This Conversation Has Stood the Test of Time
It’s somewhat surprising that the inspiration for the JCC’s Conversations series What Everyone’s Talking About with Abigail Pogrebin, celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, came not from its host’s illustrious broadcast news background, but rather her first book, Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish, published in 2005. “The book involved conversations with prominent Americans who had two things in common: They were famous and they were Jewish. And just seeing what could happen with those kinds of conversations, and how people could go to a more revealing or honest place if the questions put them at ease, that was something I wanted more of,” she recalls.
“I never strategized how to become an interviewer,” says Pogrebin, who spent much of her career as a producer for other journalists, including broadcasting legends Mike Wallace, Ed Bradley, Bill Moyers, and Fred Friendly. “I was focused just on being a journalist, which meant working behind the scenes.” It was her job to pre-interview story subjects to determine if they would make “strong television,” and, at 60 Minutes, prepare the correspondents for on-air interviews. “It was sometimes frustrating to do all that background and not sit at the table,” she says. Ten years ago, Rabbi Joy Levitt, the JCC’s executive director, encouraged her to step out from behind the scenes. Today, Pogrebin says, “I could not be prouder to be on the JCC team.” In recognition of her contributions to the JCC over the past 10 years, she is receiving the JCC Impact Award at the Annual Benefit on June 11. Pogrebin says her natural curiosity makes every interview a pleasure. “I’m curious about people. It was a dream of mine to talk to people who interest me in an open forum that feels more like an intimate conversation in a public space.”
Her first guest at the JCC was former New York City Mayor Ed Koch. After that, the series took off. “People who had new books out wanted to come—they had something timely they wanted to talk about. That was a natural fit for this audience.” As far as filling the 240-seat Goldman-Sonnenfeldt Family Auditorium went, “we set a high bar pretty early on.”
While Pogrebin is the face of the series, behind the scenes, the JCC’s Lambert Center for Arts and Ideas team works with her to book the guests, produce the events, prepare them for podcasts the JCC will later do, and more. In addition, generous funding by Zabar's and Zabars.com has helped keep the conversations going for the past decade. “We’ve welcomed thousands of audience members into the JCC through this marquee series,” says Megan Whitman, director of the JCC’s Lambert Center for Arts and Ideas. “Many people are hooked on Abby’s wit and interview style, and they trust her to open them up to new ideas or rarely revealed aspects of people.”
As casual as her conversations with guests appear, Pogrebin’s research is anything but. “Each interview takes weeks—and hours and hours—of preparation. Part of it is because I want to read the book we’re talking about; I want to read other books they’ve written. I want to see and read other interviews they’ve done. I want them to be on their toes because they don’t always know where I’m going. I want it to feel fresh. And for that, you need to do a lot of work.” Such research is key to establishing a personal connection with her guests, with whom she also spends time in the auditorium’s green room prior to each interview. “There has to be a sense of trust, and you don’t have a lot of time to forge it when you’re meeting someone for the first time. It’s in the green room that I think the preparation signals to a guest that I’ve done my homework and take this very seriously.”
The Importance of Influences
Pogrebin is part of a veritable journalism dynasty. She and her identical twin, Robin, who writes on art and architecture for The New York Times, are the daughters of Letty Cottin Pogrebin, an author and a founding editor of Ms. magazine, and labor lawyer Bert Pogrebin. “I grew up in a house where there was a lot going on,” she says. “Mom was on the front lines of a major justice movement and was also running a magazine and writing articles and books and having conversations with us all the time and very involved in our lives. There’s no question that writing had a big presence in our home. It was just kind of in the water.” Fred Friendly, for whom she worked on a series of roundtable discussions while she was still in college, gave her “a rigor around journalistic ethics.“ Friendly’s executive producer, Cynthia McFadden, was a “really important mentor because she was a strong female leader. She didn’t only encourage me…she was a role model in not apologizing for your intelligence or your ability to lead. “There was no question that I learned from working for Bill Moyers. He was one of those iconic storytellers. Later, at 60 Minutes, particularly with Don Hewitt, Ed Bradley, Mike Wallace, and Lesley Stahl, there was no greater laboratory for sharpening what a story requires but also what your responsibility is when you tell it.”
Surprising Moments
At What Everyone’s Talking About, Pogrebin takes her responsibility—to her guest and audience—seriously. But because the conversations aren’t scripted, there are often surprises. When actor Alan Cumming spoke about his relationship with his dad, she recalls, “he was much more honest and revealing than anyone had anticipated. Seeing someone who’s often seen in a comedic light talk about something so personal is something I won’t forget.”
Nora Ephron, in 2011, was “an amazing interview. But there were certain places she didn’t want to go, and you never knew it until you hit a nerve and she basically shut it down. Those were tricky moments.” During her interview with her own mother, following Letty Pogrebin’s experience with breast cancer and the release of the elder Pogrebin’s book that came out of it, How to Be a Friend to a Friend Who’s Sick, she admits to “being nervous for all kinds of reasons. I prepared like I always would. Just because it was my mom, I didn’t want it to feel like I was flying by the seat of my pants.” In 2018, writer and feminist Roxane Gay, discussing a childhood assault and weight issues, made an unforgettable impression. “She had a tremendous generosity in finding humor where she could, and she had an incredible fan base—they were clearly a real support structure,” Pogrebin says. But being on the receiving end of difficult topics, even though she is aware of them, still affects her. “There’s no question there are moments where I’m struggling myself with what a guest endured or how hard the truth is to hear. “Ultimately I feel like it’s a success when someone’s honest. I don’t necessarily want people to go to the deepest dark places, but I don’t want to get stuck in vanilla kinds of stories either. I think there are times when they have a story in mind that they want to tell but they’re relying on me to guide it. My mind is never off duty…I’m always thinking where I’m going next.” After 10 years, she’s learned that “I have to stay on top of the energy of an interview. It’s not that I am controlling it—but more steering, nudging, drawing out, finding moments to wake everybody up again.” Her conversation in 2014 with singer/songwriter Rosanne Cash, who performed in between segments, was “magical. The music became so integrated with her story. I was both interviewer and audience member.” Having family members, including son Benjamin, now 22, and daughter Molly, 20, “grow up with the series” has been another highlight. In the end, she says, “I want people to feel glad that they came, and that there’s a reason they’re in the room.” Still on her dream guest list: Michelle Obama and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Sherri Lerner is the former editorial director at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan. She has written and edited for numerous publications and is currently on the staff of the Wechsler Center.