In September 1968, when New York was just a few months old, a former New York Post reporter named Nora Ephron delivered one of its first great stories. Called “Critics in the World of The Rising Souffle (Or Is It the Rising Meringue?),” it was just about perfect: a witty takedown of the ridiculousness of the internal battles of the food-writing elite, one in which a lot of real reporting was masked by an impossibly light touch. Over the next 44 years, Ephron reappeared in these pages many times, as both a writer and a subject, befitting her New Yorker–about–town life. (Her last story ran here this April, when she wrote about Jean Harris for our anniversary issue on New York scandals throughout history.) For a time, she penned this magazine’s “Women” column, a series of smart, hilarious pieces she later collected in her book Crazy Salad. The inaugural column, which can be found here, appeared in the October 1, 1973 issue.
Related: Noreen Malone on Nora Ephron
Slideshow: Five Great Nora Ephron Movie Scenes
Have good intel? Send tips to [email protected].