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All Over Again
After the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, a motley bunch of characters-from the most inexperienced and innocent to the worldly and jaded--begin their lives anew.
237 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1981
10 people want to read
About the author
Nathaniel Benchley
80 books25 followersBorn in Newton, Massachusetts to a literary family, he was the son of Gertrude Darling and Robert Benchley (1889-1945), the noted American writer, humorist, critic, actor, and one of the founders of the Algonquin Round Table in New York City.
Nathaniel Benchley was the highly-respected author of many children's/juvenile books that provided learning for the youthful readers with stories of various animals or through the book's historical settings. Benchley dealt with diverse locales and topics such as "Bright Candles", which recounts the experiences of a 16-year-old Danish boy during the German occupation of his country in World War II; and "Small Wolf", a story about a Native American boy who meets white men on the island of Manhattan and learns that their ideas about land are different from those of his own peoples'.
Film director/producer, Norman Jewison made Benchley's 1961 novel The Off-Islanders into a motion picture titled The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming for which he received the nomination for an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay. He was a close friend of actor Humphrey Bogart and wrote his biography in 1975.
Benchley's novel Welcome to Xanadu was made into the 1975 motion picture Sweet Hostage.
His elder son, Peter Benchley (1940-2006), was a writer best known for writing the novel Jaws and the screenplay of the 1975 Steven Spielberg film made from it. His younger son, Nat Benchley, is a writer and actor who has portrayed his grandfather, Robert Benchley, in a one-man, semi-biographical stage show, "Benchley Despite Himself". The show was a compilation of Robert Benchley's best monologues, short films, radio rantings and pithy pieces as recalled, edited, and acted by his grandson Nat, and combined with family reminiscences and friends' perspectives."
Nathaniel Benchley died in 1981 in Boston, Massachusetts and was interred in the family plot at Prospect Hill Cemetery in Nantucket.
Nathaniel Benchley was the highly-respected author of many children's/juvenile books that provided learning for the youthful readers with stories of various animals or through the book's historical settings. Benchley dealt with diverse locales and topics such as "Bright Candles", which recounts the experiences of a 16-year-old Danish boy during the German occupation of his country in World War II; and "Small Wolf", a story about a Native American boy who meets white men on the island of Manhattan and learns that their ideas about land are different from those of his own peoples'.
Film director/producer, Norman Jewison made Benchley's 1961 novel The Off-Islanders into a motion picture titled The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming for which he received the nomination for an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay. He was a close friend of actor Humphrey Bogart and wrote his biography in 1975.
Benchley's novel Welcome to Xanadu was made into the 1975 motion picture Sweet Hostage.
His elder son, Peter Benchley (1940-2006), was a writer best known for writing the novel Jaws and the screenplay of the 1975 Steven Spielberg film made from it. His younger son, Nat Benchley, is a writer and actor who has portrayed his grandfather, Robert Benchley, in a one-man, semi-biographical stage show, "Benchley Despite Himself". The show was a compilation of Robert Benchley's best monologues, short films, radio rantings and pithy pieces as recalled, edited, and acted by his grandson Nat, and combined with family reminiscences and friends' perspectives."
Nathaniel Benchley died in 1981 in Boston, Massachusetts and was interred in the family plot at Prospect Hill Cemetery in Nantucket.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 23, 2021
From Kirkus, 1 June 1981 issue (book's pub. date 7 June 1981):
Another of Benchley's minor, offbeat frolics, this one set in 1906 San Francisco/ Oakland—as the Earthquake brings together, and sort of transforms, five likable misfits. Restless, 32-year-old Henry Walden, Yale grad and ex-Rough-Rider, has just come West to finally settle down at something. Middle-aged banker/speculator Gresham Stoddard has embezzled (and lost) a small fortune, so he's looking for a way to start a new life before the cops come after him. Dolly LaGrange, tough madam of the Upper Tenderloin's classiest brothel, is yearning to pen her memoirs—but she suffers from writer's block. And, over in Oakland, young pharmacist George Bender's extreme approach to contraception—total abstinence—is driving Lucille, his innocent wife of five years, to discreet alcoholism. So, when the quake and fire arrive, these five lives will intertwine: Henry, staying at an Oakland hotel, is rescued from burial-by-debris by George, and the Benders invite him to recuperate at their place (Lucille will nearly seduce Henry, finally stirring jealous George into romantic action); Stoddard ferries over from burning Nob Hill to safer Oakland, taking a new name and also moving in with the hospitable Benders; and suddenly house-less Dolly winds up at the Benders too—but while her girls set up shop in George's quake-ruined store, she is literarily inspired. . . and finds a publisher: the new "Phoenix Books" partnership of Henry Walden and Gresham Stoddard. Don't look for real characters here, or for big laughs, or for convincing period ambience. (The dialogue is a festival of anachronisms, including some vulgar sophomorics.) But as mild, pokey farce—including an Earthquake cameo by a frenetic Enrico Caruso—this does nicely enough, with more than a few moments of wayward whimsy (reminiscent of Preston Sturges) and peculiar charm.
***
I more or less agree with the call-out about anachronisms; but I myownself feel sure that George, not Lucille, wants to seduce studly ex-military muffin Henry and is finally willing to become carnally knowledgable of her to keep Henry for himself. The "vulgar sophomorics" sniffed at above are sexual acts not simply hidden behind discreetly drawn curtains, and some potty humor. I was a grown man in 1981, and not one thing in this book was something I wouldn't've found perfectly okay for my slightly pursey-lipped mother to read.
While I'm not going to urge you off to eBay or Alibris to procure one of these little ditties, I'll just note for the record that six months after it appeared Benchley's liver gave out and he went wherever Bostonians of his age and class went after The Final Curtain.
Another of Benchley's minor, offbeat frolics, this one set in 1906 San Francisco/ Oakland—as the Earthquake brings together, and sort of transforms, five likable misfits. Restless, 32-year-old Henry Walden, Yale grad and ex-Rough-Rider, has just come West to finally settle down at something. Middle-aged banker/speculator Gresham Stoddard has embezzled (and lost) a small fortune, so he's looking for a way to start a new life before the cops come after him. Dolly LaGrange, tough madam of the Upper Tenderloin's classiest brothel, is yearning to pen her memoirs—but she suffers from writer's block. And, over in Oakland, young pharmacist George Bender's extreme approach to contraception—total abstinence—is driving Lucille, his innocent wife of five years, to discreet alcoholism. So, when the quake and fire arrive, these five lives will intertwine: Henry, staying at an Oakland hotel, is rescued from burial-by-debris by George, and the Benders invite him to recuperate at their place (Lucille will nearly seduce Henry, finally stirring jealous George into romantic action); Stoddard ferries over from burning Nob Hill to safer Oakland, taking a new name and also moving in with the hospitable Benders; and suddenly house-less Dolly winds up at the Benders too—but while her girls set up shop in George's quake-ruined store, she is literarily inspired. . . and finds a publisher: the new "Phoenix Books" partnership of Henry Walden and Gresham Stoddard. Don't look for real characters here, or for big laughs, or for convincing period ambience. (The dialogue is a festival of anachronisms, including some vulgar sophomorics.) But as mild, pokey farce—including an Earthquake cameo by a frenetic Enrico Caruso—this does nicely enough, with more than a few moments of wayward whimsy (reminiscent of Preston Sturges) and peculiar charm.
***
I more or less agree with the call-out about anachronisms; but I myownself feel sure that George, not Lucille, wants to seduce studly ex-military muffin Henry and is finally willing to become carnally knowledgable of her to keep Henry for himself. The "vulgar sophomorics" sniffed at above are sexual acts not simply hidden behind discreetly drawn curtains, and some potty humor. I was a grown man in 1981, and not one thing in this book was something I wouldn't've found perfectly okay for my slightly pursey-lipped mother to read.
While I'm not going to urge you off to eBay or Alibris to procure one of these little ditties, I'll just note for the record that six months after it appeared Benchley's liver gave out and he went wherever Bostonians of his age and class went after The Final Curtain.
September 25, 2021
3.5 stars. I've been a huge Robert Benchley fan for decades, and I've read a few books by his grandson Peter, but this is the first one I've read by son Nathaniel, other than Robert's bio. I thought it was very entertaining, but then, I'm also a sucker for anything set in San Francisco. Overall, an enjoyable read.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews