Sunday, March 27, 2022

Sunday Reflection




"I’d like to be remembered as someone who used their ability as a novelist or as a dramatist to say the things he felt needed to be said about the society while being as entertaining as possible. Because if you don’t entertain, nobody’s listening."-- Novelist and playwright Budd Schulberg, from his obituary in the New York Times, August 5, 2009.  A renowned writer, Schulberg wrote the Academy Award winning screenplay for On The Waterfront, as well as the screenplay for A Face In The Crowd. His novels included What Makes Sammy Run? and The Harder They Fall, all of which illuminated issues with society while being gripping entertainment.

A one-time member of the Communist Party U.S.A., Schulberg became disillusioned after the Stalin-Hitler pact and Stalin's brutal purges. He was criticized later for cooperating with the notorious House Un-American Activities Committee in their hunt for Communists in Hollywood.

(photo: Schulberg in his Long Island, NY studio. New York Times)