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I am interested in writing a nonficiton book and talked to an editor about the idea this week. She is interested. Hurrah!
But she needs a full proposal that includes a table of contents and a sample chapter. In other words, I have to do some–no, a lot–of work, on spec, before I get a contract. And then, it will be a ton of research to write the book. It’s daunting. To even be in the game, I have to do a lot of work.
I am inspired by Harrison Ford. In an article in the April, 2013 issue of American Way, Jan Hubbard reports on what Ford had to do to get the his latest role. Ford had read an early version of the screenplay for “42,” the new movie about Jacki Robinson’s entry into the world of baseball. Ford was intrigued by the role of Branch Rickey, the manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, who desegregated baseball by signing 26-year-old Jackie Robinson.
Director Brain Helgeland wasn’t interested in well-known actors for any of the parts. He wanted people to see the movie because they wanted to learn about Jackie Robinson; he didn’t want people to go to see another “Harrison Ford movie.”
Helgeland refused to even talk to Harrison Ford about the role. Ford was too big an actor.
“Nothing against him,” says Helgeland, who won an Oscar for writing the screenplay for L.A. Confidential in 1997. “He’s obviously a strong actor and a movie star and someone that movie fans int he country are really fond of, but I didn’t see how it could work. I didn’t see him playing a character.”
Now–what would you do, if you were Ford?
Move on to the next role? There are probably lots of directors courting him for their movies.
Instead, Ford went to work.
He studied his character, Branch Rickey. He found archival film of Rickey and listened to hours of audio tape. He read and re-read the script. He did his homework.
Then, and only then, did he insist on a meeting with Helgeland. (OK, he’s a big enough actor to get that meeting, but the rest of the story depends on his preparation work.)
During the conversation, Ford asked Helgeland how he saw a particular scene playing out, because there were two ways it might go.
Then, Ford broke into a private audition, complete with Rickey’s voice and mannerisms.
“Helgeland said, ‘He took on that Branch Rickey voice and he did the whole scene off the top of his head, so he obviously had memorized it,’ Helgeland says. ‘And I was sitting there saying, ‘Geez. He could really pull this off.’”
From the movie, "42."
OK, Mr. Big Actor, Mr. Harrison Ford. If YOU can do that much prep to get a part, I can work hard for my proposal, my audition. I can do the research, create a viable Table of Content sna dwrite that sample chapter. And I will work hard enough to nail it. Because I want this book.
...an adult book today. Either indulge me in my annual adult nonfiction baseball read, or come back later in the week when I hope to have great things from BookExpo America in New York. Thanks!
Breslin, Jimmy. 2011.
Branch Rickey. New York: Penguin .
The two men sat across from each other at Joe's Restaurant. Breaking salt rolls into crumbs, Rickey immediately told Barber, "Mrs. Rickey and my family say I'm too old at sixty-four, and my health is not up to it. They say I've gone through enough baseball and [taken enough] from the newspapers. That every hand is baseball will be against me. But I'm, going to do it."
"He looked straight into my eyes," remembered [Red] Barber, fixing my attention."
Rickey said, "I'm going to bring a Negro to the Brooklyn Dodgers."
Barber remembered Branch Rickey speaking slowly as he said it. "I'm going to bring a Negro to the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Barber sat straight and silent.
"I don't know who he is," continued Rickey, "or where he is, but he is coming."
Whatever one may think of the controversial Jimmy Breslin, it's difficult to deny that he's a great writer, and due to his long career and many connections to the sports world and New York in general, he was the perfect choice to write this book on Branch Rickey for the
Penguin Lives series. Although he, himself, met Rickey only once, Breslin read extensively about him, and interviewed many people who still remembered the man who brought Jackie Robinson, the first African American, player into Major League Baseball.
What little I knew about Rickey came from watching Ken Burns' documentary,
Baseball, and from reading books about Jackie Robinson; but I always wanted to know more about man who put the wheels of integration in motion. What motivated Rickey? Altruism? Money? Religion? Baseball?
It was all of these, and yet it was none. In the simplest explanation, it was Rickey's sense of fairness that drove him to integrate Major League Baseball. That he was the manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers gave him the opportunity to make his dream of equality take root in the game of baseball. That he was a religious man, made him see the righteousness of his cause and allowed him to bring other like-minded individuals into the fold. When faced with those who were neither fair nor religious, Rickey appealed to their sense of business acumen. These talented young African Americans were the future of baseball. He saw it as a good financial investment (although it was devastating to the Negro Leagues), and wasn't afraid to sell the concept on its business merits, and make money in the process, too. In short, he was a clever, fair, and honest man with a dream of racial equality. It took him years of planning and the ideal choice of Jackie Robinson to make it happen, but Branch Rickey, can be credited with the integration of Major League Baseball. Not bad for a poor boy "from the hills and swamps of Southern Ohio."
Told in a largely anecdotal style,
Branch Rickey is a short, fascinating read for baseball and history fans, regaling the reader with little-known stories of baseball lore. At one point, the always opinionated Breslin (once a heavy drinker) inserts his own theory on alocohol, smoking, and cancer,
I wrote a biography on Jackie Robinson (under pen name Paul Mercer) and found Rickey a fascinating figure. Thanks for shining a light on his motives.
Thanks for sharing, Catherine. For those interested, here is a link to Catherine's book on Jackie Robinson. http://www.catherinenichols.com/jackie_robinson_93584.htm