A Short Time for Insanity: An Autobiography

by William A. Wellman

The man who made such successful motion pictures as 'Wings,' 'The Public Enemy', 'A Star is Born,' 'Beau Geste,' 'Battleground,' and 'The High and the Mighty,' and also made such flops as 'The Boob' and 'Stingaree', could not be expected to write a conventional autobiography. What it is, is a piece of insanity.

From the perspective of a hospital bed, through a drug-induced haze, Wellman's memory makes connections between events in life that his rational mind would never perceive...between a child's first hunting trip and a drunken weekend with Spencer Tracy, between working with Clark Gable and a recalcitrant St. Bernard in 'Call of the Wild' and working with Ernie Pyle and real fighting troops in 'GI Joe,' and between the friendship and courage and sorrow of flying in the Lafayette Flying Corps during the First World War and everything that ever happened in the rest of his life.

What this memoir is, is a beautiful insight into the mind of a man who would have been called a genius if there'd been anybody willing to risk a black eye by calling him that to his face!. It is also a good, moving, funny, warm and honest account of someone regarded by his peers as a little crazy.

In the halcyon days of Hollywood, Bill Wellman was known as a difficult man to get to know...hard and tough and more than a little fearsome. Still just as tough and no easier to know, 'A Short Time for Insanity,' at least makes him an easy man to love.

Genres: Nonfiction

276 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the great director bios. Written while under the influence of pain killers, the narrative jumps around in time and has a stream of consciousness and sense of surprise that adds greatly to ones understanding of Wellman and his work.

[Logan A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

William Augustus Wellman was a man who loved people. If you've ever seen any number of his many fantastic films, you will no doubt know this. Throughout his filmography he constantly shined lights on undeserved, disrespected, and misrepresented groups of people that were not often met with kindness and/or honesty by the studio system, and after reading this memoir, you will no doubt see that as just an extension of his life.

Written under the spell of codeine and with an ever-present knowledge of his impending death, first time author Wellman wrote this free-association-esque memoir merely as something to help pass the time of his weening period from a pain killer addiction he incurred via a traumatic back injury. And that shows. Mostly as a good thing, however.

For one: this is about as unself-aggrandizing an artists' memoir as one could reasonably expect. That's not to say he doesn't talk about himself in this--he does--but he provides much better descriptions of the people who surrounded him at various points in his life rather than himself. When I finished this, I could recall the wit of Adolphe Menjou, the wisdom of Dan the cowboy, the empathy of Ernie Pyle, and heart of Tommy Hitchcock with ease, but would have to take a second to pull a powerful descriptor out of my head for Wellman himself. Once again, this is undoubtedly in part due to his inexperience as a writer, but that's not to say it seems unintentional--because it most definitely is not. As I said when opening this review: Wellman loved people, and you really get a strong feel for just how much he did throughout this.

Flaws nor lack of fame were not things that seemed to discourage Wellman from liking or associating with someone at any point in his life. In fact, it often seems throughout this that the more flawed and obscure a person was, the more he craved their presence. As you probably noticed in the list of names I provided in the previous paragraph, the people who you hear about the most in this are not people who you've probably heard of before. Indeed, for a such a prolific Hollywood director, he does not talk about the glitz and glam of Hollywood very much in this. Perhaps because he never bought into it, or, perhaps because there were simply things he found more exciting happening around him. Once more, highlighting another aspect of him.

Wellman had an eye for diamonds in the rough like no other. From being the first to truly discover a number of now beloved actors/actresses, to finding the good in ostensibly bad people, it's undeniable that he could identify things most people could not. And yet despite his fantastic sense for first impressions, he never seemed succumbed to the dogma they so often bring on. Wellman seemingly was always open to a person changing, and was quick to discard notions of others if they didn't match up with what he was seeing. Never once in my time reading this did I ever feel that he didn't give anyone a fair shot, he always was taking in new informati0n, and always let that information inform his decisions.

Frankly, if it isn't clear to you already from my writing, I think William Wellman was a genius--and I advise you to read this memoir (despite how hard it can be to find). If you love Wellman flicks like I do, this will no doubt tickle your fancy, and if you are uninitiated to his films, this will almost certainly give you your first glimpse of his brilliance. He was a true American Maverick, and to wrap this up with my refrain throughout this review: William Wellman was a man who loved people. He loved them more than anything.

[Alexis]

I enjoyed reading this non-fiction piece not only because I got to learn about family members, but the voice that Wellman writes with is very distinct. He writes in the fashion of tidbits of memories, but these memories are not chronological. More like sitting with an elderly relative who shares amazing stories. His memories contain thought of his flying in WWI, meeting his wives, and making as a director in Hollywood of old days. Good read!