R.I.P. Clancy Sigal

[Allan Balliett]

I have to confess that I've never heard of Clancy Sigal before today, but I
have to say this memoir sounds exciting, particularly when patriotism may
be  calling us to stand against our government

Black Sunset: Hollywood Sex, Lies, Glamour, Betrayal and Raging Egos by
Clancy Sigal

 This riveting, poignant and hilarious memoir recounts Clancy Sigal's
escapades as a young agent, handling screenwriters and actors at the Sam
Jaffe Agency in the blacklist-addled Hollywood of the 1950s. He's hired by
the take-no-prisoners agent Mary Baker after being fired from Columbia
Pictures for using the mimeo machine to copy radical leaflets. Atom bomb
tests in the desert light up the night sky, and everyone is either naming
names or getting named. As the point person of a small circle of
anarchistic oddballs, Clancy is constantly dogged by the FBI. But he spends
his days going from studio to studio, trying to promote his clients Jack
Palance, Peter Lorre, Humphrey Bogart, Barbara Stanwyck, and many others.

Clancy's style is rip-roaring—headlong, ribald, wiseass. Black Sunset belongs
to a hardboiled school that also includes Raymond Chandler and Elmore
Leonard. This is a once-in-a-lifetime tale of Hollywood drama and excess,
from a legendary entertainment industry insider.

Sounds a little GR-esque to me  I certainly hope it's really Chandler-esque

Allan in WV who is still waiting for the verdict on that signed Pynchon I
mentioned this morning

On Mon, Jul 17, 2017 at 7:11 PM, Laura Kelber <laurakelber at gmail.com> wrote:

> Clancy passed away last night at a ripe old age. No obits out yet, but
> hopefully there will be some out soon.
>
> I first became aware of him as he was portrayed by Doris Lessing in The
> Golden Notebook, as the character Saul Green. He wrote a wonderful
> reminiscence, on her passing:
>
> https://newrepublic.com/article/115645/doris-lessings-former
> -companion-remembers-her-legacy
>
> But he also made a huge impression on me back in my youth with his
> best-known work, Going Away: A Report, a Memoir. Look it up if you haven't
> read it.
>
> He wrote with honesty, wit and a keen eye, about writers,
> pop-psycho-babble, Hollywood, lefty politics (he was a red-diaper baby) and
> the culture and politics of the day. He also co-wrote the screenplay for
> Frida (2002). Just an all-around witty, wonderful great guy. I was lucky to
> be able to read his many mini-essays on his Facebook page. I'll miss them
> (and him).
>
> His complete works:
>
> *Weekend in Dinlock*, Houghton Mifflin, 1960.
> *Going Away*, 1961
> *Zone of the Interior*, New York: Thomas W. Crowell, 1976.
> *The Secret Defector*, New York: Harper Collins, 1992
> *A Woman of Uncertain Character: The amorous and radical adventures of my
> mother Jennie (who always wanted to be a respectable Jewish mom) by her
> bastard son* (2006)
> *Hemingway Lives! Why Reading Ernest Hemingway Matters Today*, OR Books,
> 2013
>
> Laura
>
>
>
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