The first time I read anything written by Leonard Maltin was around 1967 when I picked up a copy of Film Fan Monthly at Larry Edmund's cinema-specialty book shop on Hollywood Boulevard. Leonard was just a baby film maven then but he was already performing invaluable service in extracting film history from those who'd made it. Information does not materialize out of nowhere. Someone has to go out and find these facts and interview people while they're still around to be interviewed. As I discovered when I went back and purchased all the other issues Larry Edmund's had in stock, Film Fan Monthly was a place where this happened. A rather amazing number of actors and filmmakers were only interviewed before they died because Leonard or one of his correspondents interviewed them. A lot of today's filmographies and lists of who made what and who was in it are expansions on work that began in Film Fan Monthly. Naturally, I subscribed and also ordered all the back issues I needed, directly from Leonard.
For years, I knew of Leonard and bought his books but we'd never met. Mutual friends kept saying to me, "You ought to meet Leonard. You guys would really get along." Other mutual friends were telling Leonard about this Evanier guy. Finally around 1981, he called me…and it felt like a really awkward blind date. He said, "I'm going to be in L.A. for a few days and I'm sick of people telling me I ought to meet you, I think we ought to get it over with." As predicted, we became good buddies and later, when he was commuting to L.A. to try out for the job on Entertainment Tonight, he always made time for us to go to the Numero Uno on La Cienega, order pizza and swap Hollywood stories. He has since done fine work on that show, fine work on his books, fine work on his other film history projects, fine work everywhere.
But you know what I've missed? I've missed Film Fan Monthly. He stopped it in 1975 because paying work was getting in the way. Can't say as how I blame him, but I know the frustration he must have felt. Often, we come across a wonderful nugget of media history and we have no easy place to put it. The great thing about publishing a fanzine like F.F.M., and it's the same with a website like this, is that you can share anything you come across. There's little or no money but so what? Writing history is what's really important and with Film Fan Monthly, Leonard could just go interview Eddie Bracken (see example at right) or send someone to do it, rather than wait for that great Eddie Bracken assignment to come along.
I am delighted to report that Film Fan Monthly is back. Oh, he now calls it Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy and it's not monthly…but it's the same thing. I've just finished reading the first five issues and I can't imagine anyone who cares about film not finding this a valuable subscription. The first issue has a history of how Orson Welles almost starred in the movie version of The Man Who Came To Dinner, along with info on others who screen-tested (including Robert Benchley, Charles Laughton and John Barrymore!) to play Sheridan Whiteside. Amazing stuff. He has a number of good pieces on his website but what you really want to do is make a beeline to this page and subscribe. Movie Crazy is a newsletter, not a magazine, and it may seem a little thin for the price. But the information contained within is priceless, and you'll probably think it's a bargain.