{"id":361600,"date":"2021-11-02T14:16:17","date_gmt":"2021-11-02T11:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/the-true-story-behind-the-tender-bar\/"},"modified":"2021-11-02T14:16:17","modified_gmt":"2021-11-02T11:16:17","slug":"the-true-story-behind-the-tender-bar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-true-story-behind-the-tender-bar\/","title":{"rendered":"#The True Story Behind The Tender Bar"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a276abedfdf7\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a276abedfdf7\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-true-story-behind-the-tender-bar\/#Growing_Up_Without_a_Father\" >Growing Up Without a Father<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-true-story-behind-the-tender-bar\/#A_Bar_Called_Dickens\" >A Bar Called Dickens<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-true-story-behind-the-tender-bar\/#A_Desire_to_Write\" >A Desire to Write<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-true-story-behind-the-tender-bar\/#JR_Moehringers_Later_Years\" >J.R. Moehringer\u2019s Later Years<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#The True Story Behind The Tender Bar<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<pre><code>     &lt;span class=\"mx-1\"&gt;George Clooney\u2019s latest movie depicts the true story of a boy finding a group of surrogate fathers at his uncle\u2019s watering hole.&lt;\/span&gt;\n&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;div id=\"\"&gt;&lt;figure class=\"sf-entry-featured-<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a> \"&gt;&lt;img width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/The-Tender-Bar-Ben-Affleck.jpeg\" class=\"articlethumb wp-post-image\" alt=\"The Tender Bar Ben Affleck\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/The-Tender-Bar-Ben-Affleck.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/The-Tender-Bar-Ben-Affleck-768x512.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\"\/&gt;&lt;p&gt;\n                    &lt;span class=\"sf-entry-flag sf-entry-flag-creditline\"&gt;Amazon Studios&lt;\/span&gt;\n\n                        &lt;\/figure&gt;&lt;!-- START BYLINE --&gt;&lt;div class=\"row align-items-center justify-content-center my-4 text-center medium dark-gray\"&gt;\n        By\u00a0Will DiGravio\u00a0\u00b7 Published on November 2nd, 2021 \n        &lt;\/div&gt;\n    &lt;!-- END BYLINE --&gt;\n\n    &lt;em&gt;Real Stories is an ongoing column about the true stories behind <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/watch-movies-tv-seriess\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Watch Movies &amp; TV Series\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">movies<\/a> and TV shows. It\u2019s that simple. This installment focuses on the true story of George Clooney\u2019s The Tender Bar.&lt;\/em&gt;\n<\/code><\/pre>\n<hr\/>\n<p><strong>George Clooney<\/strong>\u2018s eighth feature as a director, <em><strong>The Tender Bar<\/strong><\/em>, is a coming-of-age drama based on <strong>J.R. Moehringer<\/strong>\u2018s memoir of the same name. <strong>Tye Sheridan<\/strong>, <strong>Ron Livingston<\/strong>, and <strong>Daniel Ranieri<\/strong> play the author at different times of his life in the story of how and why he became a writer.<\/p>\n<p>The movie also tells the story of a bar owned by Moehringer\u2019s uncle, Charlie, played by <strong>Ben Affleck<\/strong>. As reflected upon in the book, Charlie and his clientele played a major influence in shaping Moehringer\u2019s life and career, and now the adaptation shows us how.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the details of that true story that inspired\u00a0<em>The Tender Bar<\/em>:<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Growing_Up_Without_a_Father\"><\/span>Growing Up Without a Father<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>J.R. Moehringer\u2019s memoir begins when he was eight years old, in 1974. His father, a disc jockey named Johnny Michaels, left his mother when Moehringer was just seven months old.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/templates\/story\/story.php?storyId=5060338\">According to NPR<\/a>, young J.R. grew up in a world of \u201csurrogate fathers.\u201d Among them were his uncle and his uncle\u2019s clientele. The bar \u201cwas the only place he felt safe,\u201d and it was there that he found a community. More than just a place to go and get food and a drink, this was a place to meaningfully connect with others. Moehringer told NPR:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cWe went there when we didn\u2019t know what we needed, hoping someone might tell us. We went there when looking for love or sex or trouble or for someone who had gone missing because sooner or later everyone turned up there. Most of all we went there when we needed to be found.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"A_Bar_Called_Dickens\"><\/span>A Bar Called Dickens<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The bar\u2019s name feels too clich\u00e9 to be true: Dickens, which was located in Manhasset, New York, a small hamlet on Long Island. J.R. Moehringer grew up just 142 steps from the bar, with his mother and grandparents. When he turned 11, the saloon\u2019s patrons began inviting him to tag along to the beach. Moehringer <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.c-span.org\/video\/?189252-10\/the-tender-bar-memoir\">told C-SPAN: <\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThat\u2019s where they spent their days, because of course they spent all night at the bar. And that was my indoctrination to the bar.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>At that young age, Moehringer would watch as the men gambled and used every curse word imaginable. He\u2019d sit in the bar, sip on a soda, and take it all in. His mother didn\u2019t know that Uncle Charlie, her younger brother, was bringing him so closely into this world. But she trusted him. And, Moehringer said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI guess, in a way, having any role models is better than having no role models, with notable exceptions. But still, these guys were better than nobody.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Eventually, when he turned 16, he began to integrate more into the bar\u2019s social scene. The men, he said, taught him about manhood:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe good and the bad. \u2026 I learned what not to do as much as I learned what to do. But they taught me how to love. How to tell stories. And they were always a group of men that I could go to and have them congratulate me and be proud of me, and I think every young boy needs that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"A_Desire_to_Write\"><\/span>A Desire to Write<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Eventually, as J.R. Moehringer\u2019s aspirations as a writer grew, he began to write about the men at the bar. Some of his first attempts came during school, in the form of short stories in English class. The bar provided endless material. Moehringer told NPR:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cSometimes I would take notes, but sometimes I wouldn\u2019t need to because some of the things they said made searing impressions on me as a kid. Also many nights here I would write things down on a cocktail napkin. Many nights somebody would shove a cocktail napkin at me and say, `Write that down. That thing I just said? That\u2019s pretty funny. Write that down.\u2019 It was as if they wondered when someone was going to come along and start recording their wisdom and their witticisms.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The men became some of Moehringer\u2019s first champions, fostering his ambition to write. They were eager subjects, but also unafraid to critique. Moehringer himself admits that his early attempts to fictionalize the bar did not go well, and his subjects agreed:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThey would pass the pages up and down these stools. And there was pretty <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a> agreement that it was all bad. I mean, they were flattered that I was trying to write about them, but we all recognized that I was not capturing them on the page.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>After the failed attempts, Moehringer decided to try the story as a piece of nonfiction. And the story finally began to come together. In 2005, the men Moehringer met at the bar were among his most vocal fans. He told C-SPAN:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThey\u2019re proud of this book. And that\u2019s a great relief for me, because they feel as if their stories have been presented truthfully and so it sort of validates their lives in a way.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2005\/09\/01\/books\/guy-adopts-a-bar-and-tells-about-it.html\">In the New York<em> Times<\/em><\/a>, Janet Maslin likened the \u201cgood-time fellowship\u201d of the bar to the TV show <em>Cheers.\u00a0<\/em>But while the men may take center stage in much of the work, Moehringer says his mother is the true hero of the memoir. According to NPR, it was his mother, Dorothy (played in the film by <strong>Lily Rabe<\/strong>) \u201cwho pushed him to become a writer.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"JR_Moehringers_Later_Years\"><\/span>J.R. Moehringer\u2019s Later Years<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><em>The Tender Bar<\/em> follows the true story of J.R. Moehringer\u2019s coming-of-age through his early 20s, including his time as an undergraduate at Yale. He eventually landed a job at the New York<em> Times\u00a0<\/em>and began his career as a journalist. In 2000, he won the Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing for his work at the\u00a0Los Angeles <em>Times.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Readers of <em>The Tender Bar <\/em>after its release in 2005 included Andre Agassi. In 2009, the tennis champion published an autobiography with Moehringer\u2019s assistance entitled <em>Open Court.\u00a0<\/em>In short, Moehringer had made it as a writer and then some.<\/p>\n<p>And it was at the bar that Moehringer first learned to tell stories. In the interview with NPR, he likened Dickens to an amphitheater in Ancient Greece, noting the important role each placed in their respective societies:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThere needs to be a place where people come together, freed from their possessions and temporarily free of their houses and their identities to some extent and where they can be in semidarkness and tell the old stories. This is the very place where I decided that I wanted to find a way to tell stories for a living, and it\u2019s also the place where I first saw a man give his memoir. It was at this bar where I didn\u2019t know what it was at the time but I saw a guy tell his life story. And when he was done, he felt better about his life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>After writing the book, Moehringer said, he started to feel better about his life, too.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><strong><em>The Tender Bar hits theaters on December 17, 2021, and will be available to stream on Amazon Prime Video starting January 2, 2022.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<pre><code>    Related Topics: Real Stories\n    &lt;!-- AUTHOR BOX --&gt;\n<\/code><\/pre>\n<div class=\"gray-bg p-4 border small mb-5\">\n<div class=\"row align-items-center text-md-center\">\n<div class=\"col-md-2\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/will.jpg\" class=\"circle img-fluid\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\"\/><\/div>\n<p>            Will DiGravio began writing for Film School Rejects in 2018. He also hosts The Video Essay Podcast and owns a TV.\n    <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<pre><code>    &lt;!-- START RECOMMENDED READING 1 --&gt;\n                                &lt;section class=\"recommended py-5\"&gt;&lt;h3&gt;Recommended Reading&lt;\/h3&gt;\n\n\n        &lt;\/section&gt;&lt;!-- END RECOMMENDED READING --&gt;\n\n\n&lt;\/div&gt;\n<\/code><\/pre>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more Like this articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/social-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Social Media category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/the-tender-bar-true-story\/#utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=the-tender-bar-true-story\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#The True Story Behind The Tender Bar&#8221; &lt;span class=&#8221;mx-1&#8243;&gt;George Clooney\u2019s latest movie depicts the true story of a boy finding a group of surrogate fathers at his uncle\u2019s watering hole.&lt;\/span&gt; &lt;\/p&gt;&lt;div id=&#8221;&#8221;&gt;&lt;figure class=&#8221;sf-entry-featured-media &#8220;&gt;&lt;img width=&#8221;800&#8243; height=&#8221;533&#8243; src=&#8221;https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/The-Tender-Bar-Ben-Affleck.jpeg&#8221; class=&#8221;articlethumb wp-post-image&#8221; alt=&#8221;The Tender Bar Ben Affleck&#8221; loading=&#8221;lazy&#8221; srcset=&#8221;https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/The-Tender-Bar-Ben-Affleck.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/The-Tender-Bar-Ben-Affleck-768&#215;512.jpeg 768w&#8221; sizes=&#8221;(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px&#8221;\/&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;span class=&#8221;sf-entry-flag&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":361601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/filmschoolrejects.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/The-Tender-Bar-Ben-Affleck.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-361600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-mediaa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}