by Lee Hill
“What it means Bill…” letter from Grauerholz to Burroughs in Boulder, Colorado, August 10, 1977.
Grauerholz notes: August 23, 1977. Joe Bianco approching Eisner at Paramount, who is also considering Fear and Loathing. September 2, 1977, Grauerholz writes to Hopper and forwards a copy of Bill Lee to him. Explains Southern is now out of project. By 1979–80, the project was dead despite Grauerholz’s efforts including a feeler to Wim Wenders via his producing partner, Chris Sievernich.
“You’ve got this prostitution factor…” James Grauerholz to LH, May 29, 1999.
With Extreme Prejudice (February 5, 1978) with Ugo Pirro financed by Artiofilm, c/o Gee and Durbridge, 81 Piccadilly, London SW1. Set against the backdrop of the Aldo Moro kidnapping and the political strife of Italy in the seventies.
June 4, 1978, date of screen outline of Most Dangerous Game based on the short story by Hamilton Graves. Terry Southern archives.
Extract from “Haven Can Wait” by TS with Joe Loguidice and others, Terry Southern archives, courtesy of Terry Southern Estate.
Not the New York Times parody reported in Time, October 23, 1978, p. 44.
11 Grossing Out
Excerpt from Grossing Out draft, c. 1979–80. Terry Southern archives, courtesy of Terry Southern Estate.
“He wrote that with Brendan Gill…” Lewis Allen to LH, January 22, 1999.
“I remember attending…” NS to LH, March 23, 1993.
Contract by Twentieth Century-Fox drawn up for Terry to adapt novel Aria by Brown Meggs mentions total fee of $85,000 with a $30,000 advance. Terry Southern archives.
“What killed [Aria]…” Si Litvinoff to LH, January 28, 1998.
“[Aria dealt with this]…” Ted Kotcheff to LH, December 17, 1998.
Ron Rosenbaum on “Heavy Put Away,” from his column, “The Edgy Enthusiast,” New York Observer, December 18, 1995.
“The Angel of Talent…” Michael O’Donoghue quoted in Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live by Doug Hill and Jeff Weingrad (New York: Beech Tree Books/William Morrow, 1986), p. 448.
TS’s SNL salary, memo from NBC to TS. Terry Southern archives. “What would happen on…” Nelson Lyon to LH, May 1999.
“I remember one of Terry’s…” Hal Wilner to LH, March 1993.
“Talk about your everlovin’ cornucopias…” Hill and Weingrad, p. 450.
“His office was like…” Nelson Lyon to LH, May 1999.
According to O’Donoghue, he was fired by Dick Ebersol via the former’s manager, Barry Secunda, on January 17, 1982, Hill and Weingrad, p. 457.
“[The sketch] just went on…” Nelson Lyon to LH, May 1999.
“It was hard to get people…” Michael O’Donoghue to LH, March 1993.
“[Working on SNL] was…” TS to LH, April 1990.
12 Various Cowriters
“Terry brought in Brendan Gill…” Nelson Lyon to LH, 1999: “I thought of this as a fucking Broadway show. Lewis Allen was involved and Lewis Allen took it to his agent. At that time they were making The Cotton Club and there was this huge agent at ICM, monstro agent, but they couldn’t do it because of the fucking Cotton Club.” Johnny Blood was registered with the Writers Guild of America on August 27, 1982.
“It’s a cruel world…” The End of the Game screenplay by Peter Beard and Terry Southern, c. 1982, Terry Southern archives.
“I had a deal to pick up…” James Harris to LH, July 1, 1999.
“Larry wanted to get…” Joe Loguidice to LH, June 21, 2000.
Excerpt from At Z Beach handwritten dialogue, c. 1982–83, Terry Southern archives courtesy of Terry Southern Estate.
“At Z Beach was a misconceived project…” NS to LH, March 19, 2000.
“I never knew Terry not…” Joe Loguidice to LH, June 21, 1999.
“By this time, Terry…” Nelson Lyon to LH, May 1999.
NS on TS’s pages for early version of Eyes Wide Shut, Denver Post, July 11, 1999.
Three pages of dialogue exist in Terry Southern archives. “Of course, that took him a…” Josh Alan Friedman to LH, May 18, 1999.
Larry Flynt and Doors project, “Larry Flynt at Home,” oral history with Dennis Hopper and TS, edited by Jean Stein, Grand Street no. 36, Spring 1990.
July 2, 1984, letter from Putnam’s lawyer, Barry Preiss, to TS asking for return of $20,000 advance re: Texas Summer (then known as South Idyll), Terry Southern archives.
“I was just trying to help Terry…” Sandy Lieberson to LH, November 16, 1993.
“Albie said…” Nelson Lyon to LH, May 1999.
“Mason was in a very bad way…” Mordecai Richler to LH, December 2, 1998.
Additional Mason Hoffenberg background provided by Juliette Hoffenberg to LH, May 2000.
“One day we went to see…” Anita Pallenberg to LH, December 9, 1993.
“If you’re talking about…” Patti Dryden to LH, October 29, 1993.
“The Refreshing Ambiguity of the Déjà Vu,” by TS and Mason Hoffenberg in 1985, was finally published in Grand Street, Fall 1992.
13 Hawkeye (Travels with Harry)
“All you have is the power of persuasion…” repeated by TS in various interviews including my first conversation with TS in April 1990.
When Hawkeye’s formation was announced, the executive lineup included: James Hock as president, Nilsson as executive vice president, Richard Riccio as vice president of music development and marketing. Hawkeye offices were located at 1130 Ventura Boulevard, Studio CI130 Ventura Boulevard, Studio City, California 91604.
Harry Nilsson background taken from Nilsson Web site Jadebox, liner notes to Personal Best: The Harry Nilsson Anthology (US, BMG/RCA, 1995), and obituaries from the London Times and Independent.
“He was embarrassed…” and “Harry wanted to party…” GG to LH, April 1997.
Anonymous reader’s report on Obits, c. 1986, posted on Harry Nilsson Web site, Jadebox.
January 21, 1986, letter of intent from Whoopi Goldberg re: Telephone. Terry Southern archives.
TS’s agent for The Telephone was CAA’s Rowland Perkins. TS’s fee for the film was $350,000. For the ten-page treatment he was paid $10,000. Contract in Terry Southern archives.
“One of the producers…” NS to LH, March 23, 1993.
“I don’t know to this day…” GG to LH, April 1997.
“I was then managing…” Si Litvinoff to LH, January 28, 1998.
“Personally I thought the company…” and “My dad…” NS to LH, January 1994.
“Oona said, “The worst…” and “Cindy Sims was supposed to be…” GG to LH, April 1997.
Mike Golden visits TS in hospital, Golden to LH, January 1999.
“Terry was a constant source of inspiration…” and other Perry Richardson quotes for this chapter, Richardson to LH, April 1999. Readers may be interested to know that Blinds and Shutters is in the British Library.
“Terry came at his own expense…” James Grauerholz to LH, May 29, 1999.
14 Texas Summer
Victor Bockris made a copy of the full transcript of his November 1989 interview available to the author.
“He described his wife…” and other details of 1989 interview, Victor Bockris to LH, October 23, 1993.
TS closest thing America had to Jonathan Swift, Jean Stein to LH, October 1993. Allowance from Stein confirmed by GG and NS.
December 4, 1990 Little, Brown contract for Texas Summer cites an advance of $7,500. Terry Southern archives.
“I used to leave it out for him…” NS to LH, March 23, 1993.
Green Mountain Boys draft by TS and James Goldstone completed February 25, 1991. According to GG, TS wrote the script on spec.
Invitation to teach at Columbia, letter to TS from Annette Insdorf, November 5, 1990. Southern archives.
“It seemed unlikely…” “Give Back” by John Emile, unpublished memoir on TS’s Columbia screenwriting class, c. 1995.
“He crossed out bazookas…” “Remembrance” by
Caroline Marshall, Paris Review no. 138, Spring 1996, p. 239.
TS losing cool with student, “Adventures of an Ultra-Fab Prof” by Charles Zigman, posted on terrysouthern.com, 1999.
“Terry found out…” Joe McGrath to LH, October 10, 1998.
Excerpt from Festival draft, c. 1992, Terry Southern archives, courtesy of Terry Southern Estate.
June 3, 1992, fax from Hopper asking TS to relinquish any claim to Easy Rider. According to Darius James’s article (New York Press, February 18, 1997), Fonda offered TS $30,000 to relinquish credit on Easy Rider.
Review of Texas Summer by Brad Tyer, New York Times Book Review, February 16, 1992, p. 18.
“I think Texas Summer…” Richard Seaver to LH, January 14, 1999.
TS phoning Jerry Brown’s campaign office, Robert Wilonsky, “Beyond the Myth, Beneath the Haze: Digging into Terry Southern’s Buried Texas Roots,” Dallas Observer, April 2, 1992.
The Brightest and the Best, c. 1990. Terry Southern archives.
“If he had in the four days…” Josh Alan Friedman to LH, May 18, 1999.
“It was like the impossible record…” Nelson Lyon to LH, May 1999.
“On the basis of the pages now…” letter from Fredrica S. Friedman, Little, Brown VP, executive editor and associate publisher, to TS, September 3, 1993.
Dennis Hopper on Tonight Show, quoted in “Whose Movie Is This?” by Mark Singer, New Yorker, June 22 and 29, 1998, pp. 117–18.
Stein’s fallout with TS, GG to LH, April 1997.
Mick Jagger at TS’s birthday party, Darius James to LH, June 2000.
“Terry was so precise with language…” Perry Richardson to LH, April 1999.
“Well, the work I like…” TS quoted in “The Hot Day Terry Southern, Cool and Fatalistic, Strode In,” by Jeff McGregor, the New York Times, November 12, 1995, p. 24.
Details of TS’s last days, GG to LH, April 1997, and “Envoi” by Nile Southern, Paris Review, Spring 1996, p. 241.
“He invented his own idiom…” Buck Henry quoted in the New York Times, November 12, 1995, p. 24.
Bibliography
The following is a list in order of publication of Terry Southern’s output, including most recent editions:
Flash and Filigree. London: Andre Deutsch, 1958. Reissued in 1996 by Grove Press and Bloomsbury in 1997.
The Magic Christian. London: Andre Deustch, 1959. Reissued in 1996 by Grove Press and Bloomsbury in 1997.
Candy with Mason Hoffenberg. Paris: Olympia Press, 1958 (a.k.a. Lollipop) under psuedonym Maxwell Kenton. First published in the U.S. by Putnam in 1964. Reissued in 1996 by Grove Press and Bloomsbury in 1997.
Writers in Revolt, edited with Richard Seaver and Alexander Trocchi. New York: Frederick Fell, 1962. Currently out of print.
The Log Book of The Loved One. Photographs by William Claxton. New York: Random House, 1965. Currently out of print.
Red Dirt Marijuana and Other Tastes. New York: New World Publishing, 1967. Reissued in 1996 by Grove Press and Bloomsbury in 1997.
Blue Movie. New York: New World Publishing, 1970. Reissued in 1996 by Grove Press and Bloomsbury in 1997.
The Rolling Stones on Tour: A Log Book. Photographs by Annie Leibowitz. Paris/London: Dragon’s Dream, 1978. Out of print.
Texas Summer. New York: Arcade/Little, Brown & Co., 1992. Out of print.
The Early Stones: Legendary Photographs of a Band in the Making 1963-1973, with Perry Richardson. Photographs by Michael Cooper. New York: A Publishing Company/Hyperion, 1992.
Virgin with Perry Richardson. London: A Publishing Company, 1995.
Now Dig This!: The Quality Lit of Terry Southern, edited by Nile Southern and Josh Alan Friedman. Forthcoming from Grove Press and Bloomsbury in 2001.
The following selected list indicates published materials which also provided information on Southern’s work, life, and times:
Amram, David. Vibrations: The Adventures and Musical Times of David Amram. New York: Macmillan Co., 1968.
The Armchair Theatre: How to Write, Write, Direct, Design, Act and Enjoy Plays. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1959.
Baker, Fred, and Ross Firestone, eds. Movie People: At Work in the Business of Film. New York: A Lancer Contempora Book, 1973.
Baxter, John. Stanley Kubrick: A Biography. London: HarperCollins, 1997.
Biskind, Peter. Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock-n’roll Generation Saved Hollywood. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998.
Blotner, Joseph. Faulkner: A Biography. New York: Random House, revised edition, 1984.
Bockris, Victor. On Wiiliam Burroughs. New York: Richard Seaver Books, 1991.
———. Keith Richards: The Biography. New York: Hyperion, 1992.
———. Original sixty-page interview transcript with Terry Southern for Interview magazine. East Canaan, Connecticut: November 1989. Courtesy of Victor Bockris.
Bowermaster, Jon. The Adventures and Misadventures of Peter Beard in Africa. New York: Bulfinch Press/Little, Brown & Co., 1993.
Brookner, Howard, director. Burroughs. 1985 feature length documentary on William Burroughs featuring Terry Southern and others. 90 min. Available from Mystic Fire video.
Burroughs, William. Junky. Introduction by Allen Ginsberg. New York: Penguin Books, 1977 edition.
———. Naked Lunch. New York: Grove Press, 1964 edition.
Campbell, James. Paris Interzone: Richard Wright, Lolita, Boris Vian and Others on the Left Bank, 1946–1960. London: Secker and Warburg, 1994.
———. This Is the Beat Generation: New York—San Francisco—Paris. London: Secker and Warburg, 1999.
Carroll, Jim. The Downtown Diaries: 1971–1973. New York: Penguin, 1987.
Ciment, Michel. Kubrick. Translated by Gilbert Adair. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1982.
Connolly, Ray. Stardust Memories: Talking About My Generation. London: Pavilion Books/Michael Joseph Ltd., 1983.
Cooper, Michael. Blinds and Shutters. England: Genesis/Hedley, limited edition, 1989.
Corliss, Richard. Talking Pictures: Screenwriters in the American Cinema. New York: Penguin, 1975.
Drew, Bettina. Nelson Algren: A Life on the Wild Side. New York: G.P. Putnam and Sons, 1989.
Faithfull, Marianne, with David Dalton. Faithfull: An Autobiography. New York: Little, Brown & Co., 1994.
Fonda, Peter. Don’t Tell Dad: A Memoir. New York: Hyperion, 1998.
Gelber, Jack. The Connection: A Play. New York: Grove Press, 1960.
Gitlin, Todd. The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage. New York: Bantam, Revised edition, 1993.
Gooch, Brad. City Poet: The Life and Times of Frank O’Hara. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993.
Gold, Herbert. Review of Candy, the Nation, May 18, 1964.
Golden, Mike. “Now Dig This: Interview With Terry Southern,” Reflex magazine, September 1992.
Goldman, Albert, with Lawrence Schiller. Ladies and Gentleman, Lenny Bruce. New York: Random House, 1974.
Green, Henry. Surviving: The Uncollected Writing of Henry Green, ed. Mathew Yorke. New York: Viking, 1992.
Green, Jonathan. Days in the Life: Voices from the English Underground 1961–1971. London: William Heinemann, Ltd., 1988.
Greenfield, Robert. STP: A Journey Through America with the Rolling Stones. New York: Saturday Review Press/E. P. Dutton, 1974.
Gruen, John. The Party’s Over. New York: Viking, 1972.
Hamilton, Ian. Writers in Hollywood: 1915–1951. New York: Harper and Row, 1990.
———. Review of Candy, Punch, September 18, 1964.
Harris, Oliver, editor, The Letters of William Burroughs: 1945–1959. New York: Viking. 1993.
Hayes, Harold, ed. Smiling Through the Apocalypse: Esquire’s History of the Sixties. New York: Esquire Press/Crown Publishing, 1987.
Hendra, Tony. Going Too Far: The Rise and Demise of Sick, Gross, Black, Sophomoric, Weirdo, Pinko, Anarchist, Underground, Anti-Establishment Humor. New York: Dolphin/Doubleday, 1987.
/> Henke, James, with Parke Puterbaugh, eds. I Want to Take You Higher: The Psychedelic Era 1965–1969. With essays by Charles Perry and Barry Miles. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1997.
Herr, Michael. Kubrick. New York: Grove Press, 2000.
Hill, Doug, and Jeff Weingrad. Saturday Night: A Backstage History of Saturday Night Live. New York: Birch Tree Books/William Morrow, 1986.
Hill, Lee. Easy Rider: A BFI Modern Classic. London: BFI Publishing, 1996.
———. “The Vox Interview with Terry Southern,” Vox magazine, September 1990.
Howard, James. Stanley Kubrick Companion. London: B. T. Batsford Ltd., 1999.
Howard, Jane. “A Creative Capacity to Astonish.” Life, August 21, 1964.
Jones, Nick, director/producer. Born to Be Wild: The Making of Easy Rider. Half-hour documentary, BBC 2. First broadcast, December 19, 1995.
Kemp, Philip. Lethal Innocence: The Films of Alexander Mackendrick. London: Methuen, 1991.
Krassner, Paul. Impolite Interviews. New York: Seven Stories Press, 1999.
Lewisohn, Mark. The Complete Beatles Chronicle. New York: Harmony Books, 1992.
Lobrutto, Vincent. Stanley Kubrick: A Biography. New York: Donald I. Fine, 1997.
MacDonald, Ian. Revolution in the Head: The Beatles’ Records & the Sixties. London: Fourth Estate, 1994. Fully updated edition, 1997.
Manso, Peter. Brando: A Biography. New York: Hyperion, 1994.
Marwick, Arthur. The Sixties: Cultural Revolution in Britain, France, Italy and The United States, c. 1958–1974. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
McDarrah, Fred W., and Gloria S. McDarrah. Beat Generation: Glory Days in Greenwich Village. New York: Schirmer Books/Simon and Schuster, 1996.
McGilligan, Patrick. Jack’s Life: A Biography of Jack Nicholson. New York: W. W. Norton & Company 1994.
McGilligan, Patrick. Backstory 3: Interviews with Screenwriters of the Sixties. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997.
Merrill, Sam. “Mason Hoffenberg Gets a Few Licks,” Playboy, November 1973.
Miles, Barry. The Beat Hotel. New York: Grove Press, 2000.