No they explained it. His older brother took off and wasn't capable of taking care of it. It eventually went bankrupt and they sold it. She lived off the income. He had two younger siblings as well. But the focus was on the love story between Joanne and Paul, and less on their siblings and families.
Here's the details if you are really curious:
"The fate of "Newman's father's store" depends on which store is being referenced. One famous chain, Newman's Department Store, went bankrupt in 1987 and closed all locations in 1988, with its final mall location being bought by another department store. Another store, the historic Newman-Stern building in Cleveland, was sold in 1950 by the Newman family, with the business later closing in 1973 after being acquired by another company."
His mother had money, and he did take care of her financially at various points, but for the most part they were estranged (for good reasons). Part of the estrangement was due to the fact that his mother wanted him to run the family business - but he didn't. And she could never accept his career choices. I think maybe his half-brother worked in it for a bit. I don't remember. I was admittedly surprised by it - because I thought Newman was a football player or jock for some reason or other. He wasn't.
I can see why you missed it. I had to rewind a lot. It jumps through things quickly. And we jump back and forth to the documentarians on Zoom discussing what we saw. Plus a lot of film footage. It's not done in the traditional way of docs - like Joel's for instance. I personally found that interesting, but I'm admittedly a process geek.
Also from some of the asides throughout? I got the strong feeling that neither were close to their extended families. They refer to each other as "orphans" in various interviews. Joanne was really just close to her step-mother, and Newman was estranged from his family.
That's not uncommon? I have extended family members who are estranged. And I know a lot of folks who are.
**
It's also hard to go into depth on extended family members or childhood. The documentarians have to get the family members to sign off on it (extended -- is much harder than immediate, and of course the dead and their estates, and the information available). There's a lot of reasons.
I just saw the last episode. And I think Newman destroyed the tapes for a completely different reason than reveal of the five year affair with Woodward, (most people already knew that - that was made public fifty years ago - I know this because my mother stated it), and the alcoholism (also kind of knew it - again mother knew about it), but he felt it was exploitative to talk about his family in that way, and possibly a tad vain to talk about himself - so in a fit of shame and self-revulsion destroyed the tapes, and stopped recording them. [I just saw the last episode - and it's what I picked up from it. That Newman realized that he didn't want to do that after going into counseling with his daughter - which was around the same time period (1990s).] It's emphasized at various points that both Woodward and Newman were famously "private" and rarely discussed too much of their private lives. It blew my mind that he'd consider doing a memoir. Also, I'm not sure how much of the information from extended family was transcribed or released? Newman may have talked to some of them - and they may have expressed their discomfort of being talked about in a memoir. If you think about it? Most of the people in the documentary are fellow actors and directors - who are famous in their own right? There's only a handful - mainly grandchildren, and a few of their kids, Joanne's stepmother and the ex-wife (who I think is dead) that participated.
So, I do believe, that Hawk's hands were partially tied in that respect, remember Newman's kids hired him to do the documentary and I believe that Newman and Woodward were to an extent estranged or not that close to extended family, they may have saw them at holidays here or there, but that may have been it? Or letters?
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2025-11-18 07:05 pm (UTC)Here's the details if you are really curious:
"The fate of "Newman's father's store" depends on which store is being referenced. One famous chain, Newman's Department Store, went bankrupt in 1987 and closed all locations in 1988, with its final mall location being bought by another department store. Another store, the historic Newman-Stern building in Cleveland, was sold in 1950 by the Newman family, with the business later closing in 1973 after being acquired by another company."
His mother had money, and he did take care of her financially at various points, but for the most part they were estranged (for good reasons). Part of the estrangement was due to the fact that his mother wanted him to run the family business - but he didn't. And she could never accept his career choices. I think maybe his half-brother worked in it for a bit. I don't remember. I was admittedly surprised by it - because I thought Newman was a football player or jock for some reason or other. He wasn't.
I can see why you missed it. I had to rewind a lot. It jumps through things quickly. And we jump back and forth to the documentarians on Zoom discussing what we saw. Plus a lot of film footage. It's not done in the traditional way of docs - like Joel's for instance. I personally found that interesting, but I'm admittedly a process geek.
Also from some of the asides throughout? I got the strong feeling that neither were close to their extended families. They refer to each other as "orphans" in various interviews. Joanne was really just close to her step-mother, and Newman was estranged from his family.
That's not uncommon? I have extended family members who are estranged. And I know a lot of folks who are.
**
It's also hard to go into depth on extended family members or childhood. The documentarians have to get the family members to sign off on it (extended -- is much harder than immediate, and of course the dead and their estates, and the information available). There's a lot of reasons.
I just saw the last episode. And I think Newman destroyed the tapes for a completely different reason than reveal of the five year affair with Woodward, (most people already knew that - that was made public fifty years ago - I know this because my mother stated it), and the alcoholism (also kind of knew it - again mother knew about it), but he felt it was exploitative to talk about his family in that way, and possibly a tad vain to talk about himself - so in a fit of shame and self-revulsion destroyed the tapes, and stopped recording them. [I just saw the last episode - and it's what I picked up from it. That Newman realized that he didn't want to do that after going into counseling with his daughter - which was around the same time period (1990s).] It's emphasized at various points that both Woodward and Newman were famously "private" and rarely discussed too much of their private lives. It blew my mind that he'd consider doing a memoir. Also, I'm not sure how much of the information from extended family was transcribed or released? Newman may have talked to some of them - and they may have expressed their discomfort of being talked about in a memoir.
If you think about it? Most of the people in the documentary are fellow actors and directors - who are famous in their own right? There's only a handful - mainly grandchildren, and a few of their kids, Joanne's stepmother and the ex-wife (who I think is dead) that participated.
So, I do believe, that Hawk's hands were partially tied in that respect, remember Newman's kids hired him to do the documentary and I believe that Newman and Woodward were to an extent estranged or not that close to extended family, they may have saw them at holidays here or there, but that may have been it? Or letters?