Roger Ebert was a small town boy who made good in the big city. He's had a very interesting life, and that gives him plenty of material to write about.
I was very interested in the chapters on Ingmar Bergman, Martin Scorsese and Werner Herzog. Ebert visited Cannes every year, for his job as a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, and has fun anecdotes to relate about that experience.
Possibly my favorite chapter is his chapter on Robert Mitchum. I'm sure this is partly because, like Ebert, I'm impressed by Mitchum. I'm impressed by Mitchum's charisma; Ebert is impressed by his lack of pretense. Ebert recounts a couple of visits to Mitchum on location, one in the Dingle Peninsula of County Kerry, in western Ireland, while Mitchum was filming Ryan's Daughter. Another visit was to a set in Pittsburgh; Ebert accompanied Mitchum on a drive to the set during which Mitchum's driver became badly lost. Not coping well with being either late or lost, I'm impressed by Mitchum's sang froid as he hums "76 Trombones" under his breath.
Ebert loves London, and reports that he visited London at least once a year (if not more often) for many years. His account of Jermyn Street, and especially 22 Eyrie Mansion, is funny and engaging. He has a newspaperman's eye for characters and the telling anecdote or detail.
This book is clearly a collection of blog posts. One of the reasons that Ebert is so prolific, I think, is that it is fairly easy for him to continue writing despite the lasting effects of his surgeries, and writing is something that he connects him to the outside world. I'm guessing that continuing to be connected with readers and new fans helps to sustain him. As this book shows, his life before illness was busy and full of work, relationships, travel and socializing.
He talks about going to an annual conference in Boulder, a conference he attended each year for many years. It sounds fun. He acknowledges at the end of this chapter that, as the conference is really a forum for people to talk to each other, he won't go again.
In many ways, this book is a summing up of a full life. It's mostly about the joy of knowing interesting people and telling fun stories about them. In fact, that is what the word "memoir" means to me: a collection of stories about people one has known. But he does reflect on what he's learned and his conclusion is that life is mostly about creating happiness for others and by doing so, for oneself. I think that's a sentiment that Gretchen Rubin would endorse.
One of my favorite bits of this book is when Ebert is working for Russ Meyer, writing the script of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, an X-rated film. Ebert and Meyer are working in a suite of offices:
Before I close, I must share with you what Ebert shared with his readers: the secret of his speed as a writer is not that he writes more quickly than others but that he spends less time not writing than others. I think some of the writers I know would warmly endorse this bit of good advice; I know I always struggle over my beginnings and often cut them by two thirds or rewrite them entirely. A journalist he worked with on the Champaign News-Gazette told Ebert not to waste time working over his lead before he wrote the story: after all, he said, how do you know what the story's about until you get to the end? So write your story or your paper and then go back and rewrite the beginning to make it one that matches your ending.
I was very interested in the chapters on Ingmar Bergman, Martin Scorsese and Werner Herzog. Ebert visited Cannes every year, for his job as a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, and has fun anecdotes to relate about that experience.
Possibly my favorite chapter is his chapter on Robert Mitchum. I'm sure this is partly because, like Ebert, I'm impressed by Mitchum. I'm impressed by Mitchum's charisma; Ebert is impressed by his lack of pretense. Ebert recounts a couple of visits to Mitchum on location, one in the Dingle Peninsula of County Kerry, in western Ireland, while Mitchum was filming Ryan's Daughter. Another visit was to a set in Pittsburgh; Ebert accompanied Mitchum on a drive to the set during which Mitchum's driver became badly lost. Not coping well with being either late or lost, I'm impressed by Mitchum's sang froid as he hums "76 Trombones" under his breath.
Ebert loves London, and reports that he visited London at least once a year (if not more often) for many years. His account of Jermyn Street, and especially 22 Eyrie Mansion, is funny and engaging. He has a newspaperman's eye for characters and the telling anecdote or detail.
This book is clearly a collection of blog posts. One of the reasons that Ebert is so prolific, I think, is that it is fairly easy for him to continue writing despite the lasting effects of his surgeries, and writing is something that he connects him to the outside world. I'm guessing that continuing to be connected with readers and new fans helps to sustain him. As this book shows, his life before illness was busy and full of work, relationships, travel and socializing.
He talks about going to an annual conference in Boulder, a conference he attended each year for many years. It sounds fun. He acknowledges at the end of this chapter that, as the conference is really a forum for people to talk to each other, he won't go again.
In many ways, this book is a summing up of a full life. It's mostly about the joy of knowing interesting people and telling fun stories about them. In fact, that is what the word "memoir" means to me: a collection of stories about people one has known. But he does reflect on what he's learned and his conclusion is that life is mostly about creating happiness for others and by doing so, for oneself. I think that's a sentiment that Gretchen Rubin would endorse.
One of my favorite bits of this book is when Ebert is working for Russ Meyer, writing the script of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, an X-rated film. Ebert and Meyer are working in a suite of offices:
"We fell into a routine. At nights we would dine like trenchermen, Russ insisting on large cuts of beef to keep my strength up. On yellow legal pads we made up the story day by day. I would write from ten to six. Russ kept all the office doors open. He equated writing with typing. When my typewriter fell silent, he would call, "What's wrong?" One day, at about page 122 of the screenplay, an inspiration struck. I entered Russ's office dramatically.
"I've got news for you," I said. "Z-Man is a woman. He's been a woman all along."
"I like it," Meyer said.
Before I close, I must share with you what Ebert shared with his readers: the secret of his speed as a writer is not that he writes more quickly than others but that he spends less time not writing than others. I think some of the writers I know would warmly endorse this bit of good advice; I know I always struggle over my beginnings and often cut them by two thirds or rewrite them entirely. A journalist he worked with on the Champaign News-Gazette told Ebert not to waste time working over his lead before he wrote the story: after all, he said, how do you know what the story's about until you get to the end? So write your story or your paper and then go back and rewrite the beginning to make it one that matches your ending.
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