When asked about Ryan Murphy’s newest show, FX’s “Love Story,” which tells the tale of his late uncle John F. Kennedy Jr’s romance with Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, Jack Schlossberg told viewers: “I would just want people who do watch the show to watch it with one letter in mind, and that’s a capital F for fiction.”
That’s a good rule of thumb when you’re watching any kind of scripted historical film or series, especially those created without any real involvement from its subjects. But it seems especially true about this show, which tends to embellish and invent scenarios, sometimes to the actual harm of its subjects.
Take, for example, Calvin Klein, the renowned designer, born Richard Klein, the Bronx-reared son of Hungarian and Galician Jewish immigrants. In Town & Country, Bridget Foley writes that the show portrays Klein “as nearly lovestruck around Carolyn, agog and accepting of her every suggestion, when a stronger, reverse influence is far more plausible.” To boot, she says “Love Story” gets Bessette’s acclaimed fashion sense wrong.
So did Calvin Klein actually set up John Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette?
In the show’s first episode, we see Klein introduce Kennedy and Bessette, who worked for the designer, at a fundraiser for the Amazon rainforest. “You’re going to thank me for this,” Klein, played by Alessandro Nivola, tells Bessette, played by Sarah Pidgeon.
In reality, that actual fundraiser scene is more fiction than fact, but several accounts say that Klein did introduce these two lovebirds. What a mitzvah!
Foley, who worked at Women’s Wear Daily and W magazine in the 90s, recalls that the two “met not at a party, but at the Calvin Klein office, when Calvin himself assigned Carolyn to shepherd John through a ‘personal order’ appointment. I remember clearly the portrait of Carolyn that ran with our story — her blue eyes crystal pools, even in black-and-white; her hair not yet perfectly straight, and darker than the blonde the world would come to remember. At least Ryan Murphy’s ‘Love Story’ gets that right.”
That seems to align with what “Once Upon a Time: The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy” author Elizabeth Beller recounts in her book. She writes that Klein chose Bessette to fit the young Kennedy scion for a suit in the Calvin Klein showroom.
In “JFK Jr.: An Intimate Oral Biography,” which affirms that Klein matched the two for a fitting, authors RoseMarie Terenzio and Liz McNeil note that Kennedy first saw Bessette at a party thrown by the theater company Naked Angels.
Was Calvin Klein really upset that Carolyn chose a different designer for her wedding dress?
According to Beller’s book, Klein, who loved and appreciated Bessette, was very upset when she left the company. “He felt left behind,” a former colleague told Beller. However, unlike in episode 6, Klein did not feel betrayed when she chose a different designer, Narciso Rodriguez, for her wedding dress. The author writes that Bessette only started planning her wedding after she left the company.
Actor Alessandro Nivola connected with Klein’s Jewish immigrant roots, but never actually met with the designer.
When it comes to its Jewish characters, “Love Story” does seem to be fairly concerned with authentic casting. Ed Schlossberg, John’s brother-in-law, is played by renowned Jewish actor Ben Shenkman (“Pi,” “Angels in America,” “The Chicago 7,” “Billions”). Adam Grupper, who plays Maurice Tempelsman, Jackie O’s Jewish confidant and caretaker, is Jewish and previously played a mohel in “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” Michael Berman, Kennedy Jr’s business partner, is played by Jewish actor Michael Nathanson (“The Knick”). He even wishes JFK Jr. a hearty mazel tov in episode 5.
(We must also mention that Terenzio, who was Kennedy’s executive assistant, is played by our colleague, the Jewish actor Lily Lester.)
Nivola, too, has Jewish roots and has played several Jewish characters, including in “The Brutalist” and “The Big Cigar.”
The grandson of a Jewish Holocaust refugee said it was Klein’s voice that really connected him to the designer. “They had offered me the job, and I didn’t know what he looked or sounded like. I didn’t really know anything about him. I just looked up an interview with him when the offer first came in. The minute that I heard his voice, his whole personal history was there. The Bronx sound of having grown up there, the son of Jewish immigrants and gone to public school,” Nivola told The Hollywood Reporter, “On the other hand, the cosmopolitan, international, fashion society world was in there too, his complex sexuality — everything to me, I could hear immediately.”
Nivola did not meet or speak with Klein when preparing for the role, but he did read Beller’s book and a biography of Klein. (Before the show aired, he ended up sitting in the same restaurant as Klein and his boyfriend, Kevin Baker.)
“I didn’t want to bother him. It was just an amazing coincidence,” Nivola recalled.
While Nivola’s Klein and his scenes in the series may be somewhat fictional, one thing is for sure: thanks to the show, a whole new generation is fascinated by the life and work of Calvin Klein, who forever changed the world of fashion. One writer even lobbied for a spinoff centering on Nivola’s Klein, which I’m sure many would enjoy.
Creating Jewish Connection All Year. We may have closed the door on Passover, but our doors stay open thanks to you! Your support ensures that laughter, community, and Jewish joy remain accessible for all.
