Nora Ephron, a Writer Who Made Sure the Joke Was On Her
Remembering the essayist and screenwriter of films such as “You’ve Got Mail” and “When Harry Met Sally.”
In the trailer for the film “Everything Is Copy,” Nora Ephron describes writers.
“Writers are cannibals,” Ephron says. “They really are. And if you are friends with them and you say anything funny at dinner or anything good happens to you, you are in big trouble.”
Ephron knew from experience. Her writing career took off when, in the 1960s and 1970s, she wrote essays and celebrity profiles for Esquire magazine.
No person or topic was untouchable for Ephron, including herself. The May 1, 1972, issue of Esquire carried an Ephron piece titled, “A Few Words About Breasts.”
In it, Ephron shares her experience of having a smaller chest than many other women. The approach was typical Ephron, making herself the butt of a joke.
As she later said, “When you slip on a banana peel, people laugh at you. But when you tell people you slipped on a banana peel, it’s your laugh.”
“When you tell people you slipped on a banana peel, it’s your laugh.” — Nora Ephron
