Eccentric
RIP Charles Webb, 81, author of the novel on which one of Hollywood’s most iconic films, The Graduate (1967), was based. According to his Wiki profile, he sold the rights to it for a one-time payment of $20,000 and made nothing further, including from stage adaptions. He donated the copyright to the Anti-Defamation League. He and his wife donated most of their possessions, including art by Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol. They lived out of a VW Bus in campgrounds, trailer parks and nudist colonies working odd jobs while home-schooling their children. He published eight other novels, the most notable The Marriage of a Young Stockbroker, which was also adapted to the screen, released in ’71, starring Richard Benjamin and Joanna Shimkus. Apparently, he was the personification of eccentric.
Last night the CUNY channel, in its City Cinematheque series, ran one of the most famous films of all time, Jean Renoir’s The Rules of the Game (1939). He had this to say about it: “… absolutely disturbed by the state of mind of a part of French society, a part of English society, a part of world society. And it seemed to me that a way of interpreting this state of mind, to the world hopefully, was not to talk of that situation, but tell a frivolous story.” He also said: “it is a war film and yet there is no reference to the war.” There is, however, a rabbit hunt that would have modern animal rights activists apoplectic. The story has an unusual, unique beginning. Following in the footsteps of Charles Lindbergh, a French aviator who has completed a flight across the Atlantic is mobbed by admirers. He, in turn, despite the adoration, is bummed that the married woman he loves, whom he has not ever even kissed, is not there to greet him. Despite this, her rich husband invites him to a party at their estate. The latter portion of the narrative plays like screwball comedy. The film was panned by critics, the public and the government upon its release. It is now on many lists of the greatest of all time. It was re-cut at least twice. The director’s preferred version is believed to be lost. The one that ran last night was about 90 minutes. I’m clueless when it comes to technique but, according to a couple of web sources, the deep focus many believe Orson Welles originated in Citizen Kane (1941) was actually used in The Rules of the Game. I stayed with it despite the fact that the white subtitles frequently disappeared in the background. If possible, someone should frame them in a black box. Would it be among my personal top 100 films of all time? I’d have to view it several more times before I’d be able to pass reasonable judgment. The auteur cast himself in a substantial role as well. Here he is in character:
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How much of the nationwide spike in Corona virus is attributable to the protests? Is it true that those who keep such tabs are not allowed to ask those who have contracted the virus if they had been to a protest?
My novella, Class of ’67, will soon be fully available. I approved it despite finding two errors in the same sentence on page 50, an unwarranted comma and a missing word. I also noticed two instances where Brooklynese should have been used by the co-protagonist: remember/rememba and that/dat. The Kindle version will contain those changes. I just didn’t want to go through another round with the print copy. Oddly, it seems like the endeavor has been going on forever when it’s actually been less than three months.
It was one of those sessions of the floating book shop where it resembled an actual business. My thanks to Ira, who bought ten issues of Playboy from 1959-’60, and to the woman who purchased a horoscope in Russian, a book on nutrition, Danielle Steel’s Wanderlust and an obscure novel whose title escapes me; and to Matt, who went home with a compilation of Sudoku puzzles and a vegetarian cookbook; and to the ladies who each selected a novel in Russian; and to the girl in her early teens who chose Stephanie Meyers’ Twilight; and to the woman who purchased a picture frame that had a laughable price tag of $49 on its plastic cover.
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