The Writer's Life 8/28 - Faces

RIP Tobe Hooper, 74, who in his second feature film directed what is now an acknowledged classic, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). Its bizarre characterizations and graphic violence have creeped-out audiences since its release. Made on a budget of less than $300,000, it has returned more than $30 million at the box office through the years. Although the film's success led to steady work, Hooper never approached those heights again. He was given directorial credit on the hugely successful Poltergeist (1982), but he was replaced on it somewhere along the way by Steven Spielberg, so it's impossible to know who was responsible for it. He had modest success with a two-part TV adaptation of Stephen King's Salem's Lot (1979). IMDb lists 37 titles under his name as director, 16 as writer, nine as producer, six as actor, three as composer (including ...Chainsaw...), two as editor and one as cinematographer. Only two of the cast amassed a significant number of other credits: the late Gunnar Hansen, who played Leatherface, had 29, and Edwin Neal, who played the Hitchhiker, has 61 to date. John Dugan, who played Grandfather, did not appear in another film for 20 years, when he did a sequel, and it was another 13 years before he experienced steady work, 18 more credits listed under his name. The late Marilyn Burns had only 11 credits, most of them as a "scream queen." Here's a quote attributed to Hooper: "You've got to send a physical sensation through and not let them off the hook. I like to make it faster and faster and faster and pumping and banging until I get into you." He certainly achieved that in his masterwork. Well done, sir. Here's a pic of the iconic Leatherface:

And here's one of Marilyn Burns having fun on location:

Frozen out of a favorable parking space at my usual nook, I took the floating book shop to an alternate site and got lucky. For a while it looked like the only sale would be a children's book bought by a woman who had her granddaughter in tow. My spirits lifted when I spotted Danny sauntering toward me. He bought about 15 works of non-fiction from history to economics to self help, including Total Memory Makeover: Uncover Your Past, Take Charge of Your Future by Marilu Henner. She has hyperthymesia, the ability to remember specific details of virtually every day of her life since she was a small child. She was a regular in two hit TV series, Taxi, in which she appeared in 114 episodes, and Evening Shade, in which she did 98. Six times she has played the mom of the heroine of the Aurora Teagarden mysteries based on the characters created by Charlaine Harris, who is also responsible for the Sookie Stackhouse series which led to the creation of the True Blood cable series, which shot 81 episodes. Henner has also starred in scores of movies on the big and small screen. She has written at least ten works of non-fiction, all but one, an autobiography, focused on health. Her parents were both in their early 50's when they died. She is 65. Kudos, ma'am. Here's a pic of this fantastic woman:

My thanks also to the other kind ladies who purchased books, and to the Russian gentleman who bought a CD compilation of romantic classical works.

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