The Ugliest Street in America

February 2, 2019 7:01 PM

It has been repeated in the Utah press that Norman Mailer, in The Executioner's Song, described state street in Orem, Utah as the ugliest street in America. Although undoubtedly true, I am unable to find Mailer doing anything other than describe the horror of state street, without using the phrase "ugliest street in America." Can you help me locate the text where Mailer says this, if it does exist?
posted by mecran01 to Media & Arts (1 answer total)

Best answer: I opened up the book on Amazon and did searches for State Street, ugly and ugliest and didn't find a thing. He didn't seem to really like the place, but if he called it the ugliest street, it wasn't in that book. I checked the screenplay too and didn't see it.
posted by jessamyn at 7:51 PM on February 2, 2019 [2 favorites]