{"id":3357,"date":"2026-09-15T22:25:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T22:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/williamjcobb.com\/blog\/?p=3357"},"modified":"2026-09-15T22:25:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T22:25:10","slug":"seinfeld-scoop-elaines-grouchy-dad-modeled-on-novelist-richard-yates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/williamjcobb.com\/blog\/index.php\/2026\/09\/15\/seinfeld-scoop-elaines-grouchy-dad-modeled-on-novelist-richard-yates\/","title":{"rendered":"Seinfeld Scoop: Elaine\u2019s Grouchy Dad Modeled on Novelist Richard Yates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

So I can\u2019t post about the genius of Richard Yates fiction without recognizing that he is immortalized in a Seinfeld<\/em> episode: \u201cThe Jacket,\u201d Season 2, Episode 3. I stumbled upon this in a Wikipedia post no less. The story goes that Seinfeld co-creator and writer Larry David once dated Richard Yates\u2019 daughter Monica and had a similar dinner experience as the one in \u201cThe Jacket,\u201d in which infamous tough-guy actor Lawrence Tierney played Elaine Benes\u2019 father. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Seinfeld stars look so young<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Why was Richard Yates so grouchy? He was a terrific writer but his books did not sell. (It happens to the best of us.) There\u2019s a figure quoted that none of his books sold more than 12,000 copies. And what\u2019s worse, his novels were out of print late in his career! That\u2019s adding insult to injury. While the two other writers I compare him to\u2014J.D. Salinger and John Cheever\u2014each had their bestsellers and popular acclaim, Yates languished in the publishing doldrums. I\u2019d be pissed too. It makes Larry David seem a bit like a Forrest Gump character, the naif who stumbles his way through history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I can\u2019t post about the genius of Richard Yates fiction without recognizing that he is immortalized in a\u00a0Seinfeld\u00a0episode: \u201cThe Jacket,\u201d Season 2, Episode 3. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[534,542],"tags":[543],"class_list":["post-3357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-richard-yates-fiction","category-seinfeld-trivia","tag-richard-yates-seinfeld-connection"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t