Mickey Spillane at 81
a report by Graham Barnfield Mickey Spillane at 81: A Synopsis of The Guardian Interview with Mickey Spillane, July 29 1999, National Film Theatre, London (some quotations are paraphrases) 'Spillane gives me the feeling of hearing a military band in a public park.' - Ayn Rand 'I used to write fast - now my rear end gets tired. I'm not full of vinegar anymore.' - Mickey Spillane Specific points re. the 1950s: - Spillane says owed much of his success to Roscoe Fawcett of Gold Medal books. The pair of them were dismayed to see that the fledgling paperbacks market was mainly taken up with classics reprints, and started writing directly for paperback (softcover) publication.
- When asked about his influences, Spillane replied 'dollars'. 'Authors write, writers get paid' was his aphorism for the evening.
- When asked about the Cold War, he replied 'Communism went out with the wall.' To paraphrase, his approach was 'back then we thought it was a real threat, but ten years ago it collapsed instantly. It wasn't the real enemy, there's no real enemy left except terrorists and Arabs. There's just no stability anymore!'
It looks as if Mike Hammer and Tiger Mann were wasting their time after all! | |
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