Nevertheless, he has accepted standing ovations in media appearances, on television and in motion picture theaters, “humbly” taking credit for acts of political valor, treating the world as his “room” while on tour with the book since its publication this year. Kirk Douglas, Hollywood fixture and veteran of the dream factory, uses this same methodology in his memoir to questionable effect and carries that ethos to historical events - to real-world matters - which doesn’t work as well.īurnished dimple forward, Douglas sets forth a version of events placing himself at the center of the story as both star and protagonist in the breaking of the blacklist and promoting himself to a somewhat undeserved place there when in fact his role in these matters may actually have been less than central. Nobody calls them lies “in the room,” but in show biz meetings people make things up to move a project forward even an inch. The execs, the writers, directors, and producers lubricate the business process with their fanciful concepts. 'In the room' - in Hollywood meetings - creatives trade in fantasy. Hollywood does that to people even on a good day, but the children of the children of those who named names, or of those who went to jail because they would not, continue to suffer from losses their families incurred.

Some survived the McCarthy era but not without bankruptcies, divorces, suicides, or any number of other long-time heartaches. The most talented blacklisted screenwriters, like Dalton Trumbo, were able to work under the table using fronts. The moral high ground of that time was a lofty and perilous place and idealists courageously carved a difficult path. Many producers, directors and stars of the fifties would not work with blacklisted talent and movie studios forced all employees to sign loyalty oaths throughout the period. Real or accused dead Commies of Beverly Hills must be rolling over in their collective grave as, under the muddy banner of memoir, I Am Spartacus!: Making a Film, Breaking the Blacklist by Kirk Douglas paints a fictional and self-aggrandizing presentation of his actions during the making of that celebrated movie. But the blacklist created its own nuclear winter from which the fallout has not completely cleared and heads still spin when it comes to explaining or understanding what happened in the entertainment industry during the McCarthy era. So it may not be a big deal if the stories within are BS. These books are usually tossed aside and forgotten. The stars are players in their personal narratives both public and fictional.

MOST HOLLYWOOD MEMOIRS, barely worth writing about or discussing, sell simply because a celebrity (ostensibly) wrote them.

Kirk douglas i am spartacus