BOOK 165: GEEK LOVE: KATHERINE DUNN

Geek Love is a novel by Katherine Dunn, published completely by Alfred A. Knopf (a division of Random House) in 1989. Dunn published parts of the novel in Mississippi Mud Book of Days (1983) and Looking Glass Bookstore Review (1988). It was a finalist for the National Book Award.

MY VERDICT: I really wanted to tell you more about this book but at the same time I want to keep everything as a surprise. I didn’t want to add any more synopsis to spoil the things I had to much joy in discovering.

This book is written from the perspective of an albino, hunchbacked dwarf, in two different periods. We follow her as an older woman living in a shared house and are told the story of her past and introduced to her family. The family includes a mother and father who experiment to create unique children.  Oly, our small narrator, shares her life with Siamese-twin, piano playing sisters, a brother with fin-like arms and a talent for showmanship and a ‘norm’ younger brother. They travel with their own carnival followed by other interesting characters including a big-cat trainer, a fly cowboy, sword swallowers, amputees and numerous redheads.

  

FILM 1457: THE GRAPES OF WRATH

TRIVIA: Banned in the Soviet Union by Joseph Stalin in 1940 because of its showing that even the poorest Americans could afford a car.

Prior to filming, producer Darryl F. Zanuck sent undercover investigators out to the migrant camps to see if John Steinbeck had been exaggerating about the squalor and unfair treatment meted out there. He was horrified to discover that, if anything, Steinbeck had actually downplayed what went on in the camps.

Banks and the large farming corporations that controlled most California farms were not keen on the original novel (it was banned in some states and in several counties in California, and the book was not carried in the municipal library of author John Steinbeck's home town of Salinas, California, until the 1990s) and were even less thrilled that a film was being made of it. The Associated Farmers of California called for a boycott of all 20th Century-Fox films, and Steinbeck himself received death threats.

John Ford banned all makeup and perfume from the set on the grounds that it was not in keeping with the tone of the picture.

The pro-union stance of the film led to both John Steinbeck and John Ford being investigated by Congress during the McCarthy "Red Scare" era for alleged pro-Communist leanings.

Henry Fonda currently holds the record for the longest gap between acting Oscar nominations. His first nomination was for The Grapes of Wrath (1940) in 1940, his second was for On Golden Pond (1981) in 1981, 41 years later. He received one other Oscar nomination in the period between his two acting nominations, that was for producer of 12 Angry Men (1957) in 1957.

John Ford unmercifully chewed out Frank Darien for overemoting in the scene where Ma is preparing a simple stew for the family in front of a crowd of starving children in the migrant camp. By the time Ford had finished his tirade, Darien was completely drained, which proved to be exactly the take Ford wanted for the scene.

FILM 1427: LA STRADA

TRIVIA: Pope Francis named La Strada as his favorite movie of all time.

Anthony Quinn was working on a film with Giulietta Masina when she introduced him to her husband, Federico Fellini. Fellini was immediately convinced that the American actor would make the perfect Zampano the strongman in his new film, which was to become (La Strada (1954), and implored him to accept the role. The nonplussed actor, who had no idea who Fellini was, initially turned him down, but Fellini was persistent, pestering him for days about the project. Shortly thereafter, Quinn spent the evening with Ingrid Bergman and her husband, director Roberto Rossellini. After dinner, the three watched Fellini's most recent film, the comedy-drama (I Vitelloni (1953), and Quinn realized with astonishment that the crazy Italian filmmaker who had been hounding him for days was a genius.

Anthony Quinn said in an interview a few years before his death that he originally accepted a deal that would have paid him a percentage of the profits this film generated instead of an upfront salary. When his agent found out about it, the agent changed the deal and insisted an upfront salary and no percentage. Quinn said that decision cost him several million dollars.

Walt Disney expressed serious interest in creating an animated feature based on Gelsomina. "I could have lived on Gelsomina for twenty years," he said.