Sidney Sheldon passed away on January 30th at age 89. I didn't know him but I knew his work. From a very early age.
You see, Sidney Sheldon, script writer, playwrite, author, and TV producer, made an impact on a lot of us Baby Boomers. Most folks just don't know it.
After making a name for himself with three successful, concurrently running, Broadway plays, Mr. Sheldon went back to Hollywood. One of his first scripts was THE BACHELOR AND THE BOBBY SOXER starring Cary Grant and Myrna Loy. Made in 1948, when folks were happy the war was over and looking for peacetime entertainment, this film was a light frolic made shortly after the end of World War II and at the beginning of what became known as "The Baby Boom", the period between World War II and the Vietnam War, roughly 1945 - 1964. (Just so y'all don't think I'm
that old, I squeaked in on the tail end of the boom, arriving in 1963. And I know, that's
still pretty old to many. Just ask my middle school son.) Sidney Sheldon won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
He followed this up with one of my favorite movies, EASTER PARADE, starring Judy Garland and Fred Astaire. (I love all things Fred; I can take Judy in measured doses.) Mr. Sheldon won a Screen Actors Guild award for Best Musical.
Then he turned his attention to the small screen. THE PATTY DUKE SHOW, starring Patty Duke, began airing in 1963. Then I DREAM OF JEANNIE began in 1964, introducing us to Larry Hagman as Major Tony Nelson and Barbara Eden as Jeannie. Mr. Sheldon wrote the majority of the scripts for both shows simultaneously. He won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for I DREAM OF JEANNIE.
As if that weren't enough, Sidney Sheldon began writing books. It was through his books that I first became conscious of his name. Shortly afterward I made the connection to the same name in the TV credits. He wrote THE OTHER SIDE OF MIDNIGHT, BLOODLINE, and RAGE OF ANGELS, among others. All romantic suspense/thrillers. Now mind you, given that I've revealed my birth year, it's not too hard to figure out that I was pretty young when these books were released. I read them anyway.
My mother, who is responsible for my love affair with the written word, had a Literary Guild membership, one of those book clubs that sends a new book each month, whether you want it or not. (You know, those clubs that somehow always "just missed" your "No Thanks" response and sent the book anyway, figuring it would be too much trouble to return the book so you would simply pay for it. They never met my mother.)
In our house, all books were available everyone. There were no children's books and adult books. There were just books. Which explains why I was always 3-4 reading levels ahead of my grade. I'd read LITTLE WOMEN and GONE WITH THE WIND in elementary school. I tried TOM JONES but I just couldn't wrap my mind around it. I read James Thurber, Edgar Allen Poe, and A. Conan Doyle. Pretty much everything in sight. You get the picture.
Back to Mr. Sheldon. At first I liked his books, then I didn't. Decided they weren't my speed, at least not then. But his books helped to whet my literary appetite. I turned to romance (re-reading the aforementioned LITTLE WOMEN and GONE WITH THE WIND eons of times) as well as discovering Harlequins, Jacqueline Susann, and other romance/women's fiction. I also began reading lots of African-American literature, especially the classics by authors such as Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston, along with then contemporary AA authors, like Paule Marshall, Ernest Gaines, Alice Childress, Claude McKay, and Alex Haley. (Yup, I read ROOTS,
before the TV miniseries aired.) I later found my way back to romantic suspense, but I still find that I can't read all of them. The mix of romance and suspense has to be just right and both plotlines pretty believeable.
Sidney Sheldon was a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood and the publishing world for over 60 years. Danielle Steel and Jackie Collins followed Mr. Sheldon, and in my opinion, learned quite a bit from his style. He won an Edgar Allen Poe award from the Mystery Writers of America for his first book, THE NAKED FACE. Sitcoms were big in the 1960's--HAZEL, MR. ED, THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES, GREEN ACRES, GILLIGAN'S ISLAND, and so many more--many of which are in heavy rotation on TVLand and Nick at Nite. Mr. Sheldon's were among the hits.
When I hear that a celebrity has passed, I naturally feel sympathy for their family. I also think about their impact, if any, on my world. Mr. Sheldon's life work definitely helped to shape my early years of reading and TV.
Peace & Blessings,
Patricia
Peace & Blessings,
Patricia
Stay focused. Be deliberate. Believe.
The release party was last Friday in Tallahassee. Our anthology of 18 inspirational stories is getting good reviews. We got 4-stars from RAWSISTAZ and 5-stars from SORMAG. And we even got a mention in the