writing to poignancy or some revelation of character or vulnerability that enriches what one generally knows of these people.


6 REELS UNDER


By David Del Valle 2012, BearManor Media, www.bearmanormedia.com PO Box 1129, Duncan OK 73534. 252 pp., Trade Paper, $19.95 Reviewed by Tim Lucas


As with the articles collected in David Del Valle’s previous book, LOST HORIZONS BENEATH THE HOLLYWOOD SIGN, the 29 “resurrections” and “memorials” found in this new volume fly in the face of two rules commonly accepted as a sacred trust by most other writers about film and filmmakers—one: that the reporter should always respect his subject’s privacy and protect them from embarrassment; and two: that the reporter him- self must never intrude upon nor upstage his sub- ject. To read Del Valle’s work, which is personal memoir in the guise of profile essays, is to see these rules challenged in intriguing ways. The result is not only the collection of Holly- wood profiles the book purports to be, but an of- ten provocatively naked disclosure of what it really means to live, work and network in the film busi- ness, based on intimate knowledge Del Valle ac- quired in his various placements as a fan, Hollywood agent, neighbor and personal friend. Forget the screen personae; Del Valle invites you to a gallery of unmaskings. He can be catty, sly, and even bitchy in the cause of telling a rollicking good story, but his portraits almost always have a saving grace that extends beyond capable, colorful


78


Reminiscing as Barbara Steele’s former agent, he describes the BLACK SUNDAY star’s insecurity as she pursued some of her earliest auditions in Los Angeles; having the same relationship with Martine Beswicke, he writes with respect that “she was never too self-involved not to be aware of other people’s feelings and never in the twenty-plus years I have known her have I ever seen her be vindic- tive or unkind to anyone in her orbit” (yet he also breaks her confidentiality by paraphrasing her con- fession of romancing the DP of Oliver Stone’s SEIZURE in order to keep him sober long enough to finish the film). As a close friend of Forrest J Ackerman who witnessed his remarkable eulogy at George Pal’s funeral, he recounts his outrage at sensing the extent to which Ackerman’s role as Uncle 4E had left his own gifts as a writer unex- plored. As a confidant of Vincent Price, he relates stories of the actor struggling to respond by letter to an unkind critic of his work in PIT AND THE PENDULUM and of his regrets at consistently hav- ing to turn down theatrical opportunities (“work for the soul”) to make horror films. As an inter- viewer, he itemizes an emotionally confusing series of meetings with pickled British actor Aubrey Mor- ris, who accused him of pilfering memorabilia at one meeting, then kissed him on the mouth at the next. The book closes with Del Valle’s memoir of his friendship with actress Yvette Vickers, which offers some hints, drawing the line at more com- plete disclosures, of why her life may have reached the sad conclusion it did. There are also fascinat- ing cameo appearances by supporting players like Beswicke’s SEIZURE co-star Jonathan Frid, NIGHT TIDE’s Linda Lawson (who tells a personal story about Dennis Hopper that, she felt, adversely af- fected her career), and LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE actor Steve Tracy, an early AIDS victim. The book occasionally breaks from the profile format to include interviews with the likes of Alice Terry, Sidney Hayers, Reggie Nalder (originally published in VIDEO WATCHDOG) and Michael Gough, or the odd reminiscence of things near and dear to him such as the films DRACULA’S DAUGHTER and WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? and Los Angeles horror host Bob Wilkins. The presentation could have used a stron- ger editorial hand (the dreaded Edgar “Allen” Poe makes a few appearances), but there is no ques- tion that 6 REELS UNDER ventures beyond mere gossip to add important human dimensions to our deeper appreciation of those commemorated.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84