Budd Schulberg - 1914
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San Pedro High School in San Pedro, California
Read another essay on Budd Schulberg written by California student Lindsey Russell.
Budd Schulberg was born in New York City, New York on March 27, 1914. His father, Benjamin P. Schulberg, a producer in the
newly erected motion-picture industry, moved the family to Hollywood, California after WWI. By 1925, as general manager of Paramount Famous-Lasky studio, Benjamin P. Schulberg was
one of the most powerful forces in the movie industry. Schulberg's mother, Adeline (Jaffe) Schulberg, aspired to raise him with traditional Jewish
values. Schulberg and his literary works have been deeply influenced by the pressure of both his father's position and his mother's cultural expectations. I. Biography
Schulberg's childhood was filled with both excitement and anxiety. His father's success and popularity as a producer provided many opportunities for Schulberg but also caused
him to be insecure. Eventually his father's power in Hollywood declined; his parents' marriage dissolved and he left Hollywood to attend Dartmouth on the East Coast. In 1936
Schulberg graduated from Dartmouth and married Virginia Ray. Following his graduation, he returned to Hollywood to begin a screenwriting career. One of his most noted
assignments in his early days as a screenwriter was a script written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, "Winter Carnival." Wide acclaim came to Schulberg in 1941 with the publication of his first novel, What Makes Sammy Run?
The novel was an immediate and controversial success creating the poster-boy of Hollywood sleaze, Sammy Glick. In 1942, Schulberg was divorced from his
first wife with whom he had had a child. He has since been married three times and has had four children. Schulberg began to love boxing at the age of twelve, when his father took him to the fights
at the Hollywood Legion. Schulberg continued to write incorporating boxing into much of his work, including the novel, The Harder They Fall; the nonfiction book, Loser and Still Champion
; and the character of Terry Malloy from the novel Waterfront, which was adapted into the author's best-known and most acclaimed film, On the Waterfront. Schulberg's collaboration with Elia Kazan on
On the Waterfront produced a rare Hollywood film that examined social and political ills in America. Schulberg again collaborated with Kazan on the lesser-known film, A Face in the Crowd. The novels,
Sanctuary V, Everything that Moves, and Moving Pictures are among his more recent. Between his novels and screenplays he has been Sport's Illustrated's first boxing editor
and has covered title bouts for Playboy, Esquire, Newsday, and the New York Post. II. Literary Works What Makes Sammy Run?
is the story of a man's quest for power in the Hollywood film industry during the 1930's. The novel is narrated by Al Manheim, who firsts meets Sammy
Glick while Glick is a copy boy at Manheim's New York newspaper. Glick goes from copy boy to columnist by running around the office manipulating anyone who will listen to him.
By stealing a script from the very talented but timid Julian Blumberg, Glick weasels his way into Hollywood. Manheim moves out to Hollywood to try his luck at screenwriting and
finds that Glick hasn't changed—he's still as double crossing and ambitious as ever. Manheim becomes Glick's friend, not because he wants to but because he is obsessed with
finding out "What makes Sammy run?" The book represents the lack of morals in the fast and aggressive environment that the Hollywood film industry created in its beginnings. The Harder They Fall
exposes the corruption in professional boxing. An uncompassionate fight promoter and his press agent bombard a young Argentine peasant. The sport he loves eventually leads to his betrayal and destruction by connivers.
Sparring with Hemingway: And Other Legends of the Fight Game is a collection of Schulberg's observations of the sport of boxing. The stories capture the sights, sounds,
and sometimes even the smells of the fight game that he has grown a passion for. This collection of essays and reportage from 1954 to 1994 offer vivid descriptions of the great
fights and the great fighters, but also provide Schulberg's reflections on the social history of boxing and recall his sparring match with Ernest Hemmingway, when the two boxing
aficionados had a verbal (almost physical) confrontation. On the Waterfront (the screenplay) was a result of Schulberg's one year investigation of
the waterfront and its neighbors. As the story develops, Terry Malloy becomes an informer on the illegal activities that Schulberg discovered. The film suggests that the
government can do something about social injustice and insists on the idea that in moral conflicts between right and wrong there are bound to be casualties. III. Sammy Glick and Los Angeles in the 1930's
Hollywood: Thousands of writers, actors, actresses, and producers came to Hollywood in the thirties including the fictional Sammy Glick and Al Manheim. Hollywood began making
movies in 1911, when the Nestor Company opened Hollywood's first film studio. As the industry grew, the town began to develop housing, banks, restaurants, clubs, and movie
places that catered to the enormous number of workers that movie making required. The Art Deco and Moderne styles of architecture fit the community's aspirations of glamour
and sophistication. Since the thirties, although some of the studio work remains in Hollywood, many stars have moved to Beverly Hills, and the glamour of Hollywood has moved with them. Pacific Coast Highway:
Al and his friend, Kit drive north on the Pacific Coast Highway, through the beach towns of Santa Monica and Malibu, after they visit ghostwriter, Julian Blumberg, who lives near Topanga Canyon. Pasadena:
The city of Pasadena, which is part of Los Angeles County, is mentioned many times in the novel. During the 1920's, Pasadena enjoyed the reputation as a tourist center
and winter resort for the wealthy. The tourist economy was disrupted by the Depression but during the 1930's remained a desirable place to live. The city is home to the famous Parade of Roses.
Westwood Village: To Al Manheim UCLA "is either the model for Hollywood's version of campus life or vice versa." Westwood Village is the home of UCLA. They have grown
together with a unique blend of culture, academia, and art. The original village, constructed in 1929, was a haven for attractive shops, intimate restaurants, and an outdoor
skating ring. UCLA was also opened in 1929 and created Westwood Village's social and academic atmosphere. The village is located near Sunset Boulevard and the City of Beverly Hills. Clubs:
The following clubs were all very popular Los Angeles clubs during the 1930's where great screenwriters, producers, and slime balls like Sammy Glick went: The Vendome, Al Levy's, Brown Derby, The Cellar,
The Triangle Club, and Trocadero. IV. Works by Budd Schulberg
V. Sources
What Makes Sammy Run?
The Harder They Fall
The Disenchanted
Waterfront
Some Faces in the Crowd
Sanctuary V
Everything That Moves
Love, Action, Laughter and Other Sad Tales
Loser and Still Champion: Muhammad Ali
The Four Seasons of Success
Swan Watch (with Geraldine Brooks)
Moving Pictures: Memories of a Hollywood Prince
Writer in America (Four Seasons, revised and updated)
A Face in the Crowd (screenplay, with an introduction by Elia Kazan)
Across the Everglades (screenplay, with an introduction)
The Disenchanted (play, with Harvey Breit)
What Makes Sammy Run? (musical libretto, with Stuart Schulberg)
On the Waterfront (with an afterword)
From the Ashes—Voices from Watts (edited, with an introduction)
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This essay was submitted by a student of Grant Farley, a teacher at San Pedro High School in San Pedro, California.