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Customer Reviews (26)

A Classic
This is the 3rd time I have bought this book.The first 2 copies were loaned and never returned.And for good reason.It's simply a classic.

Avoid the Aunts
A fun little book if you have come to this work through watching the 1969 film with Sellers and Ringo Starr (as I did MANY years ago...); the only caveat is that you will enjoy the book MUCH MORE if you simply skip any parts having do with the tedious Aunts (likewise a short-coming in the movie as well).Great to notice the similarities/differences between the book and the film, too

Fall out of your chair FuNNy!!
This book has a weird effect- it is utterly preposterous yet you believe every word.The seeming rational tone and recognizable characters ground an otherwise all-out assault on our cultural norms.How many books can make you howl with laughter?This is one on a very short list.

Satire at its best
The Magic Christian (Terry Southern)

Loved it - fast read and perfectly funny

Tiring, gets old
Guy Grand's pranks are hilarious, sure. Actually, Southern deserves a lot of credit here. It's amazing how well his humor has held up. It's still fresh, still very funny. However, as a full on novel, it doesn't work. The prank sequences, which are all quite funny, are punctuated with pieces of this horribly boring scene that extends throughout the entire novel and fails to really say much about anything. I found myself skipping those parts towards the end and enjoying the humorous segments for what they were: disconnected comical ideas, perhaps most appropriate as synopses for episodes of an imaginary sitcom. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (22)

hilarious at times
When this book is funny, it's rolling on the floor funny.But, as seems to be typical with Southern's books, it's uneven.After the first chapter (the praying mantis in the eye thing), I was prepared for this to be the funniest book I had ever read.Alas!It only made me really laugh in about 4-5 places.

I had never heard of this book until I read Michael Dirda, in his "An Open Book," recount how he drooled over this as a sex-starved adolescent.Since then I've discovered that virtually everybody's heard of this but me.I hate when that happens.How did this escape my radar?

Anyhow, I read it.Southern is a masterful prose stylist, but it's unfortunate that this book is not unified by any coherent theme.At times his insight into female psychology is frightening, but at other times he doesn't seem to know what to do with it.Several characters (e.g., Aunt Livia) and events (the janitor mother in the service closet) should have suffered deletion, but they were kept in, resulting in a final product that seems a mismatch of tone, theme, and authorial intention.From what I read about this book, Southern was riffing on the devices of pornographic novels.But this genre is virtually extinct by now, so unless you are familiar with them from their heyday, the wit of many of his literary antics, I imagine, will be lost on you.

Sure made me laugh a couple of times, though.

I have heard it said, incidentally, that the book is a spin-off of Candide.Hmmmm.I think that's a bit of an overstatement.It's certainly not a re-doing of Candide.We have a good-hearted main character in the beginning who studies under a philosophizing and randy professor, and whose antics result in her expulsion from her beloved home, but the similarity pretty much ends there.

CROSS BETWEEN LOLITA,3 STOOGES, AND HENRY MILLER!
For some of the most outrageous writing and set pieces ever devised, look no further than this bizarre romp through the sexual deliriums of several characters, including the ripe and whifty heroine, some perverse academics and MD's, her older relatives, especially her aunt, and some far eastern gurus digging in a Tibetan Coal Mine. I dare anyone to read this witha straight face throughout, as I laughed practically through the whole book. And to think this was written almost 50 years ago. Forget Henry Miller, Nabokav and all the rest, until you've breezed through this wild and crazy romp!

Wonderful Tongue-in-Cheek Piece of Work!
I LOVED this book!I think the other reviewers may not have completely understood the jest of the book.Yes, it was definitely a shocker in it's day because of the sexual content, but I thought it was very humorous.These two writers definitely put a story together very wisely.Obviously, they were using tongue-in-cheek humor all through the book.Indeed, there were some dramatic points, but more than anything if one takes the view of the book in the context of, maybe, the style of Monty Python, one may look at it with a different perspective!Highly recommend!

satire?what satire?
I think the only real ironic thing about this famous Terry Southern book from the fifties is just how much time has changed.What seemed dirty and perverted then seems tame and absurd now.While I enjoy Southern's quick jumpy narrative style, getting us from one strange situation to another, the main character (the oh-so-tragic Candy) is a non-entity in the fiction.Her character is the satire, I suppose.She seems to worried about the men who "need" her that she doesn't recognize when she's being abused.I'm not sure what the satire is there?The stupid self-image of females of the fifties, the male-monster driven by the libido, or both?

All in all, its worth a read and leaves you wondering what it was all about (much like many of Candy's sordid experiences).

Don't waste your time.
This is not a satire of Candide, it's not a slice of pop culture. It's a dirty old man's idea of what sex should be like. A dirty old virgin man.

It's boring. The writing is atrocious. It has several rapes and incest scenes in it. It has no more than one instance of a woman enjoying sex (and I can't be sure about that one) with sex on nearly every page. It is racist and sexist and boring. If you want 80 variations on what to call a woman's sexual organs, this is the book for you (honey pot, lamb-pit, sugar scoop, ever-sweeting, etc). If you want a book indicitive of the culture of the time, or just plain full of sex, please look elsewhere. ... Read more

Product Description
This collection of Southern's short pieces -- two dozen hilarious, well-observed, and devastating sketches that expose the hypocrisy of American social mores -- is widely recognized as an underground classic ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Far out!
Four astonishing pieces highlight this fine collection:

"Razor Fight." That's exactly what the story is about. The dialogue is thrillingly terse.

"You're Too Hip, Baby." When even the alienated find you too alienating.

"Twirlin' at Ole Miss." One of the most famous examples of Gonzo journalism. Hardcore New Yorker (actually, Southern was a Texan) heads south to research the subculture of baton twirling and finds, hilariously, that stereotypes of "The South" are all true!

"Blood of a Wig." One of the most notorious American short stories ever written. Back in the day, a college acquaintance told me what this story was about. I didn't believe him. Turns out he was right. Title refers to a very clandestine type of drug abuse -- injecting yourself with the blood of a schizophrenic. And that's just the beginning.

A Lot More Edgy Than His Other Works
Terry Southern is probably one of the most creative, off-beat writers of our times. I read this book back in my college days in the early 70's and can't tell you how much this book of short stories changed my outlook on life. Having experienced the 60's as my formative teen years, I didn't think that there could be very much left to the imagination. Boy, was I wrong. Terry's stories sure opened my eyes to a broader world than was dreamed in my philosophy at the time and even now. You've heard of all the "favorites" such as Blood of a Wig, so I won't take up your time with that. But, if you liked any of his other works, be sure to not miss out on this one.

Southern's Best
For as much fun as Terry Southern's novels and screenplays represent, this may be his best work.The opening pair of "Red Dirt Marijuana" and "Razor Fight" are about as good as short stories get.Another reviewer referenced "A Clean Well Lighted Place"; I am put in mind of the clean precision of "Hills Like White Elephants." Southern's exploration of the sensibilities of the American South, race relations, friendship, and a weird sort of honor, carve the sort of channels in your consciousness that only the best writing can do.
"You're Too Hip, Baby" is more on race and a deflation of the concept of "hip" by one of its masters.
Although best known for his outrageousness, many of these stories display the sensitivity that was at the core of Southern's greatness.

These stories blew me away!
Having read Candy and Blue Movie, I have wanted to read another Terry Southern book for ages. However, it has been almost impossible to obtain his other works. I came across this short-story collection at a store that sells used books and I couldn't resist giving it a whirl. Red-Dirt Marijuana and Other Tastes is full of Southern's signature dark humor and unconventional storylines. Southern has proven that he is a master storyteller with the disarming stories featured in this book. My favorites are "Twirling at Ole Miss," "The Moon-shot Scandal," "You're Too Hip, Baby," "Razor Fight," "I Am Mike Hammer," and "The Blood of a Wig." Those stories blew me away. "The Blood of a Wig" was the best one in the collection. This is the funniest and strangest book I have read in a long time! If you loved Southern's novels, you will love this collection of short stories. I cannot recommend Red-Dirt Marijuana and Other Tastes enough.

weird and crazy
Screw prose.Screw plot.This book is so damned funny!It reminds me of the war stories of Michael Herr or the drugged ut fantasies of Hunter Thompson.What about the woman who colors her hair blond, only to return home and have her husband mistake her for a mistress.What about the irreverent humor about Hoover trying some neck-crophilia on JFK's body.This is one of the most original collection of stories I've ever read.It's so hard to find stuff like this nowadays. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Favorite Book in College: Funniest Book Ever!
It's been suggested that this book is not for feminists, but back in the days of radical feminism, I was one, and this book was a favorite, always great for laughing hysterically and reading aloud to friends.It's a very funny, dirty book, not a polemic!I think it makes the men look even weaker and sillier than the women.I must have read it, or at least favorite scenes, hundreds of times.How I wish they'd made it into a movie!The ending is great, and involves the VATICAN.Lots of great lines.You'll love it.

Empty bladder before reading
If you have a high threshhold for raunch, you may find this the funniest novel you have ever read. I know I did. I laughed so hard I had to put the book down and regain control.

What if the world's most respected film director was handed millions to make the poshest hardcore movie ever? Teaming up with sleazeball producer Sid Krassman, he brings aboard the cream of international film stardom. Think stars like Marilyn Monroe, Jeanne Moreau, Nicole Kidman, Steve McQueen, Arnold Schwarzenegger -- all in their prime.

The progress on the set starts to spin out of control when egos clash, stars begin to lose their nerve, drug use goes rampant, extracurricular sex spreads, etc. The gimmick is that the film will only be shown in Lichtenstein, a real but rinky dink principality on the Austria/Switzerland border.

Terry Southern -- the most literate hipster in the American canon -- was a genius of the outrageous and this is his masterpiece. His deadpan approach and his keen understanding of the male fantasy life (gotta admit, very un-PC) put it across.

It also has, IMHO, the most erotic "BJ" scene ever written.

And the ending is the sharpest satirical stab of all. Priceless.

Dig it.

The story behind King B's best movie
What if a stag film, one of those cheaply made, low-grade film quality adult boff movies, were made with a big budget, with big name stars, at feature film length?That's what Boris Adrian, a.k.a. King B or simply B, a well-respected star director who's won Oscars with his revolutionary and visionary styles who has entered a creative drought for the past two years, wonders aloud to Sidney Krassman, his gross, hefty, and profane producer after an evening spent watching stag films at the home of eccentric, vivacious, multi-handicapped Teeny Marie.

Sid gets three million dollars for production costs.Yes, Boris's movie will be made, but the proviso that it will be filmed and exclusively exhibited in Liechtenstein, that postage stamp sized principality sandwiched between Switzerland and Austria, with the government providing the funding.That would be a boon to a country with the lowest per capita income in Western Europe.

The movie, titled The Faces Of Love, is to be an anthology of erotic love, of twenty-five minute segment stories.Getting the budget money, and production crew is no problem.What about the performers?To that end, Boris procures Angela Sterling, an actress clearly based on Marilyn Monroe or Jayne Mansfield, and America's top draw, someone who wants to be seen as more than just a T&A actress, the French lesbian actress Arabella, and prim but pretty British actress Pamela Dickensen.The only big trouble may come from Angela Sterling, who is also the mistress of Les Harrison, vice president of Metropolitan studios, and whose presence on Boris's movie was the result of a breach of contract from a movie funded by Metropolitan.The movie would take advantage of some recently lifted restrictions and challenge some movie taboos, with each story representing a theme such as miscegenation/multiple partners, the first experience, which is a lesbian one, a priest and a hooker, and brother with sister.

As this was written in 1970, four years after the demise of the notorious and increasingly irrelevant Hays Code and two years after the imposition of the MPAA ratings, Blue Movie is well-placed, coming out at the dawn of a brief newfound cinematic freedom.

Sprinkled with lots of four-letter words, mostly by Sid, with plenty of explicit passages and even a few chapters, funny characters such as Feral, a Senegalese extra whose equipment gets many reactions, Tony Sanders, the writer who's a veritable goofy but creative genius, and of course Sid, who's crass, vulgar, but funny.He tells a topless and quite chesty waitress, "Do you have a cold?"When she asks him what makes him think that, he says, "Oh I don't know why.Your chest looks all swollen."Boris's laid back, thoughtful personality makes him a pretty appealing character.The bash at big studios is apparent.Some chapters depict the actual shooting and discussion of scenes in the film, special apparati used in adult scenes, which film buffs may appreciate.

The book ripples with the usual irreverence Southern gives, outdoing The Magic Christian and Candy, two novels that were done as movies.

Which brings me to this:if Blue Movie had been made into a film back in 1970, I'd put Peter Fonda as King B, Vic Tayback (Mel from the Alice series) as Sid, Mamie Van Doren as Alice, Jeanne Moreau as Arabella, and Robert Wagner as Les Harrison.And as Pamela was described as someone resembling Susannah York, why not?And of course change the bummer ending.That'd be something.

A dark and raunchy satire!
Terry Southern floored me with Candy, and I couldn't wait to read another one of his comic -- albeit raunchy -- satires. Blue Movie did not disappoint me. The story of an accomplished filmmaker's attempt at creating an adult movie with famous actors in it is dark, stark, smut, fun and entertaining. There are a lot of political aspects that might offend some people, but the point of the story is that it's satirical - i.e., truth without apology. I couldn't put this book down. This novel is as outrageous and sinister as Candy. Are you in the bargain for a satirical read? I suggest Blue Movie. Terry Southern is brilliant. I, for one, shall give his other novels a whirl.

Old Fashioned Raunchy Fun
Terry Southern was one of the 60's bad boys, politically to the Left, not quite avant garde, a "dirty" writer.He has penned a hilarious story about the making of a porn movie.There is nothing to say but that the characters are as outrageous as the action and this is NOT a book that goes from one ribald act to another.It is (truly) about making a "blue movie".I still smile when I think of the dialogue (quote unquote) as the evil, Yankee soldier prepares to deflower the helpless, Southern beauty.The book has a very satisfying ending. ... Read more

Product Description
Acclaimed novelist, Beat godfather, prolific screenwriter, and one of the founders of New Journalism, as well as the only guy to wear shades on the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's cover, Terry Southern was an audacious original. Now Dig This is a journey through Terry Southern's America, from the buttoned-down '50s through the sexual revolution, rock 'n' roll, and independent cinema (which he helped inaugurate by cowriting and producing Easy Rider), up to his death in 1995. It spans Southern's stellar career, from early short stories and a Paris Review interview with Henry Green, to his legendary Esquire piece covering the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention with Jean Genet and William Burroughs and his equally infamous account of life neck-high in girls and cocaine aboard The Rolling Stones' tour jet, to his memories of twentieth-century legends like Abbie Hoffman, Kurt Vonnegut, and Stanley Kubrick, with whom he wrote Dr. Strangelove. "A voice electric with street rhythm and royal with offhand intellection ... stuffed with strange and silken scraps." -- Troy Patterson, Entertainment Weekly "The subterranean Texan's finest moments are exquisite reads ... like a hot poker in the eye of conventional narrative." -- A. D. Amorosi, Philadelphia City Paper "The range of writing ...[was] as lethal as Mailer claimed and still awaiting the attention it deserves." -- Charles Taylor, Newsday "... reveals a writer defined by his generosity, by the pursuit of fun and by an insatiable ... literary appetite...." -- Claire Dederer, The New York Times Book Review ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Vile
A grave disappointment.I cast myself into the Great Pit of Squaredom, surely, by this judgement, but aside from some isolated good bits, including Southern's notes on working with Kubrick on Strangelove and his interview with Henry Green, this is a poor (unspeakable, indeed!) excuse for a collection--repetitive, full of tiresome hipster tics, willfully and wearyingly perverse, seeking shock for shock's sake, like a child misbehaving to get attention.Do not waste your time or your money on this unfortunate production.Buy a copy of The Magic Christian instead.

Great Fun
Terry's son, Nile, has honored his father (and done the rest of us a huge favor) by publishing this collection of the best of Terry's shorter works.

Terry concluded at one point that film had surpassed literature as the communication medium of choice, and devoted most of the rest of his life to that arena. His interview "On Screenwriting" describes both the benefits and the frustrations associated with that choice. His advice is just as relevant to the would-be screenwriter today as it was when he wrote it.

His "Proposed Scene for Kubrick's Rhapsody," and "Plums and Prunes," provide interesting examples of proposed movie scenes that will prove interesting to readers unfamiliar with that arcane art.

As other reviewers have noted, "Grooving in Chi" is an excellent description of the Chicago riots during the Democratic National Convention in 1968.

Finally, pieces like "The Beautiful-Ugly Art of Lotte Lenya," "When Film Gets Good," "Rolling Over Our Nerve-Endings [William Burroughs]," and "Writers at Work [Henry Green]" prove that he could write serious criticism.

Through it all flows that wonderful, irreverent, sense of humor.

Good stuff.

Sex, drugs, rock'n'roll...and the "quality lit game"
Wow -- here's two hundred fifty pages of wildly unclassifiable, wholly entertaining (and, yes indeed, unspeakable) bits and pieces of Southern's magazine writings, interviews, stories, and routines. A genuine literary anarchist with a wicked wit and an incredible eye for detail -- his Esquire piece on the Chicago Democratic Convention in 1968 is classic eyewitness journalism -- Southern was also a screenwriter (Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove"), a satirist, and an agent provocateur who relished goading people into revealing their true personalities. Along the way, poor E.B. White of The New Yorker comes out the worse for Terry's over-the-top interogration techniques, I'm afraid.

Fueled by booze, pills and powders, Southern swings through the decades not just as an observer but a participant at the center of it all (writer for National Lampoon and SNL, pals with Lennon, the Stones and Burroughs, as well as Kubrick and George Plimpton). It seems there's hardly a scene he doesn't make, including an appearance on the cover of "Sgt. Pepper." The book is filled with newly discovered bits of weirdness -- a lost scene for Kubrick's 1980 draft of "Eyes Wide Shut" then called "Rhapsody," an outrageous SNL sketch idea taken from National Enquirer called "Worm Ball Man," incendiary letters sent to the editors of Ms. Magazine, and a pitch to Lenny Bruce for a part in Southern's adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's "The Loved One" in 1964.

It's easy to romanticize (and criticize) the alcohol and drug-taking frenzy of so much of Southern's work, yet the sheer variety of it all (of which this book is just a part) is amazing, not to mention the amount of "quality lit" he produced. Thanks to Nile Southern and everyone involved in bringing this compilation to print.

He's Too Hip, Baby!
It's hard to imagine today, but there once was a time when the simple written word could send shudders of fear and loathing down the spines of mainstream America. And no one gave Mr and Mrs Front Porch USA the shakes more than Terry Southern. His novel "Candy" was banned and branded as pornography before it even reached our shores; his take on the military in "Doc Strangelove" earned him the label "pinko." But, like all great satirists (which he certainly was) know, "telling it like it is" often times means "taking your lumps like a man." And Terry took plenty of lumps, and humps, but never let his trials and tribs get in the way of "making it hot" for people. Although the mighty lions of 60's pop culture are now - alas! -all nearly gone, this volume of previously unseen TS works serves as an excellent reminder of a time when humor meant more than just being funny, and words alone had the power to give people the coniptions. And as "Now Dig This!" reminds us, while Southern took on all comers and suffered no fool gladly, he was a gentle giant who did so whilst nudging us playfully in the ribs - not poking us in the eye. "Now Dig This!" is a great addition to any modern humor library, and a worthy addition to the Southern canon. Bravo.

the long awaited sequel to Red Dirt Marijuana
In these heartless consumerist times, irony has become debased. Thus the arrival of this anthology of previously uncollected and unpublished work by Terry Southern is not only a delightful surprise, but profoundly neccesary. Just as his 1967 anthology, Red Dirt Marijuana, proved that Southern was not just the great black humorist of the post-WWII era, but a great short story writer and essayist, so does Now Dig This affirm that status. No one has ever managed to quite duplicate Southern's mastery of so many forms: the letter as put-on, gonzo journalism, literary criticism, screenwriting and short fiction. Southern fans will be delighted at the inclusion of "Heavy Put-Away", a superb essay on Kurt Weill, and reminscences of Stanley Kubrick and Frank O'Hara. For first time readers, I have only envy. Now Dig This will be your all expenses paid ticket to a world of darkness and laughter. To paraphrase Ringo Starr, who acted in adaptations of two Southern novels, Candy and The Magic Christian, Buy a Terry Southern book today. Now Dig This is a very, very good place to start your spending spree. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (6)

Absolutely Brilliant!
A brilliant treatise on the question of identity, reality, normalicy, obsession and sanity. Is Dr Eichner obsessed with Treevly, or is it the other way 'round? Does it matter? Can't wait for the film version.

flash and filigree
this was the first terry southern novel i've read. the frantic irrational tone this book creates is great. the characters are right on par with o'toole's "confederacy of dunces". as well it reminds me a bit of vonnegut, without the omniscient narration. 4 instead of 5 because it was a bit open ended and short. probably would be a better movie. but of course that was southern's primary strength.

Bizarre!Savage!Funny!Twisted! Briliant!
"Flash and Filigree" is like nothing you'll ever read.Satirist, Terry Southern's first novel is one wild ride into the realms of insanity and obsession.The story begins with a head-scratcher of ameeting between a Doctor and a Patient, and soon has them in a game of catand mouse in the streets of 1950's Los Angelas.I loved the way in whichSouthern toys with the reader:Who's crazy? Who's insane? Who's paranoid?Who's obsessed with who? Who's following who?Southern is relentless!Ithink I could do without the story of the nurse, which has nothing to dowith the doctor's or the patient's.I also loved some of the supportingcharacters: The drunken detective, the pot-head bar girl, etc.This bookis as sick and bizarre a novel about obsession and paranoia as any bookI've read.But what a ride.HIGHLY, HIGHLY recomended.Simply Briliant!

Fans of Cronenburg's _Crash_ would enjoy this read.
Terry Southern is a master satirist in _Flash and Filigree_. Fans of David's Cronenburg's _Crash_ will certainly consume this book in a single sitting... simply to follow the exploits of Dr. Eichner (who would havebeen a nice addition to the movie; I guess Cronenburg didn't do hishomework). Southern handles this whirlwind, insanely paced novel withtotalitarian precision and makes every word (regardless of how trivial theword may seem) count. Southern was doing the gig that Tarrantino is nowdoing in the 50s. Southern also is not fearful of the controversial and heboldly depicts the daterape of Babs by Ralph. The scene is trash, but, byGod, Southern writes trash perfectly. Besides, scenes such as this put thebread on the tables of MacKinnon, and Andrea Dworkin (this scene would havefit nicely into Dworkin's theoretical manifesto _Intercourse_). Thecharacters are unforgetable (in fact, they have inspired a few charactersin some of the stories that I have written). In summation: this review ischaotic, the book is not, buy it, or rot in boredom as you remain a slaveto television.

Creepy doctors, fast cars, and hemp cocktails!
Southern's first novel is an extended gag, following the exploits of the dermatologist Frederick Eichner as he is led through the strange underworld of the hipster by a series of weird occurrences involving cancer cultures.Hilarious and outrageous (a famous scene recounts the taping of a game show called "What's My Disease?"), the book is an example of Southern's keenly moral satirical sense as well as of his crafted, elegant writing. Influenced in style by Southern's mentor Henry Green, "Flash and Filigree" adheres to Green's theory of fiction: "If you can make the reader laugh, he is apt to get careless and keep on reading."Indeed. ... Read more

Product Description
This work offers a critical biography and analysis of the varied literary output of novels, short stories, screenplays, poetry, articles and essays of the American writer Terry Southern. The book explores Southern's career from his early days in Paris with friends like Samuel Beckett, to swinging London in such company as the Rolling Stones, to filmmaking in Los Angeles and Europe with luminaries like Stanley Kubrick. His writings are examined in chronological order. David Tully was granted unprecedented access by Terry Southern's family to rare, unpublished work from his private archives. This study offers the first comprehensive examination of the career of this major American writer. ... Read more

Product Description
Terry Southern was integral to the avant-garde in postwar Paris, the Beat Years, swinging London, New York and Hollywood in the psychedelic sixties. He wrote the screenplays for "Easy Rider", "Dr Strangelove" and "Barbarella", suggested to Stanley Kubrick that the film "A Clockwork Orange", and created some of the most enduring landmarks of popular culture. "A Grand Guy" tells Southern's story - from his experiences during the Second World War to his appearance on the cover of "Sgt Pepper", from the lecture halls and jazz clubs of 1940s Paris to touring Texas with the Rolling Stones - providing a fresh portrait of one of the most enigmatic icons of the twentieth century. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

A very long losing streak
I'd heard writer Terry Southern spoken of as an almost mythical character. Knowing nothing of what he'd actually done, I hoped to come away from this read with a deeper understanding of the writing craft. I have, but in a way that surprised me.
Either Terry Southern was a phenomenal talent whose value Lee Hill doesn't quite sell, or Terry Southern was an accomplished pretender and hanger-on whose total creative output amounted, in the end, to a puff of smoke.
After reading, I lean to the latter. Despite front-and-center visibility as a member of the beat generation, and friends who were the most famous creative artists of the day, Terry Southern never really did anything memorable himself - and for me doesn't warrant inclusion among the greats.
Yes, he did things with panache - I'll give him that. His semi-pornographic novel Candy sold well. He probably deserved more credit, too, than he ended up with for the creation of films like Easy Rider and Dr. Strangelove. He didn't get it. Kubrick did, and Fonda and Hopper, and that's the bottom line: Southern comes up short. In fact, A Grand Guy reads like a recap of a very long losing streak punctuated with a very emphatic period - fired from his job as writer on Saturday Night Live.
In truth, I liked Terry Southern more before I read this book, than now, but there is still a lesson to be learned here.
In Hollywood and New York, writers are lower than dirt. Necessary, yes, because the ideas and words needed to make good drama come from them, but the moment the creativity is sucked out - the movers and shakers have a story - the writer gets pushed out of the way and in the end is lucky to end up, like Terry Southern did on the cover of the Beatles album Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, as little more than another face in the crowd.
Art Tirrell is also just a face in the crowd. His 2007 novel, "The Secret Ever Keeps", contains "...simply the best underwater scenes I've ever read..." but has also been described as "...the best adventure story nobody ever heard of". http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1601640048/

The Definitive Biography of Terry Southern
Unfortunately, it is not terribly well written.

What Lee Hill apparently did was compose a laundry list of everything that Terry Southern ever wrote, sort it chronologically, and then string it together with whatever biographical material was available. What is missing is any kind of objective analysis, fawning praise taking its place. Terry was a good guy, but that doesn't mean he was a great writer.

As Hill points out, it is difficult to assess Southern as a writer because so many of his collaborators claim credit for much of what he did (e.g., Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda on "Easy Rider"). Thus, his reputation has to rise or fall based upon a few major works -- "Flash and Filigree," "Candy" (coauthored with Mason Hoffenberg, a junky), "The Magic Christian," "Red Dirt Marijuana," and the screenplay for "Dr. Strangelove" (for which Stanley Kubrick also claimed credit). Lee Hill concludes that "The Magic Christian" is the best of these. I generally agree, although there is a story in "Red Dirt Marijuana," titled "Razor Fight," that is on a par with anything Hemingway wrote.

Terry's son, Nile, has published a collection of his shorter works, "Now Dig This: The unspeakable writings of Terry Southern" that provides additional indications of greatness and is well worth purchasing.

An impossible way of life
Students of American humor will recall the bitter end of Mark Twain's life:anti-war, atheistically critical of human beings, loosing all his money trying to protect his investment in a machine to automate the printing business.A GRAND GUY THE ART AND LIFE OF TERRY SOUTHERN does not have anything about Mark Twain or printing, but it reveals a lot about the entertainment business in the second half of the 20th century.I was interested in how Terry Southern put in some time in World War Two as a young man.He was so young, he didn't get into combat until the Battle of the Bulge, a winter offensive by the Germans after D-Day, June 6, 1944, when the guys in the 435 Quartermaster Platoon were so close to the action that a buddy standing beside Terry was killed.(p. 18).That might account for Terry's appreciation of William Burroughs, which might be a high point in the irony in this book:

"Then Chuck Barris, the mercurial producer of such TV shows as `The Dating Game,' took out an option on NAKED LUNCH and sent Southern and Burroughs first-class plane tickets to talk story at his Bel-Air mansion.The two literary outlaws were picked up by a chaffeur-driven Daimler at the airport and taken to their audience with Barris.

"Barris was just all-out insanity," says Burrough's longtime assistant, James Grauerholz."The story is that he said, `I finally read the book last night.Can you take out the sex and drugs?'Terry and Bill looked at each other and said, `We'll try,' "(p. 201).

This is such a perfect reflection of the state of entertainment values; the people in this book kept betting their lives on being able to come up with something that will draw big at the box office.On the same page, Jerry Schatzberg remembers how much fun he had writing a script with Terry Southern of `A Cool Million' by Nathanael West:"He was brilliant with dialogue.And we had a lot of fun."(p. 201)

Good spadework in a first-ever bio
Lee Hill was disserved by his editors, who permitted him to compile a 'Terry Southern and his times' tome that is chock-a-block with cliches and party lists, and lacking in critical focus of the man. It tries to be both cultural history and biography, and fails on both counts. However, this is the first and badly needed biography of a man who brought fame and fortune to dozens of other people, and Hill deserves to be commended for his years of spade-work.

Hill has no feel for American culture. He is apparently a Canadian who spent some time in London and is primarily a film historian. His sense of cultural history in a broader scale is ludicrously third-hand, delivered in broad generalities on the order of, "America was in the grip of repressive McCarthyism in the early fifties," or "Many well-meaning people were concerned about the plight of the negro."

Paradoxically, Hill titles his book 'A Grand Guy,' although his lack of feel for modern American cultural history makes it impossible for him to tell us where Terry Southern's 'Grand Guy' persona came from. The 'Grand Guy' act, a compound of heartiness, mock-haughty superciliousness, and college-humor hyperbole, was a standard persona for those of Southern's generation. Many of Southern's contemporaries (from Gore Vidal to Bill Buckley and even Norman Mailer) played the same notes on their fiddles. This act was a continuation of the tongue-in-cheek snootiness you find in the early years of the Luce publications (where Time letter writers would be accorded a put-down caption on the order of, "Let Subscriber Brailsford Mend His Ways!") as well as The New Yorker (think of Peter Arno's captions or E.B. White's snotty captions for squibs pulled from local newspapers). This was the accepted "hip" idiom for the 20th Century Quality-Lit man, and it reached its full effulgence in the Esquire of the 1960s, when an unrelenting, over-the-top mockery of sacred cows became the mark of sophistication. Southern's tragedy, perhaps, is that he got stuck in what was essentially a passing style of ephemeral journalism, and he was unable to grow beyond it, and he had no friends to encourage him to grow beyond it. Thus, by the early 70s, his output was reduced to self-parodying letters to his friend and imitator at the National Lampoon, Michael O'Donoghue.

A BIOGRAPHY OF AHIPSTER NOBODY KNOWS ?
Why bother with a bio of hipster Terry Southern?Author tries a tongue in cheek run, but that does not work . Southern, by this account , was an alcoholic who made his livingscribbling lines for B movies. Check that the author is a Canadian who does not have the slightest idea of what life was like in Terry Southern's haunts.Read this only if you wish to see what low grade stuff publishers are shoeveling onto the market these days . ... Read more

Product Description
In 1964, novelist/screenwriter Terry Southern met actress Gail Gerber on the set of The Loved One. Though they were both married, there was an instant connection and they remained a couple until his death 30 years later. In her memoir, Gail recalls what life was like with "the hippest guy on the planet." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Well worth the price.
Trippin' with Terry Southern is a tragic story, in a way, of a gifted writer whose best efforts bring nothing but financial woe.Gail Gerber makes it clear from the outset that his setback was not for lack of talent.He had it in spades.

As a young actress and ballerina, Gerber left her native Canada for Hollywood.She became a beach bit actor and appeared in two Elvis Presley films before landing a role in Tony Richardson's The Loved One.This was 1964, and Terry Southern, who wrote the screenplay, would spend the rest of his life with her.

Southern was hip with the times, as they used to say, and moved with an influential set:Kubrick, Sellers, Burroughs, Genet, Plimpton, Torn, Segal, Bruce, Nilsson.He had a staunch ally in Rip Torn who, in a defamation suit against Dennis Hopper, dusted off a copy of Southern's Easy Rider script as evidence in court.Torn won his case, and in turn the world learned that much of the poignancy in the film's dialogue, most notably in the dopey campfire scene, was ripped from the pages of Southern's writing tablet.Hopper denied it, thus denying Southern his pay.

Of all his efforts, however, Southern is best remembered for his work with Peter Sellers:Casino Royale, The Magic Christian, Dr. Strangelove.In the latter, in which Sellers played three characters, the battle cry against the establishment never rang louder, and showed Southern at his satiric best.

Trippin' often reads like Carlotta Monti's memoir of W.C. Fields.Like Gerber, Monti was considerably younger than her man.Both women tried and gave up acting for more domestic roles.Neither couple married and the men drank a lot.In spite of it all, the women remained devoted to their older, talented and oftentimes insufferable men.The glaring difference was wealth.Whereas Fields was loaded--he rented in luxury--Southern found himself late in life trying to collect unemployment.

Gerber's memoir tells a sobering story of a standout writer who for all his successes remained not only underappreciated but grossly underpaid.

Great read from Gerber and Lisanti
I have just finished reading Trippin' and I highly recommend it.I was not familiar with Terry Southern or his work.I was motivated to read the book, because I was interested in the starlet career of Gail Gerber.Now, I am interested in delving more into the work of Mr. Southern.As noted in a prevous review, this book is not an essay on the works of Terry Southern.Instead, it provides a wonderful look into the fascinating life of a legendary hipster and his longtime companion.Mr. Lisanti and Ms. Gerber have provided an engaging and easy read, providing enough saucy info to come across as genuine and thorough, but at the same time avoiding too much salacious information.It is fascinating to read about the entertainment world of the 60s and sobering to read about the struggles at the end of Mr. Southern's life.I was left with a feeling that I really got to know Mr. Southern and Ms. Gerber.If you enjoy reading biographies involving the entertainment industry, don't miss this one.

Incredible Book!
I have just finished reading "Trippin' with Terry Southern," and I'm beyond-impressed. I was one of Terry Southern's writing students at Columbia University in the early '90s, and Gail and Tom Lisanti have really captured this great and generous writer's fun, mischievous, magnanimous personality in a brisk, cool, immediate way. The book has been written very engagingly, and it's a great eye into the last thirty-or-so years of Southern's life, which were fraught with great good humor and sadness, in equal measure. When you read this book, you'll really feel like you "know" Terry Southern, and I can't recommend this book highly enough.

A trip worth takin'
I had never heard of actress Gail Gerber before reading this book and knew Terry Southern mostly from being the co-writer of Dr. Strangelove and Easy Rider.So I was pleasantly surprised to be drawn into Gail's entertaining 30 year trip with him.The early chapters are an interesting glimpse into the making of Gail's beach party and Elvis movies as well as Terry's films. His second film, The Loved One, is where they met. But especially enthralling to me were the later chapters where they are broke and living on the East Coast as Terry tries unsuccessfully to sell screenplay after screenplay. If you are looking for a critical essay of Terry's work, this is not the book for you, but if you are a fan of Hollywood I highly recommend it. The chapter on Easy Rider, where Gail refutes most of what Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper had been saying about Terry's contribution to the film, is worth the price alone. ... Read more

Product Description
Oysters Evangeline, Southern Fried Chicken and Chocolate Voodoo Cake may have been born in Dixie, but Terry Thompson's timesaving tips and simple instructions make Southern cooking feel right at home in any kitchen. Historical anecdotes and a look at cultural influence on cuisine highlight these mouth-watering recipes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Spectacular!
This is my second Terry Thompson cookbook, the other being her Cajun-Creole one, and it is fantastic.Every recipe in it that I have tried so far has been a winner.A few weeks ago I made stuffed pork loin, sweet potatoes and apples and smothered green beans for a dinner party, all out of this book.They were all smash hits.

What a great cookbook
Among my Southern cookbooks, this is the one that's 100% dependable. I haven't made anything that's not outstanding. An old standby like Country Captain turns out a triumph. The Pecan Chess Pie is the best pie I've evereaten. And the writing is terrific. One of the best cookbooks I've everseen. ... Read more

Product Description

Some of the best cross-country skiing trails in Canada can be found in Southern Ontario, within easy driving distance of major metropolitan centres. Avid Nordic skier Terry Burt-Gerrans travelled to over 20 locations and tested dozens of diverse trails to produce this lively and informative guide. Whether you are looking for a challenging workout on hilly terrain or a pleasant glide through wooded countryside, this book provides a variety of wonderful suggestions.

Product Description
Within southern Scotland, a vast region which spans the breadth of the country between the Clyde-Forth Canal and the English border, lie well over 200 mountains, offering a complete contrast to the rugged grandeur of the Highlands and an alternative to the Lakes and the Pennines. The author of this book has visited all the mountain groups of the Southern Uplands, and presents 40 walks that take in areas of interest and beauty, and are suitable both for those taking their first tentative steps and for more experienced walkers. Straightforward maps and route descriptions are accompanied by colour photographs, tales of local history, and information about indigenous flora and fauna. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Southern would have been amused by the word re"hash".
Southern's last novel, completed in 1992, was the result of an on-again, off-again thirty-year effort to write a real exploration of his childhood in rural Texas.Although it borrows settings and scenes from stories originally completed in the 50s, the novel delves much further into the life of the young Texan Harold and his move into adolescence.A strange coming-of-age novel it is indeed, since Harold's introductions to the world of adult life are not through baseball, fishing, or books, but through marijuana, knife fights, and panty-peeping; the book is very much Southern's version of "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man." A poignant and elegantly comic memoir of youth.

Get Red Dirt Marijuana instead
This book is a rehash of the short stories published in "Red Dirt Marijuana and other tastes", which are more consise, better focused, and include some Reporting Mr. Southern did placing him a few years ahead of Hunter Thompson in the Gonzo Sweepstakes. ... Read more