Comments on: Here's Jonny.

Here's Jonny.

Blue Stone — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 08:28:07 -0800

Still looking for Rosebud. Nine Years after sending a copy of a radio programme he made to Stanley Kubrick, Jon Ronson, is invited to the late Kubrick's "secret lair". You drive through rural Hertfordshire, passing ordinary-sized postwar houses and opticians and vets. Then you turn right at an electric gate with a "Do Not Trespass" sign. Drive through that, and through some woods, and past a long, white fence with the paint peeling off, and then another electric gate, and then another electric gate, and then another electric gate, and you're in the middle of an estate full of boxes. [...] Tony takes me into a large room painted blue and filled with books. "This used to be the cinema," he says. "Is it the library now?" I ask. "Look closer at the books," says Tony. I do. "Bloody hell," I say.

By: jacquilynne

jacquilynne — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 08:52:51 -0800

Fascinating. Thanks.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 08:53:47 -0800

fascinating...I'd love to dig around in them (and i'd kill to see an exhibit of Kubrick's boxes set against Warhol's)

By: anathema

anathema — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 09:17:56 -0800

Wow. Just reading the article felt like being enveloped in a secret world. I can't imagine what actually being there must be like.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 09:20:43 -0800

Fantastic. I love the part about the 300 bottles of brown ink. And the typographical discussions. Great stuff.

By: mischief

mischief — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 09:24:39 -0800

Words escape me.

By: Hildago

Hildago — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 09:24:58 -0800

This is a great article.

By: SisterHavana

SisterHavana — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 09:30:07 -0800

This is extremely fascinating. Now I want to go see this for myself! : )

By: thirteen

thirteen — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 09:40:24 -0800

Terrific reading. Thank you so much. The love of detail and small things, and the ability to live that way is something that I can envy without shame. The fear of his IP diminishing was something new to me as well.

By: tiamat

tiamat — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 09:48:37 -0800

And this is what makes this site great. thanks Blue Stone!

By: gleuschk

gleuschk — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 09:49:32 -0800

Thank you.

By: thatwhichfalls

thatwhichfalls — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 09:51:04 -0800

Another good article, this one about what a strange experience working with Kubrick on the script for AI was, was written by SF author Ian Watson (see here).

One day, apropos flooded New York, I mused what you might see by way of statues or such from the window of Macy's. Within moments Tony had the Public Relations Manager of Macy's on the phone for Stanley. "This is Stanley Kubrick. I'd like you to go to the window and tell me what you can see." The man's description wasn't too good. "That's the trouble with this positive discrimination," Stanley grumbled. "They employ retards." So Stanley phoned the New York office of Warner Brothers to tell them to send a photographer right away to take pictures all around Macy's, these to be sent to us immediately by air-express. On my very next visit those photographs were waiting, and I suppose we looked through them for at least thirty seconds. Two months later, they still lay fanned out in the same position.

By: Grangousier

Grangousier — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 09:51:14 -0800

I thought this was postable when I read it this morning (just claiming my brownie points there). Jon Ronson is, of course, the author of Them: Adventures With Extremists, which is virtually a set text around these parts. But then you knew that. He's also a national (perhaps international) treasure.

By: clavdivs

clavdivs — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 10:10:42 -0800

If you want to know what Napoleon, or Josephine, or anyone within Napoleon's inner circle was doing on the afternoon of July 23 17-whatever, you go to that card and it'll tell you." "Who made up the cards?" I ask. "Stanley," says Tony. "With some assistants." "How long did it take?" I ask. "Years," says Tony. "The late 1960s." priceless.

By: carter

carter — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 10:17:23 -0800

Great, thanks. I can hear him reading it.

By: crazy finger

crazy finger — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 10:21:43 -0800

The love of detail and small things, and the ability to live that way is something that I can envy without shame. I feel the same way. What an amazing life, and what an amazing time that Tony must have had seeing it and living it for four decades.

By: gd779

gd779 — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 10:38:58 -0800

[this is good]

By: feelinglistless

feelinglistless — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 11:29:18 -0800

I watched Barry Lyndon yesterday and in reading this article this morning, the whole psychology of that film fell into place. Just great.

By: Blue Stone

Blue Stone — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 11:41:18 -0800

Grangousier, y'know I didn't know that ( - that this was that guy.) His tv programmes are always worth watching. (I can't wait to see the sequel to Secret Rulers of the World.)

By: Hildago

Hildago — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 12:23:49 -0800

Thatwhichfalls -- another good article -- thanks. I love these sorts of memoirs where "ordinary" people run into the eccentricities of the legendary. The style reminds me of Hotchner's biography of Hemingway, which is such a guilty, sad, voyeuristic pleasure.

By: mrbula

mrbula — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 12:31:47 -0800

Great link. Thanks.

By: clavdivs

clavdivs — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 13:29:25 -0800

Kubrick's original plan was to film an epic about Napoleon with Jack Nicholson, but the financing fell though The only way to describe the sheer beauty of Barry Lyndon is to describe it as a moving oil painting. From the very first scene—of meticulously dressed British "redcoats" parading around a luscious green field in a military parade

By: jann

jann — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 14:35:54 -0800

great article. thanks!

By: BentPenguin

BentPenguin — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 16:39:03 -0800

[This is good]

By: arse_hat

arse_hat — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 19:55:51 -0800

I remember reading about "the head" when FMJ was released. Apparently, in the original shoot the final voice-over ran over a long truck shot of the soldiers happily bouncing down the road playing soccer. As the narrator gets to the end of his monologue we are close enough to see that the ball they are kicking is the head of the girl they had shot. Many working on the film were freaked out by it and Kubrick was convinced to change the scene. Thanks for the link.

By: cell divide

cell divide — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 20:49:31 -0800

Link of the month! Great stuff.

By: skallas

skallas — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 21:22:52 -0800

To me, this piece wasn't as much about Kubrick as it was about celebrity in general. People become famous for some accomplishment or accomplishments. We expect to hear about them on a regular schedule and if we don't then we concoct all sorts of conspiracy theories about them. When they finally give up the ghost and we can rummage their their junk we realize they were just hard working folks trying to get something done without a bazillion fans bothering them 24/7.

By: wfrgms

wfrgms — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 22:30:35 -0800

Great article - I really like Jon Ronson's style. If anybody should have been allowed to dig through Kurbrick's boxes it's him. "Them" is a terrific book, btw.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 22:52:06 -0800

Andy Warhol did much the same thing his life was an ongoing diary each day documenting in detail what happened, boxes and boxes of stuff left after he died. There was a MeFi post about it at one time, but he had a box for each month (week?) going back decades where he kept things like half eaten pizza or junk mail or whatever it was that happened on that day. I keep a "box of memories" in the garage but it's more like one for each decade. Maybe someone can dig up the post about the lady who ordered stuff from Ebay compulsively and it took over her house to the point boxes came in and were never opened. It is similar with Kubrick, but it's all work and no play. Kubricks films are his diary, same with Warhol, document your life and be a great artist.

By: LeLiLo

LeLiLo — Sun, 28 Mar 2004 04:35:09 -0800

And this is what makes this site great. thanks Blue Stone! Yes, it's especially things like this that keep me coming back. Excellent post, wonderful article. p.s. I first read about Warhol's junk in the March 2002 issue of The Atlantic Monthly. Which I saved and now have stashed in one of my own many boxes and filing cabinets; sorry it's not linked online. This article is.

By: bukvich

bukvich — Sun, 28 Mar 2004 11:01:38 -0800

By: Tarrama

Tarrama — Sun, 28 Mar 2004 20:54:10 -0800

Thank you, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. I think Christiane Kubrick's painting "remembering Stanley" in gallery two goes well with this post.

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Mon, 29 Mar 2004 09:05:55 -0800

What exactly is the difference between Stanley Kubrick and one of those weirdos who was described on metafilter as having a home overfilling with garbage? Stacks of newspapers five feet tall from the 1970's and whatnot? Thousands of 3 X 5 cards detailing Napoleon? Some of the movies were very good. Some were not. As for his personal life, the guy was a KOOK! I think the point is that a) some of the movies were not just very good, they were very, very good. b) had he not been such a KOOK, the movies probably wouldn't have been as good.

By: roboto

roboto — Tue, 30 Mar 2004 04:11:28 -0800

At least regarding myself, I prefer eccentric to kook. The article left me with a great longing. Heh, I had to write an inquiry to G. Ryder & Co. Ltd., the maker's of Stanley Kubrick's and Her Majesty The Queen's boxes. Christiane Kubrick's "Remembering Stanley" is good and I like some of her other work too, thanks.

By: roboto

roboto — Tue, 30 Mar 2004 11:52:47 -0800

Special update for the Mefi Moleskin Mob. Extra thanks for a speedy and thorough reply from Fred Cannon! The box in question was produced to the following specification: Ref: R.278 Type: Brass wire stitched box, full depth lift-off lid (case lid) with triangular lugs. Composition: 1900 micron (0.080 inch) double sided kraft container board. Dimensions (internal): 16.1/4 x 11 x 3.3/4 inches (R.278). Our ex-works prices for a box of this type would be: 10 boxes at £3.40 each 25 boxes at £2.20 each 50 boxes at £1.95 each Prices are in pounds sterling and exclusive of VAT. Trading since 1914, we have built an unrivalled reputation as manufacturers of bespoke hand made boxes of the very highest quality, a reputation further enhanced when we were awarded The Royal Warrant. I very much appreciate your interest in our company and hope that we might be of further assistance. Regards Fred Cannon Sales & Marketing Manager G Ryder & Co Ltd Tel: 01908 375524 Fax: 01908 373658 www.ryderbox.co.uk

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Fri, 02 Apr 2004 19:31:56 -0800

Sweet. I know someone who's going to order some as soon as he reads this.