28 november 1998		without lying down the private plane sounds good to me.
Running news: None today.		On the plane ride back today I finally read a book I'd bought about 6 months ago and taken on every trip since but hadn't cracked: Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood. And boy, am I bummed I left it so long -- it's a good book! I love histories that remind us how things have and haven't changed in the past x number of years, whether that's 10 years or 100. Frances Marion was one of the major figures of the first 40 years of films, becoming one of the highest paid scenarists. She was Mary Pickford's favorite writer. She knew all of the major players of the time. She wrote some of the major films, including the original The Champ and The Big House (the most realistic portrayal of prison up until that time). As time went on, however, she grew more and more disillusioned, but where others turned to drinking and despair, she kept going in other fields: sculpture, writing an autobiography, and moving from coast-to-coast (which sounds exhausting, but somehow she managed). It's a tremendously inspiring book. I highly recommend it. Minor nits, all of which are about what's not there: I wish the author had included a filmography in back of the films Marion had written, co-written, directed, or produced. I also wish she'd included all or part of one of Marion scenarios, so we could see precisely what it was Marion was doing (since silent film scripts were by necessity vastly different from sound film scripts). We came home and discovered the house was cold (the heat, of course, had been off). I had one of my new fountain pen catalogues though. Whee. One of the last things that Bob said to us before we took off was, "If you're looking for someplace for a vacation, come out and visit Betty and me." I think it was obvious that my face fell. Not because I don't enjoy spending time with Bob and Betty -- I do, lots. They're lots of fun. But...I'm tired of travelling. Darin feels the same way. If only the scientists would hurry up and invent transporter technology. For two people who really enjoy burrowing into their own little nook and not coming up for air, we travel a lot. I think we average a little more than one trip a month. When I read in Without Lying Down how Frances Marion moved so often from coast-to-coast or from house to house, I felt tired. Even when you have a cozy, familiar place waiting for you at the other end -- like Mitch's condo in Northern California -- it's not the same as being home. I know, I shouldn't complain -- some people never travel. But doing it a lot can be tiring.
		Copyright 1998 Diane Patterson Send comments and questions to diane@spies.com