Susan Morrison on Lillian Ross’s New Yorker Profile of Hemingway

Seventy-five years ago, Lillian Ross published “How Do You Like It Now, Gentlemen?” in The New Yorker, her longform profile of Hemingway’s 1950 visit to New York City. Ross spent time with Hemingway as he shopped for a coat, visited with Marlene Dietrich, took his son Patrick to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, met with Charles Scribner, and talked enthusiastically about his forthcoming novel, Across the River and into the Trees.

This profile has been polarizing since its publication: Did Ross deliver a subtle takedown? Did Hemingway embarrass himself with his odd mannerisms? Should Hemingway never have agreed to it? Should The New Yorker never have published it? Is this, ultimately, the most intimate and penetrating portrait of the later Hemingway ever written?

To explore this iconic profile and the journalist who wrote it, we welcome Susan Morrison, who serves as Lillian Ross’s literary executor. Morrison is the Articles Editor at The New Yorker and the author of Lorne: The Man Who Invented Saturday Night Live. 

We hope you enjoy this episode and always remember: “what you win in Boston, you lose in Chicago!”