Schickel, Richard 1933- (Richard Warren Schickel)

PERSONAL:

Born February 10, 1933, in Milwaukee, WI; son of Edward John and Helen Schickel; married Julia Carroll Whedon, March 11, 1960 (divorced); children: Erika, Jessica. Education: University of Wisconsin, B.S., 1956.

ADDRESSES:

Home—New York, NY. Agent—Don Congdon Associates, 177 East 70th St., New York, NY 10021.

CAREER:

Sports Illustrated, New York NY, reporter, 1956-57; Look, New York, senior editor, 1957-60; Show, New York, senior editor, 1960-62, book critic, 1962-64; Sunday, National Broadcasting Company (NBC), book critic, 1963-64; Rockefeller Brothers Fund, New York, consultant, 1963-65; Rockefeller Foundation, New York, consultant, 1965; Life, New York, film critic, 1965-72; Time, New York, film critic, 1972—.

MEMBER:

National Society of Film Critics, Writers Guild of America, Directors Guild of America, New York Film Critics.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Young Writer Award, New Republic, 1959; Guggenheim fellowship, 1964-65; British Film Institute Book Award, 1985, and Theatre Library Association Award, 1987, both for D.W. Griffith: An American Life; Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences 100 Best Books on Hollywood award, 1993; Maurice Bessy Award for film criticism, 2001, honorary doctorate, American Film Institute, 2003; William K. Emerson Award for film history, National Board of Review, 2005; Los Angeles Film Critics Association award, 2005, for The Big Red One: Reconstruction; National Society of Film Critics special citation.

WRITINGS:

The World of Carnegie Hall, Messner (New York, NY), 1960.

The Stars, Dial (New York, NY), 1960.

Movies: The History of an Art and an Institution, Basic Books (New York, NY), 1964.

The Gentle Knight (juvenile), Abelard (New York, NY), 1964.

(With Lena Horne) Lena, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1965, Limelight Editions (New York, NY), 1986.

The World of Goya, Time-Life (Alexandria, VA), 1968.

(Editor, with John Simon) Film 67/68, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1968.

The Disney Version: The Life, Times, Art, and Commerce of Walt Disney, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1968, 3rd revised edition, Ivan R. Dee (Chicago, IL), 1997.

Second Sight: Notes on Some Movies (film criticism), Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1972.

His Picture in the Papers, Charterhouse, 1973, published as Douglas Fairbanks: The First Celebrity, Elm Tree Books (London, England), 1976.

Harold Lloyd: The Shape of Laughter, New York Graphic Society (Boston, MA), 1974.

(With Bob Willoughby) The Platinum Years, Random House (New York, NY), 1974.

The Men Who Made the Movies, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1975, published as The Men Who Made the Movies: Interviews with Frank Capra, George Cukor, Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, Vincente Minnelli, King Vidor, Raoul Walsh, and William A. Wellman, Ivan R. Dee (Chicago, IL), 2001.

The World of Tennis, Random House (New York, NY), 1975.

(With Douglas Fairbanks) The Fairbanks Album, New York Graphic Society, 1976.

Another I, Another You: A Love Story for the Once Married, Harper (New York, NY), 1978.

Singled Out, Viking (New York, NY), 1981.

Cary Grant: A Celebration, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1983, Applause Theatre Books (New York, NY), 1998.

D.W. Griffith: An American Life, Simon & Shuster (New York, NY), 1984, Limelight Editions (New York, NY), 1996.

Gary Cooper, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1985.

Intimate Strangers: The Culture of Celebrity, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1985, published as Common Fame: The Culture of Celebrity, M. Joseph (London, England), 1985, published as Intimate Strangers: The Culture of Celebrity in America, Ivan R. Dee (Chicago, IL), 2000.

James Cagney: A Celebration, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1985.

(With Michael Walsh) Carnegie Hall: The First One Hundred Years, Abrams (New York, NY), 1987.

Striking Poses, Workman Publishing (New York, NY), 1987.

Schickel on Film, Morrow (New York, NY), 1989.

Hollywood at Home: A Family Album, 1950-1965, photographs by Sid Avery, Crown Publishers (New York, NY), 1990.

Clint Eastwood Directs: With an Essay by Richard Schickel: A Retrospective, Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN), 1990.

Brando: A Life in Our Times, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1991, published as Brando, Thunder's Mouth Press (New York, NY), 1999.

Double Indemnity, BFI Pub. (London, England), 1992.

Clint Eastwood: A Biography, Knopf (New York, NY), 1996.

Matinee Idylls: Reflections on the Movies, Ivan R. Dee (Chicago, IL), 1999.

Good Morning Mr. Zip Zip Zip: Movies, Memory and World War II (memoir), Ivan R. Dee (Chicago, IL), 2003.

Woody Allen: A Life in Film, Ivan R. Dee (Chicago, IL), 2003.

Elia Kazan: A Biography, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2005.

(Editor) The Essential Chaplain: Perspectives on the Life and Art of the Great Comedian, Ivan R. Dee (Chicago, IL), 2006.

(With George Perry) Bogie: A Celebration of the Life and Films of Humphrey Bogart, foreword by Stephen Bogart, Thomas Dunne Books (New York, NY), 2007.

Film on Paper: The Inner Life of Movies, Ivan R. Dee (Chicago, IL), 2008.

TELEPLAYS AND DOCUMENTARY SCRIPTS

The Film Generation, Public Broadcasting Service, 1969.

The Movie-Crazy Years, Public Broadcasting Service, 1971.

(And producer) Hollywood: You Must Remember This, Public Broadcasting Service, 1972.

(And producer and director) The Men Who Made the Movies (eight-part series), Public Broadcasting Service, 1973.

(And producer) Life Goes to the Movies, National Broadcasting Company, 1976.

The Coral Jungle, syndicated series, 1976.

(And producer) The Making of Star Wars, American Broadcasting Companies, 1976.

(And producer and director) Into the Morning: Willa Cather's America, Public Broadcasting Service, 1978.

(And producer and director) Funny Business, Columbia Broadcasting System, 1978.

(And producer and director) The Horror Show, Columbia Broadcasting System, 1978.

(And producer) SPFX: The Making of The Empire Strikes Back, Columbia Broadcasting System, 1980.

(And producer and director) James Cagney: That Yankee Doodle Dandy, Public Broadcasting Service, 1981.

(And producer) From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga, Columbia Broadcasting System, 1983.

Happy Anniversary 007—25 Years of James Bond, 1987.

(And producer and director) Minnelli on Minnelli: Liza Remembers Vincente, Public Broadcasting Service, 1987.

Cary Grant: A Celebration, American Broadcasting Companies, 1988.

(And producer and director) Gary Cooper: American Life, American Legend, Turner Network Television, 1989.

(And producer and director) Myrna Loy: So Nice to Come Home To, Turner Network Television, 1990.

(And producer and director) Barbara Stanwyck: Fire and Desire, Turner Network Television, 1991.

(And producer and director) Eastwood & Co. Making Unforgiven, 1992.

1968: 25th Anniversary, Fox Broadcasting Company, 1993.

(And producer and director) Hollywood on Hollywood, American Movie Classics, 1993.

Elia Kazan: A Director's Journey, American Movie Classics, 1995.

(And producer and director) The Moviemakers: Arthur Penn, Public Broadcasting System, 1996.

(And producer and director) The Moviemakers: Robert Wise, Public Broadcasting Service, 1996.

(And producer and director) The Moviemakers: Stanley Donen, Public Broadcasting Service, 1996.

(And producer and director) Eastwood on Eastwood (also known as Clint Eastwood: A Biography), Turner Network Television, 1997.

The Harryhausen Chronicles, American Movie Classics, 1998.

(With Robert Mundy; and producer and director) Beyond the Law, American Film Institute, 1998.

AFI's 100 Years … 100 Stars, Columbia Broadcasting System, 1999.

AFI's 100 Years … 100 Laughs: America's Funniest Movies, Columbia Broadcasting System, 2000.

(And producer and director) Shooting War, American Broadcasting Companies, 2000.

Woody Allen: A Life in Film, Turner Classic Movies, 2002.

The Men Who Made the Movies, Turner Classic Movies, 2002.

Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin, Warner Bros., 2004.

The Big Red One: The Reconstruction, Warner Bros., 2004.

Scorsese on Scorsese, Turner Classic Movies, 2004.

Watch the Skies! Science Fiction, the 1950s and Us, Turner Classic Movies, 2005.

Spielberg on Spielberg, 2007.

Writer of column "Film on Paper," Los Angeles Times, 2002—; contributor to periodicals; executive producer of television documentaries AFI's 100 Years … 100 Movies Columbia Broadcasting System, 1998, and AFI's 100 Years, 100 Thrills: America's Most Heart Pounding Movies, Columbia Broadcasting System, 2001.

SIDELIGHTS:

Richard Schickel is known as a film critic and as a novelist and chronicler of Hollywood history and celebrity. In Intimate Strangers: The Culture of Celebrity, Schickel offers an in-depth examination of what it means to be celebrated in a media-conscious society. The result of ten years of thought, Intimate Strangers explores the many levels of fame and how it can be manipulated to serve less-than-noble aims.

Schickel's interest in renowned people and his special preoccupation with film are reflected in numerous "star" biographies, covering such diverse luminaries as Cary Grant and director D.W. Griffith. The Disney Version: The Life, Times, Art, and Commerce of Walt Disney is a study of animator Walt Disney and his place in popular culture. Jonathan Yardley praised the text in Washington Post Book World as being "the most provocative study of a man whose influence in American life remains vastly underrated." Commenting on Schickel's Clint Eastwood: A Biography in Publishers Weekly, a reviewer noted: "No mere celebrity bio, this is a beautifully written, comprehensive and astonishingly insightful study of a man who, seemingly against all odds, has achieved world renown as both a pop culture icon and an accomplished film artist." Reviewing the book for Entertainment Weekly, Gene Lyons found Schickel's treatment overly sympathetic but still found the book entertaining, noting that "Schickel doesn't know how to be dull."

Schickel's Matinee Idylls: Reflections on the Movies presents twenty essays on cinema. Most of these essays originally appeared in the pages of Time, and most deal with directors and actors from an earlier era. Gordon Flagg, writing in Booklist commented: "Schickel offers fresh insights into such luminaries as Greta Garbo and Bette Davis, but more rewarding are his appraisals of such now less celebrated figures as director King Vidor and Charles Laughton, ‘a star in a character actor's body.’" "The most provocative essay in the book," according to Flagg, "bemoans the disappearance of the film culture of the '50s through '70s, when a veritable community of cineasts supported foreign movies and serious American films."

Film Comment contributor Dale Thomajian faulted some of Schickel's observations for betraying "a very faint trace of intellectual elitism, a tendency to value satire above poetry and significance above mystery," but added: "Nearly every essay in Matinee Idylls is an intelligent and sensitive examination of an important cinema figure or phenomenon." A Publishers Weekly reviewer felt that while Schickel criticizes "the gibberish of post-structural academic criticism" of cinema, he often incorporates its terminology into his observations. The reviewer concluded: "Evincing a nostalgia for classic Hollywood narrative, his casual ramblings are not rigorously intellectual, but offer unusually good-natured commentary in the notoriously difficult world of film criticism."

In his review of Matinee Idylls for Library Journal, Richard Grefrath stated: "Schickel has become one of America's most influential and widely read film critics. Though he is known as a scholar well grounded in the artistry of cinema as well as the practical considerations of the motion picture industry, Schickel's writing is entertaining and accessible."

Schickel's first novel, Another I, Another You: A Love Story for the Once Married, was reviewed by Joseph McLellan of Time. He described it as being "a blending of new subject matter with an older kind of style" producing a "Dickens-Thackeray sort of feeling to some of [Schickel's] social observations…. Unfortunately," McLellan continued, "there is also a 19th-century flavor in the treatment of secondary characters … who are simplified almost to the point of abstraction." McLellan concluded, however, that the book contained "some moments of grown-up tenderness described with uncommon skill and delicacy." Writing in the New York Times Book Review, Richard Freedman stated that "rarely has the pathos of the detritus of divorce been more skillfully rendered," and he praised the book as "one of those rarities of current storytelling, a genuinely nice—but unsticky—novel."

In addition to his many books, Schickel has also written numerous documentary scripts for television, generally on subjects having to do with the movies. Reviewing Schickel's 1993 Hollywood on Hollywood for Entertainment Weekly, Lisa Schwarzbaum commented that Schickel "is able to piece together smooth, appealing, all-American, middlebrow TV pieces—his latest being this somewhat airless proof of his thesis that ‘the idea of Hollywood is the most original idea Hollywood ever had.’" Hollywood on Hollywood presents a series of clips of movies about Hollywood grouped by categories such as "the rise to cinematic stardom," "the fall from stardom," "the life of directors," and "Hollywood movies' contribution to the national effort in World War II." "The best chunk of Hollywood on Hollywood," Schwarzbaum noted, "is the segment about the onscreen image of moviemaking after the war. In the 1950s, as Schickel puts it, the industry that congratulated itself on winning the war lost the peace and underwent a fascinating, bitter, cleansing period of self-hatred." Movies examined in this section include Clifford Odets's 1955 The Big Knife, about selling out in Hollywood, and Paddy Cheyefsky's 1958 The Goddess, a fictionalized portrait of Marilyn Monroe.

Schickel's documentary Beyond the Law, coscripted with Robert Mundy, presents a survey of American movies about crime. Steven Gaydos of Variety found little of value in the show and stated: "[Beyond the] Law completely botches the exciting, vibrant story of the evolution of the American crime film." Gaydos criticized the Schickel-Mundy presentation for failing to discuss or in some cases even mention significant influences upon American crime movies, singling out both the German cinematographic advances that made film noir possible and Hong Kong action movies as two significant elements that received short shrift. Gaydos concluded: "The analysis of the crime film doesn't include any dissection of the building blocks of filmmaking, other than a few de rigueur seconds of the car chase from The French Connection."

Woody Allen: A Life in Film is a television documentary that consists of segments of Allen's films and a long interview, and the book of the same name consists of discussion of Allen's films and an edited transcript of Schickel's interview. Of the film, New York Times critic Neil Genzlinger wrote that "Mr. Allen is engagingly self-deprecating throughout. At one point he describes himself as ‘a compendium of crackpot theories that I have no compunction about putting in my films.’"

Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin is a documentary film in which Woody Allen, Johnny Depp, Claire Bloom, and children Geraldine, Michael, and Sydney Chaplin evaluate the life and work of Chaplin. Film clips are shown, including from his first short, Kid Auto Races at Venice, in which his famous "Tramp" character first appeared. Mime Marcel Marceau recalls seeing The Circus, and Martin Scorsese studies scenes from A Woman of Paris. Richard Attenborough, who directed the film Chaplin, recalls how he was inspired by seeing Chaplin in Gold Rush. Robert Downey, Jr., who starred in Attenborough's film, talks about his interpretation of Chaplin's genius. An analysis of The Immigrant is offered by Depp, who recreated Chaplin's "dance of the rolls" in Benny & Joon.

David Stratton reviewed the film in Variety, writing: "No other docu about Chaplin has attempted such a comprehensive look at his career."

Good Morning Mr. Zip Zip Zip: Movies, Memory and World War II is Schickel's memoir of his childhood in the Midwest and of his love of movies that began when he was six. He describes his hometown of Wauwatosa, near Milwaukee, the first films he saw, including The Wizard of Oz and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and how the Japanese and Germans were depicted in the movies during World War II. He feels that the most honest films include The Story of G.I. Joe and Air Force. Schickel also recalls his favorite radio programs, including Lux Radio Theater, his enjoyment of Abbott and Costello comedy, and the adventures of stars like Errol Flynn and Gary Cooper.

Elia Kazan: A Biography, called a "masterly meditation on a complex, conflicted, and underappreciated director" by Library Journal contributor Stephen Rees, is a study of the theater and film director whose career was marred by his 1952 testimony before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Kazan's films were shaped by his left-wing idealism, but even though he himself had belonged to the Communist Party, he named members of the Group Theatre that he knew in the 1930s. He cooperated so that he could continue to make films, the alternative being that he would be blacklisted as many other Hollywood directors, producers, and actors were at the time. His actions were still controversial in 1999 when he was given an Oscar for lifetime achievement, an award for which Schickel and actor Karl Malden were primarily responsible. Schickel contends that Kazan accepted the general idea of communism but did not embrace goals set by some of the Group members, and he suggests that those Kazan named would have been exposed even if he had not named them. Kazan's achievements certainly justified the award. He had won twenty-two Oscars, was nominated sixty-two times, and was the founder of the Actors Studio.

Kazan, once an actor himself, worked with others like Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and James Dean, as well as talented playwrights like Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, and William Inge. Schickel, a close friend of Kazan, writes of films like Splendor in the Grass, East of Eden, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Sweet Bird of Youth, and On the Waterfront, for which Kazan earned an Oscar for best director; stage productions such as Death of a Salesman; and both stage and screen productions of A Streetcar Named Desire. He also notes of Kazan's personal life that he had one long marriage that produced children and several affairs, including with Marilyn Monroe. A Greek who was passionate about blondes, all of his wives and most of his mistresses were blondes. Kazan introduced Monroe to Miller, and they married. Kazan and Miller's politics conflicted, and they had a falling out when Miller accused Kazan and screenwriter Budd Schulberg of stealing the plot of The Hook and using it in On the Waterfront, the film in which Marlon Brando starred with Eva Marie Saint and gave what many say was the greatest performance of his career. Before he died in 2003, Kazan granted Schickel several long interviews and permitted access to his papers held at Wesleyan University.

Schickel is editor of The Essential Chaplain: Perspectives on the Life and Art of the Great Comedian, a collection of thirty-three criticisms on the work of Chaplain from film critics and others. In reviewing the volume in Booklist, Gordon Flagg concluded that the most valu- able part of the book is Schickel's introduction and that the best essay is by Alistair Cooke, who was a close friend of Chaplin in the 1930s. The book is divided into six sections, each focusing on a different period in Chaplin's career.

With British film critic George Perry, Schickel wrote Bogie: A Celebration of the Life and Films of Humphrey Bogart, published fifty years after Bogart's death. Contributing to this volume is Stephen Bogart, who provides the foreword. Schickel and Perry write of Bogart's private life and marriages, including his marriage to actress Lauren Bacall, and the fact that many of his friends were not actors. Bogart presented a tough persona but was a gentleman admired by men and adored by women. Among the Bogart films considered are The Caine Mutiny, The Treasure of Sierra Madre, and Shickel's pick as his best, In a Lonely Place. Booklist reviewer Ray Olson described the volume as being "a quite satisfying commemoration."

Schickel once told CA that he hopes "to return to fiction—sooner rather than later, but for the past few years, I have been trying to broaden my range as a film critic. I expect to go on trying to do that in the immediate future, and hope to do more essays about important film artists of the past."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Schickel, Richard Good Morning Mr. Zip Zip Zip: Movies, Memory and World War II, Ivan R. Dee (Chicago, IL), 2003.

PERIODICALS

America, October 13, 2003, Richard A. Blake, review of Woody Allen: A Life in Film, p. 32.

Biography, spring, 2006, Robert Gottlieb, review of Elia Kazan: A Biography, p. 398.

Booklist, November 1, 1996, Bonnie Smothers, review of Clint Eastwood: A Biography, p. 458; September 1, 1999, Gordon Flagg, review of Matinee Idylls: Reflections on the Movies, p. 56; April 1, 2003, Ray Olson, review of Good Morning Mr. Zip Zip Zip, p. 1364; September 1, 2003, Gordon Flagg, review of Woody Allen, p. 44; September 1, 2005, Allison Block, review of Elia Kazan, p. 40; July 1, 2006, Gordon Flagg, review of The Essential Chaplain: Perspectives on the Life and Art of the Great Comedian, p. 18; December 15, 2006, Ray Olson, review of Bogie: A Celebration of the Life and Films of Humphrey Bogart, p. 10.

Chicago Tribune, March 17, 1985, Alden Whitman, review of Intimate Strangers: The Culture of Celebrity.

Cineaste, spring, 2006, Dan Georgakas, review of Elia Kazan, p. 73.

Economist, December 3, 2005, review of Elia Kazan, p. 82.

Entertainment Weekly, August 13, 1993, Lisa Schwarzbaum, review of Hollywood on Hollywood, p. 60; November 22, 1996, Gene Lyons, review of Clint Eastwood, p. 127.

Film Comment, September, 1999, Dale Thomajan, review of Matinee Idylls, p. 71.

Hedgehog Review, spring, 2005, Jennifer L. Geddes, "An Interview with Richard Schickel," p. 82.

Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 2003, review of Good Morning Mr. Zip Zip Zip, p. 47; September 1, 2005, review of Elia Kazan, p. 962.

Library Journal, June 15, 1999, Richard Grefrath, review of Matinee Idylls, p. 81; April 1, 2003, Stephen Rees, review of Good Morning Mr. Zip Zip Zip, p. 103; September 15, 2005, Stephen Rees, review of Elia Kazan, p. 67; July 1, 2006, Teri Shiel, review of The Essential Chaplain, p. 80.

National Review, December 31, 2005, Terry Teachout, review of Elia Kazan, p. 43.

New York Times, May 4, 2002, Neil Genzlinger, review of Woody Allen, p. A22; February 13, 2004, A.O. Scott, review of Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin, p. E11.

New York Times Book Review, April 9, 1978, Richard Freedman, review of Another I, Another You: A Love Story for the Once Married; September 7, 2003, Richard Simon Chang, review of Woody Allen, p. 24; November 27, 2005, John Simon, review of Elia Kazan, p. 1.

People, November 6, 1989, Alan Carter, review of Gary Cooper: American Life, American Legend, p. 16; December 24, 1990, Ralph Novak, review of Hollywood at Home: A Family Album, 1950-1965, p. 20.

Publishers Weekly, October 12, 1990, Genevieve Stuttaford, review of Hollywood at Home, p. 53; July 12, 1991, review of Brando: A Life in Our Times, p. 56; September 30, 1996, review of Clint Eastwood, p. 68; November 1, 1999, review of Matinee Idylls, p. 62; August 29, 2005, review of Elia Kazan, p. 44.

School Library Journal, November, 2006, Dana Cobern-Kullman, review of The Essential Chaplain, p. 175.

Time, May 1, 1978, Joseph McLellan, review of Another I, Another You; December 2, 1996, review of Clint Eastwood, p. 89.

Variety, June 22, 1998, Steven Gaydos, review of Beyond the Law, p. 31; March 7, 2003, review of Good Morning Mr. Zip Zip Zip, p. 63; June 2, 2003, David Stratton, review of Charlie, p. 45.

Video Age International, September-October, 1991, review of Brando, p. 10.

Washington Post Book World, December 6, 1987, Jonathan Yardley, review of The Disney Version: The Life, Times, Art, and Commerce of Walt Disney.

Weekly Standard, August 21, 2006, Charlotte Allen, review of Elia Kazan.

Wilson Quarterly, autumn, 2003, Steven Bach, review of Good Morning Mr. Zip Zip Zip, p. 121.

ONLINE

Richard Schickel Home Page,http://www.richardschickel.com (November 15, 2007).