Anyone who has ever enjoyed reading a newspaper will love “Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists,” airing Monday on HBO. The documentary, about columnists Jimmy Breslin[1] and Pete Hamill[2], follows their friendship and rivalry as the two biggest stars of New York’s rough-and-tumble tabloid universe.
The friendship nearly fractured when Breslin, short on ideas one day, chided Hamill — who had been dating Jackie Kennedy[3] — for two-timing her with Shirley MacLaine[4].
Hamill took the high road and quoted Gabriel García Márquez: “Everyone has three lives: a public life, a private life and a secret life.” Jackie and Shirley were part of the latter.
Breslin died in 2017 and Hamill, now 83, was too frail to attend an HBO screening at the Time Warner Center, but they would have felt a lot of love from the likes of attendees Dan Rather, Harry Smith, James Hoge, Gay Talese and Ken Auletta.
References
- ^ Jimmy Breslin (pagesix.com)
- ^ Pete Hamill (pagesix.com)
- ^ Jackie Kennedy (pagesix.com)
- ^ Shirley MacLaine (pagesix.com)