If you ’ve seenA Complete Unknown , theOscar - make filmdirected by James Mangold about the early folk age ofBob Dylan ’s calling , then you know by now that the motion picture finds Dylan caught at a intersection both professionally and romantically .
As the film builds to its climax at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival , we see Dylan ( Timothée Chalamet ) weigh whether or not he should desolate hisfolk rootsto go electric . He also mulls over which of his lovemaking interests — Joan Baez ( Monica Barbaro ) or Sylvie Russo ( Elle Fanning)—to whom he must say , “ It ai n’t me , babe . ”
To watch any biopic is to wrestle with the motion of how much of what ’s unfolding onscreen really happened in real animation . In the guinea pig of Bob Dylan — who is famous for his ego - mythologizing and obfuscation of the truth — the result is that much harder to arrive by . In fact , many would even call it a key idea of the movie .
Thanks to Elijah Wald , who authoredDylan Goes Electric ! : Newport , Seeger , Dylan , and the Nox That Split the Sixties , on which the cinema is based , we know that at least some of what went down in Dylan ’s professional spirit in 1965 and years prior is fair accurate . Yet a triangle is far too bare a shape to represent what went on in Dylan ’s personal life at the time .
Just Like a Woman (Or Three)
The end ofA Complete Unknownfinds Dylan gush off , alone on his motorcycle , having shed not one fancy man butbothBaez and Russo . stirring for the Russo character come in fromSuze Rotolo , Dylan ’s real - spirit girl in the other 1960s , who appeared alongside Dylan on thecoverof his 1963 record album , TheFreewheelin ’ Bob Dylan .
Her name was changed in the photographic film to protect her identity as a individual figure . However , an alternate termination to the movie might have featured both Baez and Russo / Rotolo determine by February 1966 , like most of the rest of the world did , that Dylan was n’t just mysterious — he was also off the market place .
The truth is , there was really a third woman in Dylan ’s life history around this same time , with whom he kept his kinship occult . So unavowed , in fact , that the relationship did n’t even make it intoA Complete Unknownbecause it was n’t public cognition in the summer of 1965 , when the film wrap up up .
But by November 1965 , the singer - songwriter had secretly hook up with a different girlfriend , Sara Lownds . And the reservoir of that spill secret ? None other than an intrepidcub reporterforThe New York Post , who would eventually go on to become an icon in her own right hand : Nora Ephron .
Tangled Up in Deadlines
Like Dylan , the futureWhen Harry Met Sally … writer was still early on her way toward dada refinement ubiquity , as she was only a few years into her first major fizgig atThe New York Post . Ephron had been granted a two - workweek run afterwritinga divisive parody of Leonard Lyons ’s column during theNew York City paper hit of 1962–1963 .
“ Do n’t be silly , ” thePost ’s then - owner Dorothy Schifffamously saidin response . “ If they can parody thePost , they can indite for it . engage them . ”
A new reporter still getting her feet sozzled , Ephron get down out as a worldwide - designation newsman , “ narrow down in froth , ” as she onceput it . Ephron track everything from thefirst arrival of The Beatlesin New York City in 1964 to Bobby Kennedy ’s senate run .
She had actually interviewed Dylan , along with fellow author Susan Edmiston , following his August 1965 show at Forest Hills Stadium;that interviewwasn’t published in its entireness until years after . But it was her scoop on his secret nuptials — which was entirely separate from that interview — that really helped cement her status as an up - and - coming reporter to watch .
No one had any reason to believe the mysterious folk singer was hitch — until Ephron put it in print .
Love Minus Zero Meets Some Limits
Albert Grossman might have managed Dylan ’s music career , but his married woman , Sally Grossman , gave Dylan an assist when it come to his romantic one .
harmonize to Sally Grossman , Dylanmet his future wifethrough her in 1964 . A former Playboy bunny , Lownds — who was born Shirley Noznisky — was form as asecretary for Time - Life Films , the film production division at the Time & Life construction in New York City . Like Dylan , she had her own romantic baggage — namely in the form of an ex - husband , lensman Hans Lownds , with whom she shared a girl , Maria . ( Some accounts claim they werestill marriedwhen she met Dylan . )
Although Rotolo wasseemingly out of the pictureat this point , Baez was n’t wholly . Baez and Dylan first connect in the New York City folk scene in 1961 . Baez hadhelped encourage Dylan ’s profileby show his call and receive him to play onstage with her . Still , the strain of their relationship proved moderately disruptive , eventuallyeven inspiringsongs , including Baez ’s 1975 hit “ Diamonds & Rust . ” A number of Dylan tracks are also believe to be based off their relationship , like “ She Belongs to Me ” and “ Visions of Johanna , ” the latter of which appeared onBlonde on Blonde , his seminal 1966 double LP .
Their relationship strike its breaking power point when Baez accompanied Dylan on his now - legendary tour of England in 1965 . The tour — and the capricious nature of Baez and Dylan ’s relationship — was capture byD.A. Pennebakerin his documentaryDont Look Back , publish in 1967 .
slightly ironically , it was Lownds who in reality introduced Dylan to Pennebaker , as she worked with him at Time & Life . InDylan : A Biography , Bob Spitz writes about the early human relationship between Sara and the singer , note , “ Their affairhad blossom justly under Joan ’s unsuspecting olfactory organ . It happened naturally , without any public curiosity to intervene with it . feel the speculation it would evoke , Bob kept Sara out of the glare and by from the sept scene . Not even his friends were aware that Bob had a new lady love . Sara was extra . Besides , he ’d be in hot water if Joan ever experience wind of her . ”
The Stories, They Are A-Changin’
For a rockstar , the marriage ceremony was a subdued matter , held in in Mineola , Long Island , in the chamber of Nassau Supreme Court Judge Manuel Levine . Only a few close friends and confidant were present , including Albert Grossmanand his attorney , Saul Pete Pryor .
Dylaninitially deniedthe wedlock , both in public and privately . “ I do n’t hope to be like anybody . Getting marry , having a cluster of kids , I have no hopes for it . If it happens , it find . Whatever my hope , it never turn out . I do n’t think anybody ’s a seer , ” Dylan allege in an interview withChicago Daily News , which ran just a week after the wedding ceremony .
And whencongratulations were attemptedby his booster Ramblin ’ Jack Elliot around December 1965 , Dylan continued his protestations . “ I ’m not married , Jack , ” Dylan replied . “ We ’re quondam crony . Do n’t you think I would ’ve tell you if I got marry ? ”
Unfortunately for Dylan , his evasions were no match for Ephron ’s sharp reporting instincts . On February 9 , 1966,the story ranunder the headline “ Hush ! Dylan is We d. ” With her key signature wit already on presentation , Ephron compose : “ Bobby — as his friend call the blurred - haired well - sell songster and vocalist — does not want anyone to know he is married , nor does he desire anyone to know to whom he is married . ”
Ephron ’s article also think over as to the logical thinking why Dylan might put up such intense safety rail between himself and the world . “ Dylan , 24 , is reticent about his private life , the friend said , because several years ago he put a pic of a girl friend on an record album cover . ”
This was a direct reversion to his experiences with Rotolo — and even depict inA Complete Unknownwhen Dylan pulls Russo into the photoshoot forThe Freewheelin ’ Bob Dylan . “ When he make it with { Rotolo } in Newport for the Folk Festival one summer , there were thousand of little teen girls dress exactly like the girl on the cover . This so enraged Dylan , said the friend , that he vowed never again to expose the women in his life sentence to such promotional material . ”
Ephron ’s scoop did n’t recite the whole history , though — Dylan had one arcanum he managed to keep . In January 1966 , Lownds gave nativity to theirfirst childtogether , Jesse Byron Dylan . The fact that Lownds was pregnant at the time of the hymeneals goes entirely unmentioned in the article . ( The couple would go on to have three more children together , includingJakob Dylan , the succeeding frontman for The Wallflowers . )
It ’s ill-defined if Ephron ’s work ever intersected with Dylan again , but two things can be said for trusted : Throughout the rest of his illustrious career , Dylan ’s music and lyrics inspired millions worldwide , and he continued tomassage his public personaand mythology .
Ephron herself became a home name , too . Her 1983 record , Heartburn , is a semi - autobiographic account of the remainder of her spousal relationship to famedWashington Postinvestigative journalistCarl Bernstein , and the 1986 covert adaptation star Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson . But it was her piece of work as a film writer and film director , thanks to film likeSleepless in SeattleandYou’ve Got Mail , that really cemented her legacy , even as she persist in to tell truths people in all likelihood would havepreferredshe did n’t .
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