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= Marian Christy = Marian Christy (born November 9, 1932) is a former American newspaper and broadcast journalist. She was an award-winning Fashion Editor for The Boston Globe from 1965-1979. Thereafter she originated the conversation-style interview technique while working for The Boston Globe as a celebrity journalist until 1991. She authored four books about her experiences   and is currently an artist who invented Knifed Watercolors®, an expressionist watercolor painting style using palette knives instead of brushes. Her artwork is in the permanent collection of the New Britain Museum of American Art and art galleries around the United States.1[note: probably best not to use her website as a source at this stage] Her manuscripts, books, photographs, television scripts and other historic materials are collected in the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University.2 [note: best to leave this as an external link in link section] Joining The Boston Globe as Fashion Editor in June 1965 after several years at Women’s Wear Daily, Christy attracted national and international renown with her editorialized coverage of the major European couture salons, which was syndicated by the UPI in over 100 newspapers. Her columns received over 30 national and international writing awards, including three Penney-Missouri Awards (According to Voss, this honor was often described as the Pulitzer Prize of feature writing6 and was renamed the Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Awards in 19947). She was the first woman to receive the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, “Al Merito della Repubblica Italiana,” rank of Cavaliere, for her reporting on Italian fashion. By 1970 Christy was also winning awards for her regular television reporting on WBZ-TV Eyewitness News in Boston, covering the latest fashion and lifestyle trends.

Christy stepped down as Fashion Editor in November 1979 after coming under pressure from two local retailers to write editorials promoting their merchandise. Rather than compromise her standards, she switched to writing feature stories based on interviews with well-known people in a variety of fields,10,11 including “fashion, politics, entertainment, and popular culture.”2 Early in her career she did traditional question-and-answer format interviews along with her fashion reporting, but gradually she began using a more personal style. By January 1981 she was given her own byline, Conversations By Marian Christy, as she pioneered her original approach to celebrity journalism.12 Christy’s innovation was widely imitated and by 1999 had “become the norm on lifestyle pages across the country.”13 Instead of the customary Q&A structure, “Conversations” were written with a brief introduction about the subject followed by uninterrupted passages of the celebrity’s candid statements which often exposed more than the subjects intended14,15 due to Christy’s ability to relate to the interviewees on a personal level.16 Christy’s biweekly columns in The Boston Globe were published simultaneously by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate and New York Times Syndicate2 and were twice nominated for a Pulitzer.1,15 Christy published the first of four books about her interviewing experiences and personal history in 1984, Invasions of Privacy,11 while still at The Boston Globe. At the end of 1991, Christy left The Boston Globe after 26 years when she was asked to write and host The Monitor Channel’s “Lifestyles with Marian Christy” cable television program, signing a three-year contract which ended 11 months later when the Monitor Channel was abruptly shut down due to financial difficulties.17,18,19 Thereafter Christy was a frequent contributor to the New York Times Syndicate and in 1998 was made the first media director of Boston University’s Special Collections.20 She published three additional books based on her thousands of interviews between 1998 and 2007.12,20,21 After retiring from newspaper and television journalism, Christy embarked on a second career that she calls “Chapter Two,” 22 returning to the watercolor painting she had enjoyed in her youth. She had her first solo show in 2005.23 Christy developed a novel technique using palette knives instead of brushes which gives her artwork a highly textural, active surface.22 This technique is so unique for watercolor paintings that she was granted a registered trademark for her Knifed Watercolors® in 2014.24 She continues painting, exhibiting and working to improve her technique.1

Early Life and Education
Marian Christy began her life in Ridgefield, Connecticut on November 9, 1932, the oldest of four children born to Peter S. and Anna (Saba) Christy.25,26,27 The family relocated to Cambridge, Massachusetts when Christy was a baby. Her father, a Greek immigrant, was a prominent Boston restaurant owner and her mother a business school graduate who gave up her career to raise the family.15,28 Christy became interested in writing while attending the Ellis School in Cambridge, when she wrote the fourth grade class play.29,30 After graduating from Cambridge High and Latin School in 1950,31 Christy was required to begin working instead of attending college. She started as a file clerk for the Massachusetts State Police, then moved to the Massachusetts Department of Commerce, while also working as a freelance journalist and taking evening classes at Boston University and Harvard University’s Extension School. When she was in her early twenties, Christy proposed a “Made in Massachusetts” fashion marketing concept to the Commissioner of Commerce and Development, suggesting they collaborate with local merchants to hold lunchtime musical fashion shows for the press, using singers and dancers to promote the state’s fashion industry.3,4 While the Commissioner was receptive, he was not able to fund the endeavor. Christy created, wrote and produced the events4 with Boston businesses, singers and dancers who participated without compensation. These successful productions were noticed by Women’s Wear Daily, a branch of New York-based Fairchild Publications, which offered her a job as a feature fashion writer within a year of launching the Boston fashion shows.28,31,32 Christy remained at Women’s Wear Daily for six years.31 Meanwhile she continued her evening studies at Boston University, receiving her journalism degree in 1956.3,33

Journalism and Writing Career
Christy’s writing for Women’s Wear Daily attracted the attention of The Boston Globe, which offered her the job of Fashion Editor in May of 1965.3 The job involved extensive travel as she covered the haute couture shows in Paris, Rome, Madrid, Barcelona, Athens, London, and Dublin for an average of three months each year4 in addition to shuttling between Boston and New York on a weekly basis.32,33 Her columns were characterized by pointed, sometimes humorous, editorial commentary rather than basic factual reporting and were soon picked up by the UPI, running in 104 different newspapers.34 She also began winning many journalism awards,4,35,36,37,38,39,40 with one international, 13 national, and three state awards in her first four years at The Boston Globe.4,37 She was named the nation’s top fashion writer by the J.C. Penney-University of Missouri Awards three times, in 1966, 1968, and 1971.1,4,5,6,7 Christy’s unflattering comments about the French couture shows31 and the irrelevance of designer fashions in 1970 briefly caused the revocation of her press card by La Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne, the organization of French couturiers which regulates media relations.41,42 She made statements such as, “French fashion has shown signs of losing its supremacy;”43 “French couture is on shaky ground. . . today’s woman is very independent and wants to do her own thing. There’s much less blind obedience of Paris dictates;”44 “French fashion may not survive the 70s. Designers. . . will not accept the fact that contemporary women simply won’t be dictated to like a flock of unthinking sheep. . . . French designers have put their collective heads on the guillotine.”45 Unfazed by the press card revocation, Christy continued to pen critical remarks with a “progressive, sociological approach” when she felt they were warranted,34 pointing out that impractical Parisian couture is “intended only for the rich-and-privileged”46 rather than ordinary women without access to limousines.47 Christy did not reserve her censure for French designers; in July 1975 she wrote, “Italian couture shows … closed in Rome yesterday and the best thing that can be said about fall-winter 1976 clothes is that they’re conversation pieces.”48 In September 1978 she disparaged American designers for being “nothing more than translators who glorify the trends from the street, campus, and discotheques.”49

Increasingly throughout the 1970s Christy’s columns supported the right of women to choose their own styles rather than having seasonal looks be dictated by designers. She wrote in February 1978, “Fashion is not a life or death matter of pursuing the latest ins and outs. There are no rigid rules. . ." 50 That September she exhorted, “The worst mistake a woman can do is become a slave to fashion . . . . Don’t make a fashion fool of yourself . . . . rely on your sense of reason.”51 Comments of this nature irked two of The Boston Globe’s major department store advertisers, who complained that Christy should help market the styles they were trying to sell instead of criticizing or dismissing them. In late 1979, Christy was given an ultimatum by her editor: either promote local retail offerings or leave her position as Fashion Editor to conduct celebrity interviews. Refusing to compromise her principles, she stepped down.10,15,34,52

Christy’s first celebrity interview had taken place before she joined The Boston Globe, when she interviewed actress and singer Julie Andrews while still a feature writer for Women’s Wear Daily.5 Interspersed with her fashion reportage and commentary over her 14 years as The Boston Globe’s Fashion Editor were hundreds of interviews with famous people, among them Olympic skater Peggy Fleming,53 Boston Pops conductor Arthur Fiedler,54 actor Cary Grant,55 comedienne Lucille Ball,56 musician Dave Brubeck,57 fighter Mohammed Ali,58 author Truman Capote,59 jewelry designer Paloma Picasso,60 artist Jamie Wyeth,61 and singer Tony Bennett. 62,63 Initially the focus of the features was on the designer clothing favored by the celebrities, such as a 1970 column about then-23-year-old Liza Minnelli which described her gowns by Halston and Galanos and her “signature” tuxedo pantsuit by Yves Saint Laurent.64 Later interviews discussed fashion less and presented a more complete biographical portrait of the subject, such as in another column about Minnelli two years later which thoroughly profiles the actress and only briefly mentions that her entire wardrobe was designed by Halston.65

Christy’s biweekly celebrity interview articles continued winning journalism awards,66 and she was given her own byline, Conversations By Marian Christy, in December 1981, debuting with a feature on actress Raquel Welch.67 Over the course of her interview work, Christy discovered that taking an empathetic approach yielded more meaningful results.15 She began probing subjects for the emotional context of their circumstances and presented them in a new article format beginning in January 1982 with a piece about Anna Hauptmann, the elderly widow of the man convicted of and executed for kidnapping and killing the Lindbergh baby.68 Christy’s new structure gave a brief prologue introducing the celebrity and then presented a series of first person quotes strung together as a soliloquy by the subject.68,69 Her ability to get celebrities to speak freely and reveal intimate details about their private lives quickly made her nationally syndicated column “one of the most popular in the city’s [Boston] press.”15 Her columns were described as “marked with an honesty and a clarity that have made her unique among contemporary journalists.”70 She was lauded for her psychotherapist-like “ability to cut through the usual cheery veneer of celebrities and get to the personal grit” 71 about things which interviewees had never publicly revealed, discussing big topics such as success, failure, love, sex, psychological pain, and death. Christy attributed her success to doing thorough background research on her subjects before the interviews and her strategy of sharing her own experiences to help establish a connection, breaking the rules of conventional journalism by becoming emotionally involved with the people she interviewed rather than maintaining a reserved, professional distance during the process.16,71

While continuing her work as a celebrity columnist, in 1984 Christy authored her first book, Invasions of Privacy,11 which detailed the methods she used to write features on celebrities such as Helen Gurley Brown, Nora Ephron, Peter Fonda, Grace Jones, Edward Koch, Ralph Lauren, Jerry Lewis, Diana Nyad, Norman Vincent Peale, Nancy Reagan, Elizabeth Taylor, Jessica Savitch, Sylvester Stallone, Mike Wallace, and many others.71,72,73 She continued working at The Boston Globe for another seven years. By the time of Christy’s retirement she had been twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and received 30 national and international journalism awards.1,13,15,32 She received academic awards as well, including a Distinguished Alumni Award in 1985 from Boston University’s College of Communication for “standards of excellence in journalism.” In 1987 she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by Franklin Pierce College.1,22,33 The following year she presented her papers to the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University.1,2 The profile statement on the Gotlieb’s website reads, "Christy’s courageous and powerful pioneering journalism – recording in a regular newspaper format the great voices of our time – has resulted in her being called 'the literary Oprah Winfrey.' She is known for her amazing ability to penetrate the veneer of celebrity and get to the heart, mind and soul of her famous subjects."2,32 In June 1990 Christy was honored at the Ritz-Carlton in Boston, where many of her interviews took place, with a gala to celebrate her 25th anniversary at The Boston Globe. Around 150 luminaries paid her tribute, including Count Pablo Manzoni, Vidal Sassoon, Boston University president John Silber, Channel 4 news anchor Liz Walker, author Mary Higgins Clark, Senator Eugene McCarthy, and Tufts University president Dr. Jean Mayer. Many of her former interviewees were in attendance and stated that Christy’s ability to establish a connection moved them to unintentionally disclose personal information, including child psychologist Dr. Lee Salk. Others provided insights into Christy’s technique, such as Rutgers University Dean of Women Coral Lansbury, who described Christy as “the Boswell of our times,”20 noting that her skill lay in her “power of sympathetic identification.”74

Christy left the newspaper at the end of 1991 when she was asked to write and host The Monitor Channel’s “Lifestyles with Marian Christy” cable television program, signing a three-year contract which ended 11 months later when the Monitor Channel was abruptly shut down due to financial difficulties.18,19,20 Guests on the show included designers Bill Blass and Oscar de la Renta, flute virtuoso Sir James Galway, comedienne Joan Rivers, actress Jean Stapleton, and many others.2 Thereafter Christy was a frequent contributor to the New York Times Syndicate and in 1998 was named the first Media Director of Boston University’s Special Collections, hosting formal press events honoring celebrities such as Prince Albert of Monaco and actress Meryl Streep. Her documentaries on these celebrities are in the Gotlieb Archives.2,18,20,21,32 In 1998 Christy published her second book, Marian Christy’s Conversations: Famous Women Speak Out.12 The book is a compendium of 51 interviews previously published in The Boston Globe with new commentary and observations, along with a prologue and epilogue that describe Christy’s challenges as a woman in achieving her education and career goals. The collection focuses on the experiences of women who overcame challenges and adversity.13,75,76,77 In October 2003, the fine stationery manufacturer Crane & Company featured a month-long exhibit at its flagship store in Boston of 50 letters written to Christy by celebrities, primarily after her interviews with them. Letter writers included Lauren Bacall, Larry Bird, Tom Brokaw, Julia Child, Sammy Davis Jr., Margaret Mead, Richard Nixon, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Diane Sawyer, Coretta Scott-King, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Barbara Walters, Betty White, Henry Winkler, and many more.32,78 Questions asked by attendees at the exhibit’s opening reception stimulated Christy to publish her third book in 2006, Letters from Legends and the Incredible Interviews that Inspired Them! 78 This book recounts unpublished details surrounding a selection of interviews and reproduces some of the exhibit’s follow-up letters, plus others from notables such as Yoko Ono, Paloma Picasso, Carol Burnett, Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford, Princess Grace, and Ed Sullivan.79,80 Christy’s final book based on her celebrity interview career, Disclosures: Ten Famous Men Revealed, was published in 2007.21,79,81 In it she recalls the challenges of conducting interviews with ten prominent public figures from different professional arenas, including art, theology, fashion, entertainment, sports, science, and literature.

Artistic Career
While working on her third and fourth books, Christy returned to the watercolor painting she had enjoyed in her youth. She held her first solo show of expressionist watercolors in 2005. The work was well received, with seven paintings sold before the exhibit officially opened.23 In 2007 she took part in the Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s Plein Air event, exhibition, and art auction as she prepared her last book for publication.82 Between 2006 and 2010 her paintings were in 15 exhibits nationwide, gaining notice by private collectors. In 2009 and 2010 her solo shows at the Paul Mellon Arts Center at Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut, the Oceola 32 Gallery in Florida, and the Belmont Gallery of Art in Massachusetts debuted works using a novel watercolor painting method. According to the Belmont Gallery of Art website, “Christy’s work features an unusual technique she developed using a palette knife instead of a brush, which gives her paintings a distinctly lush, textural quality.”22 She was granted a registered trademark for her invention of Knifed Watercolors® in 2014.24 She continues to refine her technique and exhibit her work, which is in the permanent collection of the New Britain Museum of American Art and art galleries around the country.1,84 Recent exhibitions include a solo show at The Edward Hopper House in Dec. 2016,83 and participation in numerous juried group exhibitions nationwide, including shows at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod, South Yarmouth, MA; CORE New Art Space, Denver, CO; Lincoln Into Art Gallery, Gettysburg, PA; and Crayola Gallery, Bethlehem, PA, along with many juried online exhibitions and competitions.84