Apr 16, 2009


Hollywood. "The Day of the Locust" by Nathaniel West" is the book to read about Hollywood. A skid row away from Sunset Blvd. Shattered dreams of imagined glory. If there is any art that topped comic books in shaping my image of life, of self, of what I too must become, it was the movies. I attended shows almost nightly growing up (pre-TV) in my small Ozark hometown. The Uptown Theater. The Stone Theater. Cost was 14 to 15 cents for under 12 and 30 to 35 cents for adults. Tuesday night was "pal night" when two tickets were sold for the price of one. The Uptown was a block away. The Stone was about 3 blocks away. I first wanted to grow up and be a cowboy. Then, mid-teens, a cool Humphrey Bogart style was what I wanted to grow into. Mean streets. Back bars. Broken neon. Trash littered alleys. Home. Hollywood. "The Day of the Locust" took me there. I still re-read the book. Shattered dreams remain alive.