Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Of Bozo, The Beatles, "Bad Day at Black Rock" and Mr. Magoo

Saturday the Los Angeles Times reported the death of Alan W. Livingston, the creator of Bozo the Clown and, as president of Capitol Records, the man who signed the Beach Boys, The Steve Miller Band and The Beatles.

Today they reported on the death of Millard Kaufman, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of "Bad Day at Black Rock" and the co-creator of Mr. Magoo. And for those of you who think it is too late to try something new:

"I decided, knowing that nobody my age gets work in movies, and that I had to do something, otherwise I'd get into terrible trouble, that I would try writing a novel," he told The Times in 2007.

That was the year "Bowl of Cherries," which a New Yorker writer described as "equal parts 'Catcher in the Rye' and 'Die Hard,' " was published.

Kaufman's second novel, "Misadventure," is due out this fall.
Kaufman was 92.

No comments: