Book Reviews—Wings, Scorsese, Miyazaki, Hirschfeld's Sondheim

Wings—The Story of a Band on the Run 

(Liveright)

As part of Paul McCartney’s ongoing Wings reclamation project—which began with the music compilation and documentary Wingspan back in 2002 and continues this year with the release of the Amazon Prime documentary Man on the Run—this first-person account chronicles Paul’s entire ’70s trajectory, from leaving the Beatles and releasing two initially derided but now beloved albums, McCartney and Ram, before he and Linda embarked on putting together a new band with—aside from ever-loyal Denny Laine—a revolving cast of drummers and lead guitarists. 

Editor Ted Widmer judiciously compiled new and archival interviews with Paul, Linda, Denny, other band members, the McCartneys’ children, Paul’s brother Mike, and others like Dustin Hoffman—who relates the famous anecdote of Paul whipping out an acoustic guitar and conjuring up “Picasso’s Last Words (Drink to Me)” right in front of the actor—to present a thorough decade-long history of Wings. After Paul’s 1979 Japanese drug bust came the unceremonious dissolution of one of the biggest hitmaking groups of the decade and led to Paul’s resurgence as a formidable solo artist and as a keeper of the Beatles’—and, of course, Wings’—flame. 

Martin Scorsese—The Iconic Filmmaker and His Work 

(White Lion)

Now six decades into a career that still continues to surprise, director Martin Scorsese has been tagged with the label as a maker of mainly gangster pictures, since GoodFellas looms so large in his oeuvre. But, as Ian Nathan’s closely argued appreciation of his more than two dozen films (so far—he’s currently making What Happens at Night, once again starring his favorite late-career actor, Leonardo DiCaprio) adroitly demonstrates, there’s much more to Scorsese than that. 

After all, he’s adapted novels by Edith Wharton (The Age of Innocence), Nikos Kazantzakis (The Last Temptation of Christ) and Dennis Lehane (Shutter Island), along with creating music documentaries about the Band, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and George Harrison. Then there’s that startling character study, the underappreciated The King of Comedy, which may well be his most enduring film. OK sure, for every Mean Streets, Taxi Driver or Raging Bull, there are busts like New York New York, Cape Fear or Bringing Out the Dead, but Nathan skillfully chronicles Scorsese’s wide-ranging oeuvre as unique in American movies, with plentiful color images from the films underscoring his points. 

The Worlds of Hayao Miyazaki 

(Frances Lincoln) 

Japanese animation master Hayao Miyazaki has made a dozen features over 45 years, and his elegantly artful onscreen stories are simultaneous mythic and humane, starting with his feature debut, 1979’s The Castle of Cagliostro, and continuing with his international breakthrough, 1988’s Princess Mononoke, all the way up to his—supposedly—final feature, 2023’s The Boy and the Heron. This beautifully designed volume, which includes a plethora of color film stills alongside Miyazaki’s own sketches for projects made and unmade, thematically groups the auteur’s subjects by section. 

Nicolas Rapold’s text nicely weaves the many threads of Miyazaki’s influences and inspirations (as the subtitle makes clear) and the sheer beauty of the filmmaker’s fantastical imagery—often centering on anthropomorphic creatures who befriend intelligent but lonely young children—is what is most memorable in a splendid career that’s filled with highlights like the wrenchingly autobiographical The Wind Rises (2013).

Hirschfeld’s Sondheim 

(Abrams Comic Arts)

Last fall, Strokes of Genius, a superb exhibition of caricatures by the great Al Hirschfeld, was on display last September at the Oak Room in Manhattan’s fabled Algonquin Hotel. The small exhibit was populated by classic Hirschfeld sketches of entertainment legends from Louis Armstrong to Aerosmith. Also included were several of his drawings that were the highlights of so many Sunday New York Times’ Arts and Leisure sections, including several works illustrating shows by Stephen Sondheim.

This slim but elegant volume (the first of what is purported to be many “poster books” of Hirschfeld drawings) collects more than 50 sketches of Sondheim’s Broadway triumphs (and misfires), including those that were part of the exhibit: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Sunday in the Park With George, Passion, and Putting It Together. More than two dozen images that take up entire pages can be removed from the book as ready-made frameable prints. David Leopold, creative director of the Al Hirschfeld Foundation, has written a nicely focused commentary on the drawings and shows; the book’s introduction is by none other than Sondheim veteran Bernadette Peters and the foreword is by theater reviewer Ben Brantley.

A new exhibition, Hirschfeld's Icons, which features his indelible caricatures of superstars from Liza Minnelli to the Beatles, will be on view at the Algonquin Hotel April 28 to May 8.

Interview with Marcia Gloster—Author of “I Love You Today”

Marcia Gloster lived through the actual Mad Men days, working in Manhattan advertising and publishing houses in the 1960s, an era in which women had very few opportunities to move ahead in the industry. Such a bottomless well of information and inspiration gave her the impetus to write her first novel, I Love You Today. 

A compulsive page-turner that introduces Maddie Samuels, who after being hired at a Manhattan firm promptly falls for charismatic creative director Rob MacLeod, who not only steers Maddie toward bigger and better things professionally but also drags her into his own personal problems: excessive drinking, womanizing and the little matter of his being a married father of two. Her experiences with and without Rob allow Maddie the wherewithal to climb her own ladder of success, professionally and personally, at a time when women were usually seen but not heard—and definitely not listened to.

Author Marcia Gloster

Gloster recently sat down to discuss I Love You Today, her opinion of Mad Men, and how she started writing books: her 2014 memoir 31 Days—A Memoir of Seduction recounts an affair she had in the summer of 1963 with a married British professor in an Austrian art school.

Kevin Filipski: I Love You Today flavorfully describes a particular era: 1960s Manhattan, where male bosses pinched women’s behinds and no one thought anything was wrong. Along with your memories, how did you make the book so authentic?

MG: I am very careful with my research. I have to mention the right movies during the right years: what year was Bonnie and Clyde, for example. When I mention a restaurant, I have to make sure that it existed at that time. The basics were in my memory obviously, because I lived it: unlike Mad Men, whose writers were probably born after that era. I lived that life, and discrimination was not in my vocabulary back then: it was just the way it was. The way men spoke to you was the way it is. Luckily, I worked with men who were respectful, but women had no voice at all. 

In London, where I worked at the time, there was a restaurant in the late ‘60s—I forgot the name of a hot Italian restaurant that was there. So I went on Google, but couldn’t find it. So I thought to myself, “Just make it up.” But finally I saw an article that mentioned it, and once I had the name (La Terrazza), it all came flooding back.

KF: What is your own take on Mad Men? Was it accurate to your experience?

MG: I actually wrote an article about watching Mad Men. I saw the first two seasons and thought they were interesting. Then when they concentrated more on Jon Hamm’s character Don Draper, it didn’t interest me that much. But I did watch the final season, and it was accurate in many ways, but there were other things they missed. I thought the costuming was terrible: we were all wearing mini-skirts, bright colors, stuff like that. It was totally “nerdville” on the show: plaids and stripes, which no one wore. There was a scene at a table where two women were having a meeting with two men, who were literally leaping across the table to try and paw the women. I didn’t think that was true, it was too exaggerated: in meetings men were not that blatantly sexist.

KF: How close is Maddie to your own experience?

MG: Maddie is based on me and other people I knew at the time. A lot of my experiences are in the early parts where she’s interviewing at the agency, where she’s told that she can’t be hired because then the men can’t swear. That’s true. You couldn’t make that up. When I was going for my first job in the industry, discrimination wasn’t in my vocabulary, and I thought that’s the way it is: all these guys like swearing! I actually lived those years. Many of my friends and I interacted with people in publishing and advertising on many different levels, so there is a lot of truth there.

KF: Is Rob a composite of real men you worked with?

MG: Rob is the epitome of the bad boy, and there have always been guys like him. There’s never been a dearth of bad boys. He’s a very attractive character, embodying the desire to grow and be really good at what he does, but he’s hampered by his upbringing in the ‘50s and so is unable to deal with the freedom of the ‘60s. I made him a little extreme in some ways, but you do see him evolve, and Maddie gets caught up in it even if she doesn’t want to because he’s her boss and a married man with children. 

But women get emotionally caught up in these kinds of situations. It did happen, a guy leaving his wife for someone he worked with, but he would often go back. I decided to them together because I felt they had a path they needed to tread together. He was supportive of her, she was supportive of him, but he is going to take credit no matter what. I think it’s a very typical story.

KF: Although these events happened nearly half a century ago, there are certain headlines about certain companies today that makes it seem that the old boys’ networks have not changed much.

MG: I always question whether things have changed at all. When I was finishing the book, all of the stuff at Fox News with Roger Ailes was in the news. There was also an article in the New York Times about women discussing the same thing. I wrote a blog about it and wrote a letter in response to the story in the Times, who published my letter. That said to me that what I wrote was still so relevant and evocative that I was blown away. I hadn’t been in an office in 15 years, so I wasn’t really aware that things hadn’t changed that much. It’s a hook that wasn’t meant to be a hook.

KF: Your previous book, 31 Days, which explores your own affair while you were a college student with an older married British art professor, was only written a few years ago. Why did it take so long?

MG: While I was in college, one summer I went to Europe with a friend. I knew that (artist) Oskar Kokoschka had an art school in Salzburg, and I thought that a summer month in Austria sounded pretty good. Kokoschka started a school because he wanted people to see the world in a different way. He would teach them how to see the world through watercolors.  When I got there, there was this man, and I looked at him, and I practically dissolved. He was 17 years older, wasn’t gorgeous but interesting looking—and he exuded sexuality. My first thought was: “Stay away—don’t get involved, he’s a lot older and he’s English.” I promised myself I would avoid him, but I obviously didn’t keep my promise. 

It was an amazing story, and as it started to unfold, I started writing it down. It was so far from any reality I knew that I just took notes. Years later, I happened to be in a store and heard a song: it resonated, making me think back to meeting him. By the time I left the store, I had my title and the makings of that book.

Marcia Gloster’s novel I Love You Today is out now.

Music Reviews: Sir Paul's Latest Re-issues; Jimmy Page's History Book

Wings—Venus and Mars

Wings—Wings at the Speed of Sound

(Hear Music/Concord)

The Paul McCartney Archive Collection has been taking its sweet time covering Paul's amazing post-Beatles career—two releases per year seems to be the norm—and the latest are Wings' mid-70s number-one albums, Venus and Mars and Wings at the Speed of Sound.

1975's Venus and Mars, which followed closely on the heels of Paul's critical and commercial post-Beatles breakthrough, Band on the Run (still flying high on the charts when this came out), consolidated Wings' commercial success, even though it sounded like a slight comedown after the exhilarating songs on Band.

But the usual variety of musical styles is on display throughout Venus and Mars, from the opening "Venus and Mars/Rockshow"—which would be the concert opener during 1976's Wings Over America tour and at Paul's 2010 shows—to the closing cover of the British TV soap opera Crossroads theme song. In between are the bright-sounding "Magneto and Titanium Man," which showed Paul's interest in Marvel superheroes long before they became movie staples; "You Gave Me the Answer," another of Paul's delightful music-hall pastiches; "Call Me Back Again," housing one of Paul's most agile vocal performances; the smash "Listen to What the Man Said," showing off Paul's genius for arresting arrangements; and "Letting Go," a downbeat number that's actually one of Paul's most personal songs for wife Linda.

Released the following year, Speed of Sound gave the band new songs to play on tour (Paul was playing his first American concerts since the Beatles last performed in 1966) and provided a democratic way of presenting the group as more than simply Paul's backing band by having each member—even Linda, on the facile "Cook of the House"—take a crack at a lead vocal. Guitarist Denny Laine's rocker "Time to Hide" has the strongest musical legs, although Jimmy McCullough's somber "Wino Junko" attained tragic relevance following the 26-year-old guitarist's 1979 death from a heroin overdose.

Speed of Sound's Paul quotient consists of two huge singles—"Silly Love Songs," with its irresistibly melodic bass line, and the guilty-pleasure sing-along "Let Em In"—and fun if inessential romps through various genres like the funky "She's My Baby," bouncy "San Ferry Anne" and romantic "Warm and Beautiful." Best of all is the surging rocker, "Beware My Love," which became a live highlight on the 1976 tour. (Too bad he's never seen fit to resurrect it for any of his recent concerts.)

Along with an impressive remastering job of both albums, these re-issues come with an extra disc of added material, comprising B-sides, demos, alternate cuts, etc. Disc 2 of Venus includes the chugging hit single "Junior's Farm," the great, unheralded stomper "Soily"—never officially released, although Paul felt highly enough of it to make it the group's final encore during the '76 tour—and an early version of "Rock Show," which has a few interesting changes. Sound's second disc contains piano demos of "Let 'Em In" and "Silly Love Songs" (both of which are intricately structured even at this early stage), Paul singing "Must Do Something About It" (which drummer Joe English sings on the record) and an alternate version of "Beware My Love" with Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, which gives it extra oomph.

Next up in the Archive Collection are one of Paul's best albums, 1982's Tug of War, and one of his less compelling efforts, the 1983 follow-up Pipes of Peace. I'm still waiting for 1979's underrated Back to the Egg, but I don't think even Paul likes it very much, so I'm not holding my breath.

Jimmy Page 

(Genesis)

Not content with simply knocking out superb new re-issues of Led Zeppelin's studio albums—Led Zeppelin I, II, III, Zoso (IV) and Houses of the Holy are available, with Physical Graffiti, Presence, In Through the Out Door and Coda presumably on the way next year—Jimmy Page has also put together a massive photographic autobiography, simply entitled Jimmy Page.

This gorgeous cover-table tome (512 pages and 6-plus pounds' worth) is essential for any Page fan, from his teenage days to the Yardbirds, Zep, The Firm, his '90s reunion with Robert Plant, and beyond: this elegant volume is crammed with hundreds of photos of Page and his cohorts onstage, offstage, backstage and in the studio, complemented by captions and an occasional explanation, along with lists upon lists of what I assume is every concert tour Page has been on.

Unlike Plant, Page desperately wants to embark on one last megatour as you know what; since that most likely won't happen, he's contented himself with bolstering his legacy as Led Zep's founder and premier musical architect. This book, along with those reissues, goes a long way toward cementing his legendary status as one of rock's greatest instrumentalists and composers. 

The Hidden History of Indie Cinema

The History of Independent Cinema Written by Phil Hall
BearManor Media; $21.95

Today, there are people who think that American independent cinema began in 1989 with Sex Lies and Videotape; or in 1992 with Reservoir Dogs; or even in 1999 with The Blair Witch Project.

Well, writer Phil Hall puts such fallacies to rest with his well-researched and readable The History of Independent Cinema, squarely placing domestic independent moviemaking in an historical context. Both enlightening and entertaining, Hall’s book traces independent cinema from the very beginnings of the film industry as we know it.

Most remarkably for a 300-page book, Hall brings together many disparate strands of American independent cinema and, if he doesn’t tie them together—who could?—delivers enjoyably rough-and-tumble stories about men and women known and unknown. Present and accounted for are the silent era’s trailblazers (Charles Chaplin, D.W. Griffith), those who came of age during the early talkies (Hal Roach), or those who made popular or critical hits outside the studio system (Howard Hughes, Otto Preminger, Stanley Kramer).

But Hall’s book is at its best when he travels down several forgotten film roads, even paths virtually impossible to follow because of the dearth of available materials or because the works themselves are of scant historic interest. Among these are “race films” made by “visionaries” like Oscar Micheaux and Spencer Williams; or Ida Lupino, the rare notable woman director; or Yiddish-language filmmakers like Maurice Schwartz and Joseph Green. In these chapters, Hall presents alternative histories that illuminate the standard ones we all know.

There are also succinct accounts of notables who made names for themselves by going their own ways, such as Maya Deren, Roger Corman, George A. Romero and John Cassavetes. And Hall summarizes other trends, from non-theatrical and educational films to online filmmaking, which is itself so pervasive now that a book could be written on just that subject. In his roundup of documentaries, he even mentions Sunn Classics, a great lost era of my youthful movie-watching, when as a gullible teenager I ate up schlock like The Mysterious Monsters and In Search of Noah’s Ark.

Minor flaws include copy-editing errors (mostly punctuation) that crop up frequently, and a larger flaw is the lack of an index, an oversight limiting the book’s usefulness as a research tool. However, The History of Independent Cinema is a most welcome overview.

originally posted on filmfestivaltraveler.com