By Yehuda Moraly

Many narratives, novels, dramas and films depict an artist at the mercy of a work he is unable to complete. Constantly deferred and failed attempts bring him to the verge of death or madness. In the celebrated Fellini’s Otto e mezzo (aka 8 ½) (1963), the film director Guido Anselmi dreams to realize a film he is unable to create. Just as in Marcel Proust’s In search of the lost Time (that may be the model of the script), we have to wait until the end of the film for the creator to find a way of realizing his work, which is, of course, the one we have just been watching.

In real life, too, artistic creation often entails battling with a work dreamed of but which remains forever unrealized. The aim of my book is to show that in regards to this dream project, that the creator longs to produce and always abandons, is at the center of his creative adventure. It constitutes the key to his oeuvre.

How did I arrive at such a thesis? Many years ago, I discovered in Jean Genet’s manuscripts (sent by Jean Genet to his American translator and agent, Bernard Frechtman), a draft of a project named La Mort (Death) on which he worked almost twenty years. Genet did not finish writing this text. But by analyzing the drafts that remained of this great project, I realized that it provided the key to understanding Genet’s creative work as a whole. The meaning of ambiguous plays by Genet like The Balcony, The Blacks or The Screens as well of his theoretical and political works is put in light by the aims that Genet had set himself in La Mort.

In Fellini’s case, the twists and turns in the long-delayed shooting of the Viaggio di G. Mastorna (The Journey of G. Mastorna) have passed into legend. In Otto e mezzo (1963), Fellini depicted a film director who was unable to make a film whose actors were already signed up and huge sets already built.

A few years later real life imitated fiction. Fellini collaborated with Dino Buzzati and Brunello Rondi on a screenplay about the realm of the Dead (Il viaggio di G. Mastorna). Just as in the imaginary scenario in Otto e mezzo, the preparations for shooting are very well advanced. The enormous sets are ready. Thousands of costumes have been made. The actors’ contracts are signed. And then to the despair of producer Dino De Laurentiis, Fellini abandoned the project. Fellini was to return often to the Viaggio di G. Mastorna without ever succeeding in finishing it. He rewrote the screenplay with other screenwriters, Bernadino Zapponi and Tonino Guerra. The American film director Mike Nichols offered him a million dollars for the screen rights. Fellini refused because he still believed he would one day be able to make it himself. In the last months of his life, he even agreed to its becoming a graphic novel by Milo Manara. Only a few days before his death in September 1993, confined to his hospital bed, Fellini was still drawing Mastorna’s mysterious outline. It was his last self-portrait.

The Journey of G. Mastorna was intended by Fellini to be a “Metaphysical James Bond film”. Understanding this dream project sheds new light on Fellini’s films. Spaghetti, women with enormous breasts, dreams: Fellini’s stock in trade is all too well known. It ends up obscuring the true meaning of an oeuvre which is quasi prophetic, a voice raging against the materialism of the modern world, an ongoing quest for the sacred. The large number of books on spiritualism in Fellini’s library show how interested he was in these subjects. Mastorna was intended as an investigation into what happens after Death because Fellini was certain that something after Death existed. Fellini- like Genet- is a mystic whose quest takes place far from religious institutions.

My book evokes also other cinematographic dream projects: the adaptation of Marcel Proust’s In search of the lost Time by Luchino Visconti, L’Enfer (Hell) by Georges Clouzot and the Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon on which the film director spent years gathering prodigious amounts of documentation.

For each of the main dream projects depicted in the book, my approach was the same. First, I reconstructed the different stages of the unfinished work. Then, I established a link between the abandoned project, and the overall work of this artist, thereby shedding new light on the totality of his oeuvre.

Yehuda Moraly

Hebrew University

Yehuda.moraly@mail.huji.ac.il

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By Lee Pfeiffer

Following their acclaimed book "A Wealth of Pigeons", Steve Martin and his friend, New Yorker magazine cartoonist Harry Bliss, have collaborated on another volume of cartoons, "Number One is Walking". The title refers to how the main star on the set of a movie is referred to. "Number One is Walking", is shouted to advise the crew that the main star is en route to the set. Martin advises there is a numeric pecking order that only Hollywood could create. Each actor's status is diminished by how far down the line his or her "number" is. The first half of this book consists of Bliss's cartoon depictions of Martin's experiences on movie sets. Refreshingly, the humor is gentle and self-deprecating towards Martin. Many of the cartoons depict Martin's devotion to his beloved pet dogs. Bliss's work- intentionally or not- calls to mind the creations of Gary Larson , the mad genius behind "The Far Side". Larson went into self-imposed retirement some years ago, so Bliss's clever work helps fill the gap. During the film-related section of the book, Martin recalls amusing anecdotes involving most of the more prominent productions he appeared in. He has nothing but kind words to say about everyone he mentions or depicts in the book, with special praise given to Carl Reiner, with whom he collaborated on several films. The film section of the book is presented in comic book style with multi-panel cartoons and the anecdotes are interesting and funny. Martin explains why he gave up making feature films, writing "I lost interest in movies at exactly the same time movies lost interest in me". He relates that after making 40 feature films, he found the process too taxing and time-consuming. Thus, he re-evaluated his life and career and decided to slow down. He wrote a great deal (books, songs, plays) and teamed with his old pal Martin Short for a stand-up comedy tour that resulted in their hit streaming series "Only Murders in the Building". The second half of the book is a creative free-for-all and features full-panel cartoons unrelated to Martin's film career.

"Number One is Walking" has only one drawback for fans of Martin's movies, namely, the cursory anecdotes might well be his only attempt to provide us with insights into the making of these films. One would hope that a traditional book of memoirs about his movies might someday come to pass. In the interim, this book is amusing and classy, much like Martin and his distinctive brand of timeless humor.

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By Sandra de Bruin with Dean Brierly (BearManor Media), 218 pages, Hardback, Paperback & Kindle, ISBN 979-8-88771-028-0

By Steve Stiefel

Overview

Hollywood with a Smile is not your typical self-indulgent memoir. You will find no axe grinding, closet skeleton rattling, or “MeToo” posturing in these pages, just captivating accounts by Sandra de Bruin of her successful and fascinating life as an actress in the film capital of the world. During a career that spanned decades, de Bruin enjoyed professional and personal encounters with countless Hollywood icons. But rather than beating her own drum, she generously directs the focus onto these familiar faces of film and television.

These beguiling narratives enlighten and charm in equal measure: a hilarious fender-bender with Paul Newman; a working relationship/friendship with Charlton Heston; an affecting encounter with Elvis Presley; accolades from Ricardo Montalban, James Garner and Dolly Parton; recurring chance meetings with Cliff Robertson; adventures and misadventures on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson; a romantic relationship with legendary film director Robert Wise. Plus, intimate perspectives on de Bruin’s life and dreams, follies and foibles, friendships and loves.

A poetical prologue sets the book’s tone and tempo and clarifies its raison d’être. Additional context is provided through capsule biographies that introduce each chapter and personality, and which underscore an era in which stars really were stars. This one-of-a-kind book reveals a side of Hollywood rarely remarked upon—its good side. Furthermore, the insights that de Bruin offers into the vagaries of human character and behavior aren’t limited to her star-studded subjects, but have a universal resonance beyond the bounds of the fabled Dream Factory.

Photo courtesy of Sandra De Bruin.

Q&A with Sandra de Bruin and Dean Brierly

Q: One of the most unique aspects of the book is reading about famous stars like Paul Newman and Charlton Heston outside of their familiar movie star personas.

A: This was a conscious decision—to present these iconic figures in a down-to-earth and real-world context in which they behave just like anyone else. We're all familiar with the classic stories that have been endlessly repeated and recycled. But in our book, you will encounter a different aspect, a different side, to people like Paul Newman, James Garner, Jason Robards.

Q: What was your reason for starting each celebrity chapter with their mini-biographies?

A: We did that partly with younger generations in mind who might not be familiar with some of the celebrities from Hollywood's Golden Era. And we tried whenever possible to draw parallels to contemporary entertainers: for example, comparing Harry Belafonte's talents and accomplishments to those of Usher. Not all of the subjects in the book received the same renown during their lifetimes, like actor Frederick Combs, designer Ret Turner, or C. Bernard Jackson, the African-American playwright and founder of the Inner City Cultural Center in Los Angeles, yet all three made huge creative and social contributions in their respective domains.

Q: In fact, not all of the people you write about were superstars.

A: We felt it was important to pay tribute to the working actresses and actors and the behind-the-scene folks who, in a real sense, are the backbone of Hollywood. Their stories can be just as important and inspiring as those of their famous contemporaries.

Q: Talk about the tone of the book, which is uplifting and positive rather than self-indulgent and snarky.

A: This was never intended as a "tell-all" book, which as a genre feels overdone. There are countless books devoted to dishing dirt on Hollywood stars, but we felt it important to take a different approach. Everyone who has read the book says they appreciate how positive and uplifting and funny it is in a nonjudgmental way.

Q: Sandra, to a remarkable degree, you don’t blow your own horn, and willingly reveal, as the book's subtitle reads, your own follies and foibles. The focus really seems to be on the subjects you write about rather than yourself. Why did you opt for this approach?

A: We didn’t want this book to be just another memoir about someone the general public has never really heard of. We wanted it to mainly be about the icons of Hollywood and my encounters with them, not the other way around. However, I also wanted to include some of my own follies and foibles so the reader would have a sense of who I am.

Q: Yet, these anecdotes do reveal a great deal about your character and perspective, not only with regard to the famous people you met, but towards your career as well. Were you conscious of this during the writing of the book?

A: Yes, I certainly was. Acting is definitely an art, but it is also a business. When not actually performing, I always conducted myself according to my instilled values and in a friendly business fashion. I never relied on my looks or my sexuality. Talent, intellect, and tenacity made me a professional working actress.

Q: How did these unique encounters influence your career and career decisions?

A: Meeting all these astonishing and highly successful people in a genre known for its harsh climate made me realize that I could succeed by being true to myself. The powers that be apparently respected that and my talent.

Q: What was the most enjoyable aspect of writing this book and the most challenging?

A: Writing this book brought back wonderful memories. It made me giggle at my naiveté and applaud my tenacity. The most challenging parts of it were the bios and pulling it all together, but those issues were solved by my writing partner, Dean Brierly. What a guy!

Q: Sandra, how did you come up with a limerick for the prologue? It’s heartfelt, inspiring, and delightful.

A: Thank you! Dean and I agreed that most prologues are a tad boring and wanted to come up with something different. After a glass of wine, or maybe two, I just sat down at the computer and rolled it out. It came so easily! It still astonishes me.

Q: What do you hope people will take away from your book?

A: That Hollywood is not just Tinseltown, but is also filled with lovely people, some of whom become well-deserved icons.

Testimonials

“Sandra de Bruin’s memories of a cherished era in entertainment history are sure to keep you captivated from one page to the next. The author’s unforgettable encounters with select celebrities are presented with such authority and clarity you feel as if you’re almost reliving the experiences with her.

—J.R. Jordan, film historian and author of Robert Wise: The Motion Pictures

“What a happy romp Sandra has written: a mélange of memorable vignettes about stars she met or admired as a longtime actress in Hollywood. It’s at once warm, revealing and hilarious. I loved it!”

—Nick Lyons, author of Fire in the Straw

“I always felt that actors who did not achieve superstardom have the more interesting stories, and Sandra de Bruin is no exception. She shares her life as a working actress, describing amusing encounters with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars.”

—Tom Lisanti, author of Carol Lynley: Her Film & TV Career in Thrillers, Fantasy & Suspense

About the Authors

• Sandra de Bruin has appeared in over 200 television shows, several major films, many Los Angeles stage productions, numerous commercials, voiceover and looping...and, oh, yes, danced in a production at the Los Angeles Music Center. Her informative and witty articles have appeared in several magazines, and her scripts have been optioned, bought, sold and dropped by major studios and independent producers alike. She created the "Actor's Audition Log" and the "Performer's Workshop Log" to fulfill the organizational needs of her fellow performers from coast to coast and around the world.

• Dean Brierly is a film historian and writer who has contributed to numerous print and online magazines, including Cinema Retro, Filmfax, Outre?, and others. Among his many celebrity interviews are Gordon Parks, David Carradine, Michael Moriarty, Stella Stevens, Fred Williamson, and Joe Dante. Dean has contributed liner notes for Blu-ray and DVD releases, and publishes several film blogs, including Fifties Crime Films and Classic Hollywood Quotes.

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"THE WAY WE WERE: THE MAKING OF A ROMANTIC CLASSIC" (Applause)

By Tom Santopietro

I started thinking about The Way We Were as the subject of a possible book when I happened to hear two women quoting the entire last scene of the film by heart, re-enacting Barbra Streisand’s Katie Morosky murmuring “Hubbell, your girl is lovely” to the aging but still golden Robert Redford. This behavior wasn’t just liking the film- this was quasi-obsession. When I then happened to catch a re-run of “Sex and the City” where the four best friends decide that the entire world is divided into “Katie girls” and others, followed by Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw re-enacting The Way We Were’s finale in front of the Plaza Hotel, I was intrigued. Hooked. Why does this decidedly flawed film carry such romantic heft? After all, if the best movies form parts of our world views and shape our dreams, what did this hyper fandom for a fifty-year- old film say about the way we are today?

As I started to research the history of the film, my “possibly writing” became a definite “yes”; accelerating the decision was realizing that by writing about The Way We Were I was actually, if unconsciously completing my trilogy of books centering on films that people don’t just like, but actually obsess over: The Godfather Effect- drama, The Sound of Music Story- musical, and now The Way We Were- romance.

The backstory was juicy in and of itself. Redford didn’t want to make the film, dragging his heels until director Sidney Pollack wore him down with promises of rewrites. Screenwriter Arthur Laurents remained dissatisfied throughout filming, feuding with desperate producer Ray Stark. The deeper I dug, the more intrigued I became: I spent several days at the Library of Congress reading through Laurents’s papers, including a scorching eight-page memo to Stark in which he enumerated the film’s perceived flaws; flaws which he felt- and I’m translating politely here- were so egregious that they made him feel sick. Eleven different screenwriters had a hand in the script- no wonder Laurents was perpetually angry. His own life had inspired several key incidents in the screenplay and his life was now being re-written by eleven other people.

I liked the fact that in the early going this now iconic film’s success was far from assured; as one studio executive only half-kiddingly said to Sydney Pollack: “Barbra Streisand doesn’t sing and she plays a communist—are you trying to kill me?!” The fact that no one expected a romantic classic made its now half-century of success all the more intriguing. The film had received decidedly mixed reviews upon its initial release, although the stars were highly praised, and Streisand received an Academy Award nomination. (She lost to Glenda Jackson for A Touch of Class, and when was the last time anyone decided that they just had to watch A Touch of Class again?)

Streisand, she of the fearsome reputation, proved to be the easiest personality for Pollack to handle. This was her chance to prove her chops as a dramatic actress and she was happy with her part; she signed on as soon as she read the treatment, acknowledging that the treatment more than met David Lean’s dictum that five good scenes dictates an answer of “yes”. In her own words: “This had more than five good scenes.” She may have worried over every last detail during filming, but, Pollack explained, she was not being difficult- she came from a place of deep concern. She wanted it all to meet her own perfectionist standards.

A sneak preview proceeded swimmingly- until, that is, the political unrest of the blacklist period, so central to Laurents’s life and his conception of the story, shot to the foreground. As soon as the love story receded, audiences left the theater for popcorn and a cigarette. It was the love story people cared about, not the polemics. Which meant that after that first preview in San Francisco, ten minutes of politics was edited out overnight with a razor blade. Literally. It left the film in a choppy state but the love story now remained front and center and audiences at the second preview cheered.

Industry publications predicted a big box office opening followed by a quick drop-off, but the drop-off never came. Viewers returned to the film over and over, which leads to the ultimate question: Why did audiences care so much, unfailingly starting to cry over Katie and Hubbell’s final break-up. And the more I read, the more I watched, and the more I interviewed (Streisand, James Woods – his first film- lyricist Alan Bergman, Lois Chiles), I found four reasons for the film’s extraordinary 50-year hold on audiences around the world:

n Star chemistry in spades. Redford and Streisand at their early ‘70s peak, looking great and throwing off sparks together, proving that opposites really do attract. Everything about them reads as a contrast- looks, acting styles, manner of speech- and it all blends beautifully.

n Ill-fated love affairs are universal. Like Katie and Hubbell, everyone in the viewing audience has loved the wrong person at one time. Or at several times. Everyone has loved passionately, if not wisely. As film historian Jeanine Basinger put it: “Yes- everyone really has loved the wrong person at one point or another. Except for maybe 10 people- and who wants to know them?”

n The uber romantic score by the then unknown Marvin Hamlisch, who composed the title song on spec, in hopes of scoring the entire movie. His reward? Two Oscars.

n That killer ending in front of the Plaza. For the three people over 50 in the United States who haven’t seen the film, I won’t describe it- except to say that even critics who didn’t like the film fell for the ending- it’s an all time keeper.

And as audiences clamored to know if Katie and Hubbell would ever get back together, the clamor for a sequel grew in volume.Talks were held. Screenplays were written. So what happened?

To find that out you have to read the book. Besides, I have my own idea for a sequel.

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