A short background on the film. THE IRISHMAN had been in the planning for a number of years but because of the potential cost, and the fact that De Niro and Pacino were no longer the box office draws they had once been, the film was delayed a number of years. Finally Netflix agreed to finance as it would give them a highly prestigious film project and probably the last collaboration between Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese; a collaboration that has given…

SLOAN KETTERING Some background. My wife contracted a rare form of cancer—only ten patients diagnosed a year—and underwent two operations. The removal of her uterus and a lobe of her lung. Fortunately she went to Sloan Kettering and the oncologist there had had just treated three patents with the same cancer and so she was in good hands. Post-op she visited the hospital once a month and remained in close to touch whit the oncologist. OK: Here we go. On a Wednesday morning three years…

    Living in Manhattan’s theater district has its advantages and disadvantages. It had its advantages as walking most anywhere I walked past theaters and often ran into stars. Once I bumped into this old lady and it was Celeste Holm. Fortunately I caught her before she hit the street and apologized and then it hit me who she was and I said I was so sorry. She just smiled and told me I should be more careful (An understatement) My God, this was the…

Tannehill with the players on that team which even made the cover of Time Magazine in a photo of them at The Great Wall. (He’s second from left in the back row on the cover).   ‘Back in the 1970s I went to school with John Tannehill. Who is John Tannehill?   Well his 15 minutes of fame occurred in the early 70s when, as one of the best Ping Pong Players in America, he went to China in 1971 as a member of a ping-pong…

    One of things I most enjoyed about living in Mid-town Manhattan was being surrounded by history. It was everywhere and I took advantage of this.   For example, one summer I studied Central Park while – along with reading every book I could find –  exploring the Park; the first and perhaps greatest example of public landscape architecture in the world. I learned so much about that Park that, in fact, I was constantly correcting central park guides whenever I ran into them.   After that…

  INTERVIEW AS PLAY   STARRING SULLY BOYAR/LAUREN JONES/JIM SPINKS/BILL DUKE and JOSEPH EGAN Of all the interviews I ever did this is, without question, my favorite. Why I had kept the original tape is a mystery as I always reused my interview tapes. And, as for the finished interviews I never kept them, either my original typewriter copy or the tear sheets. In fact, the other interviews that I posted earlier in the blog were found because I had, for whatever reason, shoved them into…

    A few years ago I was working in the woods a short distance from the house  Around 8 AM, I suddenly felt a sharp sting on my temple. Then another one under my chin. It took me about two or three seconds to realize that a regiment of yellow-jacket wasps were attacking and I was being bitten all over my body. Apparently I stumbled on their nest and the home guard was sent out to teach me  what a big mistake I had made. And…

Peter at 16 with the Bow we bought him for $500 and which he used exactly three times  But, he liked to keep it up on his bedroom wall to impress people—mostly the girls he brought over.   When my stepson Peter was 11 and 12 he was very short and he was very pretty.  I managed to gently persuade  him to cut his hair so got rid of some of the pretty.  But the small, I couldn’t talk away.  Therefore, I knew that sooner or later…

    Louise Fletcher   In the fall of 1975 ONE FLEW OVER THE COOKOOS’S NEST had just opened in New York.  At that time no one had heard of Louise Fletcher.  I found the woman I spoke with on that November afternoon in 1975 an attractive forty year old who bore little resemblance to the character of Nurse Ratched, a role for which she would win an academy award and, years before, she would became Hollywood’s leading portrayer of harridans.  In fact, the strongest…

  PRODUCER FRED WEINTRAUP Fred Weintraup was promoting a documentary that VARIETY labeled the THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT of the animal world. In one clip it actually had a group of dogs singing, singing in the rain. Definitely an off-beat project but, if you know Weintraup it didn’t seem all that unusual considering the man who had made it.  The minute I walked into the hotel room I expected him to offer me a joint–or at least a toke.  I assure you didn’t but I would have…