I'd Hate Myself in the Morning: A Memoir

Rating:
Summary: Alice in Wonderland is a better FICTIONAL book !!!
Review: I can not believe this. I am glad I found this book at a cheap second-hand book store ... I would have had to heave if I had paid full price.

This would be funny if it were not for the horrid nightmarish communist atrocities that these writers' supported. Communists (people ... listen) are worse than the nazis!!! The commies butchered 10 million innocent people (on record ... and that's only the former USSR alone!). These "blacklisted" people are #1 traitors to the USA (The Am. Comm. Party promotes VIOLENT OVERTHROW OF THE EXISTING GOVERNMENT) AND #2 Real Communists - heck, read the transcripts yourself !!!!!!!!!! People, you can not be that naive! Someone told me once, if the nazis won the war and the USSR communists lost (you know, role reversal), that these same "blacklisted" people would be nazis and McCarthy would have been found out to be Jewish and probably hung. And, reviewers would be hailing the courageous "BLACKLISTED" American nazi party members. Because at this point, like it is now, TRUTH IS RELATIVE!

What can I say???? This is a blatant slap in the face at the truth. Look at his sources ... I mean ...come on!!! The authors are dedicated and determined to stick the knife in the gut of the truth (and they do not mind all the blood ... because he is sticking it in deep).

Heck, there are so many documents and books that prove this book is, at most, only be used as a stabilizer for an uneven table. But I just used the pages for the bottom of my bird cage .... heck, no one will notice the crap on crap ... will they???

People Listen!!! These same people blacklisted just changed their names and went on. The real backlist contained those people who testified AGAINST THEM. They were out of their jobs (ain't hollywood great). One more interesting deal to look into. These poor American Commies that were supposedly blacklisted? Look where they are now (there is this book, written by a liberal, about 8 on the blacklist - I can not recall the name), they are behind the most perverse and commie-leaning movies and tv shows ever made in the USA!!!

Now it has always been my opinion that the Hollywood communists were more Lenin leaning than, say, the American political communists. AND, one main point of the Leninists is to tear-down the morals of the society . De-root them at all costs AND HE STRESSED FAMILY AND RELIGION to be the main focus. This makes the people easy prey and a DEPENDANT, SHEEPISH group of slaves but willing people ready for indoctrination by a strong centralized government. The evil Lenin was actually pretty smart ... for a communist. Most of the others are highly over-rated. Like Marx, he stole almost everything he wrote (mostly from philosophers - ancient and modern); he was really ignorant and Engels was just a rich spoiled brat supporting him (the bum-hero Marx). It's a joke that it lasted as long as it did. Well ... not a joke because millions of innocent people died. They are as bad as the nazis ... but you will never hear it from these blacklisted people contained in this book ... their blinded by their loyalty to "the cause".

Actually, this book makes me mad. They were communists and they did harm patriots who turned them in.

Rating:
Summary: Spoken Softly, Hard Hitting
Review: Less an autobiography and more a series of reflections, philosophies, and anecdotes, I'd Hate Myself In The Morning is a slender but superb work by one of the most underrated writers America has ever produced. I say underrated because he was not only competing with the legacy of his famous father, but also because of his experiences with the blacklist and his subsequent emergence from that period, all of which Lardner discusses with a candor that is very engaging, honest, and thought-provoking. In noting that he passed away shortly after the book was published, it casts a very eerie, but not creepy, shadow over the last chapter in which he discusses his views on mortality and death. A very quick read and well worth it.

Rating:
Summary: Ring Lardner's fascinating memoirs of his Hollywood career
Review: Like most people I first came to know the work of Ring Lardner, Jr. through his Oscar writing screenplays for 1942's "Woman of the Year," the film that introduced Spenser Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, and for 1970's "M*A*S*H." It was only later that I learned Lardner was much more than a writer, since his greatest moment of personal triumph and tragedy was his refusal to name names to the House Un-American Activities Committee during the Red Scare. Larder served a one-year sentence for his act and this memoir details his entire career in Hollywood. These are the tales of someone who lived in and outside of the studio system and given what happened to him with the blacklist it is rather surprising to find Lardner telling his story without rancor or self-justification, let alone all the other emotions to which he was certainly entitled. Even without taking into account his personal Golgotha, "I'd Hate Myself in the Morning" is one of the best looks at the machinations of Hollywood during the decline and fall of the studio system you are going to find. This work is essentially a posthumous effort, which only underscores the ultimate irony that once again, circumstances have prevented the world from recognizing the worth of the man.

Rating:
Summary: Ring Lardner's fascinating memoirs of his Hollywood career
Review: Like most people I first came to know the work of Ring Lardner, Jr. through his Oscar writing screenplays for 1942's "Woman of the Year," the film that introduced Spenser Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, and for 1970's "M*A*S*H." It was only later that I learned Lardner was much more than a writer, since his greatest moment of personal triumph and tragedy was his refusal to name names to the House Un-American Activities Committee during the Red Scare. Larder served a one-year sentence for his act and this memoir details his entire career in Hollywood. These are the tales of someone who lived in and outside of the studio system and given what happened to him with the blacklist it is rather surprising to find Lardner telling his story without rancor or self-justification, let alone all the other emotions to which he was certainly entitled. Even without taking into account his personal Golgotha, "I'd Hate Myself in the Morning" is one of the best looks at the machinations of Hollywood during the decline and fall of the studio system you are going to find. This work is essentially a posthumous effort, which only underscores the ultimate irony that once again, circumstances have prevented the world from recognizing the worth of the man.

Rating:
Summary: Lardner's Farewell
Review: Ring Lardner, Jr. died shortly after the publication of _I'd Hate Myself in the Morning_ (Thunder's Mouth Press), at the age of eighty-five. He was the last of the famous Hollywood Ten, those who were jailed by the House Un-American Activities Committee for being Communists. He also landed on the blacklist, unable to get the studio work he had previously and lucratively enjoyed with Twentieth Century Fox. He was a hero to many, but his humorous, delightfully self-effacing memoir shows he didn't think he fit that role. He writes, "I try to suggest that we weren't as heroic as people make us out to be. It would be more analytically precise, it seems to me, to say that we did the only thing we could do under the circumstances."

Lardner's time in our nation's history, his membership in the Communist Party, and his work in the movies make this a unique memoir. Those who read his touching recollections will learn about screenwriting in a type of studio system that no longer exists, and about a type of Americanism (and American Communism) that also no longer exists. He writes with grace and amusement about his own mistakes and those of others. The wit that won him Oscars for _Woman of the Year_ in 1942 and _M*A*S*H_ in 1970 is clearly on display, as is a lack of rancor for how his nation and his fellow movie makers treated him. This book is a warm farewell.

Rating:
Summary: Lardner's Farewell
Review: Ring Lardner, Jr. died shortly after the publication of _I'd Hate Myself in the Morning_ (Thunder's Mouth Press), at the age of eighty-five. He was the last of the famous Hollywood Ten, those who were jailed by the House Un-American Activities Committee for being Communists. He also landed on the blacklist, unable to get the studio work he had previously and lucratively enjoyed with Twentieth Century Fox. He was a hero to many, but his humorous, delightfully self-effacing memoir shows he didn't think he fit that role. He writes, "I try to suggest that we weren't as heroic as people make us out to be. It would be more analytically precise, it seems to me, to say that we did the only thing we could do under the circumstances."

Lardner's time in our nation's history, his membership in the Communist Party, and his work in the movies make this a unique memoir. Those who read his touching recollections will learn about screenwriting in a type of studio system that no longer exists, and about a type of Americanism (and American Communism) that also no longer exists. He writes with grace and amusement about his own mistakes and those of others. The wit that won him Oscars for _Woman of the Year_ in 1942 and _M*A*S*H_ in 1970 is clearly on display, as is a lack of rancor for how his nation and his fellow movie makers treated him. This book is a warm farewell.

Rating:
Summary: A Quiet Hero
Review: Ring Lardner, Jr. wrote as naturally as others breathe. He was serious about serious issues but uncomplaining, even when he was jailed by American thought police. He is humorous on matters worthy of humor and profound, without being heavy, as he considers age, infirmity and the shortcomings of conventional religion. Like the man himself, this book is nothing short of a gem.

Rating:
Summary: A Quiet Hero
Review: This is a very, very good book. Yes, it starts a little slow as he sets the stage from his young life. And the chapters on his involvement with communism do not fully explain what his attraction to communism was. But I think after much research and book reading, this book allowed me to get as close as I could to the answer. And the answer is, in the current political environment of my life, you can never fully understand the travesty of the depression and the Spanish issues in the 30s and therefore, we can never totally feel why free Americans would feel so strongly about communism. So, I've finally closed my research on this subject thanks to Ring Lardner, Jr.

This book has some great highlights which should be cherished by the readers. Dalton Trumbo may be the most celebrated of the Hollywood 10 and his humorous attempts to write and get credit for writing are quite interesting during the Blacklist period. The book correctly conveys the lives which were altered or damaged by this horrible period in America freedom.

Another interesting subject is the few movies that are mentioned showing how the screenwriting process changed the movie completely from the original story. For example, I had read the great sports novel, "Semi-tough", by Dan Jenkins. Lardner wrote a screenplay and a new director had it completely rewrote focusing not on football but on mystical self-improvement gurus. I had always wondered how a movie could so butcher a very funny book so it was nice to get closure on a 30 year old question.

Lardner wrote and won an Academy Award for "Mash". This provides more interesting reading on a movie which is still significant in the landscape of American cinema.

The next to last chapter provides a look not at history but directly into the soul of this interesting man. What starts out as a description of growing old turns into an exceptional essay on his beliefs or nonbeliefs in religeon. Regardless of your feelings, this is fascinating chapter that may challenge your own beliefs.

In closing, I believe you will enjoy this read of a man who led a full life suffering through the Hollywood 10 tragedy and early deaths of brothers in Spain and WWII. I recommend this book specifically to readers interested in Hollywood, American history in the 20th century, or biographies of famous writers.

Rating:
Summary: The definitive book on the Hollywood 10
Review: This is a very, very good book. Yes, it starts a little slow as he sets the stage from his young life. And the chapters on his involvement with communism do not fully explain what his attraction to communism was. But I think after much research and book reading, this book allowed me to get as close as I could to the answer. And the answer is, in the current political environment of my life, you can never fully understand the travesty of the depression and the Spanish issues in the 30s and therefore, we can never totally feel why free Americans would feel so strongly about communism. So, I've finally closed my research on this subject thanks to Ring Lardner, Jr.

This book has some great highlights which should be cherished by the readers. Dalton Trumbo may be the most celebrated of the Hollywood 10 and his humorous attempts to write and get credit for writing are quite interesting during the Blacklist period. The book correctly conveys the lives which were altered or damaged by this horrible period in America freedom.

Another interesting subject is the few movies that are mentioned showing how the screenwriting process changed the movie completely from the original story. For example, I had read the great sports novel, "Semi-tough", by Dan Jenkins. Lardner wrote a screenplay and a new director had it completely rewrote focusing not on football but on mystical self-improvement gurus. I had always wondered how a movie could so butcher a very funny book so it was nice to get closure on a 30 year old question.

Lardner wrote and won an Academy Award for "Mash". This provides more interesting reading on a movie which is still significant in the landscape of American cinema.

The next to last chapter provides a look not at history but directly into the soul of this interesting man. What starts out as a description of growing old turns into an exceptional essay on his beliefs or nonbeliefs in religeon. Regardless of your feelings, this is fascinating chapter that may challenge your own beliefs.

In closing, I believe you will enjoy this read of a man who led a full life suffering through the Hollywood 10 tragedy and early deaths of brothers in Spain and WWII. I recommend this book specifically to readers interested in Hollywood, American history in the 20th century, or biographies of famous writers.