What Are You Reading

If it's true that authors give clues to their own proclivities in the topics about which they choose to write, I would not be at all surprised to learn that Chandler not only was an addict himself, but that he also had a paraphilic tobacco fetish.

LizzieMaine said:

If it's true that authors give clues to their own proclivities in the topics about which they choose to write, I would not be at all surprised to learn that Chandler not only was an addict himself, but that he also had a paraphilic tobacco fetish.

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I would not take the other side of that bet. Despite my finding smoking to be a huge turn off - there's a lot of sexual innuendo in his smoking references which is not really original as it was almost an informal code for sex in Golden Ere movies.

Finished "The Big Sleep" and am now excited to see the movie again and, for the first time, hopefully, be able to follow it.

I have now read one Chandler novel and two Hammett ones (and several short stories from both that are jumbled up in my mind), but so far, I'd give Chandler the slight nod, but still need to read more of both to have a strong opinion that I can support.

Just cracked open a brand new copy of "King Of Jazz: Paul Whiteman's Technicolor Revue," by James Layton and David Pierce.

Layton and Pierce, whose monumental history of pre-1935 Technicolor needs no introduction to movie buffs, have outdone themselves with this gorgeous coffee-table sized study of the most unusual of the all-star musical revue films popular in 1929-30. It traces the production along every step of its creation, production, exhibition, and preservation, from the filming in 1929 to the release of a newly-restored print last year. For those who don't know anything about early Technicolor it's an eye-opener, and for those who love salmon-and-cyan pictures, it's a real feast.

Quite a few myths are punctured about the film, right down to the famous story that the print that surfaced in the 1970s was from the personal collection of Benito Mussolini. (It wasn't.) And you'll learn a lot about how important Whiteman himself was in the popular culture of the 1920s, and how this film is very much a lasting monument to the most popular bandleader of that decade.

The restored film is currently making its way aroudn the film-convention and revival-house circuit, such as it is, but is unlikely to get a wide exhibition outside the big cities, so if it shows up near you, do yourself a favor and go see it. The rest of us will have to wait until, hopefully, it comes out on disk.



(No, you really haven't ever seen anything like it.)

LizzieMaine said:

And you'll learn a lot about how important Whiteman himself was in the popular culture of the 1920s, ...

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Yes indeed he was, but be careful who you say that to. There are certain histories you just don't mess with and for most jazz is one of them.

Richard Sudhalter wrote a very good book about that.

LizzieMaine said:

Richard Sudhalter wrote a very good book about that.

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I assume you're referring to Lost Chords? I'll have to look into that. My knowledge and appreciation of Whiteman and his role in the early development of jazz is from period sources and references.

Yep. It's a very good, very thorough, very factual account, that isn't at all what its critics accused it of being. At 800 pages long, I doubt many of them actually ever read it. By an odd coincidence I own Sudhalter's personal copy of The American Dance Band Discography, complete with his marginalia, which made for an interesting companion while I was reading the book.

Whiteman eventually rejected the "King of Jazz" label, which was foisted upon him by promoters in the first place, and by the time "King of Jazz" was rereleased in 1933 he was being billed as "The Dean Of Modern American Music," which is a more accurate reckoning of where he stood at the time.

Fading Fast said:

Finished "The Big Sleep" and am now excited to see the movie again and, for the first time, hopefully, be able to follow it.

I have now read one Chandler novel and two Hammett ones (and several short stories from both that are jumbled up in my mind), but so far, I'd give Chandler the slight nod, but still need to read more of both to have a strong opinion that I can support.

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Chandler gets the edge (for me) for smart-aleck dialog and wry narrative voice. His own comment on Hammett seems to sum Dashiell's work up:

"Hammett’s style at its worst was almost as formalized as a page of Marius the Epicurean; at its best it could say almost anything. I believe this style, which does not belong to Hammett or to anybody, but is the American language . . . can say things he did not know how to say or feel the need of saying. In his hands it had no overtones, left no echo, evoked no image beyond a distant hill. . . . He was spare, frugal, hardboiled, but he did over and over again what only the best writers can ever do at all. He wrote scenes that seemed never to have been written before."

Benzadmiral said:

Chandler gets the edge (for me) for smart-aleck dialog and wry narrative voice. His own comment on Hammett seems to sum Dashiell's work up:

"Hammett’s style at its worst was almost as formalized as a page of Marius the Epicurean; at its best it could say almost anything. I believe this style, which does not belong to Hammett or to anybody, but is the American language . . . can say things he did not know how to say or feel the need of saying. In his hands it had no overtones, left no echo, evoked no image beyond a distant hill. . . . He was spare, frugal, hardboiled, but he did over and over again what only the best writers can ever do at all. He wrote scenes that seemed never to have been written before."

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It's been several years since I've read Hammett, but my memory is that I found his style a bit forced - as if he was thinking, "now I'm going to set the mood by describing the dark atmosphere outside and inside the room;" whereas, I felt Chandler was more natural in his writing. But to be fair, I should read some Hammett now so that I can fairly compare and contrast.

Looking over a recent ephemera find -- a theatre program for the famous Labor Stage, Inc. production "Pins and Needles," starring the men and women of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. This particular performance, from November 1938, was near the end of the show's first year, and omits a couple of my favorite numbers -- "Doin' The Reactionary" and "Nobody Makes A Pass At Me," but includes a couple of pieces I don't think were ever recorded -- "We'd Rather Be Right," sung by three characters identified as "100 Per Cent Americans," and "The Mussolini Handicap," which seems to have something to do with a sweepstakes presided over by Il Duce.

The most familiar piece often identifed with this show, "Look For The Union Label," actually dates to a 1970s TV commercial. But the romantic hit song of the original production is present -- "One Big Union For Two," which included the immortal lyric "No scabbing when you're out of town!"

Among the other items of interest in the program is a short squib describing the command performance of the show given in March 1938 at the White House, which had to be changed slightly to accomodate the fact that there was no seltzer bottle handy (the White House serves only club soda), and the Secret Service's confiscation of a prop cap pistol.

Advertisers in the program include the Rand School (no relation to you-know-who), which offers a series of Course Of Social Significance, including "Radio In A Changing World," "The Appreciation of Modern Literature," a seminar on international affairs, and an examination of the role of trade unionism in current events. Other shows advertised in the program include Maurice Schwartz's production of "Three Cities," now playing at the Yiddish Art Theatre, 7th Avenue at 59th Street. Conspicuously absent from the back cover is the usual ad for Chesterfields, Camels, or Lucky Strikes -- which among them dominated the back cover of theatre-program advertising thruout the Era. Instead, you're advised that sheet music and phonograph records of the most popular "Pins and Needles" numbers are available in the lobby. I can see from this mini-discography that I'm missing only a couple of them.

⇧ even if "The Fountainhead" had been published early than '43, my guess, that program probably wouldn't have attracted advertising interest from any organization associated with her philosophy .

I'm actually surprised they confiscated the cap gun as it seems from other things I've read that security was not as stringent or efficient back then. But maybe it was more inconsistent than always lax.

It wasn't even a realistic cap gun -- the item described it as being "five and dime." Apparently zero-tolerance policies are not a modern thing.

LizzieMaine said:

It wasn't even a realistic cap gun -- the item described it as being "five and dime." Apparently zero-tolerance policies are not a modern thing.

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Nor is stupidity, hmm, might be redundant. Block all human judgement and you get zero tolerance.

Or it could have been one over-zealous security person - my impression is inconsistency in Presidential security was pretty high back then.

"Mary Astor's Purple Diary" by Edward Sorel. A, so far, breezy biography of Mary Astor (she should have shot her parents) that focuses on her divorce trial where her extracurricular marriage activity (told in the titular royal-colored diary) took center stage. I haven't gotten there yet as I'm still at the part where I'd have acquitted her if she had shot her mean, thieving, parents who used her as their meal ticket.

Will report back when I read more.

Fading Fast said:

Finished "The Big Sleep" and am now excited to see the movie again and, for the first time, hopefully, be able to follow it.

I have now read one Chandler novel and two Hammett ones (and several short stories from both that are jumbled up in my mind), but so far, I'd give Chandler the slight nod, but still need to read more of both to have a strong opinion that I can support.

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Chandler gets my nod as well. More life to Chandler than Hammett.

Touchofevil said:

Chandler gets my nod as well. More life to Chandler than Hammett.

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I definitely need to read a Hammett now to be fair to him as it's been several years, but my memory is that his descriptions and "mood" setting are very studied and, as a reader, they don't feel organic to me / they feel too obvious. With Chandler, I just get lost in the story.

Fading Fast said:

⇧ even if "The Fountainhead" had been published early than '43, my guess, that program probably wouldn't have attracted advertising interest from any organization associated with her philosophy...

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Enlightenment stars Rousseau, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Kant and the others hit the scene and closed out the objectivism show a century earlier.
_______

Currently scanning ESPN's brief, Everything you need to know as Cubs and Indians meet in game 6-an excellent overview that beats some G-2 intelligence summaries
I read in the Army.

Fading Fast said:

"Mary Astor's Purple Diary" by Edward Sorel. A, so far, breezy biography of Mary Astor (she should have shot her parents) that focuses on her divorce trial where her extracurricular marriage activity (told in the titular royal-colored diary) took center stage. I haven't gotten there yet as I'm still at the part where I'd have acquitted her if she had shot her mean, thieving, parents who used her as their meal ticket.

Will report back when I read more.

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Promised an update when finished, so will do so: Mary Astor liked sex and booze and indulged in both a lot - probably nothing special about that in the 1930s (or anytime in history when both were readily available), but that the fun sex stuff (not quite fully) came out was.

Also she made one horrible choice of a husband after another and had the only decent relationship she seemed to have with a man destroyed by the events around the purple diary. And in one lesson learned that would have seemed self evident - don't keep a diary of your sex capades if you are a star in the '30s when it can ruin your and anyone's career mentioned.

But in one of those things that are explained but not really, her career survived a scandal that would have destroyed many careers up until the early '90s, let alone the '30s - who knows why really, life and public opprobrium are inconsistent.

The book is okay at best, has some fun Hollywood / Golden Era and Mary Astor stuff (I like her more now) and moves by so fast - because it is so short - you can't regret reading it. Parting shot: it would have been better if 10% shorter if the 10% cut was the author's autobiographical points interspersed with Mary's - no one cares about him and it was moral preening anyway.

ESPN's brief, Pitching decisions will cause plenty of Game 7 anxiety; and Key Game 7 questions for the Cubs.

The Division, National League, and Series-win or lose- have been great.