From: "Stieghorst, Tom" <TStieghorst@sun-sentinel.com>
Date: 02/27/2003
Subject: james jones question
Hi: I"m a reporter at the Sun-Sentinel newspaper, which circulates in
Fort
Lauderdale, Hollywood and other areas of South Florida. I'm writing a
piece
for the business section about the opening of a new bed & breakfast,
housed
in an apartment building on Hollywood beach. The press release from the
owner contains the following paragraph:
This historic home was originally built in 1925 by Hollywood founder,
Joseph Young, in downtown Hollywood and was known as the Indiana Apartments.
In the late 1920's the Young Company suffered a financial collapse and,
in
1933, the receivers had this two-story spacious building sold and
transported by flatbed to its current oceanfront location, as the beach
was
deemed to have tourism value. The home has a rich history of owners
and
guests, was used as a private residence by a prominent judge for many
years
and, during the 1950's, was the writing residence of the literary legend,
James Jones, author of From Here to Eternity and The Thin Red Line.
Any idea if this claim is true, or even plausible?
Regards,
TOM STIEGHORST
Sun-Sentinel
305-810-5008
tstieghorst@sun-sentinel.com
From: "Wood, Thomas" <Wood.Thomas@uis.edu>
Date: 02/27/2003
Subject: RE: james jones question
In 1998 a reporter from Ft. Myers asked a similar question. At that time
I
did some research and found the following:
""
James Jones in Florida:
Winter 1945-46:
In Marathon, Florida
May, 1947:
Jones was at his brother's home at 369 Hull Drive, Mabry Heights,
Tallahassee FL
25 Aug 1948:
Jones was in St. Petersburg
26 Aug 1948 - 15 Jan 1949
Jones was renting "Capt. Stewart's Cottage" near
the beach at Naples FL. Address is "General Delivery."
22 Sept - 25 Sept 1948
Jones travelled to Cardoza Hotel, Miami Beach to witness
hurricane
4 Nov 1949 - 2 Apr 1950
Jones rented "King's Cottage," Ft. Myers Beach FL. No
address given; the owner was "Mrs. King."
2 Oct 1951 - 11 Oct 1951
Jones at South Shore Apartments, 301 Jackson St,
Hollywood FL. Travelled to Havana
around 6 Oct 1951. Jones leaves FL around 11 Oct.
Nov 1951 - ca. 1 May 1952
Jones at King's Cottage, Ft. Myers Beach, through the beginning of May
1952.
""
Is "South Shore Apartments" in Hollywood the building in question? Jones
spent a few days there in 1951, but "King's Cottage" at Ft. Myers Beach
was
his preferred haunt.
Thomas J. Wood
Archivist
Archives/Special Collections LIB 144
University of Illinois at Springfield
P.O. Box 19243
Springfield IL 62794-9243
217-206-6520 | wood@uis.edu | http://www.uis.edu/library/lib-arch
<http://www.uis.edu/library/lib-arch>
From: "Barry Eysman" <beysman@pchnet.com>
Date: 04/01/2003
Subject: an excellent site
Thank you for your excellent web site about James Jones. I've not read
all
of it, but I shall. I've recently "discovered" his work, and am deeply
touched and heartened by it. I've read "From Here to Eternity,"
"Some Came Running," and "The Ice Cream Headache and other Stories."
They
are eloquent, rich and profound, impossible to put down or forget. The
quotation at the top of your web page is perfect; the entire passage
is
incredibly moving and poetic. I am constantly amazed in Jones' ability
to
tell a story, to understand characters, to make them feel like they are
living right on the page. Having read "From Here to Eternity," I now
understand more than I ever did, the feelings of a man for the military.
Mostly, though, I see Jones' heart come through on every page. He seemed
to
have had such deep respect for humans. He seemed to have understood the
illogic of the human heart, the terrible conflict of men and women trying
to
fight for their own dignity and trying to find their own way in a world
that
seems constantly shattered. Jones looked directly at reality, and he
understood the fealty of pride, the need to make something of one's self,
the need to find love when there seems to be none around, especially
then. I
think "From Here to Eternity" and "Some Came Running" are two of the
finest
books I've ever read. He had such deep knowledge about such intimate
things.
He never, in his work that I've read, ever backed down from the pain
of
being what we are and the need to end hurt on a personal level, while
not
sacrificing real integrity. He dealt with the moment of the day, real
dreams, real loneliness, life's terrible ironies, as in the closing of
"Some
Came Running" when a man I came to care so much about is just a cipher,an
object to be stopped, a machine to quiet. Jones was a defender of faith
in
conscience, in philosophy, in the need of one human being to find another
one, and to stop the screaming of life inside and outside themselves
for a
little while.
Thank you for reading this and your tributes to James Jones.
Take care,
Barry Eysman
From: "AOmar H. Avalos" <betterdayz_onme@hotmail.com>
Date: 04/03/03
Subject: I must do a job about James jones
My name is Adrian, I live in Mexico city, I have a little problem, maybe
you
can help me.
I must do a job about James jones, it´s a report, and I wanted
to do it
about him, about his books, I really find them with a great style, that´s
why i decided to do it on it.
Im on second year of university, on communication, and we must give a
source
about where did I found out about what im writing, and also the reason
of
this mail, I would really like to do a kind of interview with someone
or
some people who has readen his books, that would be a important part
of my
work, and it can help me a lot.
I hope I can have a answer soon. Thanks....
sincerly: Adrian Avalos
From: "Barry Eysman" <beysman@pchnet.com>
Date: 04/03/2003
Subject: Re: an excellent site--thank you so much
... It's also amazing that James Jones could create such vivid details
and sustain a plot into so many pages, as in "From Here to Eternity" and
"Some Came Running," carry over so many exterior and interior settings,
and sustain it so strongly, with such purpose, and make it so immediate
and meaningful; could make it all a beautiful orchestrated dance of life
seen so perfectly.
I've not read "The Thin Red Line," but will as soon as I can get my hands
on a copy. I did, the other day, see the film of "From Here to Eternity."
It was great fun to note how the film and novel differ, and how the integrity
of the book was carried over, how plots were worked out, some in the same
way as the novel, others achieved by taking one incident and tying it,
not to the one in the book, but into an earlier or later one, and I feel
achieve much of the effect of the book, though as with all films of great
books, the writing of the novel can't possibly be duplicated.
Mr. Jones' passage on death and how it is faced or hidden from is truly
beautiful, I read it alout three or four times, and it saddened me, and made
me think about things in a different way. How very much I wish I could tell
Mr. Jones how much I loved it, and his work.
You've made me very happy.
Take care,
Barry Eysman
From: "Barry Eysman" <beysman@pchnet.com>
Date: 04/04/2003
Subject: Re: excellent to hear from you again
...I know what you mean about "Some Came Running." The size daunted me
for a long time, but I did start reading it, determined, and very soon
the book grabbed back at me, and it is very much worth trying for again.
Yes, I do see that Jones wrote his work like journalism. And that makes
it even more amazing. Journalism to me always sees the surface, with hopefully
depth to it, but not culled from the imagination, and of course that is
a very valid and important part of writing. Yet. It is without poetry. Oddly
without humanity, when that is what it is about.
It is facts. And while doing that, Jones made journalism far more than
what it otherwise is, also saw into a person's deepest heart, and created
poetry, with such seeming ease, in such truly affecting ways. The taps
section of "From Here to Eternity." yes, I've read it aloud three times.
And wept each time. I wonder when a writer does something so extra ordinary
as that, even such a great writer as he was, did he pause after he wrote
it, and say to himself, my god, that is excellent... It must be a truly
splendid moment.
I have gone to abebooks.com and will order The Thin Red Line as soon
as I can. I am now, especially on your recommendation, eager to read it.
... Books make writers immortal, in so many ways. It's like someone is speaking
to me one on one, and has something vital for my life, like it was for me
alone. That is especially the intimacy and the directness I get from Jones.
He looked at reality and never blinked in fear, not once.
Yes, I do remember the scene with Montgomery Clift blowing Taps and the
soldier's faces; it was an eloquent moment and a very powerful one.
The movie of his novel (the original film) is out on DVD and looks and
sounds magnificent. I've read that the film revived Frank Sinatra's career,
that he pleaded for the role and offered to do it for free. Very very wise
move. He is I think in much of his film work, especially in this and "The
Manchurian Candidate" at the very top of the acting profession.
Everytime I see the film, I keep hoping George Reeves' (cause he was
my first childhood hero) scenes will be restored, but sadly not so. He had
such a hard time of things in the fifties and had such a sad ending to his
life, but it is good to see him with Burt Lancaster, one of my favorite actors,
and very much holding his own acting wise with him. I was,in the film, somewhat
disappointed that Maggio's death scene was not played as it was in the novel.
Of course the importance of the passage is how Maggio sums up what is to
happen, accepts it, with such grace, and devotion to what perhaps for a long
time he did not believe in, in his thoughts, something movies will always
have a difficult time doing.
You're very nice, and thank you for sharing my letters with your organization
members. It's quite a lot of fun for me.
Take care,
Barry
From: DLWOOLF@aol.com
Date: 05/24/2003
Subject: Subject: An incredible James Jones Site!
Good day from the United Kingdom. I really cannot adequately express
my admiration of the James Jones Literary Society Site but I do offer my
congratulations and thanks for providing such a wealth of information on
a writer who - to me - was among the greatest of only a few in the military
who gave us such an authentic insight into the minds of those who fought
& won (and sometimes lost) in WWII. Standing alongside Norman Mailer,
Leon Uris, the great Herman Wouk and England's own Nicholas Monsarrat ("The
Cruel Sea"), James Jones has always been a great inspiration to me.
This stems from the time in the mid-1950s when, as a young medical airman
serving with the Royal Air Force at the British Nuclear Test Program at Christmas
Island in the Pacific, I was seconded to Tripler US Army Hospital, Honolulu.
This was, of course, only a few short years after the 1951 publication of
Jones' masterpiece and the subsequent filming of 'From Here to Eternity'
and I recall with great pleasure my visits to so many of the sites so wonderfully
portrayed in the movie. It was this book above all other that attracted
me to US literature and - now in my mid-60s - I have been hooked ever since.
Where will we find the like of him again?
Best regards
Derek Woolf
Solihull
England
From: Ktwojtun@aol.com
Date: 08/10/2003 10:02 PM
Subject: "Some Came Running"?
Hello, my name is Kurt Wayton, I live in outhern NJ but went to college
in Terre Haute, one of summer books was "Some came running" what the hell
does the title mean? I loved the book, one of the best I've ever read in fact.
It was years and years ahead of it's time and focused on many of the same
unfortunate life experiences I myself am going through now. Great web
page, have a great remainder of your summer.
Sincerely,
Kurt Wayton
Editor's Note: See responses from the James Jones FAQ page at http://rking.vinu.edu/faq.htm
Responses from Kurt:
Thanks for getting back to me, set some time to get through Some Came running,
it's a long but rewarding read and very autobiographical, it captures the
average Wabash Valley life very well, in fact, I think it was poorly reviewed
because people who've never lived in and near Terre Haute can't get into
it.
Thanks alot. Man was Mr. Jones brilliant.
From: chrisharris52@comcast.net
Date: 08/30/2003
Subject: Wolfhounds-James Jones
I was wondering what company Jones was with . My
grandfather was in the 27th Infantry regiment (Wolfhounds), company
C. He also Boxed in the intercompany tournament at Schofield barracks
before the war broke out.
----I am also looking for pictures of any Wolfhounds
that served in WWII.
Sincerely,
Chris Harris
From: BaroneSalva@aol.com
Date: 12/08/2003
Subject: New to James Jones
Hi,
Great website. I recently discovered James Jones and am about
2/3 into "From Here to Eternity." So far, I would rank it as one of
the best books i have ever read. Prew and Warden are so real and alive
to me. I think Jones may be a better writer than either Hemingway
or Mailer. Do you have any recommendations as to what to read
next? I guess the next books in the trilogy would be a logical
progression but I am particularly interested in your thoughts on "Some Came
Running." It is hard to believe the amount of bad reviews
it received. Although the length is certainly daunting, which probably
turned off many critics, i can't imagine a man of such talent writing a horrendous
book, especially one that led one critic to call it a "boring orgy in a manure
pile."