Word: angellic
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...Cornell Woolrich, the famous mystery writer, received a fan letter from his old Columbia University professor Mark Van Doren, complimenting him on the movie adapted from his novel ?Black Angel.? Woolrich replied that he?d seen the film in a Manhattan theater and added, ?I was so ashamed when I came out of there. All I could keep thinking of in the dark was: Is that what I wasted my whole life...
...versions of his work brought in the bulk of his income. In the 1940s he wrote 11 novels; Hollywood filmed eight of them within three years of their publication. True, Woolrich was not consulted when screenwriters gave his plots different endings (?No Man of Her Own?), different murderers (?Black Angel?). Authors rarely were then. Shakespeare and the Bible got rewritten with the same blithe abandon...
...hero who sees things no one believes (?Phantom Lady,? ?Fear Is the Night,? ?Night Has a Thousand Eyes,? ?The Window,? ?Martha?). The heroine whom love drives to deception (?No Man of Her Own?), murder (?The Bride Wore Black,? ?Mississippi Mermaid?) or near-death (?Martha?). The obtuse cop (?Phantom,? ?Black Angel,? ?Fear,? ?Thousand Eyes,? ?The Window,? ?Rear Window?). The letter with ominous news (?No Man,? ?Rear,? ?Mermaid?). The murderous or suicidal impulses on an el platform or train overpass (?Phantom,? ?Thousand,? ?The Window,? ?No Man?). The race to prevent an innocent person?s death (?Phantom,? ?Angel,? ?Thousand?) - which, Woolrich made clear...
...they are misinterpreting it with amazing predictability. Instead of learning the lesson that it's possible to get attention for doing what you have always done, the new crop of career revisionists is trying to get attention for doing what Tony Bennett has always done: sing standards. Former teen angel Mandy Moore has a new standards album; even legendary cradle robber Rod Stewart has two. Standards are now perceived as the foolproof way for singers to flex their urbanity and be congratulated on their good taste while also appealing to those aging boomers who still roam the record racks...
...possible to get attention for doing what you have always done, the new crop of career revisionists is trying to get attention for doing what Tony Bennett has always done: sing standards. Robbie Williams sold millions crooning the classics with Swing When You're Winning in 2001; former teen angel Mandy Moore has a new standards album; even legendary cradle robber Rod Stewart has two. Standards are now perceived as the foolproof way for singers to flex their urbanity and be congratulated on their good taste while also appealing to those aging boomers who still roam the record racks...