Straight Up | Jan Herman

Arts, Media & Culture News with 'tude

Not a Bad Way to Start the Week

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Cleaning out one of my desk drawers, I came across a long-forgotten file folder containing a ream of letters from Nelson Algren to Roger Groening. They are a motherlode of humor, wit, and edifying entertainment, and from time to time I will post more of his letters to Roger..

Tipped by a Friend and Glad to Know

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“Thought this would give you a smile,” he wrote. “Look whose book shows up in the first pic of this article.” It appears from the photo that my biography of the Hollywood director William Wyler, “A Talent for Trouble,” turned up in the secondhand book sale of the late Robert Gottlieb’s private library.

Nikki Haley Does ‘Patton’

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If ever there were a question that political posturing is show biz, Nikki Haley settled it at a rally in South Carolina. She was doing an anemic imitation of a mesmerizing George C. Scott in the opening scene of “Patton.” Missing were the medals and martial music, thank god, which contributed mightily to Scott’s classic performance. Of course Trump has been doing his stale imitation for years.

Can Books Provide an Agenda for Mass Murder?’

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That is a key question posed by Jascha Hannover’s “The Books He Didn’t Burn,” a documentary to be featured in its U.S premiere at the Jewish Film Festival on Jan. 15 at Lincoln Center in New York. Its relevance to the beliefs of today’s white supremacists and rightwing Christian nationalists is stunning.

Nancy Peters Saved City Lights Books, Yes!

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“While Lawrence Ferlinghetti certainly deserves all of the accolades he’s received, the fact of the matter is there would literally be no City Lights without Nancy Peters. Beyond shepherding City Lights through various fiscal crises and providing the steady anchor that allowed Ferlinghetti to travel the world as a poet and activist, Nancy’s vision as an editor and acumen as a publisher were a vital key to the success and longevity of City Lights Publishers.”

Malanga to Make a Rare Combo Poetry-Film Appearance

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Anyone who has seen the 1954 movie “Friendly Persuasion” might wonder if Gerard Malanga was the precocious child actor cast for comic relief with a pet goose that keeps chasing him around the family farm.

Of course he wasn’t. That was Richard Eyer. Malanga is the noted poet and photographer who once was part of Andy Warhol’s inner circle.

Erich Maria Remarque
All Quiet on East 57th Street

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Now that the German-language adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s famous 1928 antiwar novel “All Quiet on the Western Front” has won best picture at the British equivalent of the Oscars, the staff here thought it worth noting that Remarque lived for the last 20 years of his life neither in Germany nor the UK but on Manhattan’s East Side.

Celebrating William Wyler
His Hometown in Alsace Puts on a Hollywood Show

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Wyler was Laurence Olivier’s mentor, the love of Bette Davis’s life, John Huston’s best friend, Audrey Hepburn’s inspiring taskmaster, and Barbra Streisand’s father figure. His major motion pictures were touchstones for an entire generation. He guided more actors to Academy Awards than any other director. He also won three Oscars himself. “Olivier once told me he learned more about film acting from Wyler than from any other director; I can say the same,” Terence Stamp recalled in my Wyler biography “A Talent for Trouble.” Despite his reputation as a demanding director who sometimes drove actors to tears, he was a beguiling personality in private.

These Many Years Later, Algren for Real

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For the first time, yesterday, I saw the DVD cover art of “The End Is Nothing the Road Is All,” a 2015 documentary. I was poking around on my laptop when I came across it by accident. Except for the fact that it showed up on Facebutt, which I try to avoid, it was a nice surprise.

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