www.janeek.com

www.janeek.com

Established 1999

Last Updated: 05/02/08

In the 1940's, Preston Sturges directed a happy bunch of delightful films which remain some of the funniest and oddly profound movies ever made.  His career faded too quickly, but those little gems remain for us to forever enjoy.

In 1959 he wrote his charming autobiography which details his exploits with his most unusual mother, whose best friend was Isadora Duncan.  His travels growing up in Europe and the U.S. are  bizarrely funny and definitely worth the read.  He began his show business career writing for the stage and had some great success there, but it is his handful of movies he is best known for.  His crazy life reflects itself in the goofy characters and circumstances in his films, which are now considered before their time, which is precisely why they still are so watchable and enjoyed 50 years later. 

Sadly his film career was so short.  He ran afoul of the powers that be in Hollywood and ended up in financial ruin.  He says of himself in his autobiography:

Mistakes?  I have made plenty of them.  By the very nature of his art, though, which depends on invention and innovation, a storyteller must depart from the beaten track and having done so, occasionally startle and disagree with some of his associates.  Healthy disagreement we must have.  It is its aftermath which is sometimes dangerous, and it is there, beyond question, where I erred.

The only amazing thing about my career in Hollywood is that I ever had one at all.

I can highly recommend any of the following of his most famous movies:

The Great McGinty: Sharp political satire of a bum made governor who loses it all when he attempts to be honest.

Christmas in July: A young man goes on a spending spree when he mistakenly thinks his won a big prize.

The Lady Eve: Hilarious comedy of a lady con artist meeting up with a dopy young man.

Sullivan's Travels: A movie maker decides to hit the road during the Depression to get away from making fluff and discovers how important comedy and the gift of laughter is.

The Palm Beach Story: Take a fighting couple, throw in a couple millionaires, an hysterically funny train trip, love, and lust and you have one of my favorite movies of all time.

The Miracle of Morgan's Creek: She knows she drunkenly married a soldier, but that's all she can recall, in this most modern (and previously censored) tale of a pregnant young lady being rescued by her dear sweet friend.

Hail the Conquering Hero: A young man who was rejected by the Marines, is mistakenly hailed by a small town as a war hero.