I read Something of Value and also saw the movie with Rock Hudson and Sidney Poitier in the fifties. - a frightening, heart-breaking tale - as in real life, it left nothing resolved.
Quote:
"The book took its title from
an old Basuto proverb: "If a man does away with his traditional way of living and throws away his good customs, he had better first make certain that he has something of value to replace them." The book was a major success, earning the author more than a million dollars from royalties and the film rights.
Some critics disparaged Ruark as a Hemingway imitator, and some readers found the violence of his African novels shocking, but his writing easily stands on its own merits. For years he wrote a regular monthly column in Field & Stream entitled "The Old Man and The Boy," in which he recounted his experiences growing up on the North Carolina coast in and around Southport under the tender guidance of his grandfather, who taught him the art of hunting, fishing, and training dogs. These columns were subsequently collected in two books, The Old Man and the Boy (1957) and The Old Man's Boy Grows Older (1961), which chronicled the boyhood lessons learned-integrity, compassion, tolerance, and a deep and abiding love for the outdoors.
After visiting North Carolina in 1957, Ruark settled permanently in Spain. Three more books followed. Poor No More (1959) was an embittered rags-to-riches saga set in the U.S. and Europe. It was followed in 1962 by Uhuru, the sequel to Something of Value. Published shortly after his death, his last book, The Honey Badger (1965), concerned a North Carolina writer torn between work and women. Ruark died suddenly in London in 1965 and is buried in Palamos, north of Barcelona. "
And a quote from All Movie Guide by Hal Erickson:
"There were a few theatres in the American south who, feeling that the racial tensions inherent in Something of Value hit too close to home, refused to book this fascinating, thought-provoking, often startlingly brutal film."
And now, some May 22 Birthdays.
1813 Richard Wagner, composer (Leipzig, Germany; died 1883)
1844 Mary Cassatt, artist (Allegheny City, PA; died 1926)
1859 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, detective story writer (Edinburgh, Scotland; died 1930)
1907 Lord Laurence Olivier, actor/director (Dorking, England; died 1989)
1922 Judith Crist, film critic (New York, NY)
1924 Charles Azvanour, singer/songwriter/actor (Paris, France)
1934 Gary Wills, author (Atlanta, GA)
1934 Peter Nero New York NY, conductor/pianist (A Sunday in New York)
1938 Richard Benjamin, actor (New York, NY)
Frank Converse, actor (St. Louis, MO)
Susan Strasberg, actress (New York, NY; died 1999)
1941 Paul Winfield, actor (Los Angeles, CA)
1943 Tommy John, baseball pitcher (Terre Haute, IN)
1950 Bernie Taupin lyricist, writes with Elton John
1959 Morrissey, singer (Manchester, England)
1970 Naomi Campbell, model (London, England)
(I shall never tire of watching Olivier in Wuthering Heights. )
