Fante's papers go to UCLA / Working for the rich
- Thread starter mjp
- Start date
i just got a link to that this morning on google alerts.
http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/ucla-library-acquires-john-fante-87080.aspx
and also one mentioning fante's 100th birthday, which is today...
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-etw-fante-appreciation8-2009apr08,0,1023525.story
http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/ucla-library-acquires-john-fante-87080.aspx
and also one mentioning fante's 100th birthday, which is today...
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-etw-fante-appreciation8-2009apr08,0,1023525.story
That's nice.
Gerard K H Love
Appreciate your friends
Thanks for the good links. And great big thanks for not posting any wriggling smilies. Those damn things play hell on my old eyes.
This is great. Another reason for me to trip to LA one day.
A belated happy birthday to Fante. Man, I can only dream that he was still going. 100 years old! a lot of people, especially with the italian blood pass the 100 mark, but I guess not when you drink that much. Still the quality of his last novel makes me fantasize of what he could have written if he lived a little longer.
Also I can't help but feel blessed at sharing the same birthdate with John Fante:D....my 21st yersterday.
A belated happy birthday to Fante. Man, I can only dream that he was still going. 100 years old! a lot of people, especially with the italian blood pass the 100 mark, but I guess not when you drink that much. Still the quality of his last novel makes me fantasize of what he could have written if he lived a little longer.
Also I can't help but feel blessed at sharing the same birthdate with John Fante:D....my 21st yersterday.
LickTheStar
Sad Flower in the Sand
Finally, his papers are somewhere I can go. I was poking around a couple years ago when I went down south the first time and was shocked to learn that his papers didn't seem to be collected anywhere... Can't wait to make it back to LA now! Thanks MJP.
And thanks for the links too james... Good reading there.
If only this stuff would be available next month. Then I could abandon my in-laws at Disneyland and head on over.
And thanks for the links too james... Good reading there.
If only this stuff would be available next month. Then I could abandon my in-laws at Disneyland and head on over.
LickTheStar
Sad Flower in the Sand
Thanks for the picture, haven't seen that one before!
bospress.net
www.bospress.net
Notice how they worked a mention of Esotouric bus tours into that article...
Bill
Bill
LickTheStar
Sad Flower in the Sand
I just got an e-mail from Stephen Cooper who says they expect to have everything all catalogued and ready for the public by the Fall... but who knows with these sorts of things...
If one of you wants to make photocopies of everything and send it to me... let me know. If not, I'm aiming to be there next Spring, hopefully...
If one of you wants to make photocopies of everything and send it to me... let me know. If not, I'm aiming to be there next Spring, hopefully...
mjp
Founding member
Well, I imagine a lot of the Pacific Palisades Post research involves Google. They probably found them there.
I worked at a printing shop in Pacific Palisades for a couple years. What a buzzing little hive of entitlement and unpleasantness that place is. Unpleasantness toward their servants anyway, and that's what I was. I worked the counter part of the time, and sold Dodgers announcer Vin Scully about a million red Flair pens. That's all he ever bought. He was not unpleasant, so he stuck out as exceptional. That's the kind of place it was.
Apropos of nothing. As usual. Carry on.
chronic
old and in the way
Head east to Beverly Hills and it's even worse. Even the servants treat people like shit if they think you don't have alot of money. Back when I had a little money and my wife and I still liked each other, I dropped into Tiffany's in my usual jeans and tee shirt to pick up a gift for her birthday. I knew exactly what I wanted and patiently waited until it was my turn, at which point the cow behind the counter looked at me, sized me up, and actually sneered at me before she turned to help some Japanese tourists who had just walked into the store. Another woman who worked there saw this happen and came over, apologized for her bitch co-worker and helped me. After that, I was out of there in about two minutes with a $600 bracelet, the woman who helped me got a quick commission, and the cow was stuck trying to understand the Japanese tourists who were grilling her about everything in the case.
A small triumph, but I have to admit that it made me feel kind of good.
mjp
Founding member
Well, it's funny, I tried to get a job at a printing joint in Beverly Hills, but they wouldn't have me. Even at a print shop. But it's the same thing on the West side of Santa Monica, Brentwood, Hollywood Hills - plenty of enclaves around here. More than enough snoot to go around.
Your Tiffany's story reminds me of going to a brunch/party at Norman Lear's giant house (long story). All the big expensive HOLLYWOOD cars were being valet parked and Carol and I pulled up in the Honda Fit. Like one of those Sesame Street "Guess which thing doesn't belong here," segments. But the parking crew (servants) were cool. They actually waved us through to a sweet spot right by the front door of the house. Kind of a solidarity of the common man thing, I guess. That or they were goofing on us. Either is possible.
Funny that there are places in my own city that want to make me feel "less than." And people actually aspire to that lifestyle. They can have it.
Your Tiffany's story reminds me of going to a brunch/party at Norman Lear's giant house (long story). All the big expensive HOLLYWOOD cars were being valet parked and Carol and I pulled up in the Honda Fit. Like one of those Sesame Street "Guess which thing doesn't belong here," segments. But the parking crew (servants) were cool. They actually waved us through to a sweet spot right by the front door of the house. Kind of a solidarity of the common man thing, I guess. That or they were goofing on us. Either is possible.
Funny that there are places in my own city that want to make me feel "less than." And people actually aspire to that lifestyle. They can have it.
number6horse
okyoutwopixiesoutyougo
I would hope that Norman Lear had some cool people working for him and that he treated them well. As the founder of PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY, he had better walk the walk.
bospress.net
www.bospress.net
I gotta say this...
I do love Delaware. Even the Vice President helps people load drywall at the Home Depot. Well, he did when he was our Senator. We do have a couple enclaves up North, but they are small and they are "Delaware Rich", which means middle class or poor in most other parts of the country.
A store like Tiffany's with their arrogant, snooty sales people would never make it here. Hell, I think that we have about ten Starbucks in the whole state and most of them are by the University of Delaware or on I-95, for the tourists on their way to New York....
Bill
I do love Delaware. Even the Vice President helps people load drywall at the Home Depot. Well, he did when he was our Senator. We do have a couple enclaves up North, but they are small and they are "Delaware Rich", which means middle class or poor in most other parts of the country.
A store like Tiffany's with their arrogant, snooty sales people would never make it here. Hell, I think that we have about ten Starbucks in the whole state and most of them are by the University of Delaware or on I-95, for the tourists on their way to New York....
Bill
mjp
Founding member
He does. Everyone was pretty cool and down to earth. But we were still the square pegs in the joint, and there was no getting around it. It's hard to feel comfortable when you're sitting on a couch and there's a million dollar painting hanging above your head...and a full wall Jasper Johns installation/piece on the other side of the room, etc., etc. everywhere you look.
But yeah. Everyone was as cool as rich people are capable of being. There is just always a divide there, and there's nothing you can do to narrow it, no mater how friendly or cool someone is. At the end of the day, you live in two very different worlds.
mjp
Founding member
de Kooning, Rauschenberg, Picasso, a Warhol in the bathroom (really)...it was just everywhere, so I couldn't really begin to give you an idea of the scope. Just assume that he has some work from every modern artist you've ever heard of. Maybe not so much contemporary stuff, but a lot of art from his era.
number6horse
okyoutwopixiesoutyougo
That's pretty cool. The man was basically responsible for most of the comedy shows on CBS television in the 70's and was rewarded handsomely. Sounds like he spent it well.
What is it with shitty jobs?, Christ, this latest one has become unbearable. We cater to Atlanta's filthy rich, which of course are poor cousins to the rareified bastards of New York and L.A., but nonetheless, often entitled and arrogant in their "genteel" way. I need something new. Maybe I can help file Fante's papers over at the Ucelay...actually, that'll probably be a bitchfest non-pareil, never mind, anybody need their flower beds done?
Christ, W.W.F.D?
Christ, W.W.F.D?
wow, that's an impressive lineup - thanks for sharing. can't imagine how much dough that guy made but i guess he acquired most the work before the prices went through the stratosphere. i had a 'shitty job' years ago painting murals in russian mafia mansions and the owners would pay everyone at the end of the week from a briefcase full of cash and a handgun. not the most relaxing work atmosphere...but good motivation...
mjp
Founding member
I'm sure he's had most of his art for many years. Like I said, there isn't much contemporary art in there. I didn't see anything that came after Warhol, Lichtenstein, etc. No 80's art - Koons or Basquiat or anything. But then maybe he has that stuff in a different wing of the place that I never saw. ;)
As far as how much money he made, I'm also quite sure he could re-buy all the art hanging in his house again today at current prices.
from norman lear's wikipedia page:
In 2001, Lear and his second wife, Lyn, purchased a Dunlap broadside"”one of the first published copies of the United States Declaration of Independence"”for $8.1 million. Not a document collector, Lear said in a press release and on the Today show that his intent was to tour the document around the United States so that the country could experience its "birth certificate" firsthand.
wow.
In 2001, Lear and his second wife, Lyn, purchased a Dunlap broadside"”one of the first published copies of the United States Declaration of Independence"”for $8.1 million. Not a document collector, Lear said in a press release and on the Today show that his intent was to tour the document around the United States so that the country could experience its "birth certificate" firsthand.
wow.
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