From the moment he was born, Griffin Dunne was surrounded by people who had good stories to tell, some of which had the virtue of being true.
Narrators included her father, TV and film producer Dominick (Nick) Dunne, her mother Ellen (Renee) Griffin, her aunt, “New Journalism” pioneer Joan Didion, her uncle, screenwriter, novelist, and critic John Gregory Dunne, and many of the celebrities who attended parties hosted by the two “It” couples.
On “The Friday Afternoon Club,” Dan shares anecdotes about A- and B-list entertainers, his mostly wasted youth, his stints as an usher at Radio City Music Hall, an actor and a producer, and his soulmate, Carrie Fisher, with whom he shared a Manhattan apartment while filming “Star Wars.”
But at its core, the memoir is a biography of Griffin's extraordinary and ordinary family, riddled with sexual incompatibility, substance abuse, divorce, career setbacks, financial troubles, sibling feuds, multiple sclerosis, mental illness, the murder of his 22-year-old sister Dominique shortly after her breakthrough in the horror film “Poltergeist,” and the trial of the boyfriend who strangled her to death.
“The Friday Club” is a beautifully written tale of life's tragicomedy: quirky, honest, passionate, heartbreaking and moving.
Decades after the murder trial, Dan remains outraged by the way his lawyer, Mike Adelson, handled the case, and by Judge Katz, who excluded testimony about the defendant's history of violence against women because it could prejudice the jury. After the verdict was handed down, he declared that the murder had been committed with malice and that the sentence for voluntary manslaughter was “insufficient and pitifully inadequate.” Judge Katz has since been demoted to a lower court.
While 80 percent of couples who lose a child divorce, Dan points out that the parents seem to have grown fond of each other again. Renee, who once resented Dominic's bad language and tendency for dark humor, now enjoyed hearing again the story of her ex-husband saying, “Thanks for coming. I hope you had a lovely evening,” as David Selznick suffered a heart attack during a dinner party and was carried out on a stretcher.
Ironically, this tragedy would launch Dominic's second career: in March 1984, Vanity Fair published his essay, “Justice: A Father's Testimony on the Trial of His Daughter's Killer.” Dominic would go on to become a regular contributor to Vanity Fair, the author of a best-selling novel, and the host of a television series about true crime cases involving the wealthy and well-connected, covering the trials of O.J. Simpson, Claus von Bulow, and the Menendez brothers.
Griffin's parents never forgave John Donne and Didion for missing their murder trials. The Donne brothers, estranged for many years, reconciled after meeting by chance in the same cardiologist's office after each had a heart attack.
Perhaps surprisingly, Griffin took his own life in 1990. Despite receiving critical acclaim as producer and star of the film “After Hours,” Dan's self-destructive instincts kicked in and his career stalled, but Griffin did become a father after having a child with his wife, Carey Lowell, his co-star in the flop “Me and Him.”
“Oh, Dominique,” he whispered, “look what I have. Isn't it beautiful?”
“Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir” by Griffin Dunne (Penguin, 400 pages, $30)
