Word: spielbergisms
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Leah Adler still has enough vim to run a kosher restaurant in West Los Angeles with her second husband Bernie while moonlighting as an extra in the Amazing Stories episode directed by Clint Eastwood. Back in the early '60s, though, in the Phoenix suburb of Scottsdale, Leah Spielberg could summon just enough energy to ride the roller coaster called Young Steven. "He was my first, so I didn't know that everybody didn't have kids like him," she recalls with a happy shrug. "I just hung on for dear life. He was always the center of attention, ruling...
...Spielberg's memories of his childhood (see following story, page 62) are as dramatic and fantastic as you might expect from a master fabulist. Could real life have been nearly so much fun? "It was creative and chaotic at our house," says Steven's father Arnold, 68, a computer executive with twelve patents to his name. "I'd help Steven construct sets for his 8-mm movies, with toy trucks and papier mache mountains. At night I'd tell the kids cliffhanger tales about characters like Joanie Frothy Flakes and Lenny Ludhead. I see pieces of me in Steven...
...every Spielberg "family" film since Close Encounters, the mother figure is the repository of strength and common sense; Dad is either absent or a bit vague, less in touch with the forces of wonder. As described by Steven, Arnold was neither a hero nor a villain, but a hardworking perfectionist. "Steven's love and mastery of technology definitely come from our father," says Steven's sister Sue, 31, a mother of two who lives outside Washington. "Mom was a classical pianist, artistic and whimsical. She led the way for Steven to be as creative as he wanted...
...next day a young man wearing a business suit and carrying a briefcase strode past the gate guard, waved and heaved a silent sigh. He had made it! "It was my father's briefcase," Spielberg says. "There was nothing in it but a sandwich and two candy bars. So every day that summer I went in my suit and hung out with directors and writers and editors and dubbers. I found an office that wasn't being used, and became a squatter. I went to a camera store, bought some plastic name titles and put my name in the building...
...years later, Spielberg enrolled at California State University, Long Beach, but it is safe to say he matriculated at Universal U. Cramming 15 1/2 units into two frenetic days of classes a week, he was able to spend three days on the studio lot, asking executives to watch his films. "They were embarrassed when I asked them to remove their pictures from the wall so I could project my little silent movies. They said, 'If you make your films in 16-mm or, even better, 35-mm, then they'll get seen.' So I immediately went to work...