Jim Tully is a writer whose
reputation is on the rise. According to the
Cleveland Plain Dealer, his "extraordinary life story has long been a movie waiting to be made."
Over
the last few years, this once famous "Hobo author" has been celebrated
with the publication of a
definitive biography, a string of newspaper
and magazine articles, reissues of his out-of-print bestsellers,
screenings of movies based on his books, and the recent DVD release of
Beggars of Life (1928), an acclaimed silent film based on Tully's best known work.
In
2012 there was "
Tullyfest", a series of exhibits, lectures, talks,
screenings, and walking tours held in-and-around Hollywood, the author's
one-time home. The event, which marked the 100th anniversary of Tully's
arrival in Los Angeles, also saw the publication of
The Dozen and One: A Field Guide to the Books of Jim Tully, by Howard Prouty of ReadersInk in Los Angeles.
Now comes
Road Kid to Writer - The Tracks of Jim Tully,
a new documentary by Mark Wade Stone and StoryWorks.TV which airs
February 15th on PBS in Ohio. At 50 minutes, it packs a punch, and
should go a long way toward reestablishing the author as one of the
significant American personalities of the 1920's.
As this new documentary shows,
Jim Tully
(1886-1947) was a larger-than-life character: stocky, short, and with a
tussle of red hair, this rough and tumble writer was hard to miss
either in person or on the printed page.
The son of an
impoverished Irish immigrant ditch-digger, Tully fled the orphanage
where he had been placed following the death of his mother and spent
most of his teenage years in the company of the American underclass.
Drifting across the country as a "road kid," Tully rode the rails,
sleeping in hobo camps, begging meals at back doors, and haunting public
libraries wherever he went. It was a hardscrabble life.
Weary of
wandering after six years, Tully jumped off a railroad car in Ohio with
dreams of becoming a writer. He published a few poems, and supported
himself working as a newspaper reporter, professional boxer, chain
maker, and tree surgeon. These early experiences would shape his future
books.
Tully moved to Hollywood in 1912, and there started work on his first work,
Emmett Lawler.
(Originally composed as a single paragraph 100,000 word novel--it took a
decade to complete). Tully also fell in with a crowd of artistically
inclined up-and-comers. His growing circle of friends included the likes
of Lon Chaney, Tom Mix, Erich von Stroheim, Boris Karloff, and others.
Another early friend was director Paul Bern, who insisted Tully meet
another "little tramp" by the name of Charlie Chaplin. Tully went to
work for Chaplin as ghostwriter, publicist and creative factotum.
 |
Jim Tully is center, to the left of Charlie Chaplin. Louise Brooks' future husband,
Eddie Sutherland is second from the right. | | |
After a
year-and-a-half in Chaplin's employ, Tully began to turn-out a stream of
critically acclaimed books about his road years, including
Beggars of Life (a major bestseller),
Circus Parade,
Blood on the Moon,
Shadows of Men, and
Shanty Irish.
Tully was quickly established as a major American author, and he used
his status to launch a parallel career as a Hollywood journalist,
writing for
Vanity Fair,
Photoplay and other leading
magazines. Much as his gritty books shocked readers, his truth-be-told
magazine articles on the movies rocked Hollywood. One, about matinee
idol John Gilbert, even led to a headline-making fistfight.
While
some of Tully's more gritty books ran afoul of the censors (one was
banned in Boston), they also garnered critical acclaim and considerable
commercial success. A couple were filmed, and a couple were turned into
successful stage plays. H.L. Mencken, his editor at
The American Mercury,
was a longtime champion. Screenwriter Rupert Hughes, another promoter
of Tully's work, wrote that this singular author had "fathered the
school of hard-boiled writing so zealously cultivated by Ernest
Hemingway and lesser luminaries."
Road Kid to Writer - The Tracks of Jim Tully
tells a remarkable story. Always in the thick of things, the author's
equally remarkable array of friends and associates include W. C. Fields,
Wallace Beery, Eddie Sutherland, and Frank Capra. He also crossed paths
with Jack London, James Joyce, Jimmy Cagney, Joe Louis, Amelia Earhart,
Louis B. Mayer, George Bernard Shaw, and H.G. Wells. All are glimpsed
in
Road Kid to Writer, a revelatory documentary deserving a broader, even national audience. The
Youngstown Vindicator newspaper in Ohio
wrote up the broadcast a few days ago.
Louise Brooks and Jim Tully didn't like one another, but that shouldn't stop you from watching this worthwhile film.
Road Kid to Writer - The Tracks of Jim Tully
premieres on Western Reserve PBS (WNEO Channel 45.1 / WEAO Channel
49.1) on Sunday, February 15 at 7 p.m. Additional airdates can be found
at
westernreservepublicmedia.org/schedule.htm
