The Day I Fired Alan Ladd and Other World War II AdventuresUniversity of Missouri Press, 2002 - 131 pages "All through his four-year military career, despite his efforts to get into combat, fate and the military bureaucracy thwarted him. The author skillfully recounts the events of those years, describing the encounters he had with many unforgettable characters, including a footsore and sentimental Clark Gable and an inept Alan Ladd - best known as the star of Shane. Ladd, then a GI, did such a poor job reading the narration for Hotchner's film Atlantic Mission that Hotchner had to fire him. The author also describes his encounters with other well-known people, notably Tennessee Williams, with whom he attended a playwriting class at Washington University, and a wistful, vulnerable Dorothy Parker."--Jacket. |
From inside the book
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... fact that Hitler was ravaging Europe , the desire for patriotic retribution was real . But the more I tried to perform what I perceived was my duty , the more the unpre- dictable finger of military fate kept pointing me in the opposite ...
... fact that Hitler was ravaging Europe , the desire for patriotic retribution was real . But the more I tried to perform what I perceived was my duty , the more the unpre- dictable finger of military fate kept pointing me in the opposite ...
Page 2
... fact that the Nazis had already conquered Austria, Czechoslo- vakia, Poland, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, and Belgium, and that only a few months before, the Wehrmacht had overrun the vaunted Maginot Line and brought France to its ...
... fact that the Nazis had already conquered Austria, Czechoslo- vakia, Poland, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, and Belgium, and that only a few months before, the Wehrmacht had overrun the vaunted Maginot Line and brought France to its ...
Page 4
... fact that Europe now belonged to Hitler (England was being subjected to a relentlessly devas- tating attack by air and capitulation seemed inevitable) and that we could do nothing about that militarily, that all we could do would be to ...
... fact that Europe now belonged to Hitler (England was being subjected to a relentlessly devas- tating attack by air and capitulation seemed inevitable) and that we could do nothing about that militarily, that all we could do would be to ...
Page 5
... fact I had no clients of my own. As low man on the Taylor, Mayer, Shifrin & Willer totem pole, my functions consisted of performing the flunky duties that traditionally befell a firm's neophyte barrister. But The Day I Fired Alan Ladd 5.
... fact I had no clients of my own. As low man on the Taylor, Mayer, Shifrin & Willer totem pole, my functions consisted of performing the flunky duties that traditionally befell a firm's neophyte barrister. But The Day I Fired Alan Ladd 5.
Page 6
... fact, I was a pacifist. In the thirties, people openly and forcefully identified their be- liefs: agnostic, atheist, isolationist, freethinker, pacifist. I was not outspoken about my beliefs but I identified with the pacifists, a word ...
... fact, I was a pacifist. In the thirties, people openly and forcefully identified their be- liefs: agnostic, atheist, isolationist, freethinker, pacifist. I was not outspoken about my beliefs but I identified with the pacifists, a word ...
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Common terms and phrases
A. E. Hotchner Air Force Alan Ladd anti-submarine army asked assigned Atlantic Mission barracks Barrymore beach Bernadine bombardier bomber bombs cadet camera Captain Young charge Chris Clark Gable classification card Colonel combat command couple crew Cysmanski deck depth charges Dick Powell Dorothy drill field Eads Bridge Eagle-Spiegel equipment eyes father feet felt film footage Gable Ginther girls Henry heroic Hitler Hollywood Hotchner hundred Inzoraan Jack knew lawyer Lieutenant look loop the loop Louis magazine Marie mess halls Miami Miami Beach military Mitchel Field months Motion Picture Unit movie musical Myron Navy Air Corps Nazi never night North Africa officer outfit patrol penis performance plane played Sbeitla script Sergeant Sheppard Field ships Shirley songs squadron submarine Sylva Tina tion told took turned Tyrone Power U-boats uniform United weeks Westover Field White Princess Wichita Falls write
Popular passages
Page 8 - I have said this before, but I shall say it again and again and again : Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars.
Page 1 - The best laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft a-gley. — Robert Burns, "To a Mouse,
Page 11 - Hook, was ordered to report for induction into the Armed Forces of the United States on Thursday 3 October 1957 by Selective Service, Local Board No.
Page 73 - He told me about their first duck shoot, early in the morning, the fog too thick to see the ducks, although you could hear them. Carole asked what they could do about it. Just sit here in the blind until it clears, Clark told her. She said she had just thought of something they could do while they were waiting. "We made love," Clark said, "which ain't easy in a duck blind.
Page 7 - ... service. If you have no valid reason for failing to do so you are liable to arrest, and if convicted you may be sentenced to as much as five years in prison and fined $10,000.
Page 67 - We were kept in a constant state of nervous and physical exhaustion, the purpose being to crack us if they possibly could and wash us out as potential officers.
Page 124 - C-47 transport over Germany during an airborne attack and joined an infantry outfit to help take an enemy position.
Page 82 - ... East Asia: Beginnings of Allied Recovery, 1942-43. In 1942-43 the Allies thwarted Japanese efforts to expand farther southward and eastward and began their island-hopping campaign toward Japan. Doolittle Raid. A few weeks after Pearl harbor, Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle proposed an air attack on Tokyo. Although his superior officers were skeptical, Doolittle was given permission to attempt this seemingly foolhardy venture. With a group of enthusiastic volunteers, he secretly prepared for the special...
Page 71 - Other key targets were the factories of the Aluminum Company of America at Alcoa, Tennessee; Massena, New York; and East St.