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Home › Relationships

Joan Ganz Cooney | 08/05/2009 11:00 pm

Joan Ganz Cooney and the Arthur Penn Effect

By Joan Ganz Cooney RSS
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In response to: Have you ever sought out the advice of an expert who truly changed you (in looks, career, life, etc.)?
Joan Ganz Cooney
When I was about 25, Arthur Penn, the famous movie director (e.g., "Bonnie and Clyde") was dating my roommate (a girl I had grown up with in Phoenix) and he told me how psychoanalysis had changed his life and urged me to seek it out. I took his advice and it did totally change my life. The psychiatrist I found, a man, talked me out of the idea that I had to marry, have children and move to the suburbs (expected of women of my generation) — a notion that caused me to be depressed — and asked me what made me think I couldn’t fly high solo. The idea transformed my life and while it wasn’t simply happily ever after, it has been on the whole a satisfying life and career.

Read more about: Advice, Arthur Penn, Bonnie and Clyde, Lifestyle, Marriage, Psychology, Society

4 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Linda Myers

Where would this world be without Kermie!Glad you chose differently! My grandson carries around a little one in the oversized fanny pack he wears around the house with his favorite collectibles inside. Your an incredible woman,and I honor the choices you did make.

By Linda Myers on 08/06/2009 1:52 am
Chris Broersma
That was a real gift!  So glad you had someone who was wise and could direct you to such a life changing event in your life!
By Chris Broersma on 08/06/2009 10:47 am
Susan Crawford
What a great gift from Penn to you, Joan! Sometimes a suggestion or tip from a friend tends to bounce off us, but so often those little bouncing suggestions carry a lot of life-changing, life-enhancing meaning. I’m glad you took this piece of advice, since it obviously led you to a creative and fulfilling life. And, like Linda Myers, I think the world would be a much poorer place without Kermie and Miss Piggy and Oscar the Grouch! I wonder what advice a friend gave Arthur Penn that helped him on his way to becoming the great filmmaker he was? I guess the moral of this story might be to "pay it forward" - when you get a piece of great advice, pass the favor along.
By Susan Crawford on 08/08/2009 9:50 am