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For a moment there, I jumped for joy and thought that this was an announcement.
This ever-forthcoming book is gaining near-mythical status. This must be Mr. Burlingame's magnum opus. It is certainly long overdue.
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Many moon ago, it was told that John Burlingame was working on a book on Alfred Newman and his family.
Has anyone an update on this?
I believe that Jon is working on a bio of Elmer Bernstein.
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Posted: |
Apr 21, 2014 - 3:02 PM
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By: |
manderley
(Member)
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Only Jon Burlingame can provide the accurate answers regarding the book's non-appearance.....
But, dare I speculate with my own opinions......
1- I suspect the book, or at least a fairly good draft of it, was completed some years ago......
2- I suspect Jon (or his agent) has tried to place it with a legitimate publisher, but has not found success in this.....
3- I suspect any legitimate publisher will perceive that it is too late for Alfred Newman's biography, including even that of his brothers, or even his sons, working contemporarily. Newman died 40+ years ago, and his last score was 40+ years ago. Even on this website, with all our interest in filmmusic, only the few remaining diehard Golden Age music buffs mention the Newmans of that age, and it is rarely picked up by anyone here except those who have an extreme interest in this period. His films are not, sadly, iconic and truly worshipped by the last several generations of filmmusic fans---most of whom have never seen them. Over the last several decades we've had innumerable re-recordings of Rozsa, Herrmann, Goldsmith, North---even Steiner..... How many re-recordings of a full Alfred Newman score have we had since 1970? Very few.
4- The world has moved on and the way films were once created and scored by Alfred Newman and his contemporaries are very foreign to the way films are made and scored today.
5- Elmer Bernstein started much later in the business.....his films continued to more recent vintages.....he only fairly recently died......and many of his films and scores are still admired by (at least) a segment of middle-aged filmmusic fans who know them. A book about Elmer Bernstein is a far more commercial prospect from the standpoint of a publisher and, of course, a writer who needs to put food on the table.
6- The book publishing business has also changed radically through various electronic media.
Several of my friends who are well-known and worked in the business and who have very interesting stories to tell and have written books about their careers, have also found it hard-going to get their work published. After many rejections, in each case they have finally self-published, one writer via copies made-to-order and also as paid download on Amazon.com, and another writer strictly as a paid download. They've each sold copies to members of the general public who are interested in the subject matter, but neither writer has given me any evidence that they've made enough to pay for more than several meals at a good restaurant. The information in their books is fabulous, but there is also an element of ego involved in doing a book about themselves and their work. Years ago, we used to call this kind of publishing "the vanity press" where the author, if he couldn't sell his book to a publisher, paid for the printing himself through one of the "vanity presses". They were usually very stripped-down editions with no niceties like dust covers and extensive photos, and they often sold for very elevated prices to the audience who would buy the limited edition copies that were available---if you could find them. When classic filmmusic by major composers is being released in press runs of 1000 copies by legitimate companies and sometimes doesn't sell out, you can hardly expect that there is going to be a mass exodus to buy a book about the Newman family. My respect for Jon Burlingame and the entire Newman family is boundless, so I have no delight in pointing out these issues.
7- I'd like to imagine that all the preceding is hogwash, and that I'll be proven incorrect on every point, but as you age you start to see and understand the realities of the world, and the idealistic qualities of your youth and the future possibilities ahead often slowly blur or fade away.
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How good are the sales for Jon's recent James Bond book?
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I suspect any legitimate publisher will perceive that it is too late for Alfred Newman's biography, including even that of his brothers, or even his sons, working contemporarily. Newman died 40+ years ago, and his last score was 40+ years ago.
And yet Max Steiner's book is coming out this Friday:
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Posted: |
Apr 21, 2014 - 6:36 PM
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By: |
manderley
(Member)
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I suspect any legitimate publisher will perceive that it is too late for Alfred Newman's biography, including even that of his brothers, or even his sons, working contemporarily. Newman died 40+ years ago, and his last score was 40+ years ago.
And yet Max Steiner's book is coming out this Friday:
I'm sure Wegele's Max Steiner book will be an interesting read,
but I'm going to take a calculated guess that:
1- .....Peter Wegele is a European author and not an American with the publishing problems inherent in the US. The Europeans are way ahead of us in supporting serious works about our own industry than we are.
2- .....The Max Steiner book originates in Europe as an academic piece
with a musical theory to expound upon, and is not, strictly, a biography....
and will essentially be used in the classroom study of film music with some
guaranteed textbook sales.
3- .....Was not written by an author whose writings are his primary
means of income.
4- .....Is not cheap enough for the casual filmmusic fan who might have the
interest but not the money to purchase it.
5- .....Is not published by an American publishing house---who are generally
not interested in boutique books.
(It always surprises me that The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Hollywood isn't more interested in the limited publishing of the kinds of historical books about the Hollywood industry like Burlingame's that would be of continuing value. Of course, they are now expending multi-multi-millions of dollars on a film museum---and monument to its multi-million-dollar celebrity contributors---and that takes a lot of fund$.)
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