Posted by Ken Hubner (199.224.105.64) on February 28, 2001 at 11:59:50:
I was just about to send Bennie Sue a copy of Frank Capra's "The Name Above the Title", started reading it, and finally, on p. 475, Capra, who is well into his 60s and just starting to direct "A Pocketful of Miracles", writes this:
"Bette Davis was undoubtedly the best of all possible casting for Apple Annie, but Hope Lange? Well, she still stuck in my craw. Outwardly, I was a calm producer-director; inwardly a vat of seething sour wine. Some bung had to blow. It blew. On New Year's Eve. Paper hats askew, we were caroling the birth of 1961 in the La Quinta Hotel dining room, when suddenly -- a huge phantom bird sank three talons of its angry claw deep into my head and face, and tried to left me. No warnings, nor preliminary signs. Just wham! A massive, killing pain over my right eye.
Leaving . . . I clutched my head, stumbled out to the broad lawns, and skulked along oleander hedges to thedeserted tenni courts. And there, in the darkness, I moaned, panted, ballooned my cheeks, blew out short bursts of air, licked hot lips, wiped tears that poured out of my right eye, and clawed at my head, trying to uproot the fiendish talons from their iron grip.
One racking hour later, the talons let go. The paroxysm eased as suddenly as it had convulves. Euphoria set in. Lu and Frank, Jr. found me chuckling to myself. "It's gone, darling! A whopping headache. But it's gone--""
Two more attacks that night left me groveling on the floor . . ."
And of course it goes on, and it's given it's rightful name etc. etc. etc., but just thought you all might find the passage "interesting." It's certainly well-written; he really nails it.
Ken