The passing of an American icon...
otwcards
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RIP JD Salinger . . . We're all still reaching for that brass ring!
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It is said he has works to be released after his death, if so I am looking forward to reading these...but very sad he has passed.
Patrick
<< <i>I read Catcher in The Rye every couple years and still get choked up when doing so. The last scene with his sister is very poignant and still sends a chill down my spine >>
I re-read this every year and it changes for me. At first, when I was younger, I was like: "yeah Holden, you rebel!" but I've come to feel more sad for him lately.
Mike
Dodgers collection scans | Brett Butler registry | 1978 Dodgers - straight 9s, homie
That said, two pieces of art changed my life as a young teen- Catcher and the Breakfast Club. I read Catcher when I was 12, and saw the Breakfast Club when I was 13, and much of what happened in my life for the next twenty years can be traced back to my reaction to those two works of art.
Edit to add: Howard Zinn died a couple of days ago as well. Bad week for American iconoclasts.
<< <i>It will be interesting to see if any of his heirs release a stash of Salinger signed items. I'm hoping they have a hoard of cancelled checks or something that get dumped on the market at one time. For many years, he has been one of the most valuable "living" autographs. I've seen his graphs sell upwards of $1,000 several times over the years. Would be nice to have a chance at a much "cheaper" one to have made into a custom cut card for my collection.
Mike >>
I hope there are some as I've been trying for a Salinger auto for a long time!
As far as checks, his wife did all of that...from what I've heard he rarely signed his name to anything.
One thing that will be very interesting to watch is whaether there are any unpublished works that come to light after his passing. According to his estranged ex-wife, he kept writing throughout the years just not for publication purposes, though I am sure he has stipulated in his will that his writing be destroyed or kept private (if there are any). In that regard, his life and the potential posthumous publication of his works (if there are any) closely mirrors that of Franz Kafka, who had explicitly ordered that his novels be burned upon his death, though thankfully (for the literary world) his executor Max Brod disobeyed those instructions.
Collecting 1970s Topps baseball wax, rack and cello packs, as well as PCGS graded Half Cents, Large Cents, Two Cent pieces and Three Cent Silver pieces.
<< <i>That said, two pieces of art changed my life as a young teen- Catcher and the Breakfast Club. I read Catcher when I was 12, and saw the Breakfast Club when I was 13, and much of what happened in my life for the next twenty years can be traced back to my reaction to those two works of art. >>
Wow that is a very strong statement
Well, I can't relate to Catcher in the Rye cause I only skimmed it in the 10th grade, but I'm with you on The Breakfast Club.
If you saw it as a teen (because seeing it for the first time as an adult won't have the same impact), it really affected you. I know it's main theme was about breaking stereotypes, but for me it was more about coming of age and entering adulthood, leaving behind friends and moving on. Cause that's exactly where I was at the time.
I saw it for the first time with my girlfriend (who incidentally is now my wife) and we both really, really liked it.
I loved all of Hughes' films.
And Bill Paxton as Chet in Weird Science is one of my all time favorite roles
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The worth of literature is always in the reaction that readers
have to it. Lots of folks reacted to - identified with - Holden
Caulfield; even Mark David Chapman.
While I always recognized JDS as a fine writer, he never "moved"
me.
I was more of a Henry Miller and Hemingway responder.
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I liked John Hughes.
National Lampoon's Vacation;
Ferris Bueller's Day Off;
Weird Science;
The Breakfast Club;
Some Kind of Wonderful;
Sixteen Candles;
Pretty in Pink;
Planes, Trains and Automobiles;
Uncle Buck;
Home Alone;
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.
About 10-years ago, I watched a work-print of "The Breakfast Club."
It was totally flat and empty w/o the music.
IMV, "Less Than Zero" (1987) is a superior movie. And, it still holds
up well.
LTZ dvd rip
Even "The Strawberry Statement" (1970) - with little star power -
had more to say than TBC. Yet, it's just a cult movie that few ever
heard of.
strawberry.google.copy
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I think the brat-pack hype of TBC lost me, but it sure did influence a
lot of folks.
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Edit Add:
A priceless tweet on the passing of Howard Zinn.
"“Howard Zinn’s passing is the greatest loss to America since Karl Marx.”
He was far too commie-like for me, but his "history" screeds were a must
read. Gotta know what your enemies are planning for you.
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Catcher in the Rye is great, but you should read his short stories as well. I think he was a much better writer of the short stories than the full novels. He was a unique and truly American writer. I would say he will be missed, but he's been missed for far too many years.
Boo, I just read your comment after I posted and I have to say I disagree with you. The most overrated author? I can think of 10 or 1,000 that are more overrated than Salinger. Yes, I understand O'Connor's place in the pantheon of American writers (James for the novel and Hemingway for the short story, I think, also fit into that category. I'm thinking about this more and I have to add Fitzgerald as well for the short story), but I think you would be hard pressed to find a more telling example of a perfect embodiment of an American author who truly had his/her finger on the pulse of the times (and, more importantly, his world) and was able to wrap it around a great story(s). The 30's/40's/50's were a unique time in our literary history and one cannot omit Salinger even though his most popular book seems to be more appropriately categorized in the Young Adult section of the library. The impact that Catcher had on us as a nation was huge.
Kurt
<< <i>Zelda Rubinstein too, so sad >>
she was something else in the Poltergeist movies.....
Another great role (Downey) in the movie that "turned him into a drug addict"
"Catcher in the Rye" was a book I purchased while still a teen, or maybe 20, for my brother to use in his high school class. It was my intention to read it one day as well. It was one of those books that was on a list of ~400 others that every high school student should read before entering higher education. I guess the goal was to make the student as well rounded as possible.
Many of the books on the list I mentioned do deal with the theme of growing up, rites of passage, entering adulthood, etc. I still find it fascinating to hear what people enjoyed reading and why and how they think it impacted them (Boopotts, thanks for sharing).
BST: Tennessebanker, Downtown1974, LarkinCollector, nendee
O'Connor has been at times, but perhaps I am too commercial as I tend to learn towards Steinbeck. (Almost feel embarrassed saying that.) For several years I use to carry some of his shorter works in my jacket pocket.
Strange how The Breakfast Club is a top ten on everyone's list. I was a little young when it came out for it to have it's fullest effect, and enjoyed it more a few years later.
Raw: Tony Gonzalez (low #'d cards, and especially 1/1's) and Steve Young.
<< <i>IMV, "Less Than Zero" (1987) is a superior movie. And, it still holds
up well. >>
Not only that but also had an absolutely fantastic 80s soundtrack. It was almost a perfect reflection of the decade but a tad on the rougher side (which is exactly what that movie was).
Personally, I never looked at RD Jr the same after that scene... Yeah, you know which scene I'm talking about.
(no pun intended, sorta)
Kiss me twice.....let's party.
<< <i>
<< <i>IMV, "Less Than Zero" (1987) is a superior movie. And, it still holds
up well. >>
Not only that but also had an absolutely fantastic 80s soundtrack. It was almost a perfect reflection of the decade but a tad on the rougher side (which is exactly what that movie was).
Personally, I never looked at RD Jr the same after that scene... Yeah, you know which scene I'm talking about.
(no pun intended, sorta) >>
One of the best scenes ever, one of those scenes that stays with you.
In college I did a thesis on Franny & Zooey that was used for years after as a teaching tool in my school - it made me proud.
For the boomers - the guy IS an icon - a sad day.
•"I feel so funny. I think I'm going crazy. Maybe I'm already crazy."
- J.D. Salinger, Franny and Zooey
We felt his pain for it was ours - I'm just glad to still be alive!
mike
<< <i>Geordie,
Catcher in the Rye is great, but you should read his short stories as well. I think he was a much better writer of the short stories than the full novels. He was a unique and truly American writer. I would say he will be missed, but he's been missed for far too many years.
Boo, I just read your comment after I posted and I have to say I disagree with you. The most overrated author? I can think of 10 or 1,000 that are more overrated than Salinger. Yes, I understand O'Connor's place in the pantheon of American writers (James for the novel and Hemingway for the short story, I think, also fit into that category. I'm thinking about this more and I have to add Fitzgerald as well for the short story), but I think you would be hard pressed to find a more telling example of a perfect embodiment of an American author who truly had his/her finger on the pulse of the times (and, more importantly, his world) and was able to wrap it around a great story(s). The 30's/40's/50's were a unique time in our literary history and one cannot omit Salinger even though his most popular book seems to be more appropriately categorized in the Young Adult section of the library. The impact that Catcher had on us as a nation was huge.
Kurt >>
Wow! Great comments by all. Kurt, I just wanted to touch on one of the points you mentioned in the above post.
I agree with the 'finger on the pulse' issue, but IMO it's easy to confuse literally value with the social value of a book (or any work of art, for that matter). Atlas Shrugged, for instance, has had a huge social effect, but I don't think anyone who takes literature seriously would ever confuse Ayn Rand with a literary great. With respect to the subject of seminal texts of the '50's, I would put On The Road far, far ahead of Catcher-- not only for it's literary value, but also for the social impact that the book had on American culture.
One thing Catcher did have, though- and the reason why I think it's so popular, even to this day- is a pitch-perfect narrative. Salinger positively mastered the faux-naive narrative voice. I heard once (don't know if it's true) that he put every sentence he wrote in that book on a blackboard, and carefully dissected it and reworked it to make sure it was perfect. This could be apocryphal, but in any case there's almost not a single word that's out of place in that book. The narrative is incredibly seductive; I feel that way even now, even though I find the story itself a little tiresome.
Overall, I guess I never felt like Holden Caufield gave us anything that Jake Barnes didn't give us, only Hemingway (IMO) did it better. But I do respect the opinions of Salinger fans, and it's great to see so many people who care about this issue active on these boards!
For 20 years, Catcher In The Rye was my favorite book. Then I read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and it bumped Catcher to #2.
In the movie Field of Dreams, the James Earl Jones character was intended to be JD. In fact, in the book Shoeless Joe (from which the screenplay was developed) by WP Kinsella, the character IS JD. But apparently (I'm not a lawyer), you cannot depict a person in a movie without their permission.
Josh Wigler
"...five films that either drew inspiration from Salinger or utilized his work as a plot point......
FIELD OF DREAMS: In "Shoeless Joe," the novel that "Field of Dreams" is based on, the main character seeks out J.D. Salinger. The Kevin Costner-starring film version saw the role fictionalized in the form of Terence Mann (James Earl Jones). It's hard to imagine the film any other way, but Salinger's reclusive nature is certainly encapsulated in Jones' performance.
CHAPTER 27: This 2007 drama stars Jared Leto as Mark David Chapman, the man who assassinated John Lennon. Chapman reportedly modeled his life after "Rye" protagonist Holden Caulfield, and it's widely noted that he was discovered carrying a copy of the book following Lennon's murder. The film's title refers to the potential continuation of "Rye," which only sports 26 chapters.
CONSPIRACY THEORY: Paranoid taxi driver Jerry Fletcher (Mel Gibson) might be crazy about conspiracies, but there's one other thing that he's equally nuts about — his love for "The Catcher in the Rye." He's compelled to purchase a copy of the book every time he sees one, often to his own self-detriment. Crazy though he might be, at least Fletcher has good taste in literature.
FINDING FORRESTER: Not directly based on Salinger's life, protagonist William Forrester (Sean Connery) nonetheless shares some commonalities with the author, most notably his self-isolation. The movie also happens to boast Connery's final performance — well, second to last if you count "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," but we're not going to count it.
THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS: "The Royal Tenenbaums" focuses on a family of intelligent but misanthropic individuals, a group that's very similar to the Glass Family featured in several of Salinger's short stories and the novel "Franny and Zooey." Boo Boo, one of the Glasses, married into the Tannenbaum family, which isn't quite the same name as Wes Anderson's characters, but it's certainly close."
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IMDB JDS-related "FOD" Trivia:
The studio built the baseball diamond on an actual farm in Dyersville, Iowa. After the filming was completed, the family owning the farm kept the field, and added a small hut where you could buy inexpensive souvenirs. As of 1990, visitors were free to come to the field and play baseball as they please.
In the novel, instead of seeking fictional author Terrance Mann, Ray Kinsella seeks real-life 60's author J.D. Salinger. In 1947, Salinger wrote a story called "A Young Girl In 1941 With No Waist At All" featuring a character named Ray Kinsella.
In W.P. Kinsella's novel, protagonist Ray Kinsella is reunited with his identical twin brother, Richard Kinsella (a subplot that was discarded for the movie).
The article the Chisolm[sic] newspaper publisher shows to Ray and Terrance is written by Veda Ponikvar. Ms. Ponikvar was a long-time writer (and eventually editor-in-chief) for the Chisholm Free Press.
W.P. Kinsella, author of the original novel, was asked to write a review of the movie for a Canadian periodical. He gave it four stars out of five for two reasons: he didn't think the character of Mark was villainous enough, and he didn't think that Gaby Hoffmann (Karin) looked like she could be Kevin Costner and Amy Madigan's child.
During filming, Iowa was in the middle of a drought, and the cornfields surrounding the diamond had to be given lots of extra water in order to grow tall enough for the actors to disappear into the stalks. As a result, the corn grew too fast for the Costner shots. In the one scene where corn is above his shoulders, he is walking on an elevated plank.
Thousands of pallets of green grass were brought in to make the baseball field, but due to the haste in planting because of the shooting schedule, the grass was not able to grow appropriately and died. In order to keep the grass green, the production crew painted the grass.
Then unknown, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are among the thousands of extras in the Fenway Park scene, and are uncredited. Over a decade later, when Phil Alden Robinson welcomed Affleck to the set of The Sum of All Fears (2002), Affleck said, "Nice working with you again." Robinson asked, "What do you mean 'again'?" and Affleck explained the connection.
After the movie was completed test audiences didn't like the name "Shoeless" Joe Jackson because they said it sounded like a movie about a bum or hobo. Universal called director-screenwriter Phil Alden Robinson to tell him that "Shoeless Joe" didn't work, and the studio changed the title of the film to "Field of Dreams". When Robinson heard the news of the change, he called W.P. Kinsella, the author of the book, and told him the "bad" news, but apparently he didn't care, saying that "Shoeless Joe" was the title the publishing company gave the book. Kinsella's original title was "Dream Field".
When Ray asks "Shoeless" Joe Jackson what he likes about about playing baseball, Shoeless Joe responds "the thrill of the grass", the title of W.P. Kinsella's 1985 book of short stories about baseball.
Tom Hanks was originally offered the role of Ray Kinsella but turned it down.
Archibald "Moonlight" Wright Graham was a real baseball player. On 29 June 1905, with the New York Giants, he played one Major League Baseball game. Five days later, he quit his dream of being a pro ball player to become a doctor.
In 1991, Hawaii's House of Representatives filed House Resolution 95 to plead the case for "Shoeless" Joe Jackson's reinstatement. Among the reasons given was a quote given by James Earl Jones's character in the movie that "grasps the essence of an American tradition, baseball." Among those receiving a copy of the House Resolution were Phil Alden Robinson (Field of Dreams writer-director), Charles Gordon and Lawrence Gordon (Field of Dreams producers), and cast members Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, and James Earl Jones.
The shot of the line-drive knocking over the bag of baseballs next to Kevin Costner was sheer luck off the bat of Ray Liotta.
The first day of shooting was the town hall scene. Amy Madigan was nervous about screaming in front of such a large group of people the first day.
Several deleted scenes include Ray getting his hearing checked; Ray buying baseball equipment; Ray getting lost on the way to Fenway with Terrence; and Ray and Terrence watching batting practice.
Burt Lancaster was unaware that Timothy Busfield was part of the cast, and had him fetching water and chairs before realizing Busfield was going to be in the scene with him.
"The Final Shot" was a big community event, enlisting 1,500 volunteers to drive for the last scene. For only a brief time could the headlights and also the blue of the sky be shown in one shot. The first take was too bright. On the second shot the lighting was perfect, but the camera f-stop was messed up. Just before the third and final shot, the director realized that as with any heavy traffic, most of the cars weren't moving. They would just look like lights on posts. He relayed a quick instruction through the local radio station: flash your high beams on and off. Though the cars are not moving, this simulated the appearance of lights passing behind obstructions to perfect effect.
W.P. Kinsella and J.D. Salinger, on whom the character Terence Mann is based, were friends. In fact, Salinger accompanied Kinsella to Chisolm, Minn. in 1975 in search of Moonlight Graham, who had died 10 years earlier. Kinsella said he chose Graham's character for his book "Shoeless" Joe Jackson because he was intrigued by his nickname when he came across it while thumbing through the Baseball Encyclopedia.
The movie's line "If you build it, he will come." was voted as the #39 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).
Sheila McCarthy and Reba McEntire both auditioned for the part of Annie.
The Cracker Jack baseball cards shown in the beginning of the film are based on real baseball cards produced in 1914 and 1915. However, the actual set does not include cards of Babe Ruth or obviously Lou Gehrig. There is, however, a "Shoeless" Joe Jackson card very similar to the Jackson card shown in the film, which has become very popular with collectors since the film's release.
According to supplementary material on the DVD edition of this film, shortly before shooting began, the actor who played Ray Kinsella's father, Dwier Brown, was notified that his father unfortunately passed away. Immediately after the funeral, he traveled directly from the funeral to filming in Iowa for the scene. He stated that although the emotion was too fresh and painful, it had an effect on how he eventually played his scene with Kevin Costner.
When "Shoeless" Joe Jackson is giving young Archie "Moonlight Graham" advice on hitting we can see that the bat Graham is using is a "Louisville Slugger" Jack Clark model. Jack Clark was a fairly prominent player from the 1970's and 80's.
The movie was named as one of "The 20 Most Overrated Movies of All Time" by Premiere.
When they hold up the Terence Mann book that is going to be banned in the school auditorium, it has the same cover design as the first edition of Jack Kerouac's 1957 novel "On the Road".
Ranked #6 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Fantasy" in June 2008.
According to an AFI top 100 quotes list, 'The Voice' is that of Ray Liotta.
The director has said that his greatest regret about this film is that he never used any African-American baseball players. The use of African-American players might have compromised the historical accuracy of the film since no African-American players were known to have played Major League baseball until 1947 - the year Jackie Robinson broke in with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Ray Liotta spent months learning how to throw and hit as a left-handed player (he is naturally right-handed). But when it came time for his baseball scenes, the director told him that since he was playing a 'ghost' anyhow, accuracy was not important. So he played right-handed even though "Shoeless" Joe Jackson was known to be a lefty. When the film came out, baseball historians cried foul. He has since said in interviews that his biggest regret about the breakthrough role was that he didn't stand up for himself and demand to play left-handed.
"Shoeless" Joe Jackson remarks about Ty Cobb's desire to play at the Field of Dreams (1989), "None of could stand the son of a xxxxx when he was alive, so, we told him to stick it." However, towards the end of the real Shoeless Joe's life, Ty Cobb came into his liquor store in South Carolina and asked Jackson whether or not he knew him.
The owners of the site of the baseball field in Iowa canceled their 20th anniversary event due to the economic turn down and donated the money raised for it to a local food bank (2009).
During the "search for Terry" scene, Ray can be seen driving up Huntington Avenue in Boston, and in fact at one point, he's just a matter of a few blocks from the very site where the very first World Series was played between the Boston Red Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates in 1903, which were played on what they at that time referred to as the "Huntington Avenue Grounds."
The famous line "If you build it, he will come" was featured in a Daily Telegraph (UK) article on the 10 most misquoted film phrases. It's often misquoted as "If you build it, they will come."
Karin's line "They'll come to Iowa City. they'll think it's really boring..." is a reference to the original "Shoeless Joe" Novel. In the book, the Kinsella Farm was located near Iowa City, Iowa and J.D. Salinger's monologue (similar to Terrence Mann's) included ideas about people touring Iowa City before coming to the farm. In the film, the closest major city to the farm is Dubuque, Iowa.
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<< <i>
In the novel, instead of seeking fictional author Terrance Mann, Ray Kinsella seeks real-life 60's author J.D. Salinger. In 1947, Salinger wrote a story called "A Young Girl In 1941 With No Waist At All" featuring a character named Ray Kinsella.
>>
For the record, Kinsella was also a named used in CITR:
From wikipedia:
Later, Salinger's most famous work, The Catcher in the Rye, features a minor character named Richard Kinsella, a classmate of the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, who digresses a lot in an "Oral Composition" class. (Richard Kinsella is the name of Ray's twin brother in the original novel.)
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned JD Salinger's biggest fan, that nutjob who shot Lennon. I think he had a copy of Catcher with him at the Dakota.
Jonathan Scheier
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<< <i>Did any of you ever read Less than Zero? Much darker than the movie, believe it or not. The Andrew McCarthy character was a pretty major drug user in the book as well, if I recall correctly. I was reading Brett Easton Ellis' work about twenty years ago now. Ugh, can't believe how quickly I'm getting old.
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned JD Salinger's biggest fan, that nutjob who shot Lennon. I think he had a copy of Catcher with him at the Dakota. >>
I read it. And in the book, the relationship between the McCarthy's and Downey's characters was, uh, different from the film version
Over or under - I just wish I had "ONE" great novel in me - I would feel like I was immortal!
mike
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I noted the MDC connection to CITR on page one.
Most interesting to me is MDC's having been sucked into the largest "art"
counterfeiting operation in the history of the world.
The perps got artists to sign blank pages and printed posters onto the blank pages.
Suckers like MDC paid THOUSANDS for a poster that was worth only a few bucks.
When MDC tried to sell his "art" back to Center Art Galleries, they essentially
laughed at him. He was finally able to recoup pennies on the dollar in a private
sale. (He is said to have lost more than $25K in 1979/80 dollars.)
Like Holden, MDC hated "phonies."
MDC was burned by the phonies in the "art" game AND he decided that Lennon was a "phony."
When he was cuffed, MDC allegedly told the cops, "I am the catcher in the rye."
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The definitive work on the subject of the art fraud and MDC's victimhood
in it is the 1992 book "The Great Dali Art Fraud and Other Deceptions."
By Lee Catterall
Editorial Review - Kirkus Reviews Copyright (c) VNU Business Media, Inc.
Greed more than art is the dominant theme of this overextended and overwritten but nonetheless engrossing exposÉ by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reporter who first broke this
story of an international fine-art scam. According to Catterall, greed has pervaded the art world, and by the mid-80's it ruled art personages from Salvador Dali to shady dealers
who produced and peddled so-called ""limited edition"" graphics and sculptures, to ""art-for-investment"" buyers who viewed their ""collections"" on a par with pork-
belly futures. Catterall unreels the tangled skein of his story as it stretches from the Costa Brays to Paris to Secaucus, New Jersey, to Beverly Hills to Waikiki. His overdetailing
can try the reader's patience at times, but among the plethora of names, dates, locales, and inventory figures are enough startling facts to sustain interest. The author reveals,
for example, that Peter Moore, a Dali ""secretary,"" estimated that by 1985 some 350,000 blank sheets of paper signed by the surrealist were in existence, ready to be
imprinted with whatever images forgers decided would sell. Catterall explores the ins and outs of copyright sales; the underground network of fakes and forgeries; the pie-in-
the-sky promises of self-proclaimed ""art consultants""; and experts' contradictory definitions of what constitutes an ""original"" print. Also portrayed: the half-sad, half-hilarious
story of ""celebrity artists"" like Red Skelton. (Anthony Quinn, Tony Curtis). Far too long, but, still, a revealing cautionary tale that says much about American society in the past
two decades.
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Despite that lackluster review, the book is a GREAT detective story
and filled with info about how collectors/investors were duped by
the crooks.
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Yikes!!!!!!!!!
The fraud beat goes on..........
Dali Art Fraud Continues: 2010... Be Careful Out There......