Catching Up on My Reading

In recent weeks, I have read some old books.  

"The Johnstown Flood" by David McCullough (1968).  This was McCullough's first book and it won him justifiable acclaim.  Now, being a native of Western Pennsylvania, I always knew that there was a famous "Johnstown flood", but I couldn't have told you for sure when it happened (1889) or why and how it happened, but this book sure filled in those gaps.  Living in an age where news is instantaneous (remember how we all actually watched the second plane crash into the World Trade Center?), I was fascinated by the fact that news was NOT instantaneous in 1889, not that I didn't already know that, of course.  For example, from the time the damn gave way, it actually took about 45 minutes for the wall of water to actually reach Johnstown itself.  Plus, with the water taking out many telegraph lines, it was difficult to communicate the complete nature of the disaster.  In Pittsburgh, people were aware that something bad had happened, but they didn't know exactly what it was.  That said, once the news people did arrive, the word did get out relatively quickly, and what happened afterward, in terms of rescue and relief efforts, as well as trying to pin the blame on someone for the disaster, makes for terrific reading.  McCullough's research and writing equals a great book.

"Close-Up on Sunset Boulevard" by Sam Staggs (2002).  The subtitle on this book also tells a lot of what it was about: "Billy Wilder, Norma Desmond, and the Dark Hollywood Dream".  As you can no doubt guess, the book is all about everything surrounding the making of and the history of the classic 1950 Billy Wilder movie, "Sunset Boulevard".  If you love that movie, you really should read this book.  Lots of great inside Hollywood stuff about Gloria  Swanson, Bill Holden, Billy Wilder, and others associated with the movie.  It also gives a lot of details about the development and production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.  In the end, though, the book went on a little too long, and author Staggs slipped into a lot of "film buff" pretentiousness.  He also seems to have an axe to grind with Billy Wilder, and that gets a little tiring as well.  Still, a worthwhile read.

"The Devil and the White City" by Erik Larson (2003).  This is the story of the staging of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, and it follows the parallel story of a serial killer that was operating in Chicago at the same time.  It also tells the story of the City of Pittsburgh's big contribution to that World's Fair - the first Ferris Wheel. 

All of these books make for good reading.

"Sunset Boulevard", the Musical

You always worry when one of your favorite books/movies/plays is transferred to another art form:  book to movie, play to movie, or, in this case, Classic Movie to Andrew Lloyd Webber Musical Extravaganza.  


The 1950 Billy Wilder movie, "Sunset Boulevard", is by almost any source you care to sight, considered one of the Top Ten movies ever made in America.  It is the story of an aging silent screen movie star, Norma Desmond, who has been pushed to the Hollywood scrap heap with the advent of talking motion pictures, who meets up with down-on-his-luck cynical screenwriter Joe Gillis.  How the two meet, interact, and use each other makes for one of the most compelling movies you'll ever see.  The movie starred Gloria Swanson and the incomparable William Holden, and the thought of someone tampering with such a classic could seem almost sacrilegious.


However, Andrew Lloyd Webber provided the music and brought his story to the London and Broadway stages back in the early 1990's.  The musical was highly acclaimed and even Billy Wilder was pleased with it ("I think it would make a pretty good movie", he said), so seeing it has long been on my bucket list.


Anyway, the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera brought "Sunset Boulevard" to town this week at the Benedum, and we took it in yesterday.  We both liked it.  The show starred a Broadway actress named Liz Callaway as Norma, and  Matthew Scott (who looks a lot like Pirate Neil Walker) as Joe.  Joe is the character who holds the play together, he is in almost every scene, but it is Norma who draws all the attention, and the numerous dazzling costume changes almost every time she is on stage is just the least of the attraction.  Norma also has the two show stopping musical numbers, "As If We Never Said Good-bye" and "With One Look".


The show is true to the movie, and while there is very little spoken dialog, what there is taken almost directly from the movie, including it's two most famous lines:

• "I am big.  It's the pictures that got small."
• "are you ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille?"

Very good show, well staged by the CLO, and all of the actors.  It made for a great day at the theater.

However, one should never forget the source material, the great 1950 movie by the great Billy Wilder.  If you've never seen it, and you love movies, then make it a point to see it very soon.