My movie business: a memoir

211 Pages·1999·7.498 MB·English

by  Irving, John

M M B
Y O V I E U S I N E S S
J o h n I r v i n g
A
M
E M O I R
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A L S O B Y J O H N I R V I N G
A Widow for OneYear
Trying to Save Piggy Sneed
A Son of the Circus
A Prayer for Owen Meany
The Cider House Rules
The Hotel New Hampshire
TheWorld According to Garp
The 158-Pound Marriage
TheWater-Method Man
Setting Free the Bears
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M Y M O V I E B U S I N E S S
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MY
J O H N
MOVIE
I R V I N G
BUSINESS
A M E M O I R
b
R A N D O M H O U S E N E W Y O R K
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Copyright © 1999 by Garp Enterprises,Ltd.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American
Copyright Conventions.Published in the United States
by Random House,Inc.,New York.
Random House and colophon are registered trademarks
of Random House,Inc.
Grateful acknowledgment is made to William Morrow and Company,
Inc.,for permission to reprint from The Cider House Rules,by John
Irving,copyright © 1985 by Garp Enterprises,Ltd.Reprinted by
permission ofWilliam Morrow and Company,Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Irving,John.
My movie business :a memoir / John Irving.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-375-504486
1. Irving,John.— Film and video adaptations. 2. Novelists,
American—20th century Biography. 3. Screenwriters—
United States Biography. 4. Cider house rules (Motion
picture) 5. Motion picture authorship. I. Title.
PS3559.R8Z468 1999 813'.54—dc21
[B] 99-15800
Random House website address:www.atrandom.com
98765432
First Edition
Book design by J.K.Lambert
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For my son Colin,
who has borne the disappointments
of this business with me.
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C O N T E N T S
1. Mrs.Berkeley’s Constipation 3
2. The Ether Addict 8
3. Rubber Gloves 16
4. Not Quite Awake 18
5. The Great God Irving 21
6. To Be of Use 26
7. Paying the Piper 34
8. But Could It Really Be Taught to a Chimpanzee? 38
9. The Disintegrating Uterus 42
10. The Bleak Version 50
11. No Escargot 57
12. First Haircut 66
13. The Motorcycle I Gave Away 73
14. Not Completely Healed 82
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15. Not Wang,Not Winterbottom 93
16. Losing Wally,Keeping Candy 106
17. A Terse Speculation on the Movie Poster 115
18. Alone at Their Table 122
19. The Disapproving Stationmaster 131
20. Fuzzy 137
21. Lost Scenes 146
22. The Twelve-Year-Old Girl 153
23. Fade to Black 163
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M Y M O V I E B U S I N E S S
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œ
1 M R S . B E R K E L E Y ’ S
C O N S T I P A T I O N
M
y grandfather Dr. Frederick C. Irving gradu-
ated from Harvard Medical School in 1910.
He was an intern at the Massachusetts General
Hospital and later became chief of staff at the Boston
Lying-In—a pioneer institution, founded in 1832. In my
grandfather’s day,the Boston Lying-In had already become
one of the world’s leading obstetrical hospitals.
Dr.Irving was also a professor of obstetrics at Harvard,
and the author of three books: The Expectant Mother’s
Handbook, A Textbook of Obstetrics, and a biography of the
Boston Lying-In Hospital called Safe Deliverance. The last
was chiefly a history of obstetrics and gynecological
surgery in the United States;it was published in 1942,the
year I was born.When I first told my parents that I wanted
to become a writer—I was fourteen—my parents said,