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Friday 23 August 2013

Ian Fleming interviews Raymond Chandler - 1958

1957, as summarized by Robert De Niro in Analyze This:

                      MANETTA (V.O.)
          1957 was a big year.  The Russians put
          that Sputnik into outer space, the Dodgers
          played their last game at Ebbets Field,
          'that guy' shot Frank Costello in the head,
          and missed, and the Gallo brothers whacked
          Albert Anastasia in that barber shop in the
          Park Sheraton Hotel.  It was total chaos.
          With Anastasia gone, Vito Genovese figures
          he's king shit, but Carlo Gambino and 'Joe
          Bananas' both want to be boss of all bosses.
          So they call a meeting -- a big meeting.

... the Gallo brothers whacked Albert Anastasia in that barber shop...
Welcome to 1958. For those who don't remember, this is how things were back then. Crackly analogue radio, dignified public speaking voices, and learned people chatting about matters of cultural import, such as contemporary literature. Like the time Ian Fleming interviewed Raymond Chandler at the BBC. They weren't talking long before Fleming wanted to know how the hit on Albert Anastasia had been organized. That's what passed for current affairs back then.

The actual interview starts at 5:45, but the intro is worth listening to.








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1 comment:

Unknown said...

Poor Ian Fleming sounds like he is trying really hard to steer a drunk Raymond Chandler into interesting discussion. At around 4:20 in the introduction I can't hear clearly but it sounds as though Chandler wrote that Fleming had 'disimproved' with each new book.

I had no idea Chandler was an oil executive before he published. So many people lost their jobs in the Depression and he appears to have been yet another victim. He certainly turned his failure into success.

January 03, 2014 4:04 pm

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