Preston Sturges

[A Tribute By
Carletto di San Giovanni:]
myspace.com/giancarletto
www.directorspotlight.com
Preston Sturges' own life is as unlikely as some of the plots of his best work. He was born into a wealthy family. As a boy he helped out on stage productions for his mother's friend, Isadora Duncan (the scarf that strangled her was made by his mother's company, Maison Desti). He served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during WWI. Upon his return to Maison Desti, he invented a kissproof lipstick, Red-Red Rouge, in 1920. Shortly after his first marriage, his mother demanded that he return control of the company to her. Kicked out of Maison Desti, he turned to inventing. A tickertape machine, an intaglio photo-etching process, an automobile and an airplane were among his some of his commercially unsuccessful inventions. He began writing stories and, while recovering from an appen..omy in 1929, wrote his first play, "The Guinea Pig". In financial trouble over producing his plays, he moved to Hollywood in 1932 to make money. It wasn't long before he became frustrated by the lack of control he had over his work and wanted to direct the scripts he wrote. Paramount gave him this chance as part of a deal for selling his script for The Great McGinty (1940), at a cheap price. The film's success launched his career as writer/director and he had several hits over the next four years. That success emboldened him to become an independent filmmaker, but that did not last long--he had a string of commercial failures and acquired a reputation as an expensive perfectionist. He moved to France to make what turned out to be his last movie, Carnets du Major Thompson, Les (1955). He died at the Algonquin Hotel, New York City, in 1959.
Trivia
Interred at Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, New York, USA.Appears as a character in John Kessel's story "The Miracle of Ivar Avenue".He was working on his memoirs when he died. Incredibly, the working title of the book was "The Events Leading Up To My Death."When he was at his peak at Paramount in the mid-1940s, he was not only the highest paid screenwriter but he was one of the highest paid people in America.He once owned a nightclub on the Sunset Strip called The Players. He met and later married his fourth wife, Sandy Sturges (born Sandy Nagle) in the place. She did not know he was the owner when they met, thinking he was just another employee.Great-grandfather of Jack Enzo Kelly, born September 6 2001, to Shannon Sturges and Michael Kelley.Grandfather of actress Shannon Sturges.Was voted the 28th Greatest Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly. With only 13 films to his credit, he directed even fewer movies than did Stanley Kubrick.Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945". Pages 1085-1090. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.Son Solomon Sturges IV born June, 1941. Son Preston Sturges Jr. born in 1953. Son Thomas Preston Sturges born June 22, 1956.In the talkies movie era he was the first great writer to became a director.Sold Paramount the rights to The Great McGinty (1940) for one dollar with the agreement that he direct the film.
Personal Quotes
"I did all my directing when I wrote the screenplay. It was probably harder for a regular director. He probably had to read the script the night before shooting started."Preston Sturges' golden rules for successful comedy: "A pretty girl is better than a plain one/ A leg is better than an arm/ A bedroom is better than a living room/ An arrival is better that a departure/ A birth is better than a death/ A chase is better than a chat/ A dog is better than a landscape/ A kitten is better than a dog/ A baby is better than a kitten/ A kiss is better than a baby/ A pratfall is better than anything.""You can't go around the theaters handing out cards saying, 'It isn't my fault'. You go onto the next one.""The most incredible thing about my career is that I had one."