Despite All Our Toil And Progress, The

A Wise Man Will Always Allow A Fool To Rob Him Of Ideas Without Yelling “thief.” If He Is Wise He Has Not Been Impoverished. Nor Has The Fool Been Enriched. The Thief Flatters Us By Stealing. We Flatter Him By Complaining.

The Honors Hollywood Has For The Writer Are As Dubious As Tissue-paper Cuff Links.

I Have Known A Handful Of Producers Who Actually Were Equal Or Superior To The Writers With Whom They Worked. These Producers Were A New Kind Of Nonwriting Writer Hatched By The Movies - As Australia Produced Wingless Birds. They Wrote Without Pencils Or Even Words. Using A Sort Of Mime-like Talent, They Could Make Up Things Like Writers.

The Factors That Laid Low So Whooping And Puissant An Empire As The Old Hollywood Are Many. I Can Think Of A Score, Including The Barbarian Hordes Of Television. But There Is One That Stands Out For Me In The Post-mortem.... The Factor Had To Do With The Basis Of Movie-making: 'who Shall Be In Charge Of Telling The Story.'

Innocent People Can Get Into Terrible Jams, Too. One False Move And You're In Over Your Head.