Tennis in the Second Golden Age of Sports
- Thread starter Dan L
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NonP
Legend
You're giving the resurrected kiki a serious run for his euros in the stupefying game of talking to oneself. You do know it's possible to edit an existing post multiple times rather than post several versions of it, right?
Also call this nitpicking if you will, but Hemingway did not "pass away." Instead he took his own life, which I'd argue is a more ignominious end than a gentle "passing."
Vision
Banned
Hoad was pretty much loved in Southern Spain as was wife Jenny.He was close to Gimeno and specially Orantes
Vision
Banned
That one talks to oneself doesn´t mean that one listens to himself...
I am happy to see that you are still in business, NonP. Haven't heard from you lately, but I see that you keep up with my more important posts. Bravo.
Cooper and Hemingway were very close friends, best friends from 1940 until they died within a couple of weeks of each other in 1961. They took annual hunting and skiing trips together and with their wives. Cooper's death may have helped trigger Hemingway's final bout of depression and his death a short time later.
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Cooper and Hemingway would sometimes hunt duck while touring the prairies.
https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/cooperhemingway.jpg?w=670&h=377&crop=1
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The great athletes and teams of the era 1956-64 were so dominant in terms of talent that they continued to dominate the later 1960's.
For example, compare the 1962 U.S. Open, featuring a duel between Palmer and Nicklaus, with the 1967 U.S. Open, which featured another two-man race between Palmer and Nicklaus....two dominant dudes, astride the game like two colossuses of mythic ages.
Here is 1962,
https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=90PXlCToHhw
Here is 1967,
https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPyuJs1_W74
For example, compare the 1962 U.S. Open, featuring a duel between Palmer and Nicklaus, with the 1967 U.S. Open, which featured another two-man race between Palmer and Nicklaus....two dominant dudes, astride the game like two colossuses of mythic ages.
Here is 1962,
https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=90PXlCToHhw
Here is 1967,
https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPyuJs1_W74
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Here in 1966, the same Packer group that dominated the early sixties, in a thriller,
https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPCDCoSD-Sg
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In 1960, Russ Jackson and Ron Lancaster shared the quarterback position for Ottawa in the Grey Cup, Lancaster was knocked unconscious early in the game, and Jackson established his status by winning the game.
In 1966, the same two quarterbacks played, only this time against each other, in the greatest of Grey Cup games ever, two teams peaking at the same time. The two star fullbacks in this game, George Reed and Bo Scott, were much pursued by NFL clubs, Scott would later play five years in the same backfield with Leroy Kelly in Cleveland.
https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YsR1rDdy8E
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Limpinhitter
G.O.A.T.
Beginning at about :45 seconds is some fun footage of Dick Savitt, Tony Trabert, Vic Seixas, Frank Sedgman, Ken Rosewall and a couple of players I don't recognize.
NonP
Legend
You know it's your seminal soliloquies that make me come back.
That may be the case, and I know Hemingway battled alcoholism for most of his life, but in my book that doesn't make his death any less questionable. I personally find our society's increasing tendency to blame suicides on depression or some other mental illness a very dangerous development. When we deny the personal agency that at least in part led to the tragic decision we let ourselves off the hook for our own role in it and at the time makes it harder on ourselves to locate the root cause(s) and help prevent further tragedies in the future. And of course it provides ample opportunities for the moral scolds to feel superior as they chastise those presumably out of depth with the latest medical breakthroughs that are supposed to give us clear guidance on how to feel about a certain mental illness and its consequences, as they did with figures as diverse as Shepard Smith and Henry Rollins in the aftermath of the late Robin Williams' death. Now Smith did go a bit too far to characterize it as an act of cowardice, but I thought both had raised quite valid points and were drowned out by the mob who was too eager to dismiss the possibility that some of us might have shared the blame.
I don't mean to go full Thomas Szasz here and of course there are some mentally ill people who no longer can tell right from wrong or have a firm grasp on reality (schizophrenics being the most prominent examples). From all I've read and learned, though, Hemingway and Williams don't fit this profile enough for their cause of death to be chalked up to mere "mental illness." To me that's a moral and intellectual cop-out.
P.S. If you weren't such a 50s/60s-infatuated fanboy thanks to you-know-who you'd be talking more about worthier literary figures than Papa. Faulkner and Fitzgerald of Gatsby were better writers than Hemingway ever was.
I rate Hemingway, Faulkner, Fitzgerald (died before he could get a Nobel), and O'Neill at the top of America's great writers, they didn't get their Nobel prizes for no reason, also nods to Steinbeck (Nobel winner), Twain, Saroyan, Dylan, a few others.
I have a few more posts about how these great writers were adapted to cinema and TV...stay tuned.
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I am gratified by the huge number of viewers to this thread....there is an audience for informed discussion.
In 1967, Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs played the Stanley Cup final with practically the same groups of players they had when they contested the 1960 Stanley Cup final...the average age of the winning Toronto squad was 32 years, by far the oldest professional sports team to win a major championship.
As Red Kelly said of the Toronto win, "every man on our bench knew that we didn't deserve to be champions that year...the two guys between the pipes [goaltenders Sawchuk (age 37) and Bower (age 43)] stole that Cup for us."
https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=gatNKICLmxM
As Red Kelly said of the Toronto win, "every man on our bench knew that we didn't deserve to be champions that year...the two guys between the pipes [goaltenders Sawchuk (age 37) and Bower (age 43)] stole that Cup for us."
https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=gatNKICLmxM
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With Savitt present, it looks like the 1951 Davis Cup preparations and warm-up tournaments.
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In 1966, Jackson and Lancaster played in the Grey Cup, only this time against each other, in the greatest of Grey Cup games ever, two teams peaking at the same time. The two star fullbacks in this game, George Reed and Bo Scott, were much pursued by NFL clubs, Scott would later play five years in the same backfield with Leroy Kelly in Cleveland. Hugh Campbell, who caught the winning touchdown in this game, would later become head coach of the Houston Oilers. Campbell's son is currently head coach of, you guessed it, the Ottawa team.
https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YsR1rDdy8E
In the above game, from fifty years ago, Prime Minister Lester Pearson can be seen watching from the stands. He won his Nobel Peace Prize in 1956 while Minister of Foreign Affairs for solving the Suez Crisis by replacing British forces with a U.N. peacekeeping force, which included Canadian troops.
That incident effectively ended the British Empire as a world force, as Canada refused to participate with Britain in the Suez invasion and withdrew the Canadian forces from the British Commonwealth Force, which had served crucially in the Korean War.
Here is 1956 in review, including the Wimbledon final and the wedding ceremony of Princess Grace of Monaco.
https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv4ceebHTEE
A full review of British sports in 1956, including the British Open golf championship and Wimbledon, both dominated by Australians,
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/s...n-golf-championship-henle/query/OPEN+AIR+GIRL
https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YsR1rDdy8E
In the above game, from fifty years ago, Prime Minister Lester Pearson can be seen watching from the stands. He won his Nobel Peace Prize in 1956 while Minister of Foreign Affairs for solving the Suez Crisis by replacing British forces with a U.N. peacekeeping force, which included Canadian troops.
That incident effectively ended the British Empire as a world force, as Canada refused to participate with Britain in the Suez invasion and withdrew the Canadian forces from the British Commonwealth Force, which had served crucially in the Korean War.
Here is 1956 in review, including the Wimbledon final and the wedding ceremony of Princess Grace of Monaco.
https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv4ceebHTEE
A full review of British sports in 1956, including the British Open golf championship and Wimbledon, both dominated by Australians,
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/s...n-golf-championship-henle/query/OPEN+AIR+GIRL
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By the late fifties, tennis professionals were the best paid athletes in any sport.
Here, Hoad lights a cigarette using $100.00 bills while Gonzales, Rosewall, and the boss, Kramer look on,(play money?) to demonstrate the financial status of the professional tennis players.
Here, Hoad lights a cigarette using $100.00 bills while Gonzales, Rosewall, and the boss, Kramer look on,(play money?) to demonstrate the financial status of the professional tennis players.
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Kramer could take credit for making tennis players the highest paid athletes of the late fifties, although the gate attraction of Hoad and Gonzales was a special product to market.
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1959/03/01/page/258/article/jack-kramer
pc1
G.O.A.T.
Nice article Dan.
Everyone wanted to see the Gonzalez/Hoad matches in those days. I wouldn't mind seeing Gonzalez and Kramer around 1951 or so either.
pc1
G.O.A.T.
The original Kramer/Gonzalez tour I think was played in late 1949 to 1950 for tax purposes. I think Riggs was the tour manager and kept booking tour dates. It ended up being 123 matches and both players were sort of out of it by the end. Kramer got 30.0% of the tours proceeds, not sure if that was gross or net and Gonzalez got 30.0%.
I think the tour in 1958, if I had to bet made more on a match to match basis but since the Kramer/Gonzalez tour had more matches it may have made more money.
pc1
G.O.A.T.
Considering that it was 48 years ago that is an astounding amount of money. Arnold Palmer was the tour's leading money winner in 1958 with a mere $42,608.
In 1966, the late fifties' veterans of England's World Cup team, Bobby Charlton, Bobby Moore, Gordon Banks, Bobby Wilson, would lead the squad to the greatest ever final win over Beckenbauer and Germany.
The England international soccer team were building strongly in the 1950's when the Munich airplane disaster in 1958 killed Duncan Edwards, Tommy Taylor and others who were central to the team.
Here is a match against Brazil in 1956 which shows Stanley Matthews still in control of play, plus younger players such as Taylor and Edwards adding strength to the team. Bobby Charlton survived the Munich airplane disaster, and would join the England team in 1958.
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/f-a-international-england-aka-england-4-v-brazil
The England international soccer team were building strongly in the 1950's when the Munich airplane disaster in 1958 killed Duncan Edwards, Tommy Taylor and others who were central to the team.
Here is a match against Brazil in 1956 which shows Stanley Matthews still in control of play, plus younger players such as Taylor and Edwards adding strength to the team. Bobby Charlton survived the Munich airplane disaster, and would join the England team in 1958.
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/f-a-international-england-aka-england-4-v-brazil
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Andy Murray's success may galvanize a new generation of young British tennis players.
The tennis personality who really kicked off the British rejuvenation in the sport was the great Christine Truman, here shown in a documentary from 1961.
https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9rXiX65IMk
The tennis personality who really kicked off the British rejuvenation in the sport was the great Christine Truman, here shown in a documentary from 1961.
https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9rXiX65IMk
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There were actually two Cooper's playing top quality tennis in the fifties...we need to specify whether we are referring to Ashley or Gary henceforth.
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Limpinhitter
G.O.A.T.
The Miles Davis Quintet
Miles Davis - Trumpet
Wayne Shorter - Tenor Saxaphone
Herbie Hancock - Piano
Rod Carter - Double Bass
Tony Williams - Drums
Miles Davis - Trumpet
Wayne Shorter - Tenor Saxaphone
Herbie Hancock - Piano
Rod Carter - Double Bass
Tony Williams - Drums
NonP
Legend
The greatest American writer is either Whitman or Dickinson, probably more in Walt's favor though I prefer Emily. If we're sticking to prose fiction only, Faulkner is a good pick as is Melville. But in my book the single greatest American novel is either Huckleberry Finn or Gatsby, which is rather fitting because the former was to the 19th American century what the latter was to the 20th. Moby-Dick or As I Lay Dying has its literary defenders, but contemporary currency tells us these books have never colonized the American imagination quite the same way as Twain's or Fitzgerald's masterpiece. I say there's a good reason for that.
A nice shout-out to O'Neill, but again it's been ages since I last read anything about him, let alone attended one of his plays. Hell, even Wilder's Our Town (a decent commedia dell'arte production of which I saw last summer) seems to be performed more often now. Not to say O'Neill is of the same eminence as Wilder, but the extent of a writer's currency isn't always a function of marketing expenditure.
BTW Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda happen to be buried here in the DC metro area (St. Mary's Cemetery in Rockville, MD). After having seen the Baz Luhrmann adaptation of Gatsby (a fine effort, the critical putdowns notwithstanding) and reread the novel for something like a 6th or 7th time I visited his grave to pay my respects:
As you can see I wasn't the only one there (another group was just leaving the site when I arrived), which was something of a mixed blessing because while I was glad to see other people pay homage to a great writer the tombstone seemed to have been rather unattended and needed some dusting (guess who did it).
You and me are interfering with Dan's grand soliloquy. Perhaps we should wait utill after its stately conclusion.
Miles Davis hit his peak in the series of albums released in the late fifties. His style of "cool" jazz took its roots from the work of Bix Beiderbecke in the late twenties.
The late fifties and early sixties was the last great age of jazz, with several giants at their prime.
Here are three of them in 1960, Stan Getz, who was a close friend of Lew Hoad, together with John Coltrane on the other sax, and the supreme Oscar Peterson majestic on the keyboard. Wow.
https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=beCGdmrP8Xc
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Yes, "The Great Gatsby" was the embodiment in prose of the ethos of the American Jazz Age culture of the 1920's, and was published in 1925.The greatest American writer is either Whitman or Dickinson, probably more in Walt's favor though I prefer Emily. If we're sticking to prose fiction only, Faulkner is a good pick as is Melville. But in my book the single greatest American novel is either Huckleberry Finn or Gatsby, which is rather fitting because the former was to the 19th American century what the latter was to the 20th. Moby-Dick or As I Lay Dying has its literary defenders, but contemporary currency tells us these books have never colonized the American imagination quite the same way as Twain's or Fitzgerald's masterpiece. I say there's a good reason for that.
A nice shout-out to O'Neill, but again it's been ages since I last read anything about him, let alone attended one of his plays. Hell, even Wilder's Our Town (a decent commedia dell'arte production of which I saw last summer) seems to be performed more often now. Not to say O'Neill is of the same eminence as Wilder, but the extent of a writer's currency isn't always a function of marketing expenditure.
BTW Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda happen to be buried here in the DC metro area (St. Mary's Cemetery in Rockville, MD). After having seen the Baz Luhrmann adaptation of Gatsby (a fine effort, the critical putdowns notwithstanding) and reread the novel for something like a 6th or 7th time I visited his grave to pay my respects:
As you can see I wasn't the only one there (another group was just leaving the site when I arrived), which was something of a mixed blessing because while I was glad to see other people pay homage to a great writer the tombstone seemed to have been rather unattended and needed some dusting (guess who did it).
You and me are interfering with Dan's grand soliloquy. Perhaps we should wait utill after its stately conclusion.
That same year saw the premiere of another young American's jazz age creation, which used genuine jazz melodies in a classical musical structure.
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..............The greatest American writer is either Whitman or Dickinson, probably more in Walt's favor though I prefer Emily. If we're sticking to prose fiction only, Faulkner is a good pick as is Melville. But in my book the single greatest American novel is either Huckleberry Finn or Gatsby, which is rather fitting because the former was to the 19th American century what the latter was to the 20th. Moby-Dick or As I Lay Dying has its literary defenders, but contemporary currency tells us these books have never colonized the American imagination quite the same way as Twain's or Fitzgerald's masterpiece. I say there's a good reason for that.
A nice shout-out to O'Neill, but again it's been ages since I last read anything about him, let alone attended one of his plays. Hell, even Wilder's Our Town (a decent commedia dell'arte production of which I saw last summer) seems to be performed more often now. Not to say O'Neill is of the same eminence as Wilder, but the extent of a writer's currency isn't always a function of marketing expenditure.
BTW Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda happen to be buried here in the DC metro area (St. Mary's Cemetery in Rockville, MD). After having seen the Baz Luhrmann adaptation of Gatsby (a fine effort, the critical putdowns notwithstanding) and reread the novel for something like a 6th or 7th time I visited his grave to pay my respects:
As you can see I wasn't the only one there (another group was just leaving the site when I arrived), which was something of a mixed blessing because while I was glad to see other people pay homage to a great writer the tombstone seemed to have been rather unattended and needed some dusting (guess who did it).
You and me are interfering with Dan's grand soliloquy. Perhaps we should wait utill after its stately conclusion.
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Limpinhitter
G.O.A.T.
In my view, Miles Davis peaked with his Bitches Brew album. Further, the era of the last great age of jazz depends on your definition of jazz. My favorite era of jazz was the 70's. Others would distinguish that music from traditional jazz and call it jazz fusion (fused with some other genre of music).
As great as "Gatsby" was, Fitzgerald surpassed that achievement with his next novel "Tender is the Night", a probing masterpiece into human fallibility.
The definitive adaptation was made by Hollywood in 1962, starring America's greatest stage actor, Jason Robards.
https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOPTulwg26g
Robards' signal achievement was his creation of "Hickey" in Eugene O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh", which Robards performed on television in 1960, notice here among the supporting actors the young Robert Redford.
In 1959, Robards recreated the role of Robert Jordan in a 6 hour television production of Ernest Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls", with Maria Schell as Maria.
Here is a rehearsal of the "sleeping bag" scene.
http://imgsrc.art.com/img/print/alf...ells-toll_a-g-3780712-4990176.jpg?w=894&h=671
And from the original film in 1943, the same rehearsal scene, with Gary Cooper, for whom Hemingway wrote the character, and Ingrid Bergman. This is Hemingway's most emotional novel.
http://l7.alamy.com/zooms/b18d4f1a3...a-1943-director-sam-wood-making-0f-bb68ec.jpg
The definitive adaptation was made by Hollywood in 1962, starring America's greatest stage actor, Jason Robards.
https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOPTulwg26g
Robards' signal achievement was his creation of "Hickey" in Eugene O'Neill's "The Iceman Cometh", which Robards performed on television in 1960, notice here among the supporting actors the young Robert Redford.
In 1959, Robards recreated the role of Robert Jordan in a 6 hour television production of Ernest Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls", with Maria Schell as Maria.
Here is a rehearsal of the "sleeping bag" scene.
http://imgsrc.art.com/img/print/alf...ells-toll_a-g-3780712-4990176.jpg?w=894&h=671
And from the original film in 1943, the same rehearsal scene, with Gary Cooper, for whom Hemingway wrote the character, and Ingrid Bergman. This is Hemingway's most emotional novel.
http://l7.alamy.com/zooms/b18d4f1a3...a-1943-director-sam-wood-making-0f-bb68ec.jpg
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There were two accomplished tennis players among the Hollywood stars, Errol Flynn, who had been Australian junior champion in 1928, and Gary Cooper, a good friend of Sidney Wood, who played serious tennis.
Here is Cooper ready for action,
http://cdn4.thr.com/sites/default/f..._1047x1572/2011/12/Gary_Cooper_Tennis_a_p.jpg
Here is Flynn in action,
http://www.theerrolflynnblog.com/wordpress/wp-content/flagallery/tennis/tennis11.jpg
Two great Hollywood tennis players, Gary Cooper and Charlton Heston, teamed up for a boating/diving film in 1959, these were the real actors, not stunt men in the following scenes.
Heston and Cooper made plans to go on a hunting expedition together with writer Ernest Hemingway in 1961, but both Cooper and Hemingway passed away that spring.
Here is Heston in action in 1966 in an exhibition match in New Zealand, it looks like he has learned something from his meetings and lessons with Hoad,
http://www.teara.govt.nz/files/37347-atl.jpg
And Paul Newman knew what to do with a tennis racquet,
http://drx.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/09/27/paul_newman.jpg
Cooper owned his own tennis courts on his home property, showing good volley form here,
http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/crc2281/Gary 1940s/Gary Cooper at Home/4TheCoopershavetheirowncourtsBotharegoodplayersbutMrsCooperhasaslightedgeonGary.jpg
Here is Cooper ready for action,
http://cdn4.thr.com/sites/default/f..._1047x1572/2011/12/Gary_Cooper_Tennis_a_p.jpg
Here is Flynn in action,
http://www.theerrolflynnblog.com/wordpress/wp-content/flagallery/tennis/tennis11.jpg
Two great Hollywood tennis players, Gary Cooper and Charlton Heston, teamed up for a boating/diving film in 1959, these were the real actors, not stunt men in the following scenes.
Heston and Cooper made plans to go on a hunting expedition together with writer Ernest Hemingway in 1961, but both Cooper and Hemingway passed away that spring.
Here is Heston in action in 1966 in an exhibition match in New Zealand, it looks like he has learned something from his meetings and lessons with Hoad,
http://www.teara.govt.nz/files/37347-atl.jpg
And Paul Newman knew what to do with a tennis racquet,
http://drx.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/09/27/paul_newman.jpg
Cooper owned his own tennis courts on his home property, showing good volley form here,
http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae321/crc2281/Gary 1940s/Gary Cooper at Home/4TheCoopershavetheirowncourtsBotharegoodplayersbutMrsCooperhasaslightedgeonGary.jpg
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Kramer could take credit for making tennis players the highest paid athletes of the late fifties, although the gate attraction of Hoad and Gonzales was a special product to market.
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1959/03/01/page/258/article/jack-Kramer
The above article makes clear that Kramer himself was making about $200,000 per annual tour as promoter during the late fifties. Kramer got about 20% of the nightly returns on the extended pro tours, while Hoad would get 30% for a win and 20% for a loss, Gonzales would get 20% every night, the same as Kramer, who was most often not even present at the small town locations.
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1959/03/01/page/258/article/jack-Kramer
The above article makes clear that Kramer himself was making about $200,000 per annual tour as promoter during the late fifties. Kramer got about 20% of the nightly returns on the extended pro tours, while Hoad would get 30% for a win and 20% for a loss, Gonzales would get 20% every night, the same as Kramer, who was most often not even present at the small town locations.
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Troon has been the setting for some of golf's greatest British Open championships, including this year. But the most famous of all Troon victories was Arnold Palmer in 1962, shown here, looking good in full screen.
https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN97CHB_q0Q
https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN97CHB_q0Q
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In 1966, the late fifties' veterans of England's World Cup team, Bobby Charlton, Bobby Moore, Gordon Banks, Bobby Wilson, would lead the squad to the greatest ever final win over Beckenbauer and Germany.
The England international soccer team were building strongly in the 1950's when the Munich airplane disaster in 1958 killed Duncan Edwards, Tommy Taylor and others who were central to the team.
Here is a match against Brazil in 1956 which shows Stanley Matthews still in control of play, plus younger players such as Taylor and Edwards adding strength to the team. Bobby Charlton survived the Munich airplane disaster, and would join the England team in 1958.
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/f-a-international-england-aka-england-4-v-brazil
While the Queen regularly awards the World Cup or FA Cup winner's trophies (see above), she has rarely shown up at Wimbledon.
The first time was in 1957, shown here, when the Queen apparently offered Hoad a knighthood if he would stay amateur and continue to play Davis Cup.
Here the Queen shakes hands with Hoad at Wimbledon in 1957. A picture, as they say, is worth a thousand words.
http://l7.alamy.com/zooms/ad2358e30...s-doubles-final-gardner-mulloy-and-g4rgg9.jpg
The England international soccer team were building strongly in the 1950's when the Munich airplane disaster in 1958 killed Duncan Edwards, Tommy Taylor and others who were central to the team.
Here is a match against Brazil in 1956 which shows Stanley Matthews still in control of play, plus younger players such as Taylor and Edwards adding strength to the team. Bobby Charlton survived the Munich airplane disaster, and would join the England team in 1958.
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/f-a-international-england-aka-england-4-v-brazil
While the Queen regularly awards the World Cup or FA Cup winner's trophies (see above), she has rarely shown up at Wimbledon.
The first time was in 1957, shown here, when the Queen apparently offered Hoad a knighthood if he would stay amateur and continue to play Davis Cup.
Here the Queen shakes hands with Hoad at Wimbledon in 1957. A picture, as they say, is worth a thousand words.
http://l7.alamy.com/zooms/ad2358e30...s-doubles-final-gardner-mulloy-and-g4rgg9.jpg
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Fitzgerald includes a sports reference in "Gatsby", a character who allegedly was responsible for fixing the 1919 World Series...this was in keeping with the general themes and ambience of "Gatsby".The greatest American writer is either Whitman or Dickinson, probably more in Walt's favor though I prefer Emily. If we're sticking to prose fiction only, Faulkner is a good pick as is Melville. But in my book the single greatest American novel is either Huckleberry Finn or Gatsby, which is rather fitting because the former was to the 19th American century what the latter was to the 20th. Moby-Dick or As I Lay Dying has its literary defenders, but contemporary currency tells us these books have never colonized the American imagination quite the same way as Twain's or Fitzgerald's masterpiece. I say there's a good reason for that.
A nice shout-out to O'Neill, but again it's been ages since I last read anything about him, let alone attended one of his plays. Hell, even Wilder's Our Town (a decent commedia dell'arte production of which I saw last summer) seems to be performed more often now. Not to say O'Neill is of the same eminence as Wilder, but the extent of a writer's currency isn't always a function of marketing expenditure.
BTW Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda happen to be buried here in the DC metro area (St. Mary's Cemetery in Rockville, MD). After having seen the Baz Luhrmann adaptation of Gatsby (a fine effort, the critical putdowns notwithstanding) and reread the novel for something like a 6th or 7th time I visited his grave to pay my respects:
As you can see I wasn't the only one there (another group was just leaving the site when I arrived), which was something of a mixed blessing because while I was glad to see other people pay homage to a great writer the tombstone seemed to have been rather unattended and needed some dusting (guess who did it).
You and me are interfering with Dan's grand soliloquy. Perhaps we should wait utill after its stately conclusion.
In 1930, Sinclair Lewis became the first American writer to win the Nobel Prize, and his novel "Elmer Gantry", about a complex evangelist, would later serve as a multi-Oscar winning film in 1960.
https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2ZWUomkmeY
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While the Queen regularly awards the World Cup or FA Cup winner's trophies (see above), she has rarely shown up at Wimbledon.
The first time was in 1957, shown here, when the Queen apparently offered Hoad a knighthood if he would stay amateur and continue to play Davis Cup.
Here the Queen shakes hands with Hoad at Wimbledon in 1957. A picture, as they say, is worth a thousand words.
http://l7.alamy.com/zooms/ad2358e30...s-doubles-final-gardner-mulloy-and-g4rgg9.jpg
The Queen seems pleased with Hoad's performance at Wimbledon that year.
The first time was in 1957, shown here, when the Queen apparently offered Hoad a knighthood if he would stay amateur and continue to play Davis Cup.
Here the Queen shakes hands with Hoad at Wimbledon in 1957. A picture, as they say, is worth a thousand words.
http://l7.alamy.com/zooms/ad2358e30...s-doubles-final-gardner-mulloy-and-g4rgg9.jpg
The Queen seems pleased with Hoad's performance at Wimbledon that year.
A haunting, penetrating novel and movie, Fitzgerald's masterpiece, also inspired an Oscar-nominated song sung here by a master singer, Mr. Bennett.
https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7HaeqDnYNI
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Errol Flynn gave his best ever performance in the 1957 cinematic version of Hemingway's "The Sun Also Rises", a great novel about a group of American WWI veterans in Paris and Spain in the late 1920's, Hemingway's first masterpiece.
https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=reEZWbn74Sc
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Hemingway wrote "The Sun Also Rises" while in Europe employed, as he had been for several years, as the chief foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star daily newspaper.
It was during these years that Hemingway developed his distinctive writing style.
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This period also saw the completion of the finest English novel of the century, Evelyn Waugh's "Sword of Honour" trilogy, completed and published in 1962.
A superb BBC adaptation was televised in 2003, starring everyone's favourite current Bond actor.
https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=_InsRsqmqFE
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Fast forward some 30 years, and the level of talent from the late fifties was still competitive with a later generation of stars, for example,
http://www.windsortennis.co.uk/lew-hoad-the-great-aussie/
In addition to Crete, Evelyn Waugh also served in Yugoslavia as an intelligence officer during WWII.
Other great British novelists also served in intelligence work, including Graham Greene, Somerset Maugham, John LeCarre, Ian Fleming.
Greene's "Our Man in Havana" was adapted to the big screen in 1959, a remarkable analysis of Cuban politics. Filming took place in Castro's Cuba.
https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=obFPAXXeFos
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John LeCarre's "Spy Who Came In From the Cold" was published in 1963, and formed the basis for a superlative film with Richard Burton's finest screen performance.
https:www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmmWkJtuxz4
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