Ron Radosh just emailed me the sad, thought not surprising (he was 95) news that the novelist and screenwriter Budd Schuldberg had passed. Schulberg had a powerful personal influence on my life, although I only met him once and that only briefly at a football game years ago. He and my father were Dartmouth classmates (1936) and my father spotted him among other alumni at the game and introduced me. I don’t think dad knew Budd very well, but he wanted his son, the aspiring writer, to meet the great man.
At that point – I must have been about fifteen – I only knew Schulberg by reputation. I hadn’t yet read What Makes Sammy Run or The Disenchanted or seen On the Waterfront, whose screenplay is surely one of the best ever. (“I coulda been a contender. I could have been somebody.”) But then I went to Dartmouth too and started writing screenplays and novels and Schulberg’s ghost was always on my shoulder (living ghost then, obviously). His ghost was also on my shoulder politically. Like Schulberg I swung quickly to the left after school and then reconsidered. I lost some friends too, but not nearly as many as he did after testifying as a friendly witness before the House Un-American Activities Committee.
Lionel and I will be discussing all this soon on Poliwood, hopefully along with Ron Radosh who interviewed Schulberg for his excellent Red Star Over Hollywood. Meanwhile, have a look at the NY Times obit and especially the video interview with Schulberg that accompanies it. I found it moving. RIP.
Karl Malden who played the priest in On the Waterfront died about a month ago. He was also in his mid-nineties. Both men lived long and productive lives. May God bless. They will be missed.
Unfortunatly, Karl Malden died the week of Michael Jackson’s MSM blitz and true recognition was never given this wonderful actor and fine gentleman except to say he also was from Gary, Indiana as was MJ. It is so tragic actors and writer’s that give us such wonderful material and performance do not
receive the applause from the MSM. These men are true treasures that will visually be remembered as long as books and film remain part of our lives.
Hopefully they are both sitting on some “Water Front” discussing the “Old Day’s”….
By today’s standards I’m politically conservative or libertarian and I’ve come to accept the fact that most artists tilt left politically. Unless they get political I concentrate on their art.
Budd Schulberg’s work was at such a high level that while leftists in the entertainment industry continue to maintain a grudge against him for naming names, they have to acknowledge the quality of his work.
I wonder if Schulberg’s testimony was driven by similar motivations as Elia Kazan, who had seen the Group Theater get taken over by communists and watched them subordinate art to politics.
Scott Johnson has a nice post up at Power Line about Mr. Schulberg. RIP.