Waldorf Astoria New York

Art Deco hotel on Park Avenue, Manhattan. In Tom Hanks’s ‘A Junket in the City of Light’ the New York leg of the press tour opens in its ballroom.

At a glance

Source	Author	Role	In one line
Uncommon Type	Tom Hanks	setting	The New York leg opens with a press conference where Willa talks for thirty minutes before Rory gets a question.

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Uncommon Type — Tom Hanks (2017)

Source: Uncommon Type · Original · Readwise highlight

Four days of junket were held in New York City, starting with a press conference staged in the ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria, attended by 152 media outlets.

• Role: setting
• In the book: The New York leg opens with a press conference where Willa talks for thirty minutes before Rory gets a question. Rory then spends twenty minutes at each table answering the same three questions, followed by fifty-seven TV interviews in the Media Center on the eighth floor. The premiere is moved to cinemas after a storm threat.
• Why it matters: It lays out the repetitive grind of the junket and the ‘kiss for the ages’ line that shows Irene’s coaching.