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All Of It with Alison Stewart
Jamie Bernstein on Seeing Her Parents Love Story Come to Life in 'Maestro'
00:19:26
Jamie Bernstein joins to discuss the new biopic of her parents, 'Maestro.'
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- [00:00]
Jamie Bernstein
Hey, Fidelity. How can I remember to invest every month?
- [00:05]
Alison Stewart
With the Fidelity app, you can choose a schedule and set up recurring investments in stocks and ETFs.
- [00:12]
Jamie Bernstein
Huh, that sounds easier than I thought.
- [00:14]
Alison Stewart
You got this?
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Jamie Bernstein
Yeah, I do. Now, where did I put my keys?
- [00:19]
Alison Stewart
You will find them where you left them.
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Jamie Bernstein
Investing involves risk, including risk of loss. Fidelity Brokerage Services, llc. Member nyse, sipc.
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WNYC Studios Announcer
I' ma put you on, nephew.
- [00:32]
Jamie Bernstein
All right, unc.
- [00:33]
Alison Stewart
Welcome to McDonald's.
- [00:34]
Jamie Bernstein
Can I take your order, miss?
- [00:35]
WNYC Studios Announcer
I've been hitting up McDonald's for years. Now it's back. We need snack wraps. What's a snack wrap? It's the return of something great. Snack wrap is back.
- [00:47]
Sarah Gibson
Oh my gosh. Have you been to Marshall's lately? They have all the brand name and designer pieces you love, but without the jaw dropping price tags. Alright, so here's the truth. You should never have to compromise between quality and price. And at Marshalls, you don't have to. Marshall's believes everyone deserves access to the good stuff. And that's why their buyers hustle around the clock. To make it happen for you, visit a Marshalls store near you or shop online@marshalls.com I'm Sarah Gibson.
- [01:16]
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WNYC Studios Announcer
Listener support at WNYC Studios.
- [02:03]
Alison Stewart (Host)
This is all of it on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. Many of you know the voice of my next guest, Jamie Bernstein, host of WQXR's podcast the New York Phil Made in New York. For example, here is how episode four opens. And it takes us back 82 years.
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Jamie Bernstein
Ago.
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Narrator/Archive Voice
Yesterday, December 7, 1941. A date which will live in infamy.
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Jamie Bernstein
The attack pulled the US into the war. This is the NY Phil Story made in New York. I'm Jamie Bernstein.
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Alison Stewart (Host)
In the same episode, Jamie tells a story of how her father got his big break with the film.
- [03:01]
Narrator/Archive Voice
Good afternoon. United States Rubber Company again invites you to Carnegie hall to hear a concert of the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. Bruno Valter, who was to have conducted this afternoon, is ill and his place will be taken by the young American born assistant conductor of the Philharmonic Symphony, Leonard Bernstein. The program includes, with just a few.
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Jamie Bernstein
Hours notice before the live broadcast, my very own dad had to pinch hit for the flu smitten Bruno Valter, that acclaimed maestro and former protege of Gustav Mahler. No pressure there, Lenny.
- [03:36]
Narrator/Archive Voice
In bringing the music of the Philharmonic Symphony to the millions of radio listeners every Sunday afternoon. Leonard Bernstein has come out on the platform and will presently lead the Philharmonic Symphony in our National Anthem.
- [03:49]
Alison Stewart (Host)
That exact moment is recreated in the critically acclaimed film Maestro. That portion of the film is in black and white. The visual cue takes us back to the 40s and actor Bradley Cooper as the 25 year old Lenny Bernstein is a bundle of energy, nerves and charisma as he bounds on stage at Carnegie Hall, a pivotal moment in Bernstein's career. The film Meyer show certainly takes us through the legend's career, but it also celebrates the love story between Jamie's parents, Lenny and his wife, actor Felicia Montalegre. Excuse me, Cohen Bernstein. By Carey Mulligan. The two share a bond of intimacy and mutual admiration. They marry and start a family. They live a big life, but they have to do it within the small confines of the then conventional definitions of sexuality and status. Jamie and her siblings have been supportive of the film, which shows a complete picture of their parents. They've even allowed the family's Connecticut home to be used for filming. The New York Times says Maestro is a fast paced chronicle of towering highs, crushing lows and artistic milestones, most delivered in a personal key. You can see it now in select theaters and on NetFL on December 20th. And joining me now is Jamie Bernstein. So happy to have you in the studio, Jamie.
- [04:57]
Jamie Bernstein
Delighted to be here.
- [04:58]
Alison Stewart
Hi.
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Alison Stewart (Host)
Before the film, had you been approached about a biopic about your family?
- [05:03]
Jamie Bernstein
Well, this whole project began a long time ago, like 15 years ago. The producer Fred Berner and his partner Amy Durning came to the Leonard Bernstein office and pitched this biopic idea to us. And we said, okay, give it a try. See if you can, you know, put it, put it all together. And the years went by and the various iterations went by. And it wasn't until about six years ago that Bradley Cooper came on board to this project. And when he started taking his deep dive into Leonard Bernstein and everything about him, he decided to sort of change the flavor of the project and make it be this portrait of a marriage rather than a conventional biopic. He really changed the whole idea of the film.
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Alison Stewart (Host)
Before you could say yes with your whole heart, what did you need to know from the filmmakers? What were your hard yeses? What were your hard nos?
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Jamie Bernstein
Well, basically, we were persuaded by Bradley Cooper that he was the man for the job, and he had just finished making A Star Is Born, and he screened it for us. It hadn't been released yet, but when we saw it, we thought, here's a guy who knows what he's doing. And he was passionate about music and about our dad, although he didn't yet know as much about our dad as he eventually did. But we just felt like he was the right guy for the job. And then it turned out that he really was in ways that we couldn't even have anticipated.
- [06:43]
Alison Stewart (Host)
He strikes me as a careful person.
- [06:45]
Jamie Bernstein
He's careful, but he also is a big risk taker because the film is very full of risks taking, to say nothing of Bradley getting up there and literally actually conducting the London Symphony Orchestra the finale of Mahler's Second Symphony. That. That's risky.
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Alison Stewart (Host)
What questions did you have about how.
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Alison Stewart
They were going to handle some of the sensitive aspects of your family's life?
- [07:13]
Jamie Bernstein
Well, we all had a conversation about it, and it was fortunate, in a way, in the timing that in our Dad's centennial year, 2018, I wrote a memoir about growing up in my family called Famous Father Girl. And the writing of that memoir gave my brother and sister and me a chance to talk about and process a lot of the challenging elements and issues in our family history and stuff about our dad and our parents as a couple. And we went through all of that back then, and that turned out to be very good preparation for dealing with all these issues. When it came to the filming of.
- [07:56]
Alison Stewart
Maestro, my guest is Jamie Bernstein, host of the New York Phil Story Made.
- [08:00]
Alison Stewart (Host)
In New York on wqxr.
- [08:02]
Alison Stewart
Obviously, she is someone who's been deeply involved with the making of the film Maestro, which is in theaters now and on Netflix December 20th.
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Alison Stewart (Host)
So some of the movie was filmed.
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Alison Stewart
In your actual home in Connecticut. First of all, why did you let a film crew into your house?
- [08:18]
Jamie Bernstein
Well, and it's a big thing to let a film crew into one's house. And we were not there for the filming, so we left and everything looked normal. And then when we came back, everything looked normal. But in between, it was as if the house had been picked up, turned upside down and shaken and then turned back right side up and everything put back. They did a great job of all of that, so it could have been far more disruptive. Than it actually turned out to be.
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Alison Stewart
What was it like, emotionally, to see your family's home and to see your family in the home?
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Jamie Bernstein
Well, you can imagine your family in your home. Yeah. And to say nothing of all of it. I mean, the whole emotional ride of watching this film be created and turned into an entity that's now in the world, it's just been. We keep going back to the same adjective. Surreal. It's surreal, you know, to see your own family portrayed on screen. And ourselves, too. You know, we're in the film as kids, and, you know, Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan are younger than the three of us are, but they're playing our parents when we were younger. So, like, the whole thing is so discombobulating, but also kind of thrilling.
- [09:41]
Alison Stewart
Maya Hawke plays you in the film. Did you have a chance to spend time with Maya?
- [09:47]
Jamie Bernstein
I have not met her yet.
- [09:49]
Alison Stewart
She's delightful, by the way.
- [09:51]
Jamie Bernstein
So I hear.
- [09:51]
Alison Stewart
And you both have these great low voices.
- [09:53]
Jamie Bernstein
Yeah, I know. We both have these sort of raspy voices, so we have that in common. Many people have said to me, you know, in real life, she's kind of like you. So I can't wait to meet her. Of course, I thought.
- [10:03]
Alison Stewart
You know what I thought when I was watching it, that she brought an extra dimension to it because she is the child of two very famous people.
- [10:10]
Jamie Bernstein
She's a famous father girl, too.
- [10:12]
Alison Stewart
She is. And famous mother girl and. And who's had parts of their lives played out very publicly. So I thought that was really smart casting and interesting casting.
- [10:21]
Jamie Bernstein
Yeah, I. I think that was a good choice.
- [10:24]
Alison Stewart
The film begins with that moment, that moment that your dad got the call that would change his life, that the original conductors come down with the flu. We heard you narrate it in the podcast. What was the family legend version of that, like when you're. When you talked about it in the home?
- [10:41]
Jamie Bernstein
Well, you have to remember that all of that happened way before we came along. You know, that that debut was in 1943, and our dad and mother weren't even married yet and, you know, met perhaps that very year, but they didn't get married until 51, so. And we didn't come along till after that. So it was always history to us. It was ancient history. And so were you kids.
- [11:10]
Alison Stewart (Host)
And like, oh, Dad, I don't need to hear that story again.
- [11:13]
Jamie Bernstein
You know, we heard it so often anyway in the world.
- [11:17]
Alison Stewart
Sure.
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Jamie Bernstein
Because anytime there's an article written about our dad or a book or it's all going to be in There. So we mostly heard those details over and over from elsewhere. Not so much from our dad directly.
- [11:29]
Alison Stewart (Host)
What makes. I'm saying this on the top of my head because there's so much known about your dad. What are the adjectives you would use to describe him as dad? Oh, as your dad, as our dad, as Jamie's dad.
- [11:43]
Jamie Bernstein
Right. Well, you know, if you've only seen Leonard Bernstein, like, let's say on a video or in real life, you know, standing on a podium in his white tie and tails, conducting and looking very imposing and serious, you would never know that he was hilarious. He was hilarious. And so that's. He was warm and huggy and hilarious. And his idea of a good time was to remember all the jokes he ever heard in his life and all the vaudeville routines that he inhaled and just absorbed like a sponge. You know, he never forgot anything. He had an incredible memory. So he could reproduce entire vaudeville routines that he'd seen as a child and share them with us kids. And we loved hearing all the funny stuff. And the family was full of private jokes and private language, and so there was a lot of laughter in our house. And that's the first place I go to in my memories of my dad.
- [12:46]
Alison Stewart (Host)
I love your dad. Had dad jokes.
- [12:48]
Jamie Bernstein
He did. He had everybody jokes. Some of them quite inappropriate. Oh.
- [12:52]
Alison Stewart (Host)
Oh, okay. Jamie Bernstein's my guest. My show is in select theaters now. I'm gonna ask the same question about your mom. What adjectives would you use to describe your mom?
- [13:01]
Jamie Bernstein
Well, this was. The thing about our mother was that she's really hard to describe. She was from South America and spoke excellent English because she went to English language schools. But she had this hybrid quality in her relationship to the English language. And she, too, was hilarious. She had this razor wit, and she was very quick on the trigger and had this kind of innate elegance and grace and was really artistic. She was a wonderful painter. She was also an actress. I mean, she was just so creative and very loving to all of us. And she also created this fantastic household that grounded all the rest of us, in particular our dad, who would have otherwise would have just gone spiraling off into outer space if she hadn't been providing that grounding.
- [13:55]
Alison Stewart
What's an example of that grounding of something she would do? It could be something small.
- [14:00]
Jamie Bernstein
Silly example is the way my father dressed. He had ridiculous taste in clothing and thought it would be really fun to wear, you know, orange sneakers and a purple sweater and a crazy scarf, you know? And it was our mother who, with her impeccable Taste steered our dad towards dressing really well. That's funny. He did. And in fact, there's a line in the film of Maestro where he credits Felicia with dressing him well. And that left to his own devices, he would look like a clown. And that was in fact, true.
- [14:38]
Alison Stewart
Part of the tension in the film we see is that your mother, who had a strong career, it has to take a backseat to your father's career. Now that you're an adult and you think back to that time, was that a deliberate choice she made or was that the way things were done at that time?
- [14:59]
Jamie Bernstein
That is such a good question, because I think it's both. I think there was a part of her that really thrived on performing. And she loved her theatrical existence, but she also had an element of stage fright that she told us about. So being Mrs. Maestro turned out to be a very convenient excuse to back away from the thing that frightened her. And it was really true that being Mrs. Maestro can be a completely full time job. There was a lot to organize and keep track of and the family itself. And just being the head of a household and all of that really absorbed her time and attention. But I think she was ambivalent about it. All the same, it comes through in.
- [15:49]
Alison Stewart (Host)
The film that your parents really loved each other, even if it wasn't a conventional marriage. And then even if there were these different tensions. What's a way that you remember knowing as a kid that your parents loved each other?
- [16:01]
Jamie Bernstein
Oh, so many ways. Well, in the summers when I was little, when my siblings and I were very young, in the summers, our parents would cook up these scripted plot driven home movies with silent 8 millimeter movie cameras. You know, the kind you take home movies with. Right. But they would write scripts and use funny props and put these stories together. And our mother was kind of the kingpin of the whole project. But they would do it together. And you could just see how much fun they were having together, putting these amazing home movies together with, not just with each other, but with family and friends. And they did part of one of the acts of Tosca, the opera, where my father played Scarpia and our mother played Tosca. And they lip synced to Maria Callas and Tito Gobbi singing. And so you see my mother singing lip syncing Visidarte with Maria Callas voice. And it's good stuff. And she gets to murder him, you know, so, you know, there's a little psychodrama going on there.
- [17:08]
Alison Stewart (Host)
Work some things out that way. My guest, Jimmy Bernstein, Maestro is in theaters now. I'M gonna play a clip. In the film, Carey Mulligan as your mother, Felicia, and she's talking to her sister in law, played by Sarah Silverman, about moments in the marriage which were tough, which were difficult, and how she felt in the marriage about needing your father's attention.
- [17:30]
Alison Stewart
Let's listen.
- [17:33]
Felicia (Character in Film)
He called me, you know, and he wants us all to go to Fairfield together for two weeks. He sounded different. Felicia.
- [17:43]
Alison Stewart
No, I.
- [17:45]
Felicia (Character in Film)
Let's not make excuses. He didn't fail me.
- [17:47]
Jamie Bernstein
It's.
- [17:48]
Felicia (Character in Film)
Felicia. No, it's. It's my own arrogance to think I could survive on what he could give. It's just so ironic. I would look at everyone, even my own children, with such pity because of their longing for his attention. It was. It was sort of a banner I wore so proudly. I don't need, I don't need. And look at me now. Who's the one who hasn't been honest?
- [18:18]
Alison Stewart
She's such a strong woman. They're such a team. But I said the movie is very honest. Your father had sex outside the marriage. He was bisexual. We would say queer. Now, why do you think your parents stayed as married for as long as they did?
- [18:36]
Jamie Bernstein
Well, as you said, because they really adored each other. And something happened when they were together. They created this incredibly inviting, warm environment, not just for us kids, but for all their. The rest of their families and their friends. And everybody loved coming to our house because the vibe was so good there. You know, despite whatever, you know, difficulties or static they may have had or experienced, they created this truly genuine, you know, bonded warmth that everybody loved to be a part of.
- [19:19]
Alison Stewart
I got that from the film, this idea that love looks a lot of different ways.
- [19:23]
Jamie Bernstein
You bet it does. It comes in all flavors.
- [19:27]
Alison Stewart
I was fortunate to get to go to the New York Film Festival premiere at David Geffen hall, where your father worked for so many years. And they turned it into a screening hall for the occasions you were on the panel afterward. What was it like seeing the film in that space?
- [19:42]
Jamie Bernstein
What a thrill it was, especially the sound. They installed all those speakers to make the Dolby Atmos and the sound. I think of it as a co star of the film. It's just such a gigantic presence. And I really hope people see this film in a theater so that they can get that big sound experience and have it sort of, you know, wash over them like a tsunami. It's just thrilling.
- [20:06]
Alison Stewart
What do you hope younger viewers will take away? There are people who, obviously who are listening, who watch the young people's concerts and knew your dad from there. But there are people for whom this is new.
- [20:15]
Jamie Bernstein
Oh, definitely. And you know, most young people today don't really know who Leonard Bernstein was or why. In my opinion, he still matters in the world. And so what I'm really hoping is that two things would happen for those viewers. One, that they would get really curious about learning more about Leonard Bernstein and two, that they would fall in love with Bernstein's music because there's so much of it that we hear on the underscoring of the film. And maybe they'll want to go out and hear more of it.
- [20:47]
Alison Stewart
They could also take a look at those Ruth Orkin pictures of him from Tanglewood. He was a babe.
- [20:52]
Jamie Bernstein
Yes, he was. He was very easy on the eyes.
- [20:56]
Alison Stewart
Jamie Bernstein has been my guest. Definitely. Check out the New York fil story made in New York. The podcast from WQXR Maestro is in select theaters now on Netflix December 20th. Jamie, thanks for spending time with us today.
- [21:08]
Jamie Bernstein
You bet. Anytime, Ellis.
- [21:09]
Alison Stewart
And that's all of it for today. I'm Alison Stewart. I appreciate you listening. I appreciate you. I will meet you back here next time.
- [21:20]
WNYC Studios Announcer
I'm gonna put you on nephew.
- [21:22]
Narrator/Archive Voice
All right.
- [21:22]
Jamie Bernstein
Unk.
- [21:23]
Alison Stewart
Welcome to McDonald's.
- [21:23]
Jamie Bernstein
Can I take your order, miss?
- [21:25]
WNYC Studios Announcer
I've been hitting up McDonald's for years. Now it's back. We need snack wraps. What's a snack wrap? It's the return of something great. Hooray. Snackwrap is back.
- [21:36]
Sarah Gibson
Oh my gosh. Have you been to Marshall's lately? They have all the brand name and designer pieces you love, but without the jaw dropping price tags. Alright, so here's the should never have to compromise between quality and price. And at Marshalls, you don't have to. Marshall's believes everyone deserves access to the good stuff and that's why their buyers hustle around the clock. To make it happen for you, visit a Marshall store near you or shop online at marshalls.
- [22:03]
Alison Stewart
Com.