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Straight Up | Herman

Arts, Media & Culture News with 'tude

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Jim Haynes, RIP

January 12, 2021 by Jan Herman Leave a Comment

Jim Haynes

Brad Spurgeon memorializes him: “End of an Era, but not of a Philosophy of Life.” I never met Jim. But he was extraordinarily welcoming when we corresponded by email about the strange case of Orwell’s typewriter.

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Last Words: The Final Journals of William S. Burroughs

October 7, 2020 by Jan Herman

In a Wake Island Broadcast James Grauerholz speaks to Paul Kwiatkowski. Wake Island is a conversation series exploring tone, atmosphere, and aesthetics.

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Good Question: ‘Who’s Your Death Hero?’

September 24, 2020 by Jan Herman

Although Albert Camus does not come up in WHO’S YOUR DEATH HERO? — a conversation between the filmmaker Richard Kern and the writer who goes by the name of Supervert — he would be my candidate in answer to the title. Camus’s declaration, “I want to keep my lucidity to the last and gaze upon my death with all the fullness of my jealousy and horror,” conveys precisely what this book is about as if he’d read it himself.

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This Side of Grub Street

July 13, 2020 by Jan Herman

Readers wanted to know all about their celebrities, or at least about my encounters with them. From A-listers and B-listers right down to Z-listers. The whole stupid alphabet top to bottom. Names to be forgotten one day. They needed the publicity and I needed the job. I wasn’t a star fucker—I’ll say that, having come from the newsroom with no more interest in celebrities than any routine reporter. I was a stand-in for star fuckers.​

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‘A Daughter’s Take on the Legend of Nicholas Ray’

May 8, 2020 by Jan Herman

Three Rooms Press has just published RAY BY RAY, a combination memoir-biography by Nicca Ray, daughter of the maverick Hollywood director Nicholas Ray, with an introduction by Samantha Fuller, daughter of another Hollywood maverick, the screenwriter/director Sam Fuller. The publisher will present a livestream book launch Saturday afternoon—May 9 @ 2pm-4pm EST — featuring the […]

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It’s That Time of Year . . .

December 23, 2019 by Jan Herman

. . . when it seems that everybody is looking back over their shoulder more with nostalgia than disgust. I am not immune. Scrolling through some old emails, I came across this one called “from NELSON ALGREN’S LETTERS TO RAJAH.” Rajah was Roger Groening, a friend of Nelson’s and later of mine. Roger died in 2015. I think of him often. He and Nelson became friends, initially by mail, when Roger wrote him a fan letter. They remained friends for some 20 years until Nelson’s death, in 1981.

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Wyler’s ‘Dodsworth’ at New York Film Festival

October 10, 2019 by Jan Herman

“This worldly, richly layered adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’s 1929 novel is one of the triumphs of the storied career of director William Wyler—and that’s saying a lot.” (New York Film Festival.) The chapter about the making of “Dodsworth”—and what went on behind the scenes—also was among the most pleasurable to write for my biography of Wyler.

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Being Screened Any Minute Now in Edinburgh, Again

August 12, 2019 by Jan Herman

Meet Jim Haynes in a documentary. As I’ve written before: “I’ve never met Jim. We’ve only corresponded by email about the strange case or Orwell’s typewriter. But I know that he is a man for all reasons — pleasure, food, sex, mind, books, theater, life — and that to meet him in person all you have to do is show up at his door in Paris for dinner.”

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2019 NY Acker Awards Held at Theater for the New City

March 20, 2019 by Jan Herman

Poster by Steve Ellis, Fly O.

The Acker Awards, now in their sixth year, are a tribute given to members of the avant-garde arts community who have made outstanding contributions in their discipline in defiance of convention, or else served their fellow writers and artists in outstanding ways. The award’s novelist namesake, in her life and work, exemplified the risk-taking and […]

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Far Out Wasn’t Far Enough

February 12, 2019 by Jan Herman

The artist Tomi Ungerer has died at the age of 87. He was “a lifelong activist who protested against racial segregation, the Vietnam war and the election of US President Donald Trump . . .” Speaking about himself as an artist, Ungerer said, “I have the full respect of a piece of white paper, which I then shall rape with my drawing or my writing. When I draw, it’s the real me.”

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Doowah… Doowah… Doowah…

December 30, 2018 by Jan Herman

Portrait of William S. Burroughs © by R. Crumb [1985]

Have you ever seen a movie trailer about a writer that swings like this one?

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‘Steps Toward the Invisible’

November 7, 2018 by Jan Herman

Take a look at Edward O’Donnelly’s stunningly beautiful short film made with and about the poet Malcolm Ritchie on the Scottish Isle of Arran. Click the image for a video of the film.

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‘It Could Bring You Back Alive’

September 26, 2018 by Jan Herman

Of all the heavy bombers that saw action during the Second World War, none earned as much admiration, gratitude, and affection from their crews as the B-17. It was durable, maneuverable, easy to fly. It was fast for its size and well-armed. It could bring you back alive even with its tail shot off, or […]

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Documentary Spotlight at NY Film Fest

September 10, 2018 by Jan Herman

A newly restored print of William Wyler’s World War II air-combat documentary The Memphis Belle and Erik Nelson’s new documentary The Cold Blue (created from recently discovered raw footage shot during the filming of Memphis Belle) are to be featured in screenings at the 56th New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center, accompanied by interviews […]

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What a Beast!

July 27, 2018 by Jan Herman

“The Captain” is the best flick I’ve seen in years. If you need to read a review, you might as well read David Edelstein’s. My only demurral is that I see the setup as feral. He sees it as farcical. emailFacebookTwitterReddit

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Weinstein’s Rehab Reading

July 10, 2018 by Jan Herman

“Harvey Weinstein entered New York State Supreme Court yesterday clutching a copy of A Talent for Trouble. Was Weinstein looking for someone to teach him about being a mensch?” — Leon Freilich He walked to the courthouse with a copy of “A Talent for Trouble,” the 1997 biography of “Ben-Hur” film director William Wyler, according […]

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Celebrating Carl Weissner, Buk, and Burroughs

June 19, 2018 by Jan Herman

Carl Weissner [Photo by Michael Montfort]

They say Berlin is the place to be. Since I can’t be there myself, here’s the next best thing . . . This is the Maher-Mähler film about Carl that will be screened as part of the celebration: Always These Nightmares!      Toward the end of his life Carl was a writer on a […]

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Jan Herman

When not listening to Bach or Cuban jazz pianist Chucho Valdes, or dancing to salsa, I like to play jazz piano -- but only in the privacy of my own mind.
Another strange fact... Read More…

About

Straight Up

The agenda is just what it says: news of arts, media & culture delivered with attitude. Or as Rock Hudson once said in a movie: "Man is the only … [Read More...]

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My biography of the Hollywood director William Wyler, A Talent for Trouble, is available as an ebook at Amazon and an ebook on iTunes at the Apple … [Read More...]

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