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. .* * / * • V i _ ■ _ _ /, : ;* inovels thatorsaccus-his first“I just don’t want anyone to think there’s about it all,” he ‘‘This is no overnight inspiration.”The motivation for Uris’ descent from his literary aerie among the snowcaps of Aspen, Colo,, to the hurlyburly of Broadway is “Ari,” a musical based upon “Exodus,” his story about early settlers in modern“We’d sit at lift working reports with “then we’d*»score.the top of a ski an idea,” Uris accuracy, to the it into a tape“The Dawn Isthe 45-year-old author’s recent marriage to Jill Peabody, a photographer who at age 22 is a year younger than the oldest of hisa previous marriage.Besides the sheer challenge of daring new areas of literary creativity, there lurks behind “Ari” the determination of a man who feels the movie “Exodus” done him wrong.The film was made in 1960 by Otto Preminger, one Of several Hollywood powers for whom Uris’ admiration is easily controlled.“The contract said he was bigger than I was, so I marched,” Uris says, summarizing his efforts to make suggestions. “In that whole ego syndrome, the author is virtually unprotected. ■“You keep your mouth shutand maintain your dignity,” hesays. “Sometimes it’s damned difficult.”Never, he vows, will he sell the screen right of “Mila 18,” his novel about the Warsaw ghetto that is “my own baby.”“I’ll let them have anything but that. If it ever becomes a film, I’ll produce it myself with full control—and I’ll exercise that power.” —Just about the time “Exodus” reached the nation’s screens Uris and his friend, composer Elmer Brenstein, started mulling a stage version. When all the legal complexities were finally unravelled, Bernstein was busy elsewhere. Uris, however, completed a script and recruited Smith.Then, as the author recalls, came a “really disgusting” interval during which efforts were made to find an established lyricist.“It’s kind of a secret club, according to what everyone says, and only about three people are supposed to be able to really do lyrics. But Alan Jay Lerner will see you in about six years— that kind of thing. We got nowhere.“So I started writing some lyrics myself, and lo and behold, they turned out better than most of what’s being sung on thestreet now.”Another wearisome interlude|4 Pacific Stars StripesWednesday, March 18, 1970- - ■ V • ■ * * » * • * * V / • w ♦ - 4 ■ . i i , ■ • / « iV ■ , . J I \ ■ k• • *Ai ■ • « . ■»*»lt;/• •. .■ Tv*..*: :»sl ?:-yvsv lt;:*;■:*.\ ;• !•!•*■\v v .vK* ‘. * r( . »• * » i . «• 4]11tItI*1t€c1i111lt;■: 1recent marriage to Jillwas notUris.novel and is keeping the musical control.» seenwith the movie of his under his dose personal(AP Photo)ensued while producers and the essential funds were lined up. The show is now scheduled to start rehearsing in mid-August, then a 10-week tour opening in Baltimore, Uris’ home town, and Broadway about New Year, 1971.“On opening night, I think we’ll publish the names of all the producers who passed us up,” he asserts. “After we finally got a sponsor, three others called.”The musical covers events in the first half of the novel when a group of youthful refugees are trying to get from a British detention center on Cyprus to Israel. The title, the name of the hero, is the Hebrew equivalent of Leon, a coincidence Urisswears he was unaware of when he wrote the novel.“We’re not going to put anyone through an emotional wringer,” he says, “but I feel that there are no restrictions on what the Broadway musical theater can accomplish today — look at ‘1776’ and ‘Man of La Mancha.’”Having assembled story andscore — “We have 17 songs, 10 of them good solid numbers that should stay through all the normal rehearsal adjusting” — the writer intends to make theater a regular part of his future.“The first things I wrote were plays, and there’s no difficulty adjusting to dialogue because I’ve also done screen scripts. I think drama may really be my bag.”His next novel, “QB VII,” which is to be published when “Ari” opens, is a courtroom drama.“It would lend itself to play form,” he adds, “but that doesn’t interest me. I don’t think I’ll really knock it in the theater until I do a stage original.”Uris has another novel tentatively outlined and the idea for one more. Their completion would afford him particular satisfaction.“Most novelists stagger from one book to another,” he says.“They don’t have a life work planned. But I took a look at myself at an early stage and set a goal which I think can be achieved.“Reviewers have to look at my struggles only about once every three years. I am with them every day. Each novel comes harder and takes more discipline.“My commitment is to the survival of the Jewish people and that commitment has given me the energy to keep on. These next three novels should complete that basic life plan.”Away from the writing desk, Uris is a physical fitness activist. His special penchant for skiing, he wryly suspects, is appreciated by his publishers, for on a couple of occasions, mishaps on the slopes have resulted in sustained periods of recuperative prose-polishing.“Every winter I think they get out a little wax doll with a broken leg and hope.”By JOAN DEPPApARIS (UPI)—Pssst... Wannasee a French movie?You’ll be disappointed if you read more into that invitation nowadays than appears on the surface. For the French, who made the most daring of the world’s commercial films a few years ago, are now making the most conservative.It’s the Americans who today show the most nudity, exploit the most erotic themes in the most explicit way. The French appear to be trying to keep passion off the screen and leave it to the audience’s imagination.All Brigitte Bardot gets from the leading man in her latest film, for example, is a long tender kiss.The romantic action in the
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Pacific Stars and Stripes
Tokyo, Tôkyô, JP
Wed, Mar 18, 1970
Page 8
Full Page
Clipped by
Cheryl R.
TX, USA 10 Jan 2020
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