Chamblee54

It is a T shirt treasure, and a coffee cup classic. “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” This gem is blamed on Allan Steward Konigsberg, better known as Woody Allen. The percentage goes up and down, and life is sometimes substituted for success.
The quote was recently featured at WIST, or Wish I’d Said That. This quote site is known for giving a source, unlike the sites featuring purring platitudes in front of a cultural kitten. The current top offering is “Bach almost persuades me to be a Christian.” Virginia Woolf attributes the baroque comment to Roger Fry who was not afraid of the author.
Getting back to Mr. Allen and success statistics. He accepts full responsibility for the remark. In 1989, notorious conservative columnist William Safire asked Mr. Allen about whether he said life or success. The answer was rather surprising.
“The quote you refer to is a quote of mine which occurred during an interview while we were discussing advice to young writers, and more specifically young playwrights. My observation was that once a person actually completed a play or a novel he was well on his way to getting it produced or published, as opposed to a vast majority of people who tell me their ambition is to write, but who strike out on the very first level and indeed never write the play or book.”
In other words, you don’t just show up empty handed. If you have an idea, you have to employ the writing formula, ass + chair. You have to turn the tv off, leave the beer in the refrigerator, sit down, and push buttons on the keyboard.
The second part of today’s entertainment is an encore presentation, Inspiration Is For Amateurs. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.

PG was listening to an interview with a fiction writer. Someone said “Inspiration is for amateurs.” PG has always been more impressed by action than beliefs, and this phrase made sense. This repost is a good excuse to post some more pictures from The Library of Congress.
The phrase is from a painter named Chuck Close. His output is expensive, and widely enjoyed. A spinal injury left him paralyzed, but did not stop him from producing. Here is the full quote:
“The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you’re sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and something else that you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that’s almost never the case.”
A man once made pottery. It was said that the man only worked with passion, and that if he didn’t feel this passion he did not work. When PG heard that, his thought was that if PG worked that way, he would never finish anything. Most of the sticker pictures take a while to finish. PG always gets tired of the picture before it is through. The idea is to go to the studio, start to do stuff, and before long the enthusiasm will return. Any image requires a certain amount of time with the belly pressed against the work table, or the digital equivalent.
The formula for writing is ass plus chair. A teacher once said to not stare at the blank page, waiting for a bolt of lightening. Start to write something, and the ideas will start to sputter out of the pipeline.
It is not enough to have a bright idea. You have to work the problems out. Sometimes, you spend more time finding out what does not work, than what does. You have to do it wrong before you can do it right. Genius is ninety nine percent perspiration and one percent inspiration. If any cliches have been overlooked, please add them to the comments.
One thing that is helpful is to be focused. The internet can be a problem. When you should be thinking about your product, it is very tempting to see the latest on Facebook or Twitter.

Thanksgiving was a time our family cherished. It was the only time all of us got together under one roof and mingled. Except for me. ~ I was the the family embarrassment. They were Catholic, and disliked my way of life. I played guitar, loved Heavy Metal, and worshiped Satan. ~ All this explains why my family shunned me. In their eyes, I was the flaw of a nearly perfect gem, but in mine, I was the cream of the crop.
I should’ve known they had something awful in mind when they asked me to join them somewhere. They drove me to the very corner of the ranch. ~ “What the fuck are we doing back here,” I asked. My only reply was, “Shut up you blaspheming fool.”
At last we got to the destination. My father, mother, and sister were standing around, wearing funeral clothes. ~ In the middle was a shallow grave. “What’s that hole for?” I asked dumbly. “Take a guess you satanic fucker!” Was the reply from my father.
I felt a thud on my head. I hit the ground with a loud thlap. I turned in spite of excruciating pain to see my uncle wielding a shovel. ~ I touched the back of my head to find my fingers coated in blood. I suddenly grew light headed and passed out. When I woke up I inhaled dirt. ~ Luckily, my family didn’t know how to properly bury someone so I was able to dig myself out. I sat there and puked for about fifteen minutes.
When I got back, it was Thanksgiving night. through the window I could see my family, sitting there, saying grace like the sheeple they were. ~ Seeing them praying made my hate for them and all Catholics grow. It went from a smouldering, muddled anger, to a flaming, outrageous hatred
I ran into the garage and found my uncle’s shotgun, sitting there, waiting for me, beckoning, saying, “Go ahead, make these fuckers pay.” ~ “Hi Mom!” I shouted as I pulled the trigger, I started laughing uncontrollably as I continued firing at my family until I was empty.
“WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” My father asked, wounded, shot in the gut. “Wrong with me?” I asked calmly. “What’s wrong with you?” ~ With that I threw the gun away and dined. Not on Turkey, but on raw human flesh. It was the best Thanksgiving ever. ~ Twitter serialization by @creepypasta_txt. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.

Display of a link in this forum does not indicate approval of content ~ KKK, American Nazi Party praise Trump’s hiring of Bannon Read the article, not the headline David Duke said hiring Brannon was excellent He is not “the kkk” This headline is a lie ~ Joseph Campbell, the Hero’s Journey, and the Gay Hero Part I ~ Ken Kesey’s First LSD Trip Animated ~ moralizing hypocrites ~ stage names ~ post truth ~ False, Misleading, Clickbait-y, and/or Satirical “News” Sources ~ 25 Life Lessons Written by a 100-Year-Old Man ~ 45 Life Lessons Written by a “90-Year-Old” Woman ~ 100 Pieces of Advice from 100-Year-Olds ~ 35 Pieces Of Advice From A 100-Year-Old ~ Megyn Kelly: Fox News Had to Explain to Trump Lawyer Why It Would Be Bad if I Were Killed ~ What Roy Cohn Taught Donald Trump ~ Jon Stewart Says If Your Are Tired Of Hearing About Racism Imagine Living It ~ Jon Stewart ~ You Are Still Crying Wolf ~ Go ahead, wear a safety pin. But don’t expect people of color to care. ~ Questioning Safety Pin Solidarity Revealed Why I Can’t Trust White People ~ kayne felony ~ kayne real crime ~ The Hobo Ethical Code of 1889: 15 Rules for Living a Self-Reliant, Honest & Compassionate Life ~ burning of atlanta ~ Chapo Trap House ~ Why isn’t the KKK designated as a terrorist organization? ~ Melvin Cleveland ~ Kayne ~ @RuPaul Be careful to not let the anger consume you. ~ Both liberal and conservative say “hey turn off any ad blockers to see this project” ~ It is ironic to have an article, with that title, behind a pay wall. ~ is there a connection between me, mess, and meth? ~ do something useful, like go to the post office..you should see if #stampsdotcom will $ponsor your videos & podcast ~ False equivalence, also known as facebook logic ,is a friend of Jon Stewart. ~ Post Properties is planning a new apartment community called Post Truth. Plans for Post Racial have been put on hold. ~ Mess and meth start with me. ~ how racist is “fuck”? maybe it is racist to say “racist af” ~ James Baldwin ~ Jason Smith Facts don’t matter! Michele DiPietro You’ve been saying that For YEARS!! They should give your attribution! Luther Mckinnon #factlivesmatter ~ Chicago incident ~ @WernerTwertzog Giraffes have long necks, Not just for eating leaves, But because they yearn, To escape the earth, And voyage to the stars. Slavoj Tweezek ‏@SlavojTweezek Maybe sounds more poignant in German? ~ The democrats want to keep the ec because they think they can steal an election. Now they have been screwed twice in 16 years. ~ FWIW:There have been eight executions in Georgia this year. Six of the offenders have been white men. Two of the offenders have been black men. ~ @WernerTwertzog I do not take “selfies” because the self does not exist. ~ I don’t want change. I want to pay with a credit card. ~ Mr. Adams letter was written in Paris. In it, he praises the beauty of that city. He could not know that these excesses in ornamentation, and the money sent to support the revolution in America, would lead to a ghastly revolution in France, just a few years later. Also, in 1780, the outcome of the American Revolution was far from settled. Mr.Adams had no way of knowing that the colonies would unite in a federal system of governance, and that John Adams would be the President of this nation. The “politicks” that he spoke of studying bore little resemblance to what we know today. ~ Context is important. The source of a quote should always be given. A picture of a beach in the background does not count. ~ The poet was in prison. The story about him is behind a pay wall. ~ The owner of media.mtvnservices.com has configured their website improperly. To protect your information from being stolen, Firefox has not connected to this website. ~ Like what you see? Establish your inbox to receive our weekly newsletter. ~ I voted for Mr. Trump because I live in Georgia. Your individual vote is meaningless. The only thing that counts is the electoral votes. If you vote in Georgia, Tennessee, or Louisiana, you voted for Mr. Trump. It doesn’t matter what your individual vote was…how your state voted is the only thing that counts. ~ Is that Vegan as fuck, or Vegan Abercrombie & Fitch? ~ @blakebutler Too bad jim jones killed himself, he would have made a fantastic secretary of health and human services ~ PLEASE PAY ATTENTION TO THE BROWSER MESSAGE ASKING TO SHARE YOUR LOCATION ~ “Vote for me or you are a racist” is not a good campaign slogan. Just slightly worse than “I’m with her.” ~ Hillary was horrible. Her supporters were obnoxious and condescending. Labeling everyone who does not agree with you a racist is not how you win elections. ~ China is financing our national debt. Mr. Trump does not know what he is doing. ~ In 1804, the Vice President went to see Hamilton. It was not a safe place for Hamilton. ~ I keep a word document on my desktop. I copy all facebook and twitter comments into it. Sometimes I post them, sometimes I don’t. On monday, I publish the worksheet on my blog. ~ I took the 23 Oglethorpe bus to the Capri Theater in Buckhead to see To Sir With Love. WQXI had a sneak preview one afternoon. ~ listen small stuff worn time life day ~ The Answerbag question #1190889 page is not available at the moment. Queued for spidering. Please check back soon. ~ pictures are from The Library of Congress. ~ selah

Display of a link in this facility does not indicate approval of content ~ Watch Four Iconic Live Performances by Billie Holiday ~ It’s very simple ~ battleground states ~ What’s Next? ~ 5 Writing Tips: T.C. Boyle ~ An American Tragedy ~ I Will Never Underestimate White People’s Need To Preserve Whiteness Again ~ Definitely Not Friends of Dorothy ~ stupidity ~ Marconi Union – Weightless ~ While not reading any of her books, I have listened to interviews with Toni Morrison. She impresses me as a lady. I don’t see her shouting, as this graphic implies. ~ Camille Paglia takes on Jon Stewart, Trump, Sanders: “Liberals think of themselves as very open-minded, but that’s simply not true!” ~ Alex Newton ~ On “Woke” White People Advertising their Shock that Racism just won a Presidency ~ Glenn Loury says the N word ~ Provocations ~ moral trump card ~ election map ~ The smug style in American liberalism ~ Mitchell Morgan Jr. ~ Anthony Brooks ~ Poles are good for getting caught in the middle of wars between Russian and Germany ~ Hillary would look better with gray hair ~ @KeithOlbermann @JoeMyGod that tweet is missing punctuation, unless the title is “Treason at the Minneapolis airport news stand” ~ sstr Silicon Sam’s Technology Resource, Solid State Track Recorder, Small Business Technology Transfer Program, Senior Staff Technical Representative, Somatostatin Receptor, Stability, Security, Transition, and Reconstruction ~ maybe Mr. Trump grabbed them by the pussy ~ imagine being so privileged that you see every concern of someone as being racism ~ The only Trump supporter in my Facebook sphere is the bully from my seventh grade classs ~ This poem is based on a quote from Noah Chomsky. He was discussing the danger of a ethics challenged Republican with charisma. The blunt truth is that elections are show biz. DJT oozes charisma, however yucky it may be. HRC has the charisma of a barking dog, that will not shut up. This is what happens when elections are a media event. ~ The demoze kept waiting for the electoral college to give them an election. Instead, they, and the country, get screwed twice in 16 years by the EC. ~ The demoze kept waiting for the electoral college to give them an election. Instead, they, and the country, get screwed twice in 16 years by the EC. ~ HRC won the popular vote, in an election for the electoral vote. If the election had been for the popular vote, you probably would have had more people voting. The strategies of the parties would have been different. There is no way to say how it would have turned out. Considering how stupid the democrat campaign was, they probably would have lost. ~ You just pressed the L key, which will like or unlike this content. Are you sure you want to do this? ~ You are Not an Admin of This Page Only Page admins who have the role of advertiser can create ads. Ask the manager of your Page to change your role. ~ Well this is unexpected! Our apologies, government agencies should never have broken links or broken smiles. Here is a smile…smiley Perhaps one of the links on the right can help? Or the menu on the left? Please contact us to report any issues and we will address them right away. ~ “I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don’t care if it’s by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions.” – Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian ~ “There are some people who just do not deserve to live,” – Rev. Richard Hawke ~ “God was invented to explain mystery. God is always invented to explain those things that you do not understand.” – Richard Feynman, American physicist ~ Creating a new account with email addresses from hotmail.com, live.com, gmail.com and trash-email-accounts will no longer be possible. We have to deal with hundreds of spambots a week which use these adresses. Please use an alternative email address or send us a mail. We set up your account manually. ~ Have you seen the video of Mary J. Blige singing to HRC about police killings? I rolled by eyes. I can only imagine how the laid off factory worker reacted. ~ Her supporters were a problem. Nothing about DJT was too horrible to spread. The truth was bad enough. ~ be careful you are making too much sense those who call out others do not like to be called out ~ Another thing to consider: There is a lot of information out there. Not all of it is true. There are things your “student” might find on google that disagree with the point your are trying to make. Google is a two edged sword. ~ @WernerTwertzog The only “safe space” is the grave. ~ It is better to argue with a cartoon than to elect one President ~ Mitt is jealous he didn’t get to run against Hillary. ~ NOTE: This email is a one-way, informational email. Please do not respond to this email. ~ Didn’t people say many of the same things about Ronald Reagan when he was elected? Maybe the difference was the internet echo chamber to amplify the hysteria. ~ *hands liberal america a mirror to aid in search for fault* ~ I thought there were going to be concentration camps for gays. That was a paranoid delusion. It turns out there was a gay Armageddon, though not the one I feared. ~ @jelani9 Had not fully appreciated until now how much the relentless American drive for optimism resembles abject denial.~ The electoral college is part of the problem. In all but a handful of states, your vote did not matter. If we elected POTUS based on popular vote, you MIGHT see increased participation. ~ one lesson of this election: don’t make predictions, no matter how obvious they seem ~ Pictures are from The Library of Congress. These men were soldiers in the War Between the States ~ selah

Display of a link in this forum does not indicate approval of content ~ Making friends with “cunt” ~ my rejected vignette on writing assessment and social justice for College English ~ I see a lot of *facebook friends* are checking in at Cannon Ball, ND. This is supposed to confuse the authorities. At this time, Snopes says “research in progress.” My gut feeling is that the Sheriff in Morton County is going to catch on very quickly to this. I suspect it is not having any effect by this time. ~ The Andy Griffith Show ~ Neal Boortz ~ Pharoah Sanders ~ Thomas Jefferson to William Hamilton, 22 April 1800 ~ Big O ~ STUDS TERKEL WITH DOROTHY PARKER/BOB NEWHART – CHICAGO 1959/1960 ~ DP “I can’t call myself a critic. Honestly. I can only put down what I think and pray there isn’t a libel suit.” ST A good poet can be a good short story writer, but unless he is a poet he cannot be a short story writer DP “I’m not a poet, you know, I just write verse” “The beat boys aren’t saying anything except look at us aren’t we great” “I don’t think the beat generation is much worth worrying about. Very soon, in the very near future, they will be as forgotten as mah jongg.” “I wish the beat boys would go some place else, I don’t know where. If I didn’t have hope as might as well be dead.” ST did she really say all those things that she was quoted as saying DP … no, no, and it was a curse on me, it was simply awful the things that were attributed to me. I wouldn’t have minded if they had been good. I was, in effect, the shaggy dog of my time, all the stories ~ Tommy Said ~ Dorothy Parker ~ Our Generation Needs to Stop Being Offended by Everything and Learn How to Take a Joke ~ Blogalicious ~ Are My Attitudes About Race Any Of Your Business? ~ Woody Allen: his 40 best one-liners ~ A Big Bach Download: All of Bach’s Organ Works for Free ~ read this later ~ Louise ~ Why Does MTV Decoded Hate White People?!? ~ why your server hates you- black people ~ Throwback: When Justin Vivian Bond Met John Cameron Mitchell ~ Playing Dead ~ Hunter S. Thompson ~ In An Election Defined By Race, How Do We Define Race? ~ Report: Aides block Trump from Twitter ~ Tayveon Thomas ~ Cedric Clark ~ Deadliest weekend in Chicago this year: 17 killed, 42 more wounded ~ What about “pardon the pun”? Will we be pardoning the Trump someday? ~ i never considered a difference of opinion ~ Maybe the snake should have bitten Eve ~ @nihilist_arbys Last night, several lifelong Cubs fans died during the game, missing the culmination of their pointless existences by mere seconds Eat Arbys ~ #Blogalicious8 is three miles, $349-$998, and a gender reassignment away I don’t think I will attend ~ alice jacobs, pro life commiitte, dedicated to saving unborn babies, called. are you pro life, pro choice, or in between? in between ~ I understand, thank you for your time ~that is more fun than eniltleb regork ~ I live, and vote, in Georgia. Our electoral votes will probably go for Mr. Trump. My individual vote is meaningless. ~ Come sit back, relax, Sound like something you’d like? Hit me up. ~ The US Senate, and US House of Representatives, are hopeless. There are state constitutional amendments to consider, and a couple of local races. Besides, I just like the ritual of voting. My polling place is the cafetorium of the grammar school I attended. I have held my nose there many times. ~ maybe that is ill eagle He looks like a sick bird ~ @thedeadauthor So Slavoj Žižek supports Trump. And I thought the only things he had in common with Melania were that he’s from Slovenia and a plagiarist. @SlavojTweezek I am not a “plagiarist”; When you write as much as I do you are bound to reproduce others’ words by chance – like monkeys typing Shakespeare ~ photographs today are from The Library of Congress. These nineteen thirty eight photographs were taken in California by Dorthea Lange ~ selah

There was a poem , of unknown origin, found in a Baltimore church in 1692. It was revived by a Lawyer, who lived in Terre Haute, IN. He liked to read it his friends, and his lips were moving. The attorney , Max Ehrmann, copyrighted this poem in 1927. Another persistent rumor has it that the manuscript was in an ambulance Mr. Ehrmann was following. How the accident victim came to possess this document is a mystery.
Mr. Ehrmann ( the poet laureate of Terre Haute ) wrote in his diary “I should like, if I could, to leave a humble gift — a bit of chaste prose that had caught up some noble moods”. The poem is “Desiderata”, and is a favorite of gift shops the world over.
In 1956, Rev. Frederick Kates became the rector of Old St. Paul’s Church in Baltimore, MD. He had found a copy of “Desiderata”, without the copyright notice. He printed a handout for his congregation on church stationary. At the top of the page was the notation “Old St. Paul’s Church, Baltimore A.C. 1692”. As the sixties devolved, the poem became famous.
“Desiderata” was the text of a recording made by Les Crane, who found the poem on a poster. He thought the text was in the public domain, when in fact it is copyrighted. Mr. Crane was taken to court, and forced to pay the owners of the copyright . The matter has been in court on other occasions. It seems that Mr. Ehrmann used “Desiderata” in a Christmas greeting, without citing the copyright. Later,during World War II, Ehrmann allowed a friend – Army psychiatrist Dr. Merrill Moore – to hand out more than 1,000 copies of the poem to his soldier-patients, without the copyright.
PG admits to confusion on this issue. Don’t copyrights expire, get renewed, and then expire again? If a work was written in 1927, doesn’t it go into the public domain 83 years later. The wikipedia article about copyrights is long and confusing. Remember, we are dealing with a legal concep,t as it relates to a poem, written by a lawyer.
A site called fleurdelis says the matter depends on your point of view and place of residence. ( Shcredo says flatly that “Desiderata” is public domain. The link is no longer available. The url advises “Beware your Beliefs – They could bring Great Happiness”) (Robinsweb tells of being forced to remove “Desiderata” from her site because of a complaint by the copyright owner.) If you want to be inspired, click on the videos embedded in this post.
In 1972, the National Lampoon produced a new translation, Deteriorata. This is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. These are Union Soldiers, from the War Between the States.

Pauline Kael was the rockstar film critic. James Broughton was the radical faerie poet laureate. They were lovers, and had a daughter, Gina James. Pauline and James were not married, contrary to what some naysayers would tell you.
Much of the information in this feature is taken from online reviews of Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark, a 2012 biography written by Brian Kellow. Gina James, also known as Gina Broughton, was not interviewed for the book. Neither did she participate in the making of Big Joy, a movie about James Broughton. (A wig store, Gina Beauty Supply is located at 25 W Broughton St, Savannah, GA 31401.)
Pauline Kael was born June 19, 1919, Petaluma, CA, died September 3, 2001, Great Barrington, MA, and stood 4 feet 9 inches tall. James Broughton was born November 10, 1913, Modesto, CA, and died May 17, 1999, Port Townsend, WA. Neither one had a middle name. Both used their birth name throughout life. Both had lives, before meeting in the late forties.
When she met James Broughton, Miss Kael was living what would later be called the bohemian life. After moving to New York, and being dumped for composer Samuel Barber, Miss Kael moved back to California. “Returning to the Bay Area with her tail between her legs in 1945, Pauline became involved with the incredibly effeminate avant-garde filmmaker James Broughton. He managed to impregnate Pauline but threw her out as soon as she told him, whereupon she moved to Santa Barbara to give birth to her daughter, Gina, in 1948″
“Like her early career, Kael’s personal life was also fraught with failures. Kellow says “she had a habit of falling for gay men” earlier in her life because “they tended to share her passions and enthusiasms.” She had a daughter … with one of them, experimental filmmaker James Broughton.”
“For a time, during the 1940s, he lived with future film critic Pauline Kael. She encouraged his filmmaking endeavors but their relationship ended after she got pregnant. … Pauline Kael thought that Broughton made the biggest mistake of his life when he turned down a studio film after winning the prize at Cannes.” (Apparently Mr. Broughton was from a wealthy family, and could afford this attitude. Regarding his movie The Bed, Mr. Broughton said “It was the only film I created that ever made any money.”)
“Which brings us to the strange tale of Pauline’s only child, Gina James. … In 1948, at age 29, Kael got pregnant after she “talked her way into moving in” with James Broughton, a bisexual poet living in Sausalito. By Kellow’s account, Broughton was furious at the news of Kael’s pregnancy; he felt trapped and tricked by her. One of Broughton’s friends reported that he kicked Kael out of his house. She moved to Santa Barbara to have the baby. The birth certificate listed the father as “Lionel James, a writer”. It is one of the disappointments of the book that Kellow shines little light on Kael’s passion — or whatever it was — for Broughton, on how she processed that cruel rejection and on whether Broughton ever recognized Gina as his daughter.”
James Broughton moved on with his life. He made experimental films, got married, and fathered two more children. At some point he met Joel Singer, and began the romance that would last the rest of his life. It is tough to say whether he was genuinely bisexual, or whether he was playing the role society expected of him.
This review of Big Joy continues: “But interviews with Singer, waxing poetic about his years with the artist, are balanced by reminiscences from Broughton’s ex-wife and his abandoned son. Rather than only celebrating silliness, I found it admirable that the directors didn’t gloss over the pain he caused his wife and children. After all, when you think about it, he spent all of his life unable to decide if he was gay or straight; leaving a lot of broken hearts in his wake.
We learn from Kael that he flirted with everyone he met. “He rode off into the sunset with some guy,” his wife, Suzanna Hart tells us. “That was very sad for me, but not for him, which was…very irritating.” In her segments, Hart keeps her emotions in check but you can clearly read the sadness and anger in her face. The son doesn’t have much good to say about his absent father and the two daughters (the first by Kael and the second by Hart) both refused to be interviewed for the film. Singer has a lot to say about their blissful decades together, but he also comes off a bit heartless when he shows no guilt over breaking up what he calls Broughton’s “loveless” marriage.”
The baby daddy leaves, and the struggling writer becomes a single mom. “… Kael’s relationship with her actual daughter was something out of a Tennessee Williams play, and not in a good way. Kael home-schooled Gina and, as the girl grew up, kept her close, as a typist, projectionist, driver and right-hand man, and she banished any friend who actively encouraged the young woman to break out on her own. Though she was in many ways a loving and committed mother, helping to raise Gina’s son and always living nearby, one senses a Gothic selfishness in her mothering.”
Gina James declined to talk with Kellow for his book, but the author says Kael and her daughter had a sort of symbiotic relationship. “Pauline did not type, Pauline did not drive — Gina performed both those functions for her. And Gina was a very good critic of Pauline. She got to see Pauline’s copy before anyone else did and she often had very, very important and influential things to say. But Pauline really wasn’t wild about the idea of Gina breaking away and having her own life apart from her, and she didn’t do anything really to encourage her in that direction as far as I can see.”
Amazon one star comment: And her poor daughter – what a fate – TYPING all that. Poor Gina, — I can see her – Kellow described sitting silently in some coffee shop while her mother raved on and ON with her pet directors.
An affair with the experimental filmmaker James Broughton produced a child, Gina, whom Kael raised by herself, Mildred Pierce–like, heroically supporting them with a number of odd jobs, including running a laundry. Gina’s heart condition required expensive surgery, and Kael ended up enticing Edward Landberg, the owner of a local art-house theater, Berkeley Cinema Guild. They had begun as co-programmers. As Landberg tells it: “One day, when I was over at her place, I happened to graze her breast with my hand, and she kind of looked up and said, ‘What have you got to lose?’” Their marriage proved a fiasco, but Landberg agreed to pay for Gina’s operation, which Kellow suspects had been Kael’s motive all along…. Kellow shows more independence in assessing Kael’s treatment of her daughter Gina, whose ambitions to become a dancer or a painter she did little to encourage, preferring to keep her on “a silver cord . . . she had also grown accustomed to the steady, dependable role that Gina played—as secretary, driver, reader, sounding board—and she was loath to give her up.” Gina, for her part, was mistrustful of the dynamic she witnessed between Kael and her acolytes.“
“The closest and longest-lasting partnership of her life was with her daughter, Gina James … James considered speaking to Kellow, but finally declined, leaving a blank space at the center of this otherwise vividly detailed biography. Gina lived with her mother till she was over 30, typed up her reviews after Pauline stayed up all night writing them in longhand, and gave up both college and a shot at a dance career to serve as her mother’s caretaker, companion, and driver….
Kellow cites the text of the breathtakingly passive-aggressive eulogy that Gina delivered at her mother’s funeral in 2001: “My mother had tremendous empathy and compassion, though how to comfort, soothe or console was a mystery that eluded her … . Pauline’s greatest weakness, her failure as a person, became her great strength, her liberation as a writer and critic . … she turned her lack of self-awareness into a triumph.”
One more chapter remains . “Gina lived with Kael well into her thirties … That she married and had a child, Will, seemed to catch Kael by surprise, though she ended up adoring her only grandchild, someone with whom she could watch action movies with.
Kael died in 2001, when Will was about 19. Unfortunately, and Kellow made no mention of this in his book whatsoever, there’s a horrible postscript, one that may well have been the reason for why Gina declined to be interviewed for the book. On October 6, 2007, Will, then 25, went hiking in the East Mountain State Forest in the Berkshires. He was an avid hiker, not to mention a devoted martial artist. He had a girlfriend. He never came back. Gina reported him missing, but his body wasn’t found for more than week, on October 15. … “authorities found camping equipment nearby and while cause of death has not been determined, foul play is not suspected.”
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.