Catcher 51

Q: How far can a bear go into the woods?

A: Halfway and then if he/she continues, the bear is heading OUT of the woods. (Speaking of Bears and woods, I like the way Bear Bryant described how backwoods he was. He claimed that from the cabin where he lived as a boy, if you wanted to go hunting you headed TOWARDS the city)

The same is true of centuries. Once we get half way into one, we start heading out of it which brings me to 1951. Bogart, representing the bear going into the woods...the old school, the turn of the twentieth century guys, won the Academy Award for The African Queen.

His competition were two of the foremost bear heading out of the woods actors, Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift. Brando for Steetcar and Clift for A Place in the Sun. Everybody knows Brando played Stanley Kowalski. Not everybody knows that Clift played George Eastman although every film fan in Rochester, the home of Kodak should know.

Hemmingway and Steinbeck, the bears heading into the twentieth century woods in literature had already peaked.

And then suddenly into the woods and heading out of the woods at the same time came J.D. Salinger. Catcher in the Rye. What can I say? If I read a book twice, that's a lot. I've read catcher at least fifteen times. Number one all time. By far.

1951 Yeah Elvis is 16 About the same age as Holden Caulfield and a little older than Jack Nicholson a little younger than Mickey Mantle all of them bears heading out of the twentieth century woods.

My favorite part of the book? When Holden writes about his dead brother's baseball glove as part of the essay that he's writing for his room mate so the roomate can go out and attempt sex with Holden's female friend on the very night that Holden is being expelled from school.

You want to talk about art, you want to talk about popular art versus authentic art, you want to know why Salinger made a bee line (or should I say bear line) into a life of obscurity and compulsive writing?

Read that section of Catcher. If I've read the book fifteen times, I've read that section fifty times. That section is why I'm an obscure artist by choice as well as by talent and disposition. And who is the greatest obscure artist of all time?

This is a difficult question because the greater the obscurity, the less likely that I, or anyone else would know the artist is in fact an artist rather than a farmer on a ladder or a waitress on the lam but in terms of artists who most people know are/were artists and who chose obscurity as the most artistic option, the winner by far is JD Salinger. His only mistake was becoming famous right out of the gate. That ruined his obscurity Or made it that much more beautiful depending upon whether you're heading into the woods or out of the woods.