Daniel Okrent

She was a socialite.

She liked to be around famous people.

And she liked to eat nearly, not every day, but certainly every week at the 21 Club, where all the stylish people of the era would go.

And she would go with friends who were in show business or not.

These were the ladies who lunched.

They were the subject of that song, and they were the object of his distaste.

I don't think that Sondheim was aiming at anybody else but his mother.

But he was thinking of this group of women when he wrote that coruscating, acidic, and hilarious song.

Well, he was direct with them.

I think that Oscar, as he must be known, Oscar was the most important male figure in his life.

Oscar dies when Sondheim is just about 30.

But for those 30 years, there was no one he was closer with and no one for whom he had more regard.

And worth saying, he didn't have regard for Hammerstein's work as a lyricist.

even though Hammerstein was at that point the most prominent and successful lyricist on Broadway.

But as a nurturing personality, he valued him immensely.

And part of the nurturing that Oscar brought to the relationship was to be frank with him so that when the young Steve is trying to write music or write a play,

Oscar would be very direct with him.

He said, sorry, this is no good.

You're trying to pretend you're somebody other than you are.

Write what you know.