READING CORMAN

We all have our heroes. And we have heroes in whatever field we work in or are a fan of. Mine is director/producer/studio executive, Roger Corman. (Mr. Kubrick is up there somewhere, too.)

I have read four books on the man; some more reverential than others; and one written by the man himself, about himself. That one in particular is "How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime". It is an enjoyable read -- and I have done so twice -- as it covers a lot of ground. Corman talks about his relationship with American International Pictures, and its main men, James H. Nicholson and Sam Arkoff; how he started in the motion picture business; why he decided to start his own little production company and do things his way; and the changing markets over time.

"How I Made" has the feeling of being pretty honest, or at least, honest enough, considering the authorship. When I read Sam Arkoff's autobiography, "Flying Through Hollywood By the Seat of My Pants", a few months later, a lot of the same stories jibed. (Maybe they worked together to guarantee the Corman/AIP end of things work together, without contradiction.)

A few years ago, former Corman employee, Beverly Gray, penned a book titled, simply enough, "Roger Corman". In this page turner -- all books about this director are page turners -- the author sets the record straight, to a point, about her famous and infamous boss man. According to her, Corman could be very moody. He could be very generous (even while trying to save pennies on whatever current production). He could be a task master -- always testing you. He could be truly inspired. And always, almost always, a great businessman.

Perhaps Gray's book reminds you more than the others that Corman is a human being, and a flawed one at that. One who threw a marble pen holder at a glass window, shattering it to pieces, when something pissed him off.

Qualities, these are, which allowed him to produce some stunning films, by any measure.

... Like, The Intruder, Masque of the Red Death, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Wild Angels (in its audaciousness), The Little Shop of Horrors (funny-stunning), and many other worthy films...