The Bright Light's of Hollywood

When William Faulkner was down on his luck, he decided to go to Hollywood and write for the motion picture industry.  From time to time between the 1930's and 1950's, he wrote movies to make some quick money.  The motion pictures he penned starred the biggest names of his day, but are largely forgettable. 


Joseph Blotner in his biography of Faulkner relates the following story.


"Faulkner's first days in Hollywood were portentous. He arrived on a Saturday, not long before quitting time. His boss, Sam Marx, noticed that he had been drinking, and that he had a bleeding cut on his head. Faulkner said he had been hit by a cab while changing trains -- in New Orleans -- but that he was fine and wanted to get right to work:

"We're going to put you on a Wallace Beery picture," Marx told him.

"Who's he?" asked Faulkner. "I've got an idea for Mickey Mouse."

After explaining that Mickey Mouse films were made at Disney Studios, Marx had his office boy take Faulkner to the screening room to see Beery as a prizefighter in The Champ, as the new film, Flesh, was to feature Beery as a wrestler. Faulkner did not want to watch, preferring to talk to the office boy:  "Do you own a dog?" he asked the boy, who said no. Faulkner said, "Every boy should have a dog." He should be ashamed not to own a dog, and so should everybody else who didn't own a dog.

Faulkner soon walked out, saying that he knew how the story was going to end. When alerted, Marx initiated a search, but Faulkner had disappeared. When he showed up again, nine days later, he explained that he had been wandering in Death Valley, but that now he really was ready to work."


Oh what a Mickey Mouse picture it would have been!