REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

Commentary on Film: Revolutionary Road Stumbling upon a film review for “Revolutionary Road,” I was intrigued by the subject matter, suburban life in 1955 Connecticut, and looked forward to seeing it as soon as I could. I had never heard of the novel by Richard Yates, published in 1961and was happy to find the book, newly available due to a promotional tie-in to the film, and I devoured the book and pondered its meaning for days. It had tremendous impact on me, based on my own experiences and the searing insights of the author. It amazed me that Yates could have such clarity on the subject matter in the brief span between 1955 and 1961. When I finished the book I was sorry to have to put it down; I rushed, at that point, to read everything I could about the author and the book, and by this past Sunday, I made it my business to see the film. Yates had been anxious to bring his novel to the screen and was disappointed that it never happened during his lifetime. He was invariably turned down because the ending involves a botched abortion – a taboo subject forty-plus years ago. I doubt that the strange treatment that finally made it to the screen would have thrilled him, even though it was produced as a major motion picture with two of Hollywood’s leading luminaries and a solid-gold director. I know that most novels suffer somewhat when translated to the silver screen, but this one became incomprehensible and purposeless in my estimation. The foremost difficulty is that the viewer is given no context for Franklin and April Wheeler. They are introduced an attractive thirty-ish couple being shown a home in what had rapidly become a sprawling haven for commuters. Not having a view into what has led them to this moment obliterates the necessary foreshadowing of the catastrophes to follow. Where we should see character flaws, immaturity and neuroses and a thoroughly mismatched couple, we see rather bland but stylish New York City transplants. Given this lack of information, it is hard to care about them as they stumble in what is this artificial and contrived living environment with its new rules and mores, based on a shallow conformity galloping toward what was then perceived as beautiful and ideal. The troubled couple tried to play by the rules of post-World War II America. They got married because everyone was getting married and Frank took a job to earn a living, she got pregnant with a child she didn’t want and so they did what was expected of them, they bought a home, and had yet another child. They became more and more troubled behind their suburban picture window and often turned on each other. Desperate, but not knowing exactly why, April came up with a plan for the emptiness. They would run away to Paris. She would become a secretary and support Frank while he ‘found’ himself. To her surprise, he accepted the plan and they started to act on it, until she found herself pregnant again. Her hopes were dashed but some strange twist of fate, he had the opportunity to advance in his career, despite his lack of real talent or interest. He shrugged it off as a postponement; she crashed and burned. In this environment of manufactured beauty and idealism, these jagged, ugly problems could only be swept under the rug. If one couldn’t get with the program, that person would be shunned and if difficulties persisted, that person would be institutionalized. This is a very important part of the book. The son of the most influential real estate agent and gatekeeper in the area, Mrs. Givings, is just such an individual. Although he is in a mental hospital, he has earned the privilege of weekend passes. Mrs. Givings, seeing only the idealized Franklin and April, feels that her son would benefit from meeting them. As the only truth-teller in the book, John calls things as he sees them and quickens the downward spiral into the abyss for all concerned. It is my understanding that Kate Winslet read the book, fell in love with it and campaigned for a screen treatment directed by her husband, Sam Mendes. Is it possible that both Winslet and company missed the point of this excellent novel? Or did I?

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DIZZY CITY

HISTORICAL FICTION:  DIZZY CITY – Nicholas Griffin/Steerforth Press - 2007

For those with an interest in New York City just prior to the United States’ involvement in WWI, this book will be fascinating.

We encounter an Englishman, Ben Cramb, in the thick of battle in France.  He was forced to enlist, along with his three best friends, instead of being jailed for petty crimes. Experiencing trench warfare, the death of his only friends and his almost inevitable demise, he deserts and makes for Liverpool.  There, under cover of darkness,  he stows away on the first vessel he sees, hiding out in the coal bin.  When the boat docks, he finds himself in New York.  He evades the customs official and strolls into his new world.  He is constantly worried about detection, because he would surely be sent back for court martial and most likely, hanging.

He utilizes his talent for picking pockets but can only subsist.  In his walks he discovers the Bowery and a soup kitchen.  He knows he must get a paying job while on the lam.  Cramb falls back on his prior skills.  He had learned to play the piano at his father’s knee.  He goes into an Irish-owned theater on the Bowery and plays well enough to be hired.  While he is there, he meets the man who will take him on as an assistant.  Julius McAteer is a veteran con man and would like to hire Ben as a ‘roper.’  As an inducement, McAteer offers Ben a room in his home in Greenwich Village at a very nominal rent.  Ben jumps at the opportunity.  The sharp-eyed McAteer realizes that this bruised young man has deserted from the British Army.  He knows that this knowledge will keep Ben in line.

McAteer has targeted a wealthy businessman in the Midwest.  He has snared him with a little research of the society columns of various cities and towns, placing ads in local newspapers with an investment opportunity.  Henry Jergens replies.  He is invited to come to New York at his own expense to meet with McAteer.  Ben is given money and train tickets and is dispatched to Chicago.  He watches Jergens and follows him to the railroad station. The ‘mark’ encounters Ben on the train.  During the course of the trip, Ben develops a relationship with Jergins that continues throughout Jergins’s New York visit.  He confides in Ben about his possible business venture, an investment in the music business.  Ben steers him to a Harlem club to hear some authentic rag music and with his musical knowledge, he copies down the melodies note for note.  Prearranged, the author of this tune catches Ben writing down his music and demands thirty dollars as payment.  Ben complies.  By this time both are quite drunk and as they walk downtown, Jergins drunkenly comes up with words for the tune.  Ben leads him to a music publisher (as played by McAteer) and the song is purchased.  The next day, they put lyrics to another tune.  The country bumpkin Jergins is again rewarded by a sale.  Now the con is in play.

Griffen’s creativity is evident.  Jergins turns out to be a con artist of equal merit.  He has been hoping to get revenge on McAteer for years.  The man had conned his now-dead mentor.  All of their ill-gotten gains had been stolen by a younger McAteer.

The book is broken into sections, first involving Ben and McAteer, then Henry Jergins and finally, Jergins’s beautiful young wife.  Katherine is part of the counter-scheme.

Griffen has done an amazing job with this novel.  Not only does he present an amazingly complicated plot with ease, but he sets the backdrop of early 20th Century New York in great detail.  As an almost life-long New Yorker, I had no idea of what occurred on Black Tom Island in New York Harbor.  It was the site of major sabotage by Germany and even damaged parts of the Statue of Liberty.  No one I’ve spoken to has ever heard of Black Tom Island or what amounted to an explosion of the intensity of a 5.5 magnitude earthquake. 

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