John Huston: Courage and Art by Jeffrey Meyers

John Huston: Courage and Art
by Jeffrey Meyers
9780307590671 Hardcover
Crown Archetype - Random House
September 2011
496 pages

John Huston was an admirer of high art but he didn't think film fit into that category. He thought film was just another way to showcase the art he admired. Huston had a great admiration for novels, plays, paintings and sculptures and for the people who had the talent to create them.  When John Huston was 11 years old, he was misdiagnosed with an enlarged heart and chronic nephritis. He was forced to be bedridden for 2 years, not allowed any form of exercise and given a bland diet. Gone crazy from being shut up for so long, he escaped his home one evening and went for a swim. He almost drowned but miraculously survived. Huston came out of that experience traumatized but driven to be an adventurer and to be constantly on the move. He was determined never to be lonely or bored ever again.

John Huston: Courage and Art is by far one of the best books I've read this year. It's one of the best biographies I've ever read. When I started the book, I thought that I didn't have much interest in John Huston. Why was I reading this again? However, it only took about 20 pages to make me realize that not only is Huston a fascinating figure, his life story is being told by a very talented and thoughtful researcher and writer.

The book starts off with a strange prologue depicting the friendship between John Huston and Ernest Hemingway. Meyers goes on to chronicle the life of Huston from the very beginning to the bitter end. The book is structured chronologically and each chapter is devoted to a particular span of years in Huston's life. You can tell there is not much information about Huston's early years because we quickly move on to him as an adult. But Meyers was able to provide us with valuable information about those early formative years and helps understand why Huston was the way he was.

Meyers did years of research and interviewed as many people as he could including Jacqueline Bisset, Susannah York and Huston's wives/lovers Zoe Sallis, Eloise Hardt, Celeste Huston and Anna van der Heide. He also corresponded and/or interviewed Huston's children including Anjelica Huston, Danny Huston and Allegra Huston. He also pored over the extensive notes from the collection of Huston papers. The result is a very well-researched and thorough biography. There are a lot of facts but you are never overwhelmed as they are presented clearly. The writing style is approachable and easy to follow without any dumbing down. At the beginning of the book Meyers warns "rather than moralizing about Huston's conduct, I would urge readers to take pleasure in his impressive achievements."

I learned a lot about John Huston. His directorial debut was none other than The Maltese Falcon (1941), one of the greatest and most respected classic films of all times. Talk about starting off with a bang! He wasn't just a director. He was also a writer and director. He co-wrote the screenplay for good friend Humphrey Bogart's break out film High Sierra (1941). Huston credited himself for getting away with having a female character living with two unmarried men in the story even after the Production Code team came back with 27 pages of corrections for the film. Huston was one of the few people who didn't put up with Jack Warner's machinations and even told him off when Warner tried to chastise him for arriving late to set. Huston never lost his temper but was still tough on his actors. He expected a lot of out them and would use sarcasm to demonstrate his disapproval. Huston was also a big jokester and loved to pull pranks on his actors and fellow writers and producers.  I very much enjoyed reading about the filming of Key Largo (1948), Beat the Devil (1953), Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957), The Misfits (1961), and  Freud (1962).

Because Huston admired art so much many of his films are adaptations of great pieces of literature including novels and plays. He remained as faithful as he could to the original art. Sometimes this proved to be a good thing and sometimes it meant the demise of the film. Huston didn't believe in fancy camera shots. He once said, "in the best-directed scenes, the audiences should not be aware of what the camera is doing."While he tried to stay as true as possible to his vision, the Production Code more often than not got in the way. A perfect example of this is the noir The Asphalt Jungle. Meyers credits Huston for being able to create "a strikingly innovative film despite the moralistic Production Code, which drained a lot of originality and interest from the eccentric cast of characters." Huston had a love for nature and animals and gravitated towards stories that included natural settings and fauna. He wasn't the most savvy of business men and was often swindled out of money. Making The African Queen cost $4 million and it went on to make 10 times that at the box office. Huston made virtually no profit because he swindled by producer Sam Spiegel.

(Walter and John Huston)

The book focuses a lot on Huston's film career devoting several pages to most of the major films and at least a couple paragraphs to the lesser ones. If when reading this you stumble upon a film of Huston's you haven't seen, I would suggest reading the first few sentences and then skimming the rest. There are major spoilers for each. The rest of the book focuses on Huston's family life including his famous dad actor Walter Huston, his mother, his five wives and his children. Huston had many many lovers. So many it's virtually impossible to count them. He enjoyed the company of women but tired of them quickly. This most likely stems from his determination never to be lonely or bored. Whenever he got bored, instead of being alone he moved on to someone else. Meyers exploration of Huston's love life is never salacious. It's more factual and it fits into the overall picture of Huston's life as a whole.

John Huston was a complicated man who lived a very full life. He left behind some famous children, incredibly valuable pieces of artwork (some of which were stolen) and a legacy of films. If you have enjoyed any of Huston's films, I encourage you to read this book!

Fun Facts:

~ Living in Ireland was cheap so Huston had is own Xanadu, a mansion filled with artwork from all over the world
~ to buy Monet's Red Water Lilies, the cashless Huston gambled at a local casino to acquire the funds for the purchase.
~ in lieu of being paid to act in Otto Preminger's The Cardinal (1963), he accepted two Jack Yeats paintings instead.
~ Huston insisted on filming in sequence whenever he could.
~ he had a great love affair with Olivia de Havilland
~ he was traumatized both by WWII as well as the HUAC investigations
~ Louis B. Mayer didn't like the Asphalt Jungle even though it was a great financial success
~ Audie Murphy was saved by Huston's lover Inge Morath. He fell off a boat and was drowning. She swam to his rescue and had him hold onto her bra straps as she pulled him out.
~ on the set of Beat the Devil (1953), Truman Capote beat Humphrey Bogart at "several arm-wrestling contests at $50 a throw"
~ Huston hated chicken


Thank you to Crown Archetype/Random House for sending me this book to review!
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I have a lot of reading to do

 

Reviews (and giveaways!) to come. Slowly...

On the list

Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History

John Huston: Courage and Art

Possessed: The Life of Joan Crawford

Nicholas Ray: The Glorious Failure of an American Director

Spencer Tracy: A Biography

Learning to Live Out Loud: A Memoir by Piper Laurie

Steve McQueen: A Biography


Cliff of Immortal Ephemera and Things and Other Stuff recently got the Spencer Tracy book. Below is the video he recently did showing the contents of the book. No batteries required!

I Heart Jack Klugman ~ Quincy M.E. (1976-1983)

Quincy M.E. is a TV show starring Jack Klugman as the title character. It aired from 1976 to 1983 and is well-known as the antecedent to the popular CSI and forensic TV shows of today. It's a formulaic show in which Quincy, a Medical Examiner for the Coroner's Office in L.A., solves murders. Each show features a death which is a result of foul play but appears to be either accidental or as a result of natural causes. Quincy , to the dismay of his bosses and colleagues, goes above and beyond his job to investigate the death further. He puts himself in danger, involves himself directly in the case and the lives of the victim's family and friends and collects the evidence along the way. In his search for the truth, Quincy uncovers various forms of corruption in modern day society. He's driven by the sole need to help people and to bring justice to those who have been wronged.

Sam (Robert Ito) works in the lab with Quincy and is the only character who doesn't doubt Quincy's instincts, even though on occasion he is reluctant to him. Lt. Frank Monihan (Garry Walberg) is hot-headed and often reacts emotionally to cases and to Quincy's ideas. Dr. Robert Asten (John S. Ragin) is Quincy's boss and always proves to be the biggest obstacle in Quincy's path to find the truth. Quincy proves everyone wrong yet they never seem to learn their lesson. Danny (Val Bisoglio) is Quincy's best friend. Danny's bar is Quincy's regular hangout and Danny is often caught in Quincy's adventures much to his dismay. Quincy also has several girlfriends and love interests. He's a bit of a player and demonstrates an unwillingness to settle down because of the nature of his job. Quincy, a widower, finally gets married by the end of the series.

Seasons 1, 2 and 3 are available on DVD. Season 4 will be available in November 2011. It's taken a long time to get these DVDs out on the market. There was a four year hiatus between the first two and the third and two years between the third and fourth. There have been legal issues including Jack Klugman's lawsuit against NBC Universal which claimed that he was missing profits from the show. The case was settled in 2009 and I wouldn't be surprised if the suit was one of the reasons it's taken so long to release the DVDs. This isn't the only problem Klugman has had with Universal. He really hated the writer/producer team of the show and disliked one of the scripts so much he refused to appear in the episode (it was worked around his character and entitled "Has Anybody Here Seen Quincy?"). Klugman went on to rewrite scripts to get them to his liking.

This show is relatively new to me and I don't know much about it. They are really fun to watch due to their over-the-top nature. Unlike today's CSI, there is no gore porn in Quincy M.E.. The bodies are not shown in a gratuitous way. It's really all about the case and the characters. Even though the show is a drama there are a lot of funny moments as well. In the first 7 episodes of the show, Quincy had a girlfriend named Lee played by Lynette Mettey. Their romantic rendezvous were always interrupted by Quincy being called on for one job or another. I loved her character and thought she suited the show well. I was sad to see her go! Her presence helped audiences understand how Quincy's job consumed his life and their interaction added both romance and comedy to the storylines. I really wish they had kept her!

In talking with people online about Quincy M.E., several people mentioned the Punk Rock episode. It was particularly infamous because it blames Punk Rock music for the deaths of young people. I don't know much about the episode nor do I care to watch it but clips are available to watch on YouTube.

It's fun to watch the show and see all the celebrity guest stars. Some of these include:

Van Johnson 

Carol Lynley

Creed Bratton (The Office) <-- my personal favorite

Melora Hardin (The Office)

Kim Cattral (Sex and the City)

Robert Webber (12 Angry Men)

Ann Blyth

Jamie Lee Curtis

Bob Crane

Gloria DeHaven

Casey Kasem

Elisha Cook Jr.

Buddy Hackett

Do you like Quincy M.E.? Which is your favorite episode? Don't you just LOVE the theme music? Bum ba da ba da da!

I hope you enjoyed my I Heart Jack Klugman week!

I Heart Jack Klugman ~ The Odd Couple (1970-1975)

The Odd Couple was a television series that aired from 1970 to 1975 and starred Jack Klugman as Oscar and Tony Randall as Felix. The original story was a Neil Simon play that was performed on Broadway. The Broadway production had Walter Matthau as Oscar. Matthau would later reprise his role as Oscar in the 1968 film with the same name and opposite Jack Lemmon as Felix. Jack Klugman had seen Walter Matthau perform Oscar on Broadway and when Matthau suffered a heart attack while filming Fortune Cookie and couldn't continue also performing Oscar on Broadway, Klugman took on the role. Klugman performed the role for a year and for less money than Matthau had earned. Matthau and Klugman weren't the only actors who played Oscar. Mickey Rooney did too!

With the hit of The Odd Couple (1968), it was inevitable that the popular film would produce a spin-off TV series. Lots of '60s films did especially if they were comedies. Garry Marshall produced the show and brought Jack Klugman on board, even though Tony Randall encouraged him to pick Mickey Rooney instead.

The basic premise of the story is that Oscar Madison and Felix Unger are friends. Oscar is a messy sports journalist who loves to drink, gamble and chase women. Felix is an uptight neat freak (on the TV show he's a photographer) who loves to clean, organize and cook. Oscar has been divorced for a while and Felix is recently separated from his wife. Oscar takes Felix in and with their opposing personalities they clash and hilarity inevitably ensues.

For the first season, they kept somewhat close to the original film. They filmed on the same set that was used in the movie and they even reprise the roles of Pigeon Sisters as well as the circle of Poker playing buddies (same actresses but different actors). During the filming of the pilot, the wardrobe people had a very difficult time finding appropriate clothing for Oscar's character. So someone had asked Jack Klugman that if in exchange for $350 he could give them his entire personal wardrobe. Klugman was more than happy to oblige.

The first season was comprised of 15 episodes and shot with one camera. It did poorly in ratings and the show was canceled after the first season. Jack Klugman and Tony Randall both thought the first season was crap. Klugman went as far as saying only one episode out of the 15 was decent according to his opinion. They begged ABC for more cameras and for another shot at a new and better season. Klugman and Randall worked with the writers, improvised a lot and came up with a lot of their own dialogue and plot. They fed off each other's energies and became great working partners. The ratings improved with each season and the format changed greatly. The poker buddies all but disappeared except for Al Molinaro who played Officer Murray. They added actress Penny Marshall as Myrna Turner and got rid of the Pigeon Sisters. They changed the set and Klugman and Randall became more and more involved in the storyline of each episode. It was filmed in front of a live studio audience because Klugman and Randall both hated the laugh track and they enjoyed the energy they got from doing the show in front of an audience. However, the show was canceled after each and every season. It would be revived with begging and pleading until it was canceled for good in 1975. For a show, which is still well-known to so many today over 40 years later after it first aired, it's a wonder it was canceled so many times!

The TV show is well-known for it's fun theme song. Tony Randall hated it but Klugman was okay with it. Originally, the intro showed Neil Simon's The Odd Couple. Simon was horrified and asked for them to remove his name. He hadn't even seen an episode! When he did, he saw how true it was to the concept of The Odd Couple but his name was not associated with it nevertheless. Randall, Klugman, Garry Marshall and the writers had a difficult time with the whole two-men-living-together plot. They were under constant scrutiny and felt pressure to make it very clear to audiences that the were not a couple in the romantic or sexual sense of the term and they were both clearly interested in women. You'll see in many episodes Oscar is a big-time skirt chaser. In the early episodes, Felix is a bit of a womanizer himself however he is later given the goal of getting back his ex-wife. 

I don't agree with Jack Klugman. I think the first season was wonderful. I didn't like the shift away from the Poker player group and the addition of Penny Marshall. However, the show continued to be as funny as ever. One of the big flubs of the first season is that they have a 12 Angry Men (1957) inspired episode in which Oscar and Felix meet for the first time while on Jury duty. Felix plays a Henry Fonda-like role and Oscar is like Lee J. Cobb. Later on in the season, they added some voiceover to the intro and the narrator mentions that Oscar and Felix were childhood friends. How could they be childhood friends if they met during Jury duty?! Oops! I find this kind of mistake happens a lot on TV shows especially when new writers are introduced and those new writers perhaps are not familiar with all the details of the show when they come on board.

The Odd Couple is definitely one of my favorite shows of all time. The dynamic between Oscar/Klugman and Felix/Randall is hilarious and continually entertaining. Both actors were so talented and so well-suited for their roles that it just made that show just the more fun to watch. My favorite episode is from Season Four. It's called "The New Car". Oscar wins a radio contest of Opera trivia, to which all the answers come from Felix, and his prize is a car. Oscar is determined to keep the car but he has to share with Felix who is half-responsible for the prize. The problem is, they live in New York City (the interior shots were all filmed in L.A.) and parking is tricky. Very tricky. Hilarity ensues.

Do you like The Odd Couple? Are you an Oscar or a Felix? Which is your favorite episode? If you have fun trivia facts about the show I'd love to read them!