September 21, 2004
Sammy Sammy Bo Bammy
Just finished reading
What Makes Sammy Run?, Budd Schulberg's acid-tinged 1941 novel about a hyper-ambitious young Hollywood player. The title character is a class A deceitful slimeball, but he comes out oddly endearing by the end. Certainly more interesting than the bland narrator, who feels compelled to follow Sammy up the ladder of success while not-so-secretly loathing him. I enjoyed Shulberg's jazzy, slang-filled writing style and keen observations.
This website details all the permutations of Sammy, including a TV production and a short lived Broadway musical(!) starring Steve Lawrence(!!) as Sammy. Ben Stiller is reportedly trying to get a film version of the story off the ground, but there haven't been any new news on this in several years. Now that's something I'd like to see.
Posted by mhinrichs at September 21, 2004 01:42 PM
I'm pretty sure that Steve holds the rights to the original Bway cast of "What Makes Sammy Run?"
He released the CD last year (or so) via SteveAndEydie.com. It's fun, but not as fun as Golden Rainbow (which had Eydie as well as Steve in the cast).
PS, I love how the page for the WMSR? CD is titled "STEVE LAWRENCE IS..."
"STEVE LAWRENCE IS... WHAT MAKES SAMMY RUN?"
Can you imagine others?
"ELIZABETH TAYLOR IS... WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLFE?"
"HARVEY FIERSTEIN IS... HAIRSPRAY"
"EYDIE GORME IS... SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE"
"ELAINE STRITCH IS... THE KING AND I"
Reels the mind.
I'm so loving this site...,Looking forward to checking out the archives. I found it during my millionth Joan Crawford search. A portrait of Joan...,
This is the book, read at age 13, that made me the bitter, cynical man I am today.
