Karen Heller
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Writer. Reader. Former national features writer for The Washington Post, columnist at The Philadelphia Inquirer. On Threads at @kheller1221
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Articles by Karen Heller
Up All Night: A World History of Nightlife
First off, inspired subject. Up All Night: A World History of Nightlifeis precisely what the summer ordered, a cool, tall gin-and-tonic of a book. British cultural historian Imogen Willetts, who defines nightlife as “a commercial and secular environment designed to offer a variety of pleasures at night,” is a passionate, informed student of historical nocturnal gatherings.
'When Caesar Was King' review: All hail Sid Caesar
WHEN CAESAR WAS KING: How Sid Caesar Reinvented American Comedy by David Margolick (Schocken, 384 pp., $32) Comedian Sid Caesar was huge, in all ways. Handsome, tall and winged with linebacker shoulders, a fearless physical performer and mimic, creator of a United Nations of international characters (all fluent in gibberish), Caesar dominated television in the 1950s, helping to birth and perfect the sketch format.
Hail Sid Caesar, the original king of TV comedy
Comedian Sid Caesar was huge, in all ways. Handsome, tall and winged with linebacker shoulders, a fearless physical performer and mimic, creator of a U.N. of international characters (all fluent in gibberish), Caesar dominated television in the 1950s, helping to birth and perfect the sketch format. The son of a Yonkers luncheonette owner, Caesar minted money for NBC, attracting 20 million viewers on Saturday night, when the nation was half as populous and only half of households owned televisions.
Hail Sid Caesar, the original king of TV comedy
Hail Sid Caesar, the original king of TV comedy (washingtonpost.com) Hail Sid Caesar, the original king of TV comedy By Karen Heller 2025120513000000 Comedian Sid Caesar was huge, in all ways. Handsome, tall and winged with linebacker shoulders, a fearless physical performer and mimic, creator of a U.N. of international characters (all fluent in gibberish), Caesar dominated television in the 1950s, helping to birth and perfect the sketch format.
John Fetterman makes a case for himself. It’s not very convincing.
John Fetterman makes a case for himself. It’s not very convincing. (washingtonpost.com) John Fetterman makes a case for himself. It’s not very convincing. By Karen Heller 2025111110000000 One day, not long after he was elected to serve Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate in 2022 and months after suffering a life-threatening stroke, John Fetterman sat on a bench opposite the Rankin Bridge in the Great Allegheny Passage and considered ending his life. "Maybe this is the best place to do it," he thought.
'Gwyneth' review: Dishy bio on Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Paltrow, once known as an Oscar-winning actress, is perhaps our finest unrelatable relatable. Since 2008, she has promoted the aspirational absurdity that, with an abundance of time and capital (and if you’re feeling daring, a jade egg), women can improve themselves, becoming a tad more like, well, her.
Sorry, you’ll never be Gwyneth Paltrow. Whoever she really is.
Gwyneth Paltrow, once known as an Oscar-winning actress, is perhaps our finest unrelatable relatable. Since 2008, she has promoted the aspirational absurdity that, with an abundance of time and capital (and if you're feeling daring, a jade egg), women can improve themselves, becoming a tad more like, well, her.
Sorry, you’ll never be Gwyneth Paltrow. Whoever she really is.
Sorry, you’ll never be Gwyneth Paltrow. Whoever she really is. (washingtonpost.com) Sorry, you’ll never be Gwyneth Paltrow. Whoever she really is. By Karen Heller 2025072711000000 Gwyneth Paltrow, once known as an Oscar-winning actress, is perhaps our finest unrelatable relatable. Since 2008, she has promoted the aspirational absurdity that, with an abundance of time and capital (and if you're feeling daring, a jade egg), women can improve themselves, becoming a tad more like, well, her.
A century ago, this designer set women free. And gave them pockets.
A century ago, this designer set women free. And gave them pockets. (washingtonpost.com) A century ago, this designer set women free. And gave them pockets. By Karen Heller 2025061911000000 Claire McCardell, forgotten by too many, is the ingenious designer who understood that women could be comfortable and stylish. Imagine that. Naturally, she was an American, born in Frederick, Maryland, in 1905.
What’s a marriage sabbatical, and why are there so many books about it?
Love? Hah! For much of recorded history, marriage was rooted in wealth, social standing and livestock. “Marriage was too vital an economic and political institution to be entered into solely on the basis of something as irrational as love,” Stephanie Coontz wrote in her 2005 book, “Marriage, a History.” Love is one thing and marriage, the long and happy kind, certainly another.
What’s a marriage sabbatical, and why are there so many books about it?
What’s a marriage sabbatical, and why are there so many books about it? (washingtonpost.com) What’s a marriage sabbatical, and why are there so many books about it? By Karen Heller 2025042009000000 Love? Hah! For much of recorded history, marriage was rooted in wealth, social standing and livestock.
Again and again, Bonnie Raitt did it her way. Her way keeps on working.
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Again and again, Bonnie Raitt did it her way. Her way keeps on working. Original
12 min SAN FRANCISCO In the late 1960s during her sophomore year, Bonnie Raitt took a leave from Radcliffe. Her intention was to hang with blues legends Mississippi Fred McDowell, Son House, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, who were managed by her then-boyfriend Dick Waterman, inhaling the sort of storied education that wasn't offered at Harvard.
Hillary Clinton regresa con sus cuartas memorias: ¿Hay algo nuevo que decir?
Algo Perdido, Algo Ganado (Something lost, something gained) es el decimotercer libro de Hillary Clinton (incluyendo los que ha coescrito) y su cuarto libro de memorias. Por lo tanto, parece un lugar extraño para admitir, como lo hace, que “compartir mis reflexiones más personales no me resulta natural.” Clinton afirma que prefiere escribir sobre política, pero dice: “Espero que combinar ambos - el brócoli y el helado, por así decirlo - resulte en una comida gratificante.” Pues no.
Review | Hillary Clinton is back, with a fourth memoir. Is there anything new to say?
Hillary Clinton speaks during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last month. (Paul Sancya/AP) Review by Karen Heller September 14, 2024 at 1:09 p.m. EDT “Something Lost, Something Gained” is Hillary Clinton’s 13th book (including the ones she has co-written) and fourth memoir.
Connie Chung had a storied career, and she dishes about it all in a new book
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Review | Connie Chung had a storied career, and she dishes about it all in a new book
Connie Chung covering the wedding of President Richard M. Nixon's daughter Tricia at the White House Rose Garden in 1971. Chung, a trailblazing television journalist, is telling her story in “Connie: A Memoir.” (Courtesy of Connie Chung) Review by Karen Heller September 14, 2024 at 7:30 a.m. EDT Television news pioneer Connie Chung has some story to tell. In 1993, Chung became the second woman to co-anchor a major network’s national news weekday broadcast.
Review | Canada’s Sophie Grégoire Trudeau wants to be your next lifestyle guru
Former unofficial first lady of Canada Sophie Grégoire Trudeau may be a publishing genius. Her new book, “Closer Together,” with the cover photo of its telegenic author turned toward the reader, presents as a memoir, a beckoning. It suggests that she might spill samovars of tea about her nearly two decades of marriage to the beguiling, ever-youthful Justin Trudeau, a man who easily tops any list of World Leaders We Would Date.
Quem é Lily Gladstone, premiada atriz de ‘Assassinos da Lua das Flores’; leia entrevista
NEW YORK (THE WASHINGTON POST) - Lily Gladstone, estrela de Assassinos da Lua das Flores, de Martin Scorsese, estava no carro com uma velha amiga quando recebeu uma mensagem de Emma Stone. A atriz de Pobres Criaturas virou “minha irmã nessa coisa toda”, Gladstone diria mais tarde, sendo “essa coisa toda” a temporada de premiações que está a todo vapor. Muitos as veem como as duas favoritas ao Oscar de melhor atriz, que será apresentado em 10 de março.
Flower Moon's star blooms
At 37, Lily Gladstone has made history. Now, the 2024 Oscar nominee for Killers of the Flower Moon is texting with Emma Stone and reflecting on what it means. Lily Gladstone, the breakout performer of Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, was driving with an old friend when a text pinged from Emma Stone. WASHINGTON POST Gladstone says that even with prosthetic teeth and nose, “you can’t make Leo look bad”. Lily Gladstone says fellow Oscar nominee Emma Stone is “my sister in all this”.
El momento de Lily Gladstone es aquí y ahora
Últimas NoticiasPolíticaEconomíaDólar hoyDeportesSociedadPolicialesNewsletters Lily Gladstone, la actriz revelación de Los asesinos de la luna, de Martin Scorsese, iba en coche con una vieja amiga cuando recibió un mensaje de texto de Emma Stone. La actriz de Poor Things se ha convertido en “mi hermana en todo esto”, diría Gladstone más tarde, en plena temporada de premios. La amiga de Gladstone le dijo: “Ya no entiendo tu vida”. A menudo, Gladstone tampoco.
Lily Gladstone’s moment is here. It’s a lot to carry
NEW YORK - Lily Gladstone, the breakout performer of Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” was driving with an old friend when a text pinged from Emma Stone. The “Poor Things” actress has become “my sister in all this,” Gladstone would later say, this being the award season that is currently in full throttle. They are widely viewed as being in a two-woman contest for the Oscar for best actress, which will be presented on March 10.
Review | The shared dilemma of Jill, Melania, Michelle and Hillary
Despite the lodging, the plane and the superior staff, being first lady of the United States seems like kind of a drag. It’s an unenviable role, an impossible ideal. FLOTUS must represent her spouse and help deliver his agenda, but the less she says publicly of any consequence, the better. There’s the constant pressure to appear perfect, as every faux pas will be dissected and haunt her legacy. Plus, she must uphold tradition, the Jackie-ness of it all.
Lily Gladstone’s Oscars moment is here. It’s a lot to carry.
NEW YORK Lily Gladstone, the breakout performer of Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” was driving with an old friend when a text pinged from Emma Stone. The “Poor Things” actress has become “my sister in all this,” Gladstone would later say, this being the award season that is currently in full throttle. They are widely viewed as being in a two-woman contest for the Oscar for best actress, which will be presented March 10.
ACTIVE AGE | Bee Gees’ Barry Gibb has written more hit songs than almost anyone
MIAMI BEACH - Understand that the music was everywhere, icing turntables, electrifying strobe-lit clubs, flooding the radio dial when radio was everything, commanding valuable real estate in our brains, an earworm with an indelible disco beat.
Fun is dead.
Sometime in recent history, possibly around 2004, Americans forgot to have fun, true fun, as though they’d misplaced it like a sock. Instead, fun evolved into work, sometimes more than true work, which is where we find ourselves now. Fun is often emphatic, exhausting, scheduled, pigeonholed, hyped, forced and performative.
Fun is dead.
Sometime in recent history, possibly around 2004, Americans forgot to have fun, true fun, as though they'd misplaced it like a sock. Instead, fun evolved into work, sometimes more than true work, which is where we find ourselves now. Fun is often emphatic, exhausting, scheduled, pigeonholed, hyped, forced and performative.
Fun is dead.
It’s become emphatic, exhausting, scheduled, hyped, forced and performative December 23, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EST (Illustrations by Michael Parkin for The Washington Post) Comment Save Sometime in recent history, possibly around 2004, Americans forgot to have fun, true fun, as though they’d misplaced it like a sock. Instead, fun evolved into work, sometimes more than true work, which is where we find ourselves now.
Bee Gees’ Barry Gibb has written more hit songs than almost anyone
“My dream was to get people I admire to sing our songs,” Barry Gibb of the Bees Gees said. Gibb is among this year’s Kennedy Center Honors recipients, the eldest and last of the English-born, Australian-raised Gibb brothers, the contributor of that haunting vibrato and the principal architect of their singular sound.
The Bee Gees’ Barry Gibb has written more hit songs than almost anyone
By Karen Heller Understand that the music was everywhere, icing turntables, electrifying strobe-lit clubs, flooding the radio dial when radio was everything, commanding valuable real estate in our brains, an earworm with an indelible disco beat.
The Bee Gees’ Barry Gibb has written more hit songs than almost anyone
The last surviving Bee Gee left his aural imprint on six decades of popular music November 27, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EST “All I had was my imagination," said Kennedy Center Honoree Barry Gibb, pictured in Miami Beach this fall.
'Aging is a disease': Inside the drive to postpone death indefinitely
Advertisement 1 Never underestimate the human condition - that we alone among animals are aware of our inevitable demise - as a formidable motivator and economic engine • • Article content It’s 11 a.m., which means tech tycoon Bryan Johnson has already consumed his three daily meals, including dinner, and will fast until 6 a.m. tomorrow. By day’s end, he will have ingested more than 100 pills, mostly supplements.
‘Aging is a disease’: Inside the drive to postpone death indefinitely
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‘Aging is a disease’: Inside the drive to postpone death indefinitely
Longevity has become an industry, a subject of bestsellers, podcasts and newsletters. But is a life meted out in metrics, often for a price, worth it? November 6, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EST (Illustration by María Alconada Brooks/The Washington Post) Comment Save It’s 11 a.m., which means tech tycoon Bryan Johnson has already consumed his three daily meals, including dinner, and will fast until 6 a.m. tomorrow. By day’s end, he will have ingested more than 100 pills, mostly supplements.
Book Review: Henry Winkler is working through some things
It comes as little surprise that Henry Winkler is "charming - famously charming," as he shares in "Being Henry: The Fonz ... and Beyond," which arrives on Halloween, the day after the actor toasts 78. It comes as more of one that Winkler is, by his own admission, constantly scared, easily wounded, riddled with self-doubt, perpetually self-involved, childish, cheap, unforgiving and petty.
Henry Winkler is working through some things
The actor discusses his memoir, ‘Being Henry: The Fonz … and Beyond,’ an excavation of his challenges, pain and neuroses October 29, 2023 at 7:00 a.m. EDT Henry Winkler, actor, comedian, author, producer and director, poses for a portrait at his home in Los Angeles on Sept. 28. Winkler’s memoir “Being Henry,” publishes Tuesday.
Danny DeVito, 45 años de entretenimiento
Pensemos en los absurdos que pedimos a nuestras estrellas. Queremos que sean dioses infalibles e inmutables en lo alto del Olimpo, tapando el sol. Luego, reflexionemos sobre nuestras acciones cuando nos cansamos de ellas después de que tengan la temeridad de cambiar o, Dios no lo quiera, envejecer. Nos deshacemos de ellos, los cambiamos, optando por alguien más nuevo, más joven, más brillante.
Danny DeVito has had a remarkable career - from ‘Taxi’ to ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ - delving into the despicable
LOS ANGELES - Consider the absurdities we ask of our stars. We want them to be infallible, immutable gods atop Mount Olympus obscuring the sun. Then ponder our actions when we tire of them after they have the temerity to change or, heaven forbid, age. We toss them, trade them in, opting for someone newer, younger, shinier. None of this has happened to Danny DeVito, 78, a staple of our entertainment diet for 45 years. There is no next DeVito. They only made one. "He's game for anything.
Danny DeVito is down for whatever
LOS ANGELES - Consider the absurdities we ask of our stars. We want them to be infallible, immutable gods atop Mount Olympus obscuring the sun. Then ponder our actions when we tire of them after they have the temerity to change or, heaven forbid, age. We toss them, trade them in, opting for someone newer, younger, shinier. None of this has happened to Danny DeVito, 78, a staple of our entertainment diet for 45 years. There is no next DeVito. They only made one. "He's game for anything.
Danny DeVito is down for whatever
He doesn’t look like a movie star. He doesn’t act like one, either. And if a role requires DeVito to disrobe and get ‘greased up like a halibut,’ so be it. October 6, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EDT Danny DeVito is “game for anything,” said his longtime agent, Fred Specktor. That includes posing with a ventriloquist dummy. (Kelia Anne MacCluskey for The Washington Post) LOS ANGELES — Consider the absurdities we ask of our stars. We want them to be infallible, immutable gods atop Mount Olympus obscuring the sun.
Bob Barker, popular game show host, dies at 99
A publicist says popular game show host Bob Barker, a household name for a half-century as host of “Truth or Consequences” and “The Price Is Right,” has died at his home in Los Angeles. Barker was 99. Barker — also a longtime animal rights activist — died Saturday morning, according to publicist Roger Neal.
Donald Trump’s forever photo
A picture may be worth a thousand words. Donald Trump’s Fulton County mug shot is worth all that and 13 counts in the Georgia indictment filed last week. Trump, 77, is known for mugging for the camera. Now, he has a mug shot, the first former president to be the subject of one. (Also, the first to earn an inmate number: P01135809.) Dominating in the polls for the 2024 GOP nomination and the subject of four separate indictments, Trump is used to playing to the cameras and by his own rules.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s charged mission of healing
ONAMIA, Minn. — One after another, the survivors rose, shaking, often in tears, some singing or chanting to share their stories of childhood horror. “I will grieve with you. I will weep with you. I will feel your pain, as we mourn what was lost,” said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, sitting before them in the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe community gym last month.
La niñera conducción: Fran Drescher, en el papel de su vida como líder sindical
Fran Drescher es más conocida por sus seis temporadas como La niñera: pelo colosal, ropa llamativa, infatigable energía, coraje insondable y, sobre todo, esa voz. Una voz de Nueva York sin adulterar, capaz de provocar el colapso de diez coches, levantar la niebla y romper las olas, y que se ha quedado grabada permanentemente en el cerebro de muchos de nosotros.
NANNY IN CHARGE: Fran Drescher's union presidency is role of her lifetime Original
Author of the article: Washington Post Karen Heller Published Jul 20, 2023 • 6 minute read SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher (C) joins SAG-AFTRA and WGA members as they picket outside Netflix offices on July 14, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Members of SAG-AFTRA, Hollywood?s largest union which represents actors and other media professionals, have joined striking WGA (Writers Guild of America) workers in the first joint walkout against the studios since 1960.
Nanny in charge: Fran Drescher’s union presidency is the role of her lifetime
Comment Fran Drescher is best known for her six seasons as “The Nanny”: colossal hair, loud clothes, indefatigable moxie, fathomless pluck and, most of all, that voice. It’s a voice of unadulterated New Yawkese that can cause a 10-car crackup, lift fog and part waves, and that resides as a permanent earworm in many of our brains.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s charged mission of healing Original
The first Native person to serve as a Cabinet secretary, she leads a department that once oversaw the removal of Indigenous people from their land July 17, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EDT Interior Secretary Deb Haaland in the department's library. "Representation matters, not only representation mattering for Indigenous people, but also for people who are just everyday Americans," she said. (Greg Kahn for The Washington Post) Comment Save ONAMIA, Minn.
Liquid Death selling canned water with men, younger consumers in mind
MARINA DEL REY, Calif. — In recent years, water has become something bigger, odder and more fluid than Earth’s original elixir. Despite its ubiquity in our homes, water has been packaged, branded and relentlessly marketed. It fuels a multibillion-dollar industry that shows not one globule of running dry, now outpacing soda sales while often costing more. Bottled water is blessed by celebrities. It is Smart.
Liquid Death is a mindset. And also just canned water.
Left: Mike Cessario, photographed at the Liquid Death headquarters, in the Los Angeles area, likens the water company to “Saturday Night Live.” Center: Cessario has a tattoo of the Liquid Death logo, a dripping skull designed by Will Carsola of Adult Swim’s “Mr. Pickles,” on his arm.
Liquid Death is a mind-set. And also just canned water.
MARINA DEL REY, Calif. - In recent years, water has become something bigger, odder and more fluid than Earth's original elixir. Despite its ubiquity in our homes, water has been packaged, branded and relentlessly marketed. It fuels a multibillion-dollar industry that shows not one globule of running dry, now outpacing soda sales while often costing more. Bottled water is blessed by celebrities. It is Smart.
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