You Don’t Know Me, But You Love Me: The Lives of Dick Miller PDF
Preview You Don’t Know Me, But You Love Me: The Lives of Dick Miller
Copyright © 2018 Caelum Vatnsdal ARP Books (Arbeiter Ring Publishing) 205-70 Arthur Street Winnipeg, Manitoba Treaty 1 Territory and Historic Métis Nation Homeland Canada R3B 1G7 arpbooks.org Cover and interior design and layout by Relish New Brand Experience. COPYRIGHT NOTICE This book is fully protected under the copyright laws of Canada and all other countries of the Copyright Union and is subject to royalty. ARP Books acknowledges the generous support of the Manitoba Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Province of Manitoba through the Book Publishing Tax Credit and the Book Publisher Marketing Assistance Program of Manitoba Culture, Heritage, and Tourism. LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION Vatnsdal, Caelum, author You don’t know me, but you love me : the lives of Dick Miller / Caelum Vatnsdal. Issued in print and electronic formats. ISBN 978-1-927886-14-4 (hardcover).--ISBN 978-1-927886-18-2 (softcover).--ISBN 978-1-927886-15-1 (ebook) 1. Miller, Dick, 1928-. 2. Motion picture actors and actresses--United States--Biography. I. Title. PN2287.M637V38 2018 791.4302’8092C2018-903876-4 C2018-903877-2 C2018-903877-2 This book is dedicated to Dick and Lainie, and it was written for Alicia and Leander. Acknowledgements learly the first individual to thank when writing a life story is the person who lived it. My permanent and unabashed gratitude goes to Dick Miller C for letting me tell his tale, and equally to Lainie Miller, without whom there would hardly be a Dick, never mind a book about him. Their generosity was utter and their support unbounded. On top of that, they were extremely pleasant people to be around. Joe Dante was of immense and invaluable aid to this project. Not only did he submit to interviews and repeated follow-up questions, he helped make several important connections and provided some vital copyediting. I am eager to thank the many other people who gave their time to speak or write to me, including Max Apple, Allan Arkush, Belinda Balaski, Ira Behr, Roger Corman, Frank De Palma, Ernest Dickerson, Jon Davison, Mike Finnell, Mike Gingold, Zach Galligan, Jack Nicholson, Bill Levy, Bob Martin, Harry Northup (whose Miller reminiscences came in the form of a posted letter), Tony Randel, Scatman Jack Silverman, Scott Wheeler, and the late Eugene Miller. I’d like also to acknowledge friendly, helpful gatekeepers like Mark Alan at Renfield Productions and Cynthia Brown at New Horizons. The lovely people at the Margaret Herrick Library may simply have been doing their jobs, but they deserve thanks along with their paycheques. Some may not know how much they helped, like Brad Caslor, who kindly gifted me a stash of movie magazines that turned out to contain many articles germane to my subject; and Tasha Robinson, then of The Onion AV Club, who thought publishing an interview with Dick Miller was a good idea, and thus provided the author an extra excuse (if one were needed) to go visit him. I owe a debt, and perhaps must shake a playful fist too, at David Everitt and Fangoria magazine, who lit the fuse. Many thanks also go to Elijah Drenner, who made a dandy movie, That Guy Dick Miller, and was nothing less than utterly helpful when I asked something of him in the course of my own project. Dave Barber, Dave DeCoteau, Kier-la Janisse, Joe Ziemba, Gary and Penny Vatnsdal and Bob and Leslie Smith, Todd Scarth and John Samson were all as fulsome in their support as I am in my gratitude to them. I am particularly grateful to Todd Besant and Irene Bindi at ARP, and to Pat Sanders for superlative editing. The Manitoba Arts Council and the Winnipeg Arts Council provided some of the funding needed to complete this book, and I am grateful not only for their support, but for their existence. Most of all I thank Alicia Smith and Leander Vatnsdal, both of whom I dearly love. Contents Preface 1 As sure as I’m sitting here, I’m a prince 2 There are certain things you want to put out of your mind 3 Fun Inc. 4 I’ll never forget that flying through the air 5 The pigeons are free 6 Big change in my life 7 How do you start this thing? 8 I always liked Roger 9 You’re gonna be a star 10 We shook hands and that was it 11 This is what I would do if I was a little nuts 12 No man could have lived through it 13 I got older, but I didn’t get any taller 14 Went up, probably coming down 15 You mean I gotta touch those? 16 He had to be a fan 17 I can’t do this, I’m an actor! 18 It was all brand new to me 19 I came in, I did the job, I got out 20 Fade in, fade out Afterword Sources Index
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