Billy Wilder: Something Old, Something Cool

Screenwriter-director, Billy Wilder with Marilyn Monroe.

No one knows this, but I once checked out two library books and forgot to take them back. The books were screenplays for two films from 1950: "All About Eve", and "Sunset Boulevard". I remember walking along the stacks in the Fine Arts Department of the Cleveland Public Library to find them. Back in those days, there was only the main building and you had to take the stairs up to the Fine Arts Department. Michel Hazanavicius won the Oscar for Best Director, for the film, "The Artist". The Hollywood Reporter post-Oscar wrap-up included the following: "Hazanavicius thanked the late, multi-Oscar winner Billy Wilder three times, presumably for helping provide the inspiration for revisiting the days of silent cinema, even if Wilder never directed a silent film." Billy Wilder just happens to be another of those writers whose work I adore. When I read Maurice Zolotow's "Billy Wilder in Hollywood", I knew I had come across a kindred spirit. Wilder had worked as a reporter in Vienna--what could be more heavenly? He then moved to Germany where he worked for a larger newspaper until Adolph Hitler came to power in 1933. Soon, he arrived in Hollywood. He spoke no English. His partnership with writing partner Charles Brackett resulted in some of cinema's finest films--comedies like "Ninotchka"  starring Greta Garbo, and later, Wilder would write and direct one of my favorite dark films, "Lost Weekend". When my Academy Awards volume for 1950 arrived I was surprised to learn that Billy Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard" (#12 on the American Film Institute's Top 100 Films) had won Best Picture over Joseph Mankiewicz's, "All About Eve". Great writers pen classic scripts.

Writing partners, Charles Brackett (l) and Billy Wilder (r) with "Sunset Boulevard" star, Gloria Swanson.

One Saturday afternoon, I rode the St. Clair bus downtown to visit my library. I remember checking out many scripts and biographies. Carrying a bag of books was still cool at that point in my life. I don't remember returning the books. I do recall finding the two screenplays behind my bed one day. I had no idea how long they had been back there. I was shocked that I hadn't gotten a notice from the library. I didn't know what to do. I was afraid that they would make me pay for the books and I knew didn't have the money. One day I happened to be looking through my books when I discovered the scripts--years had passed. Of course, I spent the next week devouring the words and as luck, no fate would have it, it was spring and TCM was airing the classic Best Picture winners and nominees. I watched both films thinking how well Wilder's work had stood up over time. Later in the week, "Lost Weekend", and "Double Indemnity" both aired. 

I should mention that Wilder's cache grew exponentially when journalist-turned-screenwriter and director, Cameron Crowe spent a year talking to the director. The resulting "Conversations with Wilder" is a classic. Two of my writing heroes (reporters-turned-screenwriters) together in one volume. Crowe, another kindred spirit got it--Wilder was the man. After last Sunday's Academy Awards, I think we all know that everything old is cool again, at least where Billy Wilder is concerned.

One of my favorite Wilder quotes is: "I was not a guy writing deep-dish revelations. If people see a picture of mine and then sit down and talk about it for 15 minutes, that is a very fine reward, I think." 

Every Beginning Has A Start

Author F. Scott Fitzgerald

My start began with a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I was only three years old. Or maybe I started reading it by the time I was five years old. I think it was Tender Is The Night or was it This Side of Paradise? The first book was a gift from my father who had purchased it from the Salvation Army Goodwill store, which was located across from our house.

I remember being fascinated by the words on the page. A colleague at work said that he couldn't remember reading at such an early age, let alone reading Fitzgerald. I never said that I understood the big words, however, I said that the book transformed my life. I knew that I wanted to be a writer. My life had purpose.

I began a quest to find out as much as I could about Mr. Fitzgerald. I grew old enough to venture to the Glenville branch of the Cleveland Public Library on Parkwood Drive, and there I would browse the stacks to find the Fitzgerald books. My hands ran across the spines of books by men and women that I had never read. I would sit at the large wooden table and run my fingers across the words on the pages. This is what I wanted to do -- make words magically appear upon the page of a book.

Soon, I was confronted with a big question: How do I become a writer? I decided to read more about Fitzgerald. I read all of the novels and the short story collections so that I could become familiar with his characters and his style. I watched the film renditions of his books and found them always missing something. I became a student of the Roaring Twenties, and dreamed of lecturing on the authors of that period in a collegiate setting. However, I still didn't know how to become an author.

Interior of the Glenville Library

In the months and weeks to come, I hope to share more about my journey to become an author. At least now, you know something about my start--it began with F. Scott Fitzgerald.

A Writer Will Learn To Write

Kate Hepburn: Reading her biography was heavenly.

Someone asked me where I went to school and I had to tell them that there was no one place. I learned my craft at the library like many writers. We have a fine library system in Northeast Ohio. I spent part of my youth in the Fine Arts Department of my city's main library. I tried to read as many Hollywood biographies as possible and I continue this practice to this day. And sure, I went to college, however, I discovered that craft is not easily taught when you don't have writing faculty members. I don't mean scholarly writers, I mean, working writers who teach the craft of fiction and non-fiction writing. There were several British Literature professors at my school, but I only had one real writer-teacher, and that was the late Sheila Schwartz. She was beloved by her students.

Sheila talked to you like a writer. She took you to task for your sloppy work, she complimented you when your work deserved it. I took advantage of my time with her to develop my skills as a fiction writer--I had been told not to go there. But I knew I was more than a memoir writer.

But I go back to reading biographies and what it did for me as a writer. I received inspiration from the stories of famous people. You never realize what a person goes through to ascend to great heights in this life. Biographies not only celebrate the life of the subject, but also that of the person who spent those years researching that person. I cannot imagine the hard work that is involved in writing the biography of a Hollywood icon like say, Katherine Hepburn.

If I were to be given a chance to write a biography, it would be difficult to think of a personality that I would want to spend years researching. Therefore, I'd probably rather research some like writer-director, JJ Abrams (Lost, Alcatraz, Cloverfield, Alias, etc.). He is almost like an old-school writer-director--someone with a definite non-Hollywood point-of-view. I am excited by this kind of against-the-grain thinking. Abrams thinks like a writer.  A writer will learn to write--his life is his classroom.