Did the Maysles Brothers Really Make a Documentary About Capote's Black and White Ball?

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The third episode of Feud: Capote vs. the Swans tells the tale of Truman Capote's famed Black and White Ball, which took place at the Plaza Hotel in 1966. In the show's version of the evening, documentary filmmakers the Maysles brothers were on hand to capture the night.

In real life, Albert and David Maysles were actual documentary filmmakers—but they never made a film about the Black and White Ball. They are best known for three films they made togehter in this time period: Salesman, about Bible salesmen in New England and Florida; Gimme Shelter, about The Rolling Stones' 1969 U.S. tour; and Grey Gardens, about the reclusive mother-daughter duo "Big Edie" and "Little Edie" Beale (who were relatives of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill).

What the fictional Black and White Ball documentary is likely based on is a 29-minute short documentary that the Maysles brothers made that same year about Truman Capote, titled A Visit With Truman (alternatively called With Love from Truman).

Per Maysles Films, A Visit With Truman "portrays an intimate meeting with renowned author Truman Capote. As a reporter interviews him in his beachfront home, Capote shares his 'self-regarding' personality through hip philosophy and calculated jokes. He offers insights in an endearingly raspy voice about his latest book, In Cold Blood, which Capote declares to be part of a new genre, the 'non-fiction novel.' Just as the Maysles brothers' direct cinema classics turn real stories into narratives, Capote's non-fiction novel makes an effort to turn reality into art. In Cold Blood is based on first-hand accounts of an actual murder. The author affectionately discusses his coverage of the subsequent trial and his intriguing relationship with the two young killers. Capote claims it is the spontaneity of life that compels him to portray reality, but it is his own fresh energy and startling sense of humor that keep us intrigued."

It's available to watch on YouTube:

So while the Black and White Ball was never documented by the Maysles brothers, they did have a relationship with Capote. "I often think that truth is just a guess," Feud: Capote vs. the Swans writer Jon Robin Baitz told Town & Country. "I don't think there's such a thing as empirical truth ever when it comes to human beings."

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