"Wrong box" All I could think of was the old movie with Michael Caine. I didn't even realize it was based on a book. I was really surprised when I check the catalog and discovered it was be Robert Louis Stevenson!
As for the rest, well, yeah, I'm lazy, but at least my parents where acquainted with each other.
....with Oliver Reed when we was still alive and could act. One of my favorite films. That one I knew was based on a Jack London story. Hey, he wasn't all Call of the Wild.
Got a tape of that movie around here somewhere. ::rustling through debris for VHS::
Me too - really skeevy bargain-basement EP VHS from CheapKo or S-Mart.
Back when Susan did the AB story for Karenina, I hit the University library for any sign of pictures of Oliver Reed (not only could he still act, but he was still pretty hunky in a boozy, sixties way). Not surprisingly, I found tons of stuff on Jack London - there are entire periodicals devoted to him. Also not surprisingly, London scholars like to ignore The Assassination Bureau, I suppose since it's relatively free of Manly Men and their Manly Dogs. Anyway, It turns out that Jack bought the plot for TAB off of...oh, crap, I can't remember now, maybe Sinclair Lewis but that's just a blind guess. Someone struggling at the time, but who later became famous. (This wasn't an uncommon practice in those days, mind you.) Anyway, there's some uncertainty as to how much of the final product is actually Jack's, even without Robert L. Fish's finishing it umpty years later.
Another cool thing - the current Penguin edition has a cover painting by Magritte. And while entirely suitable for TAB, it was actually inspired by a French crime novel series character - Fantomas!
Now we're really falling down the rabbit hole...Yeah, it's easy to forget that the boozy, overweight aging Oliver Reed was once the young hunky boozy Oliver Reed. Oh, and TAB also had Diana Rigg - notable for bringing to life my female role model: Emma Peel.
As for Jack London, boy and howdy do I know about the tons of shit, er scholarly research on him. But come to think of it, I don't recall much about TAB in any of it. Not that that surprises me. ("Manly men.." don't get me started on how much I hate Hemmingway and his ilk.) Didn't know he bought the plot. I suspect the schmuck who sold it couldn't write out the thing.
A Magritte painting based on Fantomas!? Wow! I read somewhere that Magritte was a big fan of the Fantomas novels. I've always wanted to read those books. Basically the villian is the main character. He commits all the crimes and gets away. Sort of Sherlock Holmes from the viewpoint of a very, very successful Moriarty. But French. Oh, well we can't have everything. So one of my favorite artists did a painting based on some books that are on my list to read. Cool.
It's the painting of the guy in the tuxedo and mask (er...waaaaaaaaait a minute...you don't think...naaaaaaaaaaaah...) looming over the Paris skyline. (It may not be Magritte. I'll have to go home and check.) But it in turn was based on the tons of Fantomas book and movie posters that were EVERYWHERE at the time. Rather like Mr Warhol painting a big can of soup.
I've got two volumes of Fantomas in English (reprinted circa 1990). I'm not sure what all is out there. I have a dreadful feeling that money and time will be involved.
They guy who plotted TAB was in fact a Legitimate Writer[TM], but he wrote for his living and wasn't averse to making a few bucks on the side. I'm just sorry I have to be so vague on the whole subject, but it's been many years and I don't want to state something as fact that I don't recall clearly.
Yup, Diana Rigg. In lots of Victorian underwear. Sort of a frillier version of Rebecca Fogg, or an ass-kickier take on Wossername in The Great Race.
And don't forget that godawful song in the German tavern scenes...
I didn't mean to disparage the Legitimate Writer[TM], I was just thinking that there have been several cases where a good writer couldn't make an idea work for love or many.
I don't know how many Fantomas novels there were, but I think there were quite a few. Unfortunately, I think they're all out of print. But as those things go, they'll pop up in print again at some point. Meanwhile, if I want to read them it's used bookstores for me.
And how can I forget the Tavern Song. Not that I haven't tried.
The two recent hardbacks are OP but fairly easy to find. I'm scared to look for the others. Susan and/or Shawn found a couple a few years back, I think, though they may have ended up in the now-legendary Package That Was Eaten By Customs.
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I was going to tell you...
Re: I was going to tell you...
Date: 2001-07-27 07:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
As for the rest, well, yeah, I'm lazy, but at least my parents where acquainted with each other.
And they weren't even first cousins!
(no subject)
You want another mild 60s movie lit freak-out, find Jack London's The Assassination Bureau.
Assassination Bureau
Date: 2001-07-27 01:19 pm (UTC)Got a tape of that movie around here somewhere. ::rustling through debris for VHS::
Re: Assassination Bureau
Date: 2001-07-27 01:32 pm (UTC)Back when Susan did the AB story for Karenina, I hit the University library for any sign of pictures of Oliver Reed (not only could he still act, but he was still pretty hunky in a boozy, sixties way). Not surprisingly, I found tons of stuff on Jack London - there are entire periodicals devoted to him. Also not surprisingly, London scholars like to ignore The Assassination Bureau, I suppose since it's relatively free of Manly Men and their Manly Dogs. Anyway, It turns out that Jack bought the plot for TAB off of...oh, crap, I can't remember now, maybe Sinclair Lewis but that's just a blind guess. Someone struggling at the time, but who later became famous. (This wasn't an uncommon practice in those days, mind you.) Anyway, there's some uncertainty as to how much of the final product is actually Jack's, even without Robert L. Fish's finishing it umpty years later.
Another cool thing - the current Penguin edition has a cover painting by Magritte. And while entirely suitable for TAB, it was actually inspired by a French crime novel series character - Fantomas!
Re: Assassination Bureau
Date: 2001-07-27 02:51 pm (UTC)As for Jack London, boy and howdy do I know about the tons of shit, er scholarly research on him. But come to think of it, I don't recall much about TAB in any of it. Not that that surprises me. ("Manly men.." don't get me started on how much I hate Hemmingway and his ilk.) Didn't know he bought the plot. I suspect the schmuck who sold it couldn't write out the thing.
A Magritte painting based on Fantomas!? Wow! I read somewhere that Magritte was a big fan of the Fantomas novels. I've always wanted to read those books. Basically the villian is the main character. He commits all the crimes and gets away. Sort of Sherlock Holmes from the viewpoint of a very, very successful Moriarty. But French. Oh, well we can't have everything. So one of my favorite artists did a painting based on some books that are on my list to read. Cool.
Re: Assassination Bureau
Date: 2001-07-27 02:59 pm (UTC)I've got two volumes of Fantomas in English (reprinted circa 1990). I'm not sure what all is out there. I have a dreadful feeling that money and time will be involved.
They guy who plotted TAB was in fact a Legitimate Writer[TM], but he wrote for his living and wasn't averse to making a few bucks on the side. I'm just sorry I have to be so vague on the whole subject, but it's been many years and I don't want to state something as fact that I don't recall clearly.
Yup, Diana Rigg. In lots of Victorian underwear. Sort of a frillier version of Rebecca Fogg, or an ass-kickier take on Wossername in The Great Race.
And don't forget that godawful song in the German tavern scenes...
Re: Assassination Bureau
I don't know how many Fantomas novels there were, but I think there were quite a few. Unfortunately, I think they're all out of print. But as those things go, they'll pop up in print again at some point. Meanwhile, if I want to read them it's used bookstores for me.
And how can I forget the Tavern Song. Not that I haven't tried.
Re: Assassination Bureau
Date: 2001-07-30 07:43 am (UTC)