The History of "THE RESURRECTION OF JACKIE CRAMER"

By Raymond Benson

Once upon a time, there was a musical theatre piece called The Resurrection of Jackie Cramer. The script, which consisted of 98% lyrics and 2% spoken word, was written by playwright Frank Gagliano. It was meant to be entirely sung except for those few interjections. I composed all the music.

The Resurrection of Jackie Cramer dominated my life for seven years. It was produced six times between 1975-1980, even having a short Off-Broadway run for its sixth outing. For some reason, though, it never became a long-running, successful Broadway or Off-Broadway show that you may have heard of. No “original cast soundtrack” albums were recorded. Only those lucky audiences who saw these six productions even know it existed. That’s not to say it wasn’t “successful.” Those audiences did indeed love it. Perhaps the “right” people never saw it, the ones with the deep pockets who take things to Broadway. This kind of miss happens all the time. The Great White Way is littered with wannabe musicals and plays that inched toward the ultimate goal and just didn’t quite make it. The Resurrection of Jackie Cramer was one of those gems.

It began at the University of Texas at Austin’s Drama Department in 1974. I had completed my freshman year and was three months shy of turning nineteen. During that summer season, the department put on the E. P. Conkle Workshop for Playwrights, which at the time was a presentation of three new plays in repertory, penned by New York “professional” playwrights, directed by New York “professional” directors, and featuring two New York “professional” actors and supplemented by Drama Department student actors and crews. The workshop, at that time, was produced by department chairman Webster Smalley and playwriting professor Frank Gagliano.

At that time I had my sights set on being a director. But I was also a fledgling composer. I had dabbled in composing music for a show or two during my high school drama years (in fact, I was voted “Most Musical Male” my senior year). If I say so myself, my piano skills were pretty good.

During the 1974 Conkle Workshop, I had been assigned to be assistant stage manager to one of the shows. But during a production meeting with all the directors, playwrights, and stage managers, it was discovered that the composer tagged for one of the other shows was suddenly unavailable. They needed a composer. It was for a play called Out of Gas by Michael Robert David, and the director was J Ranelli (that’s right, just “J,” no period). “Does anyone know any composers?” J asked. I meekly raised my hand and said I could probably do it. Since they were desperate, I got the job. It turned out that Out of Gas needed four tunes, three of them set to lyrics that Michael had in the script. I wrote the songs, everyone was pleased, and I accompanied the actors on the piano during each performance. This established the musical side track of my college career alongside working toward becoming a director.

Later, during the fall semester of 1974, Frank Gagliano approached me with a proposition. Apparently he had been impressed with what I’d done for Out of Gas. He had written a “musical theatre piece,” as he called it, that needed music, too. It was to be entirely sung. “Like a rock opera?” I asked. He shrugged. “If that’s what it turns out to be,” he said. I said I’d give it a go.

This was The Resurrection of Jackie Cramer, a wacky fantasy comedy-drama about a fifteen year old boy, Jackie Cramer, who slips on dog doo, hits his head on a Volkswagen fender, and dies. That’s in the first few lines of the script. The problem is that Jackie could never take life seriously. He was always laughing. Laughing at his family, his town, and at the ridiculousness of life. When he tries to get into Heaven, he finds that God is a Board of Directors—a BOD—and they won’t let him in until he learns to become “serious.” And that’s the plot of the story.

I composed the score. Much of what I wrote that fall remained in every production except for a couple of pieces that eventually were cut and replaced by different text and music. It was close to being a 90-minute show, with no intermission. However, I didn’t know how to write the music on paper. It was all in my head.

Frank and I sent a tape of me singing the whole thing to J Ranelli, and he loved it. The lineup of the 1975 Conkle Workshop had already been decided, and J would be back to direct a show. But he wondered if perhaps we could do Jackie Cramer as an “after-hours” production, a sort of “midnight performance” after one of the main Conkle shows.

As it turned out, one of the main Conkle shows in 1975, Hugo Martyr by Jeffrey Kindley, was being directed by J, and it was something that needed several pieces of music sung to lyrics in the play. So I was hired to compose those. And, once again, I played the piano during the performances of Hugo Martyr.

But my main focus that summer was on Jackie Cramer. One of the New York actors hired for Hugo Martyr, David Berman, was tapped by J to play the lead role of Jackie Cramer. We cast it with other UT Drama Department students. Teaching the music to the actors was a matter of them learning it by ear—me playing the piano and singing—and them recording it on portable tape recorders or just memorizing it.

One unusual section of the piece featured a deaf character, Benjy, a boy who is one of Jackie’s friends. In the show, Jackie sings a song as Benjy signs it. We cast a local deaf boy that a teacher found for us, Kelly Abell, and he was great.

The first workshop production of The Resurrection of Jackie Cramer was in early July 1975, two performances, I believe, as “after shows” during the Conkle Workshop. It was a hit. The audiences loved it. Some said it was better than any of the other three main Conkle shows. Frank and I knew we had something, and so did J.

J Ranelli, besides directing professional theatre at many venues, taught directing at the University of Rhode Island (URI) in Kingston, RI. He thought he could get Cramer on the main season bill for the following year. And he did. It was slated to be an early 1976 production.

Since the music was not written down, they couldn’t do it without me there. But I would be in the middle of my junior year of college! I couldn’t miss what would amount to two months of the semester. I would have to take a gap semester and then resume my studies the following fall. After talking to my dean, my directing professor, and my parents, we all came to the conclusion that it would be good experience for me. Yes, it would put me behind from graduating by an entire year (because the second half of some of my junior year classes were taught only in the spring semester… and I’d have to wait until spring 1977 to take them! And then I’d have the whole senior year to do, too). I decided the experience would be worth the extra year at school.

So, at the beginning of January 1976, I flew to Providence, Rhode Island, from Austin, Texas, and lived in that state for two months. Frank, J, and I shared a rental house on the beach in Galilee, a bus ride away from Kingston. I was twenty years old, and I was a “guest artist” at another university. Weird.

The second production of Jackie Cramer at URI Theatre played at the end of February 1976 and was a full production with sets and costumes. David Berman, a Rhode Islander, once again played Jackie. His girlfriend, Jane Macdonald, played The Chorus, a key role in the show that serves as a sort of narrator. A couple of faculty members played adult roles (the priest and Jackie’s Pop) and students filled out the rest of the cast. This time, Benjy was played by Phyllis Frelich (dressed as a boy), a Broadway deaf actress who would later win a Tony for her lead role in Children of a Lesser God.  

For this production, the entire finale was scrapped and re-written with better material. We also added two new scenes/songs that were always among the strongest parts of the show (“The Ballad of Miss Lulu” and “No-Legs Willy”).

Once again, the show worked. It was a hit. I had a wonderful time being in Rhode Island and, as predicted, it was a great experience. At one point, we took the production for a one-time performance at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center in Waterford, Connecticut. When the show closed, I spent one week in New York City getting to know that wonderful place, knowing that one day I would come back to live and work there.

Back in Austin in March 1976, I figured I’d have to get a job and wait it out until the fall of ’76 to resume school again. But I wasn’t home two weeks when Frank called. We had an opportunity to put on Jackie Cramer at The New Dramatists, Inc., an off-off-Broadway theatre in New York City! J would direct it again. Could I go? Could I get lodging for another two months away from home? Again, after convincing my parents that this was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up, I was on my way. Frank and I drove together from Austin to New York.

The third production of Jackie Cramer was cast with all New York Equity actors, except for a couple of pitch-hitters from the Rhode Island production who came in for two weeks to repeat their parts or perhaps do another one they could learn quickly. David Berman again played Jackie, Jane Macdonald again played The Chorus, and Phyllis Frelich again played Benjy.

Another piece was added—“I Wanted to Live in a Time”—a ballad sung by characters other than Jackie.

The show opened in April 1976 and played the given run of a little over a week (standard for off-off-Broadway). It was a good production, but in my opinion not as stellar as the first two. It was good enough. The audience still loved it.

Back in Austin, I was gearing up for the fall semester to do my Junior Year Mach II. Frank was no longer teaching at UT. He was now the playwriting professor at West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV. He arranged for a production of Cramer to kick off that fall season of shows in his department. I simply couldn’t take off again. I had to finish college and get my degree. This fourth production of Cramer was the only one of the six with which I was not involved. The department hired a music director, Robert Schultz, to transcribe and arrange my music so that other musicians could play it. I went to West Virginia for a few days during rehearsals to “consult.” It was indeed strange hearing my music for the first time interpreted and re-arranged by others. I never saw a performance, but apparently it was very well received. Hearing a recording of that fall 1976 WVU show, I can say they did a fantastic job re-imagining my music. It was directed by John Whitty and starred Michael Brungo as Jackie.

Some time passed. I graduated from UT Austin’s Drama Department in May 1978 with a BFA in Directing. I spent the 1978-1979 season working as an Apprentice Director at the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas, and then, finally, in the summer of 1979, I moved to New York City.

Right off the bat, Frank arranged for another production of Jackie Cramer, again at the New Dramatists, Inc. It had been three years since the last time it was there, and new management ran the place. This time, though, I would direct the show. Wearing the director’s hat, the composer’s hat, and the musical director’s hat was quite the feat of a juggling act, but I did it.

I have to say that I do believe this fifth production of Cramer, which opened in late September of 1979 off-off-Broadway, was the best one, in my opinion. The cast was fabulous. Barry Tarallo played Jackie. Jane Macdonald once again played The Chorus. This time Benjy was played by Peter Frechette, who had been in the Rhode Island production as one of the BOD, but he had bloomed into a fine New York actor and he knew sign language.

As a result of this production, two men who wanted to be Broadway producers latched onto the show. Jack Dana and Murray Kagel wanted Jackie Cramer to be their first foray into theatre producing. It was fortunate for Frank and me that we gained producers who could raise some money and launch the show in a more prestigious off-off-Broadway, or even off-Broadway, theatre. On the other hand, they were first time producers with no experience.

The American Theatre of Actors was technically an off-off-Broadway theatre, but certain shows were classified as off-Broadway, depending on the number of seats in the room. Jackie Cramer, produced in the spring of 1980 for its sixth and final production, was an off-Broadway showcase. I was once again directing and playing the piano, too. This time, a very pro actor, Scott Ellis (later a big time Broadway director), played Jackie. Peter Frechette once again played Benjy. The Chorus was played by Beverly Robinson, an actress I had known from UT Austin.

The producers wanted the production to be big. They raised enough money to develop an imaginative set and lighting design that, frankly, may have been too big for the kind of show Cramer really was. I got caught up in the concept, not realizing the folly until it was too late. Additionally, we messed around with the script and music. Frank added more scenes that may or may not have helped the production, we cut some stuff (including one of the supporting characters who had been in it from the beginning), and the show was a bit longer. We built up the role of Remo, Jackie’s brother. It was the most additional music and material we had added since the 1976 Rhode Island production.

Don’t get me wrong. The sixth production of The Resurrection of Jackie Cramer that opened in April 1980 was very good. It was a beautifully and professionally sung and acted show with great sets, lights, and costumes. Scott Ellis was amazing as Jackie. But something was off. Ultimately, it was the size of the production that dwarfed the simple story. It was in a big room with a big set, and it should have stayed in a smaller, more intimate setting. But audiences seemed to like it. All the feedback was good.

But no Broadway producers came to see it. No press came to see it, so there were no reviews. That kind of thing constantly happened in the theatre scene in New York in those days. You put on a showcase off-off-Broadway or even an off-Broadway production, advertise the heck out of it, and the “important” people you want to come do not show up. It was disappointing.

After that monster of a production, Frank and I were tired. Well, I was. Directing and musical directing at the same time is a lot of work. It was a very stressful production and at that point I think I was done with Jackie Cramer after it had occupied my life for six years.

But in 1981, Frank and I decided to at least get the thing on tape for posterity—me playing and singing alone—the final script as it existed so that maybe—maybe—in the future we could do it again. So I spent some time recording the piece again. We also “auditioned” the piece for a couple of big theatres, including the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. David Berman and Jane Macdonald rejoined us to help out with the auditions. But nothing ever came of it.

Jackie Cramer had finally really died and descended to heaven.

Poorly recorded cassette tape renditions exist for the 1976 Rhode Island performance, the 1976 New Dramatists performance, and the 1980 American Theatre of Actors performance. A good recording exists of the 1976 West Virginia performance. Sadly, the two productions for which we are missing recordings are the first 1975 one, and the one I felt was the best, the 1979 New Dramatists edition.

Frank, now in his nineties, still loves the piece. I will always love the piece, too. Now, over 45 years after its last production, we both have strong memories and affection for Cramer. Yes, it would be nice to see another production done (not with me directing or playing the piano, though!).

Frank and I thank all the casts and crews and other people who helped make The Resurrection of Jackie Cramer a reality, especially J Ranelli (three productions), David Berman (three productions), Jane Macdonald (three productions), Kenneth Bridges (three productions), Peter Frechette (three productions), Stuart Howard (three productions, acting in two and assistant director for a third), Phyllis Frelich (two productions), Mary Testa (two productions), Shelby Brammer (two productions), Valerie Mahaffey (two productions), Joe White (two productions), and Charles LaTourette (two productions). The piece was indeed a significant part of my life and theatre experience.

The Productions—

Raymond Benson was pianist and musical director for all of them except #4.

1.      The Resurrection of Jackie Cramer (1975) by Frank Gagliano & Raymond Benson

University of Texas at Austin, E. P. Conkle Workshop for Playwrights, Austin, TX

Directed by J Ranelli

w/ David Berman; Jaemes Washington; Michael Ray Cunningham; Valerie Mahaffey; Stuart Howard; Scott Ward; Shelby Brammer; Michael Lucus; Kelly Abell; Brian Carpenter; Cynthia Bock; David Fulk; Dawn Kendrick; Suzy Kelly; Nancy Farrer; Dock Jackson; Jeanne Campise; Karen Kittinger; Valerie Austyn

*

2.      The Resurrection of Jackie Cramer (1976) by Frank Gagliano & Raymond Benson

University of Rhode Island, URI Theatre, Kingston, RI

Directed by J Ranelli

w/ David Berman; Jane Macdonald; Mary Testa; Maury Klein; Steve Antoni; Tracey Paterson; Robert Gutchen; Phyllis Frelich; Jay Martino; Peter Frechette; Terry Ariano; Margaret Kelleher; Carol Ann Sordillo; Paul McBride; Richard Rameaka; Michael Sheridan; Joe White; Chel Chenier; Anne DePasquale; Mary Dyer; Diane Kane; Michele Lataille; Karen McKenney; Carolyn Quattrucci

*

3.      The Resurrection of Jackie Cramer (1976) by Frank Gagliano & Raymond Benson

The New Dramatists, Inc., New York, NY

Directed by J Ranelli

w/ David Berman; Jane Macdonald; John Canary; Mary Testa; Jerry McGee; Joe White; Nancy Foy; Kenneth Bridges; Phyllis Frelich; Joel Brooks; Mike Dantuono; Doug Holsclaw; Marion Lindell

*

4.      The Resurrection of Jackie Cramer (1976) by Frank Gagliano & Raymond Benson

West Virginia University, CAC Studio Theatre, Morgantown, WV

Directed by John Whitty; Music arranged by Robert Schultz, Music Direction: Jerome Shannon, Pianist: Bill Galliford; Choreography by Tanya Ward

w/ Michael Brungo; Karen Waldman; Marcy DeFrancesco; Daniel P. Petrovich; Jeannie Kaye Moninger; Alan Lee Pennington; David Porterfield; David Alberts; Michael A. Krawic; Barry Signorelli; Brian Bartone; Carole D. Clarke; Virginia Clemmer

*

5.      The Resurrection of Jackie Cramer (1979) by Frank Gagliano & Raymond Benson

The New Dramatists, Inc., New York, NY

Directed by Raymond Benson

w/ Barry Tarallo; Jane Macdonald; Barbara Niles; Robert Schenkkan; Shelby Brammer; Charles Wright; Kenneth Bridges; Peter Frechette; Charles LaTourette; Valerie Mahaffey; Stuart Howard; Gilbert Cole; Donna Pelc

*

6.      The Resurrection of Jackie Cramer (1980) by Frank Gagliano & Raymond Benson

American Theatre of Actors, New York, NY

Directed by Raymond Benson; Choreography by Cherlyn Smith

w/ Scott Ellis; Beverly Robinson; Marceline Decker; Bruce Vernon Bradley; Brian Quinn; Kenneth Bridges; Peter Frechette; Charles LaTourette; Lorrie Armstrong; Tony Calabro; Marti Campbell; Daniel Rous; (Ann-Ngaire Martin was Susie Lou until role was cut prior to opening)

Hugh M. Hefner--A Personal Tribute

My tribute to Hugh M. Hefner is published at Cinema Retro.

A Small Tribute to Peter Janson-Smith, Mentor and Friend

My little tribute to Peter Janson-Smith, a mentor and friend, is up at Cinema Retro. He was Ian Fleming's literary agent and the man who hired me to write continuation James Bond novels. You can read about him here. 

Win The First Four BLACK STILETTO Audiobooks!

Two lucky people will win copies of the downloadable AUDIOBOOKS of

THE BLACK STILETTO
THE BLACK STILETTO: BLACK & WHITE
THE BLACK STILETTO: STARS & STRIPES
THE BLACK STILETTO: SECRETS & LIES

from Amazon.com!

HOW TO WIN:

1. Share this post on Facebook, Twitter or other social media site.
2. Send a note with your name and e-mail address to RBstuff@comcast.net, indicating that you have shared the post.
3. Your name will go in the fishbowl.

Drawing will be held on February 23 and the two winners will be contacted with codes to download the audiobooks.

BONUS!!--To get your name added in the fishbowl more than once... BUY one of the Crossroad Press e-books listed below from Amazon Kindle Store, and forward your receipt to RBstuff@comcast.net.  For every book you buy, you get your name added two more times!

EVIL HOURS ($2.99)

TORMENT--A LOVE STORY ($2.99)

ARTIFACT OF EVIL ($2.99)

FACE BLIND ($2.99)

SWEETIE'S DIAMONDS ($2.99)

A HARD DAY'S DEATH ($2.99)

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THE ROCK 'N' ROLL DETECTIVE'S GREATEST HITS ($4.99)

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From a View to a Museum

NOTE:  The following article appears in Volume 29:3 of the MYSTERY READERS JOURNAL, edited by Janet Rudolph. Janet has kindly allowed me to re-print the article here. For more info on Mystery Readers Journal and how to subscribe, see Mystery Readers-- RB)

Most readers probably know me as the third continuation author of the James Bond novels.  I was the first American to be commissioned by the Ian Fleming Estate and the publishing arm, Ian Fleming Publications Ltd., to write new adventures, which I did between 1996 and 2002.  During those seven years, I traveled the world.  Since Bond novels are known not only for a bit of action/adventure, they also contain some “travelogue” aspects.  It was essential that I walk in 007’s footsteps, so to speak, and visit the  places I was writing about. 

In the spring of 2001, my friend and guide, James McMahon, and I flew to Japan in order for me to research my sixth and final Bond novel, The Man With the Red Tattoo.  James could speak the language and knew his way around, so his presence was vital.  We spent a lot of time in Tokyo, but also traveled to more remote parts of the country, including the cities of Kamakura, Hakone, and Aomori, as well as to the northern island of Hokkaido and its cities of Sapporo, Noboribetsu and Shiraoi. 

But the most significant place we visited was the island of Naoshima, located in the Inland Sea in Kagawa Prefecture (a prefecture is the equivalent of a state in America). 

It was James who had called my attention to the place.  It’s a rather sleepy little island and would otherwise not be on anyone’s radar except that it hosts one of the country’s most spectacular art museums.  When I first viewed pictures of Benesse House—a combination art museum and hotel—I knew I had to use it as a setting in my novel.  Its designer was the great Tadao Ando, perhaps Japan’s leading architect, and it looked as if it belonged in a James Bond film.  The building, with its unusual angles and curves, reminded me of the work of Ken Adam, the designer who had brought a similar, singular look to the early 007 pictures.  Benesse House  is also full of wonderful artwork by contemporary artists from all over the world. 

To get there, James and I took the bullet train from Tokyo to Okayama (four hours) on the southwest portion of the main island of Honshu, passing Mount Fuji on the way.  We changed to a smaller train to Uno, and then walked to the ferry port.  A press interview I had done a couple days earlier in Tokyo had hit the newspapers, and I had said I would be going to Naoshima Island over the weekend.  Well, my picture was in the paper along with the story.  When we arrived at the ferry station, the ticket lady was expecting us and had the newspaper open to the page with my photograph.  She was excited and asked for my autograph.  As we waited for the ferry, several other people ran up to me and asked for an autograph.  (One person even wanted James’ autograph!)

Eventually we boarded the ferry and it took us to Naoshima, about a twenty-minute ride from the Uno port.  When we got to the island, a crowd of about fifty people stood on the dock, waiting for me!  I had to sign autographs, pose for pictures… it was unbelievable.  I had never received that kind of attention.  Two young female guides from Benesse House, Kayo and Yukiko, were there to meet us and take us by car to our lodgings.  Benesse Corporation had purchased a portion of the island and renamed that section Benesse Island.  The president and CEO of Benesse Corporation, Soichiro Fukutake, has a kind of Richard Branson-style mystique in Japan.  He is very wealthy, owns several islands, yachts, and art museums.  He is also President of Berlitz Corporation. 

When we arrived in Naoshima Cultural Village, we were met by reps from their city government, including the mayor, and were treated to a traditional Tsutsuji Daiko drum performance by local elementary and junior high school students, performed in my honor.  After that bit of flattering pomp and circumstance, we were rushed to Benesse House.  Our rooms were in the “Annex,” which was another Bond-like building up the hill from the main museum, accessible by cable car.  My room was the largest, with a huge glass wall overlooking the sea.  With a push of a button, the entire wall descended into the floor, opening up onto the terrace!  Simply amazing, and very Bondian. 

Koya and Yukiko gave us a tour of the island, showing us several ongoing art projects in Naoshima Cultural Village.  We saw the City Hall and other sites, but the main attraction, naturally, was Benesse House.  That night, we had a special kaiseki dinner thrown by Mr. Fukutake himself.  He couldn’t have been friendlier.  We even met Tadao Ando, who was on the island appearing in a documentary being filmed at the time, Mrs. Fukutake, and other reps from the museum.  Ando-san presented me with an autographed catalogue of his works.  We had something in common in that he also knew I. M. Pei, the architect for whom I worked in the late 1980s in Manhattan. 

We spent the next morning exploring Benesse House as I planned the logistics of my story.  A climactic scene would take place inside the main art gallery and I had to make sure that what I wanted to do was feasible.  A fictional G-7 summit meeting was to take place there, and the bad guys unleash a swarm of deadly genetically-engineered mosquitoes in the room.  Typical 007 stuff.  Of course, the building worked like a charm for my purposes. 

The book was published in 2002, completing my contract with the Fleming company.  My tenure as the Bond author had ended, but that wasn’t the finish of my involvement with Naoshima and Kagawa Prefecture.

In 2004, the prefectural government contacted me and the Fleming company with a request for permission to erect on the island a museum dedicated to my novel.  The necessary legal hoops were leaped through, and in 2005, “The 007 Man With the Red Tattoo Museum” officially opened on Naoshima Island.  The organizers had commissioned art students to create paintings and sculptures that illustrated the story of the novel.  These were displayed so that visitors would get a sense of the tale as they walked through.  The museum also included Bond memorabilia from the films and novels, and a glass case containing ephemera about me and my work.  I had donated my research materials to the museum. 

On top of that, the prefectural government appointed me an official Ambassador of Kagawa Prefecture, and I remain in the position to this day.

In short, this was the biggest perk and honor I received when I was the Bond author.  Nothing else has come close.  After all, I suppose there aren’t many writers who can claim to have a permanent museum dedicated to their work! 

I’m still pinching myself.

                                                            #

Some interesting links about the museum, Naoshima, and Kagawa Prefecture—

·         An information page on The 007 Man With the Red Tattoo Museum:  Click Here

 

·         The official Benesse House website:  Click Here 

·         Another page about the museum:  Click Here

·         The official museum site (in Japanese):  Click Here

 

·         A Time Magazine article about Naoshima, mentioning the museum: Click Here

 

·         And, finally, the official Kagawa Prefecture site: Click Here

 

Review of Criterion's "THE UNINVITED"

My review of The Criterion Collection's blu-ray release of the 1944 ghost story, "THE UNINVITED," starring Ray Milland, is at Cinema Retro.

What I Learned About Writing By Writing, Part 7

The last several years have shown that no matter how long you've been at it, no matter how many books you've published, no matter how much praise (or not) you've received for your work, making a living as a writer is always a struggle. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not in the upper echelon of successful authors who always land on the New York Times Best-seller list. However, I've managed to stay in business by capitalizing on my strengths, moving forward, and watching for those wonderful doors that appear every now and then. I still believe in walking through those portals--or at least knocking on them--to see what's on the other side.

In 2006, I signed up with Agent #6, Peter Miller--actually he calls himself a "literary manager"--and I've been with him ever since. Of all my agents, I've been with him the longest. My career has been a series of original novels that readers and critics seemed to like, but the public never catapulted to big sales. No "Big Six" publisher has ever published one of my original thrillers, believe it or not, so I've gone with smaller presses. One of those is now out of business. My tie-in work, however, is always published by a Big Six publisher, and that's the area where I've made most of my income. Besides tie-in work, Peter has found ghost-writing jobs for me that has kept me in curry. For a while I had an Italian publisher that promoted the heck out of me in that country--where I became slightly popular--and I made several trips there for book tours and such--but then that publisher recently went out of business, too. I had a couple of near-calls in Hollywood earlier in the last decade, when two of my original thrillers were optioned, but nothing ever happened. 

Recently, though, the Black Stiletto series--my new endeavor on which I've spent six years--is making the rounds in Hollywood and is in development as a television show...it's in the "fingers-crossed" stage at this point.

The words "platform" and "brand" bubbled to the forefront at writers' conferences in the past several years. Authors had to think about their work and career in terms of branding themselves and establishing an identifiable platform through which they could market their books. Fashioning a platform that works is more difficult than it sounds. For example, in '08 and '09, I wrote a couple books that I called "rock 'n' roll thrillers," featuring a detective who operated in the music industry. A Hard Day's Death and Dark Side of the Morgue were humorous, tongue-in-cheek thrillers with lots of in-joke references to rock music. They were fun and readers liked them--one was nominated for a Shamus Award for Best Paperback Original P.I. Novel--but unfortunately they were published by the small publisher that went out of business. So they didn't sell. Bummer. So that "platform" didn't work (but, hey, folks, the titles are still available as e-books and are also collected with a rare short story in an anthology called The Rock 'n' Roll Detective's Greatest Hits!). So I went back to the drawing board and tried something new... the Black Stiletto... and maybe that's going to stick. The jury's still out.

What has really turned things around is the e-book revolution. Back at the beginning of the Millennium, you'll recall, I took a chance and went with a new publisher that was experimenting with e-books and print-on-demand. Ten-eleven years ago it didn't work. Today, that's where the future of publishing lies. All of my backlist titles are available for Amazon Kindle--including my James Bond novels--and I've sold more e-books than I ever did with print. When Amazon put the first Black Stiletto book on the "Deal of the Day," it shot to the top-ten Kindle best-seller list for several days.

Social media has become the main promotional tool for authors. Facebook is a god-send. Authors these days must not only know how to write a good book, but they need to be able to market themselves. Publishers don't do it for you. I spend nearly as much time on promotion and marketing as I do writing. Now there are too many social media sites, and authors must pick and choose which ones work best for them.

I've explored several other doors that have popped up in front of me. I got a chance to teach film history and other film-related courses at a junior college, so I grabbed it and enjoy doing that one day a week--mostly because it's fun and it's a topic I love. I've teamed up with Daily Herald (Chicago) film critic Dann Gire and formed "Dann & Raymond's Movie Club" seven years ago; we perform live shows every month at area libraries for growing audiences--we've become quite popular. I dip my toe into theatre again every now and then--I'll be directing something this fall in Chicago. I continue my music--I've given three solo piano concerts in the past year, and I play here and there and at my synagogue with a klezmer band.

And I keep writing. At this time, I'm nearly finished penning the fifth and final Black Stiletto novel. After that's done, we'll see...there could be another original thriller, or maybe some tie-in work or work-for-hire, or who knows what else on the horizon.

WHAT I LEARNED:  The e-book revolution has turned out to be a good thing. Authors need to know how it works and how to market their books in this new and exciting medium. That said, I've learned that if you want Hollywood to take you seriously, you also need to be published in print (although I know of a few exceptions!). I've also learned that Hollywood is very fickle and indecisive and cheap. Gone are the days of receiving a lot of money for an option unless you're a big name or the book is a best-seller that every studio wants.

I still rely on my Theatre degree--more and more I realize it wasn't a waste! I still use what I learned back in college in everything I do.

I taught myself how to write a novel by writing a novel, and then writing another one, and then another one. It's important to know that every writer has his/her own method of doing it and that there's no right or wrong way to write. A lot of the so-called "rules" can be broken. One story I like came from my friend Lee Child, who questioned the notion that some critics/editors/readers criticize a manuscript by saying, "You must show, not tell," which Lee says is B.S. "We're storytellers, not storyshowers," he says. Folks, authors TELL a story, not SHOW it! That's one of those silly rules you always hear that frankly makes no sense.

I've learned to live with disappointments and try my best to keep looking for doors to open. I'm confident that if "the writing thing doesn't work out" that another one of those doors will open unexpectedly--it's always happened in the past and will again. The main thing is to stay positive, don't compare yourself to other authors, take criticism with a grain of salt, and keep looking for and opening doors to go through.

You never know what's on the other side.

What I Learned About Writing By Writing, Part 5

This epic blog is all about those doors that open and whether or not you choose to go through them or not.

In late 1995, the biggest door I've encountered in my career opened for me. It was totally unexpected. I didn't ask for it. I never dreamed it was possible. It wasn't even a fantasy because it was such an improbability.

I was asked by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd. if I was interested in taking over from John Gardner to write official James Bond novels.

The invitation came out of the blue. I was still working as a computer game designer/writer when I received a phone call from Peter Janson-Smith, the Chairman of IFPL--at that time it was called Ian Fleming (Glidrose) Publications Ltd. He said John wanted to retire from the gig after 15 years, and he asked me if I wanted "to give it a shot." As mentioned in an earlier part of this blog, Peter and I had gotten to know each other when I wrote The James Bond Bedside Companion, published in 1984. We had stayed in touch, become friends, and I had performed little oddjobs (no pun intended) for the company over the next decade. Although I had not had a novel published, Peter and the Fleming Estate people must have been confident that I knew Bond's universe well enough to tackle the job.

The shoes to fill were huge. Ian Fleming? Kingsley Amis? John Gardner? Were they kidding? Me? An American with no previous novel published? Yes, I knew how to write fiction. I had spent the last decade penning fiction, just not in the format of a novel. I could easily have said, "No, I'm not up to that task, find someone else," but come on, how could I say that? I had to "give it a shot." I would have always wondered "what if?" if I hadn't.

There was an audition of sorts. I had to write an outline of a plot on spec, which would have to be approved by not only IFPL but also the British publisher and the American publisher. This is where I learned that the outline is the most important piece of writing a novel. Of course, there are plenty of authors who don't outline, and that works for them. There are also plenty that do. It works for me, and since Peter insisted on an outline, it trained me to do one for every bit of fiction I've written since.

My outlines are really prose treatments. They're broken down into block paragraphs, and each paragraph represents a chapter. In each block paragraph I detail what happens plot-wise. There's no dialogue or setting description. Just plot. "X goes to <location> and finds <plot device>. He is discovered by Y. Big fight. X wins but is badly injured. He escapes with his life and the secret <plot device>." That kind of thing. It goes on for about 15-20 pages, single-spaced. I spend a long time on the outline, maybe a month or two, because this is where I work out all the twists and turns, the red herrings, the act structure, the climax, and the ending. It becomes the blueprint of the novel. It doesn't mean I'm married to it. If, when writing the actual book, I get another idea--I simply change the outline!

After the outline was approved, I had to write the first four chapters on spec. Same approval process. When all was said and done, I got the contract to write the next James Bond novel. By then it was Spring 1996. I remained in my day job as a game designer for another year while I wrote the book. But I took some time off to travel to the locations and do research. I traveled to all my Bond locations--it was an essential part of the process.

My first published novel was a James Bond novel. I'm still pinching myself. Zero Minus Ten was published in April 1997. Then I quit my job and became a full-time author and haven't looked back. What followed was six more years of "Bondage." Part of my duties as the Bond author was to novelize the current films (because they were original screenplays). In total, I wrote six original novels, three movie novelizations, and three short stories. I traveled around the world and met dozens of very cool people. I was thrust into a spotlight. This was also at the time when the Internet was just becoming The Next Big Thing, and fans of all big franchises (Star Wars, Buffy, Star Trek, Batman, whatever) suddenly had a vehicle through which to gather, criticize, discuss, criticize, fawn over, criticize, and deconstruct their favorite things. And they could do it anonymously if they wanted. I quickly found that I had millions of fans who loved me and just as many who hated me. I received love letters and death threats. It was truly a bizarre, sometimes unnerving experience. Those seven years became a roller-coaster.

But I survived it and am very proud of the work I did for Bond.

WHAT I LEARNED: The outline is king. It's the most valuable tool a writer can have if it's done correctly. I also utilized new kinds of time management (there's that theatre training again) and discipline. When I wrote my first novel back in the 80s, I discovered that just completing the darned thing was an achievement. With Bond, I had to not only finish the books, but I had to do them fairly quickly. For the movie novelizations, I usually had around six weeks from start to finish! The original novels had a much more relaxed schedule, but there were milestones that had to be met within a year. The outlining, traveling, research, writing, and revising all had to be done in twelve months. Finally, I learned to grow very thick skin. Like with all big franchises, Bond fans are very opinionated. Most are lovely people. Others... well, we won't go there. At any rate, the Internet, with its message boards and fan sites, allowed readers to praise and criticize authors in ways that were unprecedented. And that was the biggest lesson of those seven years.

To be continued...

"The Black Stiletto: Stars & Stripes" Video & Publication

This week's blog is just sharing the brand new trailer for THE BLACK STILETTO: STARS & STRIPES, which will be published April 2, 2013.  The book is available in hardcover and e-book and can be ordered from the official website, www.theblackstiletto.net. 

Enjoy!  I'll be back next week with a "real" blog. 

Happy Spring....

Raymond

Composing Music for Theatre

Once upon a time, I worked in the theatre. 

I'd like to think I still do.  Every once in a while I dip my toe back into it.  I definitely miss it, but my work as a novelist and film studies instructor and lecturer and freelance scribbler takes up 110% of my time these days. 

I majored in theatre, actually in Directing, to be precise, for at the University of Texas at Austin we could focus on specific disciplines--acting, playwriting, design... and I chose directing.  After I received my degree, I moved to New York City and did the off- and off-off and WAY off-off-off-off-Broadway thing for many years.  Besides directing numerous productions, I also composed music.  Usually, I collaborated with playwrights who had lyrics that needed tunes.  I began this process while I was in school and did a number of  musicals that followed me to New York. 

I loved the challenge of taking what was essentially a poem and making a song out of it.  I was the Elton John to the playwright's Bernie Taupin.  It came naturally to me, and although I haven't done it in a while, I'm sure I could easily slip back into the groove (anyone out there who needs music to their lyrics?). 

One of my better-known works (believe me, very few of my musicals were known at all!) was The Resurrection of Jackie Cramer.  This was an entirely-sung "rock opera" written by playwright Frank Gagliano.  I first met Frank at UT Austin, where he was a playwriting professor.  We wrote the first version of the piece in 1974-75, and it was performed at UT during the summer of '75 at the E. P. Conkle Workshop for Playwrights.  It was a crowd-pleaser, and the director, J Ranelli, made the effort to get a production going at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, where he was on the faculty.  He was successful, so I ended up taking the spring semester of 1976 off from school so I could be a "guest artist" at URI for a production of Jackie Cramer.  This led to a production off-off-Broadway at the New Dramatists Inc. a couple of months later.  Then it was done at West Virginia University, and, after I moved to New York, a couple more times in Manhattan, culminating in a big-budget (more or less) off-Broadway production that I directed myself.  Frank and I continued to re-write, add, delete, and mess with the script and music with each successive mounting of the piece.  It was always in a state of flux, but it always seemed to work, no matter what we'd added or taken away. 

Someday Frank and I want to "resurrect" Jackie Cramer.  We're not getting any younger.

Recently I put together a concert of some of my music.  I dragged out pieces from as far back as the 70s.  Here's a song from a musical called Deirdre that I wrote with the late playwright Norman Morrow.  The Right and Wrong Song   It's sung by the very talented front-ladies of the Chicago band, Honey and the 45s--Kristina Cottone and Kim Kozel. 

Music will always be a part of me and I'll always be thankful to the powers-that-be that I was blessed with a talent to play piano and compose. 

The Oscars

(Note: This blog was originally written and posted on my original blog, on another site, on February 23, 2013, PRIOR to the Oscar Awards.)

The Oscar Awards show is the equivalent of the Superbowl in our house. We love the Oscars. Both my wife and I are people of the arts--we were both theatre majors and worked in that medium for many years. We're avid movie-goers, and I'm a film historian and teach Film History at the College of DuPage. We admit it--we enjoy the glitz and glamour of the Hollywood Dream Factory. Frankly, it's fun. We like to see the stars all dolled up and either deliver eloquent and inspiring acceptance speeches or they make fools of themselves. We have our favorite films and like to see them honored--or not--and much of the enjoyment is in the shock and awe when a title or star is or is not nominated, or wins or not. A lot of folks poo-poo the Oscars; they say it's a long, boring self-indulgent show and that Hollywood is just patting itself on the back. Well, one could say the same thing about the Superbowl.

The world puts a lot of stock in the winning of an Oscar, but it's really just the result of the opinion of a little over 6,000 people. That's not very many, compared to the millions of viewers who go to see movies. But that's the membership of the Academy--roughly 6,000. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences was founded by Louis B. Mayer in 1926, mostly to combat the rise of unions. He thought by forming the Academy, Hollywood would have its own happy family of producers, directors, actors, writers, and technicians, and they wouldn't need to organize. Well, we know how that turned out. The unions were formed anyway. The Academy was also created to recognize technical advancements in the motion picture industry, and the awards were an afterthought. The first Oscar Awards ceremony was held in early 1929, covering the years 1927-1928. The second ceremony was later in 1929, covering 1928-1929. From then on, it's been held once a year. The Academy is broken out into the various branches--the actors branch, the directors branch, the writers branch, and so on. Each branch selects the nominees for their particular discipline. The actors nominate the actors, the directors nominate the directors. Then, when all the nominations have been announced, the entire Academy votes on all the categories. The only exceptions are the various Short Film categories (animated short, live action short, documentary short), Documentary Feature, and Foreign Language Feature--these are designated to special committees that view the submissions privately, make the nominations, and vote on the winners.

So, the next time you get angry and frustrated that your favorite film didn't win or even get nominated, don't feel bad. It's only the opinion of around 6,000 people. Another thing--you always hear folks say, "Oh, they'll give it to so-and-so because it's a sympathy vote," or "They won't vote on that film because it made too much money," or "They snubbed so-and-so." Well, guess what. They don't get together as a group in one big room and decide these things. The voters are individuals and they vote in the privacy of their homes. The members of the directors branch don't assemble in a big meeting and collectively decide to snub Ben Affleck for the Best Director award. It doesn't work that way. The so-called "snubs" are accidents. Pure and simple. It's simply a tally of the votes. I have a feeling that the reason Affleck, or Kathryn Bigelow, weren't nominated for Best Director (they should have been) was because most of the voters figured, "Oh, they're shoo-ins to be nominated, so I'll tick off some of these other names and give them a chance." Maybe. Who knows.

This year it seems that the Oscars will be all over the map. There is no clear-cut front-runner. I predict that several films will be honored, and no one title will dominate the proceedings.
Lately, the Academy has allowed more than five films to be nominated for Best Picture. For 2009 and 2010, there were ten nominees. For 2011 and 2012, only nine. I'm not sure why there wasn't a tenth nominee this year or last, but there could have been. My favorite film of 2012 was Moonrise Kingdom, a beautifully-written and acted, charming story of young love. I was certain it would get a Best Picture nomination, but it didn't. It had to settle for an Original Screenplay nomination, and I'm afraid it won't win that because it's the only nomination the picture received. I also thought Skyfall might squeeze in to get a Best Picture nomination. Since 2012 was the 50th anniversary of the Bond films, and because Skyfall is the biggest money-maker of them all, and because it is such a crowd-pleaser, that it might get honored. But, no, it had to settle for five lesser-category nominations, although that's the most nominations a Bond film has ever received. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to the big tribute to the 007 films that the ceremony has promised this year. The rumors were that all six Bond actors would appear on stage together. That ain't gonna happen, so we'll have to settle for hearing Shirley Bassey and Tom Jones sing old theme songs (and if Adele doesn't win Best Song for "Skyfall," there will be a lot of embarrassed people at the show.)

So here are my predictions and preferences, for anyone who cares.

Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway in Les Miserables will win. This is perhaps the only sure bet of the whole ceremony. I wasn't a fan of the movie itself, but I admired the performances, and hers especially. When her character died, the movie ended for me.

Supporting Actor: Tough one to call. Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln) won the SAG award and will probably take home the prize. I'm rooting for Robert De Niro (Silver Linings Playbook) because I feel his was the more challenging role. De Niro hasn't been nominated since 1991, and his was a terrific, nuanced performance. In fact, all five nominees in this category deserve the award, but this is a battle between the two elder statesmen.

Actress: Another tough one to call. Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook) appears to be the favorite, having won the SAG and other awards. I love Jennifer and think she's terrific, but I believe this role was a success mostly due to the snappy dialogue written for her by David O. Russell. It was practically a role that couldn't fail. I also love Jessica Chastain--she's going to be the next Meryl Streep, I think--but her role in Zero Dark Thirty, while good, is not an Oscar performance. I think the two most impressive performances were that of Emmanuelle Riva (Amour) and Naomi Watts (The Impossible), and I would be very happy if one of them gets it.

Actor: This is probably a sure bet, too. Daniel Day-Lewis will win his third Oscar for Lincoln, although I feel the best performance of the year was Joaquin Phoenix's eccentric, out-of-the-box characterization in The Master.

Director: Since Affleck and Bigelow weren't nominated (both of whom deserve the award over any of the five official nominees), the winner will probably be Steven Spielberg for Lincoln. But of the five who were nominated, I feel that Ang Lee deserves it more for the technically-challenging and inventive Life of Pi.

Picture: Since Moonrise Kingdom wasn't nominated, I have to settle on my second favorite film of the year, and it's the one I think will win-- Argo. Even though it's received some late criticism on historical accuracy (what? Hollywood doesn't always tell the truth when it makes a "factual" film???), it's a huge crowd-pleaser...and it gives Hollywood itself a positive role in the story. Ben Affleck will get his consolation prize by taking home the Best Picture award.

As always, there could be some upsets and surprises... and that's where the real fun of the Oscars lies. Many times I've had the inclination to throw my shoe at the television, and I hope I'll have that wonderful emotional reaction come Sunday night.

I can't wait.

Hooray for Hollywood.

50 Years Ago - 1963

(NOTE: This blog was originally written and published on my original blogging site on February 9, 2013.)

Since everybody's talking about 50th anniversaries (this year it's the Kennedy assassination and last fall it was the James Bond film franchise), I thought I'd try and reminisce about 1963, at least what I *can* remember about that year.

Isn't it interesting how we only remember "flashes" of events from our childhood? We just don't possess the complete cut of a scene: only a few seconds of some imagery, a bit of dialogue, and suggestions of the setting. For example, can *you* remember your 8th birthday party? Of course not. But I have a *flash* of memory, as if a few seconds of footage from a film remained in my brain. The party was held in the back yard of our house in Odessa, Texas, with a bunch of kids from my grade school and neighborhood friends in attendance. I want to say we went to see "Jack the Giant Killer" or "Pinocchio" at the theater, but I could be wrong. "Jack the Giant Killer" was released in 1962, and so was the re-issue of "Pinocchio." So maybe I saw one of those pictures the year before when I turned seven. At any rate, that *flash* is of me with a blindfold on and the other kids laughing and screaming with delight as I tried to do something in a game (Pin the Tail on the Donkey, maybe? Who knows!).

My birthday is in September, so for the first half and summer of '63, I was indeed seven years old. That spring I was in second grade at Gonzales Elementary School. My teacher was Mrs. Gaines, and I had a big crush on her. I thought she was very pretty. There was also a girl in class named Camille that I liked. I pretended she was my girlfriend, although that was the furthest thing from the truth. The one flash of memory from second grade, though, was when I got up in front of the class and lip-synched "Hawaiian War Chant" by Spike Jones, acting out the wacky song. The response I received was tremendous. I'm actually still in touch with a handful of people from my elementary school days. Here's a shout out to Thomas, John D., and Deborah, to name a few.

Summers were always reserved for a trip to Oklahoma to see relatives. My mom's huge extended family lived around Tulsa, Cleveland, and Oklahoma City. I think we went to Oklahoma every summer--and never anywhere else. I always wondered why we didn't go to Disneyland or some place cooler than Oklahoma, but we didn't. Nevertheless, I always had a great time visiting my cousins, uncles, and aunts. It seemed that the road trip lasted forever. My dad always drove, and my sister Judy and I sat in the back seat. No seat belts. I'd have my half of the seat, and she'd have hers. I usually brought along comic books and toys to keep me occupied. Stopping at Howard Johnson's was always a highlight.

In the fall of '63, I turned eight and started third grade. I remember my teacher, Mrs. Weir, but nothing much else about the class. The one big flash of memory I have, of course, is from Novemer 22. "Where were you when Kennedy was shot?" It's a question that we Baby Boomers can always answer. Well, I was sitting in third grade. The loud speaker came on and the principal told us the news that the president had been shot in Dallas. Even at our young ages, we were shocked. We tried to continue with class, but an hour later, the principal came back on and told everyone that Kennedy had died. With that, we were released. No more school that day. I walked home, stepped into the house (my mother was home), and said, "Mom, guess what happened!" She was already upset, of course, and had the television set on (still a black and white box-like thing with only three channels).
All of that I remember vividly.

Trivial things from the year are less lucid, but I remember being into books (my reading level was at least a couple of years advanced over my peers). I loved movies and tried to see most everything that a seven- or eight-year-old could view. I've gone over a list of films released in 1963 and can pick out the titles I know I saw that year, the more grown-up pictures with my parents, the kids' movies with friends: "How the West Was Won" (loved it, and I got the soundtrack record at some point), "Jason and the Argonauts" (wow!), "The Great Escape", "Cleopatra" (I was bored to death, and am still bored to death by this one, despite the brief glimpse of Elizabeth Taylor's skin), "Call Me Bwana", "Donovan's Reef", "Flipper", "Four for Texas", "Fun in Acapulco", "The Incredible Journey", "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World", "McLintock!", "The Nutty Professor", "Son of Flubber", "The Sword in the Stone", "Who's Minding the Store?", and "Spencer's Mountain". I do remember "The Birds" coming out, but it was deemed too scary for me to see at that time.

Speaking of "flubber," I remember a toy coming out that year that every kid wanted-- flubber! It was a glob of gooey, rubbery stuff that you could mold with your hands into a ball, and it would bounce pretty high. The flubber was green and pretty when it first came out of the package, but after a day of playing with it, it was all black and gross. Other toys of the year that I recall were: Big Loo (a robot that shot a ping pong ball out of its arm and also talked http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Loo ), Mattel's Vac-U-Form machine http://www.samstoybox.com/toys/Vac-U-Form.html , which allowed you to create plastic cars and things--it would never pass a safety code today because of the exposed hot oven!, and an 8mm toy movie projector that you hand-cranked. It included 3-5 minute reels of excerpts from cartoons, monster movies, and comedies.

Mostly, though, 1963 was the year I discovered Marvel Comics. "The Amazing Spider-Man" #1 came out at the beginning of the year, but I didn't notice Spidey until that fall, after a few issues had been out. The first one I bought on the newstand was #8 ("The Living Brain"), but I was able to find earlier issues at used comic stores. I had a Spider-Man #1 for many, many years--but I didn't take care of it and it was in pieces when I sold it in 1993 for a surprising $350, despite its extremely poor condition (if it had been mint, I'd have been able to put my son through college with the proceeds). I did love those Marvel Comics. I immediately latched on to Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Thor, and Iron Man.

And then there were the classic television shows-- "The Twilight Zone" was my favorite. I also liked "The Dick Van Dyke Show", "The Andy Griffith Show", "The Flintstones", "The Jetsons", "The Outer Limits", "The Beverly Hillbillies", "My Three Sons", "Mister Ed", "Lassie", "Bonanza", and "Gunsmoke". All black and white. No remote.

I suppose I was just a typical eight-year-old nerd.

And as Bob Hope would say, "Thanks for the memories!"

Moms With Stilettos

(NOTE: This blog was originally written and published on my original blogging site on February 16, 2013.)

This week's blog is a reprint of an article I wrote for COLLIER's Magazine last summer about my Black Stiletto series and how I've often used MOMs as protagonists in my novels. The link to the complete article is here: http://colliersmagazine.com/article/moms-stilettos. But here's the beginning...

MOMS WITH STILETTOS

Mothers make wonderful protagonists. I’ve often used them in my thrillers. The lead characters in several of my novels are indeed women, and many are moms, despite the fact that once upon a time I wrote guy-oriented stuff like continuation James Bond adventures.

By the way, the title of this article refers to knives, not shoes. That’s right, my latest series features a mother with Alzheimer’s who many years ago was a mysterious stiletto-wielding, costumed vigilante operating in Eisenhower/Kennedy-era Manhattan and L.A. She was known as the Black Stiletto, and she took on common crooks, the mafia, and Commie spies—but her identity has been a secret for fifty years.

This is my new mom.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my real mother. We have a great relationship and she’s the best mom in the world, but, apparently, judging by my work, I enjoy creating fictional moms whose dark secrets are uncovered by their children. I’ll leave it for the psychoanalysts to determine why this might be a recurring theme in my novels, but consider this—could it be that when one gets to be a certain age, the story of our parents’ lives prior to raising children becomes more interesting?

(Continued at... http://colliersmagazine.com/article/moms-stilettos )

In Praise of Stanley Kubrick

(NOTE: This blog was originally written and published on my original blogging site on February 4, 2013.)

Hello and welcome to Blog Benson. This is my second post. I deleted the first one. I'm experimenting. I want to get comfortable with this blogging thing.

So for this attempt I thought I'd play it safe and simply talk off the cuff about a guy who was a huge influence on me, and still is. Film director Stanley Kubrick quite simply changed my life. In late 1968 (or possibly January 1969), I saw "2001: A Space Odyssey" with my father. I was thirteen-years-old at the time. I couldn't believe what I saw on that 70mm screen. Tomes have been written about this landmark film and how influential it is in the history of cinema, but for me, living in the small West Texas town of Odessa, it was a revelation. It illustrated to me what a "director" does. I suddenly understood what auteur theory was and I'd never heard the term.

Kubrick's films were never "easy." In fact, most of them require more than one viewing to fully appreciate. They all have hidden meanings, deeper levels of subtext, and room for interpretation. He liked ambiguity. He wanted his audiences to think, to question, and to argue. He wanted to titillate and challenge the viewer with existential subjects that examined the human condition and its place in the universe. Kubrick also liked to make intelligent audiences laugh. His humor was blacker than just about anyone in the motion picture business. ("Dr. Strangelove" anyone?)

The filmmaker didn't make many movies. Only thirteen. Eleven of them could be considered classics, and at least six or seven of them are now called "masterpieces." The Stanley Kubrick Exhibition, currently on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art through June 2013, demonstrates how Kubrick's perfection in craftsmanship elevated his pictures from the norm. He was always striving for a better shot, a better performance, and a better product. I encourage anyone in the LA vicinity to pay a visit. It's a remarkable collection of Kubrick's "stuff"--props, scripts, costumes, cameras, notebooks, photos--all of which sheds a little light on the creative mind of a genius.

I've always admired artists who buck the system and do it "their" way. Kubrick, who purposefully developed a personalized mystique around himself, had an unprecedented deal with his studio, Warner Brothers. He could make any movie he wanted, with whatever budget he wanted, and he had final cut to boot. He didn't have to show the executives a frame of film until the picture was completed. Then, when most directors sit back and wait to see how it does at the box office, Kubrick had a hand in the marketing of his pictures, determining what theaters they should play in and how the ads should look. He created a film the way a writer pens a novel. He was always the sole author of his films, despite working with teams of extremely talented craftsmen and actors.

My family and I were fortunate to attend the opening night gala of LACMA's exhibition in October 2012. While I already personally knew members of the Kubrick family, I was privileged to meet several key individuals associated with the man's oeuvre. For me, the most exciting moment was shaking hands with Daniel Richter. He was the actor who played "Moonwatcher," the man-ape in "2001: A Space Odyssey" that threw the bone up in the air--an ingredient of what is arguably cinema's most famous match cut 2001 Match Cut. That short, iconic sequence represents what Kubrick was saying in all his films--that man does have the ability to reach for the stars... as long as he doesn't screw it up.

I still live by that adage.