the Kennedys in their heyday. There are many unique images, an... mored you learn of the control exerted by the Kennedys to maintain their image(s).John F. Kennedy never wanted to be photographed doing anything "foolish" like riding a horse or some political campaign demand (kiss the baby,) nor did he want to be photographed eating or wearing hats or Indian headdresses or any political pressure garment. He also did not want to be photographed playing golf. Eisenhower had taken a lot of flak for his golf pictures, and Kennedy didn't want to be seen as "goofing off" or "elitist." The same was true in terms of photographing Air Force One. The Kennedys had redecorated it and they didn't want it seen as a "rich man's plane." Interesting point: his father BOUGHT him a plane (redecorated) for his campaign work that would cost in today's dollars $2.5 million...and he's worried about elitism or "rich man?" He WAS a rich man. Jacqueline never wanted to be photographed in capri pants, smoking, eating and while she resigned to wearing hats for a while, that didn't last. She also restricted photographs of her children, not wanting them to appear (in her words) "bratty."I would say Tretick had his work cut out for him. There's an interesting story at the beginning. He tells Kelley about growing up poor, and he drives her through a part of the city that's now a slum and shows her a building with a dirty terry towel stuffed in the window. He said, "That how I grew up." And he never forgot it. He did it on his own and the hard way--the exact opposite of Kennedy. One time Ben Bradlee, editor of the Washington Post was crowing about hiring another "Yalie." (A woman who plagarized her story and later had to return the Pulitzer Prize.) After that event, Tretick said, "He shouldn't have hired a Yalie. He should have hired a Towelie." I fell in love with this man at that moment.He was the photographer who shot those iconic images of John Jr. playing under his father's desk, and later in his life, in a nursing home, Kelley got John Jr. to sign the picture so she could hang it in Tretick's room. As he was dying, John Kennedy Jr.'s plane had gone down off Martha's Vineyard, and they were searching for the wreckage, so both men, so tied together by pictures and history, died at the same time.You would think, "Oh. More Kennedy images. But in truth she's written a loving tribute to her friend. She's taken what he left her in his will and created a beautiful book with truly iconic images, and it's something worthy of his work and his creativity and his mind. less

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