Mad as Hell: The Making of Network and the Fateful Vision of the Angriest Man in Movies (35 page)

Notes

The page numbers for the notes that appeared in the print version of this title are not in your e-book. Please use the search function on your e-reading device to search for the relevant passages documented or discussed.

All citations beginning CP, followed by a box number and a folder number, refer to the Paddy Chayefsky papers (1907–1998, bulk 1952–1981), archived at the Billy Rose Theatre Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, New York, NY.

1. The Imposter

Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood couldn’t “sing for shit”: Shaun Considine,
Mad as Hell: The Life and Work of Paddy Chayefsky
(New York: Random House, 1994), p. 249.

They were three Jewish show business veterans kibitzing around a table: This story is derived from an author’s interview with Howard Gottfried, Mar. 9, 2012, and from Chayefsky’s own fictionalized account of the event in the pilot treatment of
The Imposters
(CP, Box 127, Folder 8).

“television has been a kind medium”: Paddy Chayefsky,
Television Plays
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1955), pp. ix–xiv.

“Are people any wiser than they were a hundred years ago?”: Paddy Chayefsky,
The Collected Works of Paddy Chayefsky: The Television Plays
(New York: Applause Books, 1994), p. 79.

Chayefsky wandered away from rehearsals and encountered a leftover sign: Tom Stempel,
Storytellers to the Nation: A History of American Television Writing
(New York: Continuum Publishing, 1992), p. 49.

“Sooner or later,” he declares, “there comes a point in a man’s life”: Chayefsky,
Television Plays
, p. 154.

“You don’t like her. My mother don’t like her”: Ibid., p. 182.

“it tried to show love to be a very real emotion”: Paddy Chayefsky, “Playwright Turns Self-Critic,”
TV Guide
, Oct. 22, 1955.

“We thought that ‘Marty’ was based upon, a lot, on Paddy Chayefsky”: Interview for PBS,
The Golden Age of Television
, Aug. 29, 1981.

born on January 29, 1923, in the Bronx home of his parents: CP, Box 166, Folder 3.

“the rich Bronx—in the Riverdale section—not the Odets Bronx”: J. P. Shanley, “Big Decision on a Bronx Gridiron,”
New York Times
, Dec. 12, 1954.

His bar mitzvah was held at a storefront synagogue on West 234th Street: Considine,
Mad as Hell
, p. 12.

“My parents weren’t writers but they were great readers”: Carol Taylor, “I’m Never a Prima Donna at Work,”
World-Telegram and Sun
(New York), June 7, 1958.

a machine-gun-wielding infantryman in the army’s 104th Division: CP, Box 166, Folder 3. According to his discharge papers, Chayefsky incurred the injury on Nov. 23, 1944.

“We were out on patrol”: Considine,
Mad as Hell
, p. 22.

“Paddy is built like an office safe”: Joshua Logan,
Movie Stars, Real People, and Me
(New York: Dell, 1978), p. 116.

“I thought I was the sloppiest soldier in the Army”: Helen Dudar (with Sally Hammond and Jack Fox), “A Post Portrait: Paddy Chayefsky,”
New York Post
, Jan. 4, 1960.

“I copied it out word for word”: Elliot Norton, “Chayefsky Learned by Copying a Play,”
Boston Daily Record
, Mar. 14, 1958.

“I stormed and ranted”: Philip Minoff, “Chayefsky Churns Ahead,”
Cue
, Nov. 28, 1953.

“Nobody called me to tell me what night they were putting it on”: George Anthony, “Chayefsky’s Latest—All Fabricated, All Fiction and All True,”
Toronto Sun
, Mar. 14, 1976.

“the most perishable item known to man”: Rod Serling,
Patterns
(New York: Bantam, 1957), introduction.

“He had the gift of melding significance and meaning and humor”: Author interview with Carol Serling, May 23, 2012.

“My position is nonnegotiable”: John Brady,
The Craft of the Screenwriter
(New York: Simon and Schuster, 1981), p. 37.

All his demands were accepted: Reg Ovington, “TV’s Fair-Haired Boy,”
Pictorial TView
, Mar. 27, 1955.

“studio story editors better spend more time at home”: Ronald Holloway, review of
Marty
,
Variety
, Mar. 22, 1955.

“the whole truth and nothing but the truth about the unattached male”: “Cinema: The New Pictures,”
Time
, Apr. 18, 1955.

“The industry has no pride and no culture”: Joe Hyams, “Chayefsky Assails TV as Stupid and Doomed,”
New York Herald Tribune
, Sept. 2, 1957.

“frankly demanding to be relieved of the epithet”: Paddy Chayefsky, “Not So Little,”
New York Times
, July 15, 1956.

“a short, stocky and heavy-shouldered chap”: Minoff, “Chayefsky Churns Ahead.”

“a squarish, hefty young playwright”: “People Are Talking About…,”
Vogue,
Oct. 15, 1955.

“a chunky, Bronx-born, reformed éclair addict”: Dudar, “A Post Portrait.”

“Mr. Chayefsky did not wear a hat”: Don Ross, “Chayefsky Is Bearded and Busy,”
New York Herald Tribune
, Jan. (possibly Feb.) 22, 1959.

“Once they got control, it would be so dehydrated”: “Chayefsky Walks Out on Psychiatric Series in Hassle over Control,”
Variety
, Oct. 25, 1958.

“They did everything possible to divert our attention”: Dudar, “A Post Portrait.”

he was “sick of” Broadway due to “economic futility”: “Irked Chayefsky Says He’s ‘Sick’ of Broadway, Will Work Elsewhere,” Associated Press, June 3, 1962.

“I should never have tried to direct it, too”: Frances Herridge, “Chayefsky Says It with Humor,”
New York Post
, Nov. 23, 1964.

“so rich, deep, comic and pitiable”: Clive Barnes, “Theater: ‘The Latent Heterosexual,’”
New York Times
, Mar. 22, 1968.

“the best platform to express meaningful drama”: Kay Gardella, “A Chayefsky Deal with CBS,”
Daily News
(New York), Dec. 8, 1967.

they struck a deal with CBS in July 1969: Val Adams, “Chayefsky Writing CBS-TV Pilot,”
Daily News
(New York), July 15, 1969.

a three-part
TV Guide
series he had been reading that summer: Richard Warren Lewis, “The Man on the 34th Floor,”
TV Guide
, July 12–18, 1969; July 19–25, 1969; and July 26–Aug. 1, 1969.

“We’re not in the business of good drama”: CP, Box 127, Folder 8.

“Well, Charley, what do you feel like doing?”: Ibid.

“Mike said, ‘I’m sorry—we can’t do this’”: Author interview with Howard Gottfried, Mar. 9, 2012.

“the hospital represents American society”: CP, Box 127, Folder 3.

The Latent Humanitarian
: A. H. Weiler, “What’s Up, Doc? Murder!”
New York Times
, Aug. 2, 1970.

“They didn’t bother you”: Author interview with Howard Gottfried, Mar. 9, 2012.

he “just couldn’t work” with Ritchie: Considine,
Mad as Hell
, p. 278.

“I’ve lost my raison d’etre, my purpose”: Paddy Chayefsky,
The Collected Works of Paddy Chayefsky: The Screenplays Vol. II
(New York: Applause Books, 1994), pp. 53–54.

in April 1972, Chayefsky gave a brief acceptance speech: Paddy Chayefsky, Academy Awards acceptance speech, Apr. 10, 1972,
aaspeechesdb.oscars.org/link/044-22/
.

“Those other four guys, they got mothers, too”: Ernest Tidyman, Academy Awards acceptance speech, Apr. 10, 1972,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uad8qcBIRS4
.

“someone had asked him to go up to Hefner’s”: Author interview with Warren Beatty, Nov. 8, 2012.

newer and more unconventional treatments, including the drug Elavil: Considine,
Mad as Hell
, p. 289.

“She was a perfectionist”: Author interview with Dan Chayefsky, Mar. 1, 2013.

In one instance she went into a frenzy: Considine,
Mad as Hell
, p. 335.

“It almost gave her withdrawal a cause”: Author interview with Dan Chayefsky, Mar. 1, 2013.

“He was a fortress, my dad”: Ibid.

Dan remained by himself in the family apartment: Considine,
Mad as Hell
, p. 294.

“I was just very self-destructive and very lost”: Author interview with Dan Chayefsky, Mar. 1, 2013.

“he brought this bonfire to his office”: Ibid.

he was not some “new-Mobe militant or placard carrier”: CP, Box 140, Folder 24.

“Six million went up with a snap of the finger”: G. Y. Dryansky, “Chayefsky: ‘Save the Jews,’”
Women’s Wear Daily
, 1971.

“I don’t know that it’s that guy”: Author interview with David Steinberg, May 10, 2012.

“These Arabs would like you to believe”: Display advertisement,
New York Times
, Dec. 17, 1973.

a screenplay set in the West Bank about a pair of police officers: CP, Box 123, Folder 3.

“There is a Jew dog here!” CP, Box 126, Folder 5.

“I’ll tell you about your civilized world!”: Ibid.

“Now, one might say it was in the contract”: Author interview with Howard Gottfried, Mar. 9, 2012.

“they said they couldn’t make it in Jerusalem”: Author interview with Maurice Spanbock, June 21, 2012.

“they broke up the fee for the whole bundle”: Author interview with Howard Gottfried, Mar. 9, 2012.

the IRS said
The Goddess
was Columbia’s property: “Limit Indies Loan Credits,”
Variety
, Feb. 21, 1973.

a tax bill of $86,770, plus a $5,248 penalty for late filing: “Chayefskys Are Losers,”
Variety
, Feb. 13, 1973.

“the main character is a revered and retired old rabbi”: CP, Box 137, Folder 10.

Your Place or Mine
: CP, Box 137, Folder 6.

“He said he could not master it”: Author interview with Dan Chayefsky, Mar. 1, 2013.

2. Strangelove-y as Hell

“I’m going to spend the day with you”: Author interview with Richard Wald, Feb. 2, 2012.

HUT ratings. Audience flow. The dark weeks
: CP, Box 91, Folder 9.

“I expected grunts”: Author interview with Richard Wald, Feb. 2, 2012.

“it is an indestructible and terrifying giant”: CP, Box 93, Folder 4.

“the American people are angry and want angry shows”: Ibid.

Chayefsky recorded the clockwork precision of their schedules: CP, Box 91, Folder 2.

a
60 Minutes
segment from March 10, 1974, titled “The Ratings War”: CP, Box 91, Folder 3.

“Cats, Dogs and Underdogs”: Les Brown, “Livelier and Longer TV News Spurs Hunt for Talent,”
New York Times
, Apr. 22, 1974.

“You win because you have a competitive edge”: Pat Polillo, Remarks to National Association of Television Program Executives convention, Los Angeles, Feb. 19, 1974.

“The Atlanta trip made it clear that there was nothing”: Author interview with Howard Gottfried, Mar. 9, 2012.

“the concept of RATINGS UBER ALLES”: CP, Box 91, Folder 9.

“FAUST
+
MEPHISTOPHELES today”: CP, Box 91, Folder 10.

“If you can get in four good hours a day”: Brady,
Craft of the Screenwriter
, p. 60.

haphazardly furnished with a piano: Ibid., pp. 31, 60.

The view his workspace offered: Joan Barthel, “Paddy Chayefsky: ‘TV Will Do Anything for a Rating. Anything!’”
New York Times
, Nov. 14, 1976.

“BY THE END OF THE PICTURE”: CP, Box 92, Folder 2.

“a tough, but righteous fellow”: CP, Box 91, Folder 1.

a nod to the baseball pitcher Harold “Prince Hal” Schumacher: Author interview with Howard Gottfried, Mar. 31, 2012.

“His method of doing this is to adopt a tabloid attitude”: CP, Box 92, Folder 1.

“ten minutes into the news cast he flips out”: Ibid.

“this time, his flip is not an unruly, profanity-ridden flip out”: Ibid.

“we put a raging prophet on the air, a prophet in the biblical sense”: Ibid.

“In keeping with Channel 40’s policy”: Jon Dietz, “On-Air Shot Kills TV Personality,”
Sarasota Herald-Tribune
, July 16, 1974.

“like that girl in Florida”: CP, Box 95, Folder 5.

a set of screenplay notes dated July 16, 1974: CP, Box 93, Folder 1.

“tall, willowy and with the best ass ever seen”: CP, Box 94, Folder 4.

“Howard doesn’t need the encouragement. He gets madder and madder”: CP, Box 93, Folder 1.

“She looks him up and down”: Ibid.

“Leader of the People guy”: CP, Box 92, Folder 6.

“the individual human will be just a piston rod in the whole vast machinery”: CP, Box 93, Folder 1.

Chayefsky wrote year-by-year biographies for his characters: CP, Box 91, Folder 9.

Surgeon’s Hospital
,
Pedro and the Putz
,
Celebrity Canasta
: CP, Box 92, Folder 5.

a page-long list of synonyms for the verb
corrupt
: CP, Box 92, Folder 10.

a separate, three-page list of the increasingly ominous political calamities: CP, Box 93, Folder 1.

“the states of human consciousness”: CP, Box 62, Folder 3.

“If their show is a hit, they already have attention—Ransom?” CP, Box 93, Folder 3.

“if he assassinates Beale and takes film of it”: Ibid.

“We’ve got to replace Beale”: Ibid.

“THE SHOW LACKS A POINT OF VIEW”: CP, Box 93, Folder 2.

“This story is about Howard Beale”: CP, Box 92, Folder 6.

“She sank into an overstuffed chair”: Ibid.

“What was this, some kind of demented gag!” CP, Box 92, Folder 8.

“He was hoping I’d fall on my face with this Beale show”: CP, Box 94, Folder 1.

Howard Beale is found by his housekeeper: CP, Box 92, Folder 5.

Beale’s nineteen-year-old daughter, Celia: CP, Box 92, Folder 9.

a psychiatrist, Dr. Sindell: CP, Box 94, Folder 1.

“Its propagandist potential hasn’t even been touched”: Ibid.

The Madame Defarge Show
and something called
Rape of the Week
: CP, Box 95, Folder 1.