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Feeding the Need to Read: The Studio by John Gregory Dunne

In this new column, Feeding the Need to Read, I will give a brief review on books that I have read shortly after finishing them. I will give them a rating from 1 to 5 based on the the "Feed Need" scale. I used to keep a log of such on every book I read but I have not been doing that for some time so as a way to do it again, I will post the finished books here. There is no particular reason to start with John Gregory Dunne's The Studio, it is just time.

John Gregory Dunne is an author I have been interested in ever since I heard great things about his book True Confessions, which is based loosely on the Black Dahlia case, a subject I have been interested in since reading James Ellroy's brilliant book The Black Dahlia in 8th grade (Which off the subject was a horrible fucking travesty of a movie which was not only convoluted as all hell, but poorly acted, and just plain awful. A huge disappointment as I was looking forward to that adaptation ever since David Fincher was attached to write and direct it. The Black Dahlia was to be his follow up to Fight Club (which would have been a hell of a lot more exciting than Panic Room - ick). Fincher's adaptation was a planned 3 hour film that would have been shot entirely in black and white, he was never able to get the script below a 250 page draft so he dropped the project and explored the exact same themes in Zodiac which I thought was a nice All the President's Men type movie and explored obsession at least 1000 times better than De Palma's follow up to Mission to Mars and Femme Fatale (shaking head)) True Confessions was also made into a film with Robert Duvall and Robert DeNiro which I will see once I end up reading that book.

The Studio is a rare, in depth, if not mild, look at the inner workings of the Daryl Zanuck run 20th Century Fox during the late 60s. The book highlights many aspects of what it takes to make a big Hollywood blockbuster, during an era in which the big budget studio pictures were heading out and the introspective era of the maverick directors was on its way in. The main focus of the book is on the conception and premiere of Dr. Dolittle, as well as the productions of Planet of the Apes, Star!, The Boston Strangler, and various Fox television pilots and shows.

As someone who is interested in the subverting the current studio system, the book was not only helpful in understanding what it takes to work within a studio, but I found it humbling as well. What the book lacks is anything interesting outside the operatic workings of the system. Dunne shows the industry in the way that US Weekly readers don't see it, work - monotonous, laborious, grueling work. More of a piece of reportage than an expose, the book, although as far as I know was and is the only time someone has been given the free reign and liberties that Dunne was given, if feel like Dunne does as much as he can with material he had to work with. The book just ends up being just as mild and operatic as the work that goes into the films. The most juicy tidbit in the whole thing was how a girl stole a plate from a restaurant and then... it was put on the tab... ahhhh! Those crazy Hollywood types.

One thing I found very interesting, that the book only briefly mentioned is how heavily the studio campaigned for Dr. Dolittle for the Academy Awards with champagne and lavish food buffets. Despite being a box office and critical failure the film was nominated for 9 Academy Awards including Best Picture, must have been a lovely buffet. This sheds some light on why so many average films get nominated, or even win, crash, cough.

Although well written and breeze to read Dunne sums it up best in his forward to the book in which he states that "The Studio is not half bad." Not the most exciting of reviews was it?

3 out of 5 Feed Needs

Single Dragon

There was a man I was kicking in the photo, but he disintegrated from the impact of the crippling karate kick.

Bowling Vernacular

I will humbly introduce this long over due post as a nostalgic reflection of a by gone era, one that can be represented and modernized to encompass both bowling’s glory days and it’s future. An example of this here in Los Angeles is Lucky Strike in Hollywood. Yet for the majority of the bowling alleys across the country their fate is being turned into dated the moment they are remodeled multi-colored monstrosities as opposed to the classic forms of Mid-Century architecture that many represent.

The popularity of bowling became a great anomaly to me when I realized its scope. On a trip to West Texas, the one thing that struck me above anything is that, no matter how small the town was - 2,000 or 10,000 - every town had a bowling alley. The towns I was in in West Texas, Snyder, Graham, among many all had a bowling alleys. Snyder, Texas; a town of about 10,000 people was located in a dry country, which means that you can not buy booze at any store within the county line (we would have to drive about 20 or so miles out of town to Colorado City to buy beer in bulk) so in a town without much else to do, bowling was an obvious outlet, especially, I imagine, when the alley first came to the town.

I thought this was an American small town thing though. Obviously being part of cities too but for the most part cities have everything so I made a distinction until I went to Sweden and found out it was not just an American small town thing. My Father moved to Sweden years ago and on my third visit he had moved into a town (that when I tell people from Sweden I have been there they always reply, “Why?”) called Karlstad. Karlstad is the last “city” that is as far north before you get into the crazy gnome people villages of the “sticks“. Karlstad although it was a city, was a small town in comparison to other metropolitan areas in Sweden, mainly because of it’s location, and guess what they had, a bowling alley!

Interesting side note, people in Sweden don’t bowl the same way as we Americans do. For example, my friend Tommy and I along with my Dad would cheer for one another, get into the experience. Our Swedish neighbors would bowl down the lanes as if they were all just lobotomized, neither cheering or showing any form joy (that is because of the lack of competition Sweden’s socialist government promotes but that is another story.)

The long winded point I am attempting to make here is that small town and or big city, bowling has somehow woven itself into the fabric of our culture. An institution of recreation when there is nothing else to do. Some claim that bowling originated in primitive cultures that date back to the Egyptians which may mean bowling is part of our instinct… or something.

Although bowling appeared in many forms throughout the ages, in a America it’s popularity hit its peak in the Mid-Century period between the 40s and 60s. Many of the alleys built during this “golden age of bowling” are some of the best representations of modernism, many of which are classic in their form. I tend to find, especially here in Southern California, many buildings in which the exterior and signs are intact but the interiors are all this strange horrible mix of random bright colors. I know that taste change with time but I look at this era not only with romanticism but with Mid-Century modernism now being included along with styles like Victorian, Craftsman, Art Deco, to name a few, as classic forms of architectural styles, it is important to preserve what we have left and to at least appreciate the most representative forms of this style that are meant for public consumption. I took these pictures not only to document, but in some cases to encompass the artistry of some of these designs, sometimes, sadly, in their decay. Some may seem dated but it is important to realize that hip places like The Standard for example riff on the designs of this period and serve it on a plate as new, and if these establishments were handled with care and restored to their original greatness, we would be able to truly see the beauty they may hold as opposed to imagining them as they were.

I can answer any questions about the locations of the alleys, all of which I think are located here in Los Angeles County.

P.S. Corbin Bowl, in Tarzana, has the most amazing unironic Karaoke night of all time. I have only been there twice but each time was literally mind blowing and even the best writing could not even begin to touch on how unbelievable it truly was. Dig if you must.

DOUBLE DRAGON

Speaks for itself. Bad ass ninjaing.

MY NEW FAVORITE WEBSITE: ILOVEALPACAS.COM

Last night, while out eating Japanese food with a friend, CNN played in the background on the flat screen TV. I wasn't really paying attention until in the corner of my eye a commercial came on that was about as funny as it gets. It was for ilovealpacas.com. The subject matter alone made me think it was a joke commercial. So I went home and found out that 'Alpacas have been called "the world's finest livestock investment."' Really?

I have a soft spot for alpacas but for very different reasons. Once in high school, at a homecoming party, the cops came full force to break up the party, most every one there was about 16 and drunk so they were running like hell and jumping walls (I tried to make my escape only to find that my escape path was a trampoline built into the ground that had a huge hole in it in which I sunk to the ground). Everyone who jumped the fence was unwittingly attacked by a swarm of alpacas on the other side. That's funny.

Learn about alpacas and information of the alpaca farm near you at ILOVEALPACAS.COM

TIME TRAVEL IS REAL

Many question the validity of time travel. Recently some revelations have come to fruition about the feasibility of time travel. Well, I wanted to reveal to world, here on The Itinerant, that I, Phil Donohue, have discovered that time travel, is in fact, REAL.

I today, received three e-mails from the future. Monday January 18th, 2038 to be exact. These three e-mails were from PYRAMID, JESUS, and COYOTE. What cool names they have in the future! Their cryptic message was something about how if I am dissatisfied with with my pharmacy, I can go to this "online" "pharmacy" where "medication that you need here and get them shipped worldwide instantly". The link that JESUS gave my took me to a website that sells a product called Viagra as well as something called Cialis and Meridia. Further inquiries brought it to my attention that these pills are meant for erectile dysfunction. Whoa! They have erection problems in the future, and are warning us!

At least that is what I am gleaning so far. PYRAMID, JESUS, and COYOTE may be trying to warn us about what things will be like in the year 2038 if we aren't careful... with our penises... or something..