LA. Bus Tour Traces Film Noir's Path from James M.
Cain's Fiction to the Screen
WHAT: Esotouric's The Birth of
Noir: James M. Cain's Southern California
Nightmare tour
WHEN: Saturday October 9, 12pm-4pm
WHERE: Departing from Philippe The Original, 1001
Alameda, downtown LA
COST: $58/person (15% off for KCRW or KPCC members)
INFO:
http://www.esotouric.com,
323-223-2767
LOS ANGELES- Southern California, 1931: Musing over
fresh urban sprawl atop bulldozed orange groves and the
bitter realization that you can't eat the sunshine,
newly arrived writer James M. Cain found a kernel of
truth and his voice. That voice would become the
dominant note in the development of a unique American
genre, Film Noir, which spawned the abiding Los Angeles
myth of the solitary, relentless detective.
THE BIRTH OF NOIR is a four-hour luxury bus tour
celebrating the life, work, myths and passions of
hard-boiled American novelist James M. Cain through his
best known books, "The Postman Always Rings Twice,"
"Mildred Pierce" and "Double Indemnity," and how their
screen adaptations shaped Film Noir.
How did East Coat sophisticate Cain go from editor of
"The New Yorker" to populist novelist accused of writing
dirty books? The tour explores the writer's life and
work with a focus on his time in Southern California,
where his observations on Malibu, Hollywood, Pasadena
and the low rent burbs of Glendale are as provocative
today as they were seventy years ago.
The tour also covers the gifted people who transformed
Cain's tales into movies, among them Billy Wilder,
Raymond Chandler, Joan Crawford and Lana Turner. "The
Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's Southern California
Nightmare" is a complex portrait of a fascinating
character who was seduced and transformed by his time in
the Southland, a hard working movie industry
professional who sank into drink and despair, ultimately
a uniquely Californian artist.
Hosted by Esotouric's Richard
Schave, the tour departs from beloved dining landmark
Philippe the Original, where passengers can enjoy
delicious pie in honor of legendary baking mama Mildred
Pierce. The tour itself draws on Cain's essays, short
stories, novels, films and the memories of his friends
and colleagues to paint a portrait of LA in the 1930s
and 1940s through the
eyes of the writer. The tour spans Hollywood to Glendale
and along old Route 66, and includes illuminating visits
to the actual "Mildred Pierce" house, the Glendale Train
Station where the "Double Indemnity" murder plot played
out, and the punch line to a Billy Wilder joke so
subtle, it's taken six decades for anyone to get. Get on
the bus to share in the laughter and the pathos of
Cain's Southern California.
Upcoming Esotouric bus
tour and special event schedule
Sat Sept 11 - Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice crime bus
tour
Sat Sept 18 - Pasadena Confidential crime bus tour
Sat Sept 25 - The Real Black Dahlia crime bus tour
Sat Oct 9 - The Birth of Noir: James M. Cain's So. Cal
Nightmare
Sat Oct 16 - John Buntin's L.A. Noir
Sun Oct 24 - CSULA crime lab tour (info at
lavatransforms.org)
Sat Oct 30 - Maja's Mysteries: Rapture & Release
Sat Nov 6 - Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles
Sun Nov 7 - CSULA crime lab tour (info at
lavatransforms.org)
Sat Nov 13 - Haunts of a Dirty Old Man: Charles
Bukowski's L.A.
Sat Dec 4 - Pasadena Confidential with Crimebo the
Clown
Sat Dec 11 - Eastside Babylon crime bus tour
Esotouric's Richard Schave, Kim
Cooper and Joan Renner are proud members of LAVA - The
Los Angeles Visionaries Association.
http://www.lavatransforms.org
For more info on Esotouric,
visit
http://www.esotouric.com
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Dave's Pick