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The Colony
The fact that some of these pieces which are so loosely affiliated into a novel appeared originally in Playboy will certainly account for its casual structure as well as its brassy sophistication. Mr. Russell was no doubt a citizen of The Colony and this is a knowing, when not leering, look at those assembled in pursuit of self and pelf: Clayton Horne, a writer, and his former friend Chet Montague who's not good enough, or bad enough, to make it; ""Pink butter"" starlet Lovey Dovey with a calculating head on her beautiful body; an actor, an agent, a rock artist, and probably the best piece here is on Horne's scripting of Tamburlaine in a motel room and later of an underground vehicle which proves to be unavailable. All of this takes place in the new Hollywood which doesn't seem any more sensible than the old--only smaller and more insubstantial. Some smut and some entertaining flak.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
9 people want to read
About the author
Ray Russell
119 books111 followersRay Russell was an American editor and writer of short stories, novels, and screenplays. Russell is best known for his horror fiction, although he also wrote mystery and science fiction stories.
His most famous short fiction is "Sardonicus", which appeared in the January 1961 issue of Playboy magazine, and was subsequently adapted by Russell into a screenplay for William Castle's film version, titled Mr. Sardonicus. American writer Stephen King called "Sardonicus" "perhaps the finest example of the modern gothic ever written"."Sardonicus" was part of a trio of stories with "Sanguinarius" and "Sagittarius".
see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Russell and http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-ent...
His most famous short fiction is "Sardonicus", which appeared in the January 1961 issue of Playboy magazine, and was subsequently adapted by Russell into a screenplay for William Castle's film version, titled Mr. Sardonicus. American writer Stephen King called "Sardonicus" "perhaps the finest example of the modern gothic ever written"."Sardonicus" was part of a trio of stories with "Sanguinarius" and "Sagittarius".
see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Russell and http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-ent...
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 1, 2020
I've been reading more mid-(20th-)century horror authors to better grasp the state of the art from post-WWII (when "weird" horror seems to have fallen into disrepute) and the '70s (which gave us Harvest Home and Carrie and The Exorcist, etc.) and the name Ray Russell came up repeatedly, so I thought I'd grab one of his books, like this sinister sounding The Colony.
Except it's not a horror novel, and appears to be one of the few non-horror works Russell wrote. It's about Hollywood in the '60s, and a trio of dissolute writers who are drinking and f***ing their way around the movie business. Russell wrote some horror schlock for William Castle and Roger Corman in the early '60s and was the fiction editor for Playboy magazine, so you know he saw some Things.
Our lead character is a fiction writer who comes to Lalaland to write a screenplay based on a successful novel he's written (Russell wrote Castle's Mr. Sardonicus screenplay based on his own novel), falling in love with a mercenary starlet, and making the rounds amongst the other starlets in-between writing awful movies that go over budget and are mis-marketed.
It's pretty seedy, but our hero ends up kinda liking it so—I guess that's showbiz. As a novel it's a pretty breezy read. Russell is obviously well-versed in the time and place, to the point where when he does the trick—well, we call it the "Star Trek" trick, where you list things like "The great leaders: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Zebulon Norfling..."—when he adds in the fake name you wanna double-check in case it's just someone who's dropped off the radar in the past 50 years. The ones that are main characters you can figure out he made up, but he drops names like Slavko Porkavic, who I am ashamed to say I was unaware of given his role in the cinematic arts.
It's fun, breezy, and ultimately kind of pointless. I guess one could say the same of All About Eve but I never felt like this got anywhere near a dramatic point. Which is fine. It comes off very much like a roman a clef, which often don't have points.
One very true element: The hero and another writer are lamenting that they had come to Hollywood too late, and the real great times were happening in the '20s and '30s, and then one points out that 20-30 years from (the book's) now, people will be saying the same thing about Current Day.
I mean, I'd never say it, but a lot of people do.
Except it's not a horror novel, and appears to be one of the few non-horror works Russell wrote. It's about Hollywood in the '60s, and a trio of dissolute writers who are drinking and f***ing their way around the movie business. Russell wrote some horror schlock for William Castle and Roger Corman in the early '60s and was the fiction editor for Playboy magazine, so you know he saw some Things.
Our lead character is a fiction writer who comes to Lalaland to write a screenplay based on a successful novel he's written (Russell wrote Castle's Mr. Sardonicus screenplay based on his own novel), falling in love with a mercenary starlet, and making the rounds amongst the other starlets in-between writing awful movies that go over budget and are mis-marketed.
It's pretty seedy, but our hero ends up kinda liking it so—I guess that's showbiz. As a novel it's a pretty breezy read. Russell is obviously well-versed in the time and place, to the point where when he does the trick—well, we call it the "Star Trek" trick, where you list things like "The great leaders: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Zebulon Norfling..."—when he adds in the fake name you wanna double-check in case it's just someone who's dropped off the radar in the past 50 years. The ones that are main characters you can figure out he made up, but he drops names like Slavko Porkavic, who I am ashamed to say I was unaware of given his role in the cinematic arts.
It's fun, breezy, and ultimately kind of pointless. I guess one could say the same of All About Eve but I never felt like this got anywhere near a dramatic point. Which is fine. It comes off very much like a roman a clef, which often don't have points.
One very true element: The hero and another writer are lamenting that they had come to Hollywood too late, and the real great times were happening in the '20s and '30s, and then one points out that 20-30 years from (the book's) now, people will be saying the same thing about Current Day.
I mean, I'd never say it, but a lot of people do.
Displaying 1 of 1 review