Ed Gorman's Blog, page 148

Did Albert Einstein Secretly Lust After Della Street?

Mathew Paust said...Years before we had a TV (probly before anybody had one) my lawyer dad introduced me to Perry Mason. He was a huge fan and belonged to a book club. Had I'm guessing most if not all of the early ones. What I wouldn't give to have them now. I remember him telling me Gardner would dictate the novels into a tape recorder while driving to work, then have his secretary transcribe them.

A friend, Bill Tangney, was reporting for the Princeton College paper when Einstein died. Einstein had an office at Princeton, so Bill rushed up to the office, soon as he heard the news, braced a chair against the door in case any other news hounds had the same idea, and began looking for something that would give him a "scoop." He started looking thru a bookcase, pulled out some serious tomes and found Einstein had stashed a couple of Perry Mason paperbacks behind them. Scoop de doop!

Perry Mason DVD; New York Times

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2006

Article Tools Sponsored By
By ADAM LIPTAK
Published: December 31, 2006

IN memory the old “Perry Mason” was campy and obvious. At the end of each hour Raymond Burr would rise commandingly from his courtroom chair and, with just a question or two and perhaps a peeved glare, elicit a detailed and tearful confession from a witness with more aptitude for murder than for perjury.

Those Perry Mason moments are as awkward and unrewarding today as they were in 1957, when CBS began broadcasting the series. But almost everything else about the show is splendid, and the 39 episodes from the first season recently released on DVD are a box of L.A. noir chocolates, well constructed and satisfyingly dark.

They start with that swaggering theme music, by Fred Steiner, and some irresistible episode titles (“The Case of the Cautious Coquette,” “The Case of the Restless Redhead,” “The Case of the Vagabond Vixen,” “The Case of the Lazy Lover”). The setups are brisk and racy, usually involving an attractive young woman, the suggestion of ill-considered intimacy and, in short order, a corpse.

Beautifully filmed in black and white, the shows have become period dramas over time, stuffed with relentless smoking, skinny ties, hard-to-get divorces, propeller planes and the threat of the gas chamber. All this was just scenery at the time, but it has now imbued the show with a real sense of place, of a California draped in shadows and suffused with gaudy ambition and sexual jealousy.

“Perry Mason” was also, week in and week out, a well-made television show, the work of professionals. It moves a little slowly for modern tastes, but it was precisely constructed, sophisticated and intricate enough to reward careful attention.

For the rest of the article log on here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/art...

Ed here:

Owing to various hospital stays over the past five years, I've logged a lot of hours watching the Perry Masons referred to here. This Litvak review is excellent. And I certainly agree with it. Most of the hokum comes at the end when the light bulb appears above Perry's head and sometimes in the somewhat strained dialogue between Perry and Della and Paul Drake, which sometimes sounds like three people on morning TV making chirping sounds at each other.

What struck me most about the shows was how adult and seedy they are. A lot of the seediness is between the lines but boy is it there. As I mentioned here last week writing about the early Mason novels (those still influenced by Black Mask), the stories are packed with sex and the villains are frequently business men. You could be forgiven for thinking you're reading Upton Sinclair or Sinclair Lewis in sections of the early Masons. He sure didn't trust trust big business and he he had an almost socialistic scorn for the greed success inspires (I watched Treasure of Sierra Madre earlier today--a pure straight shot of B. Traven's rage was something Gardner would likely have understood).

Litvak's best point is that the early Mason TVs have become historical dramas. They are one of the most accurate depicitions of the Fifties I've ever seen. Lordy the fetishes we made of our clothes, cars, home furnishings. And the way we looked at poor people--rarely to be trusted, rarely able to speak with any clarity, lost in booze or self-pity or just plain despicable laziness. The Lonely crowd, The Man in The Grey Flannel Suit, The Status Seekers--some of the observations in the Masons are as acute as these bestsellers of the Fifties. There's a whole book waiting to be read on the sopciology of the first three or four Mason years--not that I'd read it, you understand. But it's mildly interesting to think about up there on my Unread shelf.posted by Ed Gorman @ 7:45 PM

Ken Levine looks at forthcoming movies

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2012Fall Movies Preview Part 1
A blog tradition -- the Fall Movies Preview -- mini-summaries of the films that will be released this season. Disclaimer: Not that this has any particular relevance to my comments but I haven't seen any of these pictures. And probably won't see most of them.
BREAKING DAWN – The eighth chapter of the TWILIGHT trilogy. Very tough shoot for Kristen Stewart because the director is gay and she couldn’t sleep with him.

LOOPER – Joseph Gordon-Levitt must go into the future to kill Bruce Willis who is really him. Trying to save the world from DIE HARD 17.

TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE – Baseball movie with Clint Eastwood that no Democrat will now pay to see.

THE WORDS – Bradley Cooper takes credit for a discovered manuscript only to have the real author, Jeremy Irons suddenly surface. He discarded it originally because he thought, “Who’s going to buy a piece of shit like FIFTY SHADES OF GREY anyway?”

THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER – You never have to dance the Macarena.

WON’T BACK DOWN – Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis take over an inner city school in order to make a difference and get some Oscar nominations. For the rest go here:http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/

Judy Rohrig on John D. MacDonald

There's been a lot of talk about John D. MacDonald on the blogs lately. Here's Judi Rohrig's take from 2006.


THE NUMBER ONE QUESTION FOR WRITERS

Introduce yourself as a writer, and then brace yourself for the obvious first question. Where do you get your ideas?

Not why on earth would you be idiot enough to waste all those hours one-on-one with a keyboard/pen and paper when you could be playing basketball, knitting, watching TV, listening to ambulance runs on the radio, petting the cat, or (insert -ing action-word here followed by noun)?

The better question would be where "don't" ideas come from?

One of my favorite writers is John D. MacDonald. Dean Koontz turned me on to him. (In fact, I blame Koontz for all the hours I've spent with the pens drippings from John D., Ed Gorman, Joe Lansdale, Norman Partridge, and James M. Cain.) Koontz -- in his biography -- claimed MacDonald's writing had a profound effect on his own storytelling.

MacDonald obviously plucked his ideas from life. His is the eye focused well on the 50s and 60s, moving from post WWII male-domination mind-set to the burgeoning sexual revolution. Sometimes he did this through his continuing character Travis McGee.

"Most readers loved MacDonald's work because he told a rip-roaring yarn," Carl Hiassen says in his Introduction to a reprint of MacDonald's DEEP BLUE GOOD-BYE. "Every McGee saga guarantees such splendidly mordant commentary. The customary targets are greedhead developers, crooked politicians, chamber-of-commerce flacks, and the cold-hearted scammers who flock like buzzards to the Sunshine State. For John D. MacDonald, these were not just useful fictional villains; they were villains of real life."

Inspiration? Where is it not?

Yet even the master had his walls. It was said John D. would begin typing somebody else's story word for word until his own story took form in his mind. Whatever stokes the creative fires.

Every writer would well to study MacDonald's way with words. The Late Richard Laymon thought so. In fact, he shared his own joy at reading John D.'s stories several years ago in Baltimore with some young writers gathered in Brian Keene's living room during KeeneCon 2000, the precursor to the HorrorFind Weekends.

Laymon wasn't alone in his feelings for MacDonald. Most every good writer I know readily names a favorite MacDonald title. Joe Lansdale claimed SOFT TOUCH as his favorite; Ed Gorman named DEAD LOW TIDE. Koontz offers out SLAM THE BIG DOOR; CRY HARD, CRY FAST; LAST ONE LEFT, and THE END OF THE NIGHT. Add to that list Dallas Mayr (Jack Ketchum), Jay Clarke (Michael Slade), the late Ian Fleming, and scads of others. And don't forget to include Stephen King on that list.

King has said that MacDonald was "the great entertainer of our age, and a mesmerizing storyteller."

What can be learned from John D. MacDonald is.. well, most everything: style, plot, character, description, suspense, location, politics, tenderness, and capturing much like a photographer, a period of time. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. said: "To diggers a thousand years from now... the works of John D. MacDonald would be a treasure on the order of the tomb of Tutankhamen."

MacDonald zeroed in on Florida at a time when the place was being mined for its riches: its lush paradise of clear water, sandy beaches, and plenty of warmth year round. And yet for every manatee slipping through sparkling waters, John D. held up Lysol-pungent backwater motels, stiletto-heeled Trixies, and furtive-eyed, underhanded operators. The seamy side, the lost side of paradise exposed on those sandy beaches.

Even his hero, Travis McGee, was eventually unleashed, revealing his full unbridled torrent of personal and most savage revenge in THE GREEN RIPPER. The novel won both awards for such a well-told story and scorn for its violence. Many fans claimed Trav would never had acted like that. I trust the author knew precisely what he was doing.

But this is about ideas, and John D. was all about that. Seeds of birth for THE EXCUTIONER, which eventually was renamed CAPE FEAR, came from another writer's taunt that John D. couldn't write a bestseller or a story that would become a film. He dashed those notions in one work.

But really, why do people want to know where your ideas come from? Writing is creating, and "creation" remains mysterious. Or… they think they want to write. Fame and fortune and all that.

John D. MacDonald did a truly wonderful job of handling that hot potato as he offered in his Introduction to Stephen King's NIGHT SHIFT:

"I am often given the big smiling handshake at parties (which I avoid attending whenever possible) by someone who then, with an air of gleeful conspiracy, will say, 'You know, I've always wanted to write.' I used to try to be polite. These days I reply with the same jubilant excitement: 'You know, I've always wanted to be a brain surgeon.'"

You may try that answer on for size, though please remember that most people aren't being snarky. They actually might envy you for entering where they fear to tread.

Seek and find stories by John D. MacDonald. You won't regret it. In fact, you just might be inspired. Reading does that.

The Ten Best Larry Sanders episodes

Ed here: Thanks to Mark Evanier for the links to this three part article from the Chicago Sun-Times.

---------August 15 marks the 20th anniversary of the debut of "The Larry Sanders Show," episodes of which are available on Netflix Instant, Amazon Instant, iTunes, and DVD. This is the first part of Edward Copeland's extensive tribute to the show, including interviews with many of those involved in creating one of the best-loved comedies in television history.

by Edward Copeland

Over the course of my lifetime, I've watched a lot of movies -- an old computer contained a program with an editable database of titles and allowed for the addition of new films. Back when I used that PC, my total hovered in the thousands. "The Larry Sanders Show" produced a mere 89 episodes in its six season run from 1992-1998 that began 20 years ago tonight on HBO. "I know it sounds cliché but -- honest to God -- it seems like it was just about a week ago. It's so odd that it's 20 years," Jeffrey Tambor said in a telephone interview.

Despite the vast disparity between the quantity of films I've viewed and "Larry Sanders" episodes, when I recently took part in The House Next Door's"If I Had a Sight & Sound Film Ballot" series, I found it far easier to prune those pictures down to my ten favorites than I did when I applied the same task to "Larry Sanders" episodes. (Picking a clip or two from each show proved even more difficult as inevitably I'd want to include the entire half-hour.) Three or four episodes I knew had to be on the list, but then it got tough. I considered making a list of the best episode for each character such as the best Brian episode ("Putting the 'Gay' Back in Litigation"), the best Beverly ("Would You Do Me a Favor?"), the best Phil ("Headwriter"), etc. With all the priceless episodes centering on Hank and Artie, I imagined those two characters conceivably filling all ten spots alone.

A series that broke as much ground as "The Larry Sanders Show" deserves a grander tribute to mark the two decades since its birth than just a recounting of a handful of episodes -- and I had that intention. Unfortunately, my physical limitations and time constraints thwarted my ambitions. Rest assured though, that salute shall be forthcoming (MESSAGE TO BOB ODENKIRK: YOU STILL CAN TAKE PART NOW). As with any list, I'm certain my fellow "Larry Sanders" fans shall express outrage at my omissions (I already hear the shouts of "Where is the one with Carol Burnett and the spiders?" "No 'Hank's Sex Tape!' Hey now!"). Believe me, I'm as livid as you are and may join in the comments to give myself the thorough tongue-lashing I so richly deserve for these unforgivable exclusions. First, though, I'm going to fix myself a Salty Dog, using Artie's recipe of course. I want to be able to grab those olives, not fish for them. So, for good or ill, I submit my selections for my ten favorite episodes of "The Larry Sanders Show." Since bestowing ranks only leads to more trouble, I present these ten in chronological order.

for the rest go here:

http://blogs.suntimes.com

/demand/2012/08/the_ten_best_larry_sanders_episodes.htm

From Noir of The Week: The Clay Pigeon

Ed here: Really interesting review of this move from that fine site Noir of The Week. I remember seeing this in a theater.
(excerpt)
The Clay Pigeon (1949)
The year 1949 was pivotal for RKO Radio Pictures. Just two years earlier, their balance sheet had showed a healthy, $5.1 million profit. But in 1948, that number had tumbled to $500,000, and the studio executives were desperately trying to find a way to reverse their financial misfortune. They weren't placing much confidence in Robert Mitchum, their number one star, because he was still dealing with some serious image problems. In the Fall of 1948, Mitchum was arrested and convicted for marijuana possession and spent nearly two months incarcerated, serving most of his term on a prison farm. Life magazine was nice enough to show up and snap some pictures of him mopping the floors in his prison uniform.

The studio was also dealing with some serious changes at the executive level. In March of 1948, Howard Hughes took over RKO and promptly fired most of the employees. He also shelved several “serious” pictures that were either set to shoot or already in production. He thought it was time to take the studio in a new direction. Starting in 1949, RKO would place a much higher priority on cranking out low-budget B films.

The Clay Pigeon was one of the first noirs that RKO released while Hughes was steering the ship, and it can be viewed as a template for many of the noirs that RKO released over the next several years. If you're watching a noir from the late forties or early fifties that runs approximately one hour, features little-known actors in the lead roles, moves the action along at a nice clip and ties things up neatly by the end, then you're more than likely watching an RKO film. And the chances are also good that it was directed by Richard Fleischer. Fleischer, who had worked for five years at RKO exclusively as a shorts director, got his big break in 1948 when, shortly after he completed a directing job on So This is New York(1948), the studio gave him the chance to direct Laurence Tierney in Bodyguard (1948). He impressed the brass enough that they gave him two B noir directing gigs in 1949 – The Clay Pigeon and the highly enjoyable Follow Me Quietly .

The Clay Pigeon fits neatly into a very distinct category: amnesia noir. At its most basic level, amnesia noir takes the typical elements of a noir and throws an amnesiac protagonist (usually a WWII vet) into the mix. The Clay Pigeon wasn't the first noir to attempt this type of story: Somewhere in the Night (1946) and High Wall (1947) both preceded it, and The Crooked Way (1949) was released in the same year as The Clay Pigeon. Because the amnesia element can be difficult to implement in a convincing way, these films vary in their levels of success. Fortunately, The Clay Pigeon is one of the better entries in the amnesia noir canon.for the rest go here: http://www.noiroftheweek.com/2012/08/...

The Interrogator and other Criminally Good Fiction

COMING SOON!

Mystery/Suspense/Drama

The Interrogator

And Other Criminally Good Fiction

Edited By: Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg

Published By: Cemetery Dance Publications

Reviewed by Melissa Minners

When I read the promotional material for The Interrogator, I knew I wanted to get my hands on this book. Featuring short stories by such well-known and loved authors of fiction like Lee Child, Jeffrey Deaver, Mickey Spillane, Joyce Carol Oates, Michael Connelly and more, The Interrogator promised to be an intriguing read. Happily,Cemetery Dance Publications was nice enough to send me an advance copy for review.

It all begins with an essay about the fiction of 2010 by Jon L. Breen who brings about some good points on the new authors of fiction and gives us some tips on which 2010 books are worthy reads. I happen to agree with Breen's assessment in regards to the age ofeReaders. Prior to these gadgets, many folks, excellent writers in their own right, would have found it difficult to get their works published. After all, to get published before the electronic reader age, you had to have an agent and to get an agent, often times, you had to be published. A conundrum to say the least. But now, with the ability to publish books and short stories specifically for electronic reading devices, would-be authors can publish their works for all to read (for a little cash of course) and thus, become exposed to the world. Some writers find great success using this avenue, success that may be well deserved and might never have occurred otherwise.

After this interesting essay comes the real meat and potatoes of the book - the fictional short stories, beginning with The Interrogator by David Morrell in which a CIA interrogator begins to doubt his methods of extracting information from terrorists. Could it be that his sensory overload methods might not be as effective as the brutal methods others use? With the lives of millions at risk, now is definitely not the time for doubts. The Interrogator is quite interesting, forcing the reader to think about the various forms of interrogation out there and decide for his/herself which is the most humane and affective way to extract information. A perfect story for the times.

The Interrogator is followed by twenty-eight more stories varying in style, genre, location and era. Of course, I had some favorites. Take, for instance, The Scent of Lilacs, by Doug Allyn. I love reading all I can about the Civil War and that includes historical fiction. Doug Allyn's tale about a family just trying to survive a war that has divided their country, let alone their own family is dramatically gripping. When the story reached its conclusion, I found I wanted to know what happened to the family after the war comes to an end. Perhaps Allyn will grace us with another tale about the McKee family in the future.

Then there was The Lamb Was Sure to Go, a detective flashback tale by Gar Anthony Haywood. This story has some surprising twists and turns with a detective noir style that I rather enjoyed. This is followed by Luck, a story about lost love and desperate acts by T. Jefferson Parker. Even though you are certain what will happen in the end, by the time you get there, you still find yourself somewhat shocked at the story's outcome. I enjoyed the table turning outcome of Trade Secret by Bill Pronziniand the suspicious death investigation in Jeffrey Deaver's The Plot.

David Dean's The Vengeance of Kali was quite entertaining in a surprising way. I found myself just wanting to reach into the book and smack the lead character around, but at the same time, I felt sympathetic towards his plight. Then there was Marcia Muller tale, Sometimes You Can't Retire about the unusual ways one man finds to rescue animals. Although the topic was a bit spooky, I couldn't help but chuckle a bit at the ending. Escape from Wolfkill by Clark Howard had me angry and surprisingly rooting for an escaped convict who always seemed to be down on his luck. The outcome of the story had me so mad that I had to put down the book and remember that this wasn't a true tale. Funny how good fiction will do that to you.

The Performer, by Gary Phillips is an interesting erotic tale of greed and grift. Christine Matthews' The Winning Ticket is also a tale of greed and grift performed along much tamer lines and with quite a different outcome. Sleep, Creep, Leap, by Patricia Abbot, is a creepy tale of tables turned in quite an interesting way. What People Leave Behind, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, was a shocking tale of revenge murder. I was unprepared for Rusch's style in this novel. I had read other Rusch works, but still was surprised when she got me invested in the life of a character only to have that character be the subject of a murder investigation...a rather dead and dismembered subject.

I liked the Gran Torino style of Old Men and Old Boards by Don Winslow and truly enjoyed the serial killer tale,Plainview by David Hong, that the editors decided should be the last tale in the book. Plainview was a terrific way to wrap things up.

The Interrogator was a great read, offering up exactly what the title says it will - some criminally good fiction. The book was an incredibly fast read, featuring a plethora of enjoyable fiction. The fact that I enjoyed so many of the stories collected in this book attests to the terrific job the editors did in picking the tales. I find it sad that this would be Martin H. Greenberg's last time editing a compilation of this magnitude (The book is dedicated to his memory as Marty Greenberg passed away in 2011). I truly hope there is a follow-up to this fiction compilation and that it is just as good as this one - a fun read from start to finish!

To purchase your own copy of The Interrogator, visit:

For feedback, visit our message board or e-mail the author at talonkarrde@g-pop.net.

Episodes' Gets Season 3 Pickup From Showtime

Ed here: Carol and Ed Gorman's favorite TV series.
'Episodes' Gets Season 3 Pickup From ShowtimePublished: September 13, 2012 @ 9:54 amPost a CommentPrint This Page10
inShareBy Tim Kenneally

Matt LeBlanc will be back to play himself on "Episodes."

Showtime has picked up the comedy "Episodes" starring the former "Friends" star for a third season, the network said Friday.

The series, which stars Matt LeBlanc as a fictionalized version of himself, has averaged 1.66 million total viewers during its current second season and was nominated for three Emmys in its first season. It also earned LeBlanc a Golden Globe last year.

Also read: Matt LeBlanc Auditions to Play Matt LeBlanc

The series was created and is executive-produced by "Friends" veteran David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik. A co-production between Showtine and the BBC, it will begin production on the nine-episode third season next year.

From Tom Roberts at Black Dog Books

Tom Roberts has left a new comment on your post "Black Dog Books Flood Sale":

Many thanks, Ed! (for last night's post)

Again, just for clarity . . .

There are no water damaged items being offered for sale.

All books are as new from the printer.

All orders are greatly appreciated.

Tom Roberts
Black Dog Books

Black Dog Books Flood Sale

Ed here: I swiped this from my friend James Reasoner and his fine blog Rough Edges. These are great deals from an amazing publisher.
Black Dog Books Flood Sale


(I know you've heard about this already. So go buy some books!)

From Tom Roberts:

Over the holiday weekend I went into the BDB storage facility—namely the basement of our home—to find standing water. Storms from the hurricane effect.

For anyone that reads, collects or appreciates books, further description is pointless.

The water damaged not only parts of the home, but a portion of BDB stock as well as personal effects and some of the book collection.

While the water has now been removed the cleanup and salvaging goes on while the drying out continues.

In an attempt to aid in the financial recovery from our disaster, the following new releases are now marked down with flood sale prices.



Bring 'Em Back Dead by George Fielding Eliot
The first three exciting cases of Dan Fowler, G-Man. With an introduction by Matt Hilton.
Trade paperback/290 pages. Published at $29.95. Now $20.95!
http://www.blackdogbooks.net/index.php?Itemid=11&option=com_zoo&view=item&category_id=6&item_id=118




In the Name of Honor by Albert Payson Terhune
A Civil War-set historical drama of a wrongly accused man attempting to clear his name and regain the hand of the women he loves.
Trade paperback/289 pages. Published at $16.95. Now $11.95!
http://www.blackdogbooks.net/index.php?Itemid=13&option=com_zoo&view=item&category_id=7&item_id=141




The Rajah From Hell by H. Bedford-Jones
A Hindu prince seeks retribution for an ancient offense. Now four men have been marked for murder! Does the prince carry out his threat? Or can his revenge be thwarted? With an introduction by James Reasoner.
Trade paperback/100 pages. Published at $10.00. Now $7.00!
http://www.blackdogbooks.net/index.php?Itemid=11&option=com_zoo&view=item&category_id=6&item_id=143




Dusty Ayres—Invasion of the Black Lightning by Robert Sidney Bowen
An evil foreign powers threatens the safely of the United States. Can Dusty rally the troops in time to stop their advance?
For the first time, the initial three novel-length adventures of Dusty Ayres are brought together in one unparalleled volume.
Trade paperback / 266 pages. Published at $24.95. Now $17.50!
http://www.blackdogbooks.net/index.php?Itemid=13&option=com_zoo&view=item&category_id=7&item_id=127


Additional backlist titles will be marked down with flood sale prices later this week. Shop early and often to take advantage of the savings.
Posted by James Reasoner at 12:02 PM Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookLabels: Black Dog Books