Everything Old Is Cool Again

Screenwriter and director, Joseph L. Mankiewicz

As a writer, I am always thinking. I am thinking about what to write next. I am pondering how to write narratives that I think will sell. And I am always thinking about my audience. When I was a kid, writing was for me and me alone. I had my writing idols, they inspired my work. I was a kid remember, so the work was so poorly written that there was never any chance of it getting published. But, lo and behold, by the time I was eight years old, I had my first newspaper job. I worked as the editor of the Stephen E. Howe Elementary School newspaper. It was just a mimeographed sheet, but it gave me the experience in running a publication. And sure, I was the only staff member, but that was because none of my peers saw the advantage of knowing what you wanted to do in life. They didn't know what they wanted to be; while I knew that I wanted to be a writer. I learned over the years that my friends were never truly close to me because they didn't know who they were and my vision for my life seemed to offend them. I was always studying some writer or director. I had to find someone to inspire me -- and you will find that I talk about inspiration a lot because I can't just get up and write without being moved to do so. I find that when I read about a writer, or watch a film about writing, it causes me to go to my keyboard.

The photo above is of a writer I have admired most of my life. Joseph Mankiewicz has penned several of my favorite screenplays. I love writers and I don't care what they write and I love what Mankiewicz wrote. "The Barefoot Countessa" and "Letter to Three Wives" were two of my favorite screenplays written by the former Hollywood dialoguist. His most famous screenplay of course, was "Cleopatra", starring Liz Taylor. He's a hell of a director as well. "All About Eve" is one of the American Film Institute's Top 100 Films...in 100 Years. Joe's witty dialogue is what attracted me and in this Bette Davis tour de force, the screenwriter is at his best. And don't forget, the screenplay was based on the 1946 short story by Mary Orr called "The Wisdom of Eve". Writers write words and cause more words to be written.

Oh, Madonna, this is straight out of Mankiewicz's "Cleopatra"

 I've lived long enough to watch these old school Hollywood screenwriters become popular again. Recently, Madonna's Superbowl performance garnered rave reviews for its grandeur, but fans didn't know that she had used the grand entrance to Rome scene straight from Mankiewicz' s "Cleopatra" pages. She couldn't use the black slaves because it would have been in poor taste. But this is not about Madonna, it is about how everything old is cool again and we have to remember that those dramatic scenes are written first by a writer leaning over a typewriter with a pipe in his mouth and a shot of whiskey in a nearby glass. Thank you Mr. Mankiewicz.