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HEMINGWAY documentary on PBS April 5 at 8pm by Ken Burns and Lynn Novak .

His life was very interesting. His mother made him dress as a girl till he was 5. And there is so much more.

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by Anonymousreply 37April 15, 2021 3:26 AM

If Papa was so hetero how could his friendship with Marlene Dietrich been platonic? I smell an overcompensating closet case.

by Anonymousreply 1April 5, 2021 2:47 AM

The most boring dullest writer ever. He makes a Henry James' novel look like a page turner.

by Anonymousreply 2April 5, 2021 4:17 AM

Anyone watching?

by Anonymousreply 3April 6, 2021 12:32 AM

when all episodes are available to stream at once / it seems like such a damn chore.... but i liked the first episode

by Anonymousreply 4April 6, 2021 8:18 PM

^ It is all available now.

by Anonymousreply 5April 6, 2021 8:20 PM

Baby "Girl" Ernest was not exceptional for little boys of his caste and class at the turn of the last century.

It's too easy to blame Mommy.

by Anonymousreply 6April 6, 2021 8:25 PM

I am not a big fan of his work (though I love the shady as fuck MOVEABLE FEAST), but one can't discount just how profound an impact he had on about five decades of writers. And his life was damn interesting. I'm enjoying the doc for sure. He was so insecure, wasn't he? And isn't that always the case...

Oh the man was simply the hottest writer ever.

by Anonymousreply 7April 6, 2021 8:27 PM

He'd have been greater if he hadn't stolen everything he knew from "Big Gert" Stein.

by Anonymousreply 8April 6, 2021 8:30 PM

OP It was not uncommon in those days for little boys to wear dresses. Small children of both sexes (there are still two, correct?) were often dressed alike.

by Anonymousreply 9April 6, 2021 8:33 PM

It is the mark of genius to make the complex seem simple.

by Anonymousreply 10April 6, 2021 8:52 PM

Yes, I agree with R6 and R9. It was common to have boys wear dresses when small. In fact, classic children’s clothing stores still sell little boy’s “day dresses” for easy changes. I was left baffled why those being interviewed made it such a big point.

by Anonymousreply 11April 7, 2021 1:19 AM

They described it differently than him dressing as a girl until age five. His sisters were sometimes dressed as boys and all the children had the same haircuts. I also don’t remember them saying he was dressed like a girl all the time either.

by Anonymousreply 12April 7, 2021 2:31 AM

I'm forcing my husband to watch this with me. We missed the second half yesterday because we switched to Rock the Block. So I guess we missed him publishing a novel and his father committing suicide. Is that right? Anyway, husband and I are not intellectuals (I actually got Hemingway mixed up with Steinbeck) but my husband is paying some attention. When they said he met his fourth wife (at the end of tonight's episode), my husband cracked up.

by Anonymousreply 13April 7, 2021 2:38 AM

The doc said Ernest thought his last wife always wanted to be a 'boy'. And that later in life they switched sex roles...

I remember in "For Whom The Bell Tolls" endless references to the girl's short hair and boyish manner.

by Anonymousreply 14April 8, 2021 11:36 PM

Yep. He grew his hair long she cut hers short and she pegged him.

by Anonymousreply 15April 8, 2021 11:53 PM

Ah another Ken Burns. The Tom Hanks of television.

by Anonymousreply 16April 8, 2021 11:54 PM

R2- DEFINITELY overrated.

by Anonymousreply 17April 8, 2021 11:56 PM

Good writer, excellent self-promoter, kind of a terrible person.

by Anonymousreply 18April 8, 2021 11:57 PM

ANOTHER PBS documentary from the BEARDED LADY.

by Anonymousreply 19April 8, 2021 11:57 PM

soooooo depressing. Could’ve been edited down to 90 minutes max.

by Anonymousreply 20April 8, 2021 11:59 PM

He was a massive drunken asshole who got off on killing animals for fun (or watching them die slowly.) Fuck that and fuck him.

by Anonymousreply 21April 9, 2021 12:00 AM

To me, the only American writer who started out in the 20s who has stood the test of time is F. Scott Fitzgerald,

by Anonymousreply 22April 9, 2021 12:01 AM

How does Hemingway involve black people? Burns once said that all of his multipart documentaries were made to explore the African American experience — even “The War.”

by Anonymousreply 23April 9, 2021 12:04 AM

Ken Burns finally found a subject he couldn't make boring as hell. I made better documentaries when I was in high school.

by Anonymousreply 24April 9, 2021 12:34 AM

Reading the new biography of John McCain by Mark Salter, McCain's interview for the documentary was conducted after his cancer diagnosis, when, per the author, he was very frail.

by Anonymousreply 25April 12, 2021 8:05 PM

The Sun Also Rises was “The Hills” of its day

by Anonymousreply 26April 12, 2021 8:10 PM

So, his middle son Gregory was trans and was arrested in woman’s clothing in a movie theater bathroom in LA in 1951, which basically killed his mom a few days later. At the end of his life she did the full transition and became a woman and died in a woman’s prison after dementia and mental illness had her confined there.

by Anonymousreply 27April 12, 2021 8:15 PM

Wow, R27. I didn't know any of that. That's super sad. Why wasn't that talked about?

by Anonymousreply 28April 12, 2021 9:32 PM

R28 The first part was, but the show really ended with his death.

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by Anonymousreply 29April 12, 2021 10:40 PM

R22, But what does "stood the test of time" mean here? I would bet more people extant would recognize the name "Ernest Hemingway" more. And better movies have been made of his works than of Fitzgerald's.

But as to actual relevance to today, I submit that a 1920s poet should be considered: Langston Hughes.

by Anonymousreply 30April 13, 2021 2:19 AM

This is interesting dealing with the gender play stuff that was revealed.

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by Anonymousreply 31April 13, 2021 6:18 AM

This is heartbreaking.

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by Anonymousreply 32April 13, 2021 6:43 AM

You got the feeling that his 4 th wife must have just endured that marriage clenched her teeth and stayed for the money. Am I stupid or were they strongly suggesting that she was a lesbian? Can you imagine how drunk and kinky and cruel he must have been in his later years?

by Anonymousreply 33April 13, 2021 7:27 AM

Dain-bramaged (but I love his voice).

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by Anonymousreply 34April 13, 2021 7:58 AM

He's only in his mid-50s in that clip. Tragic.

(Although many people in their mid-50s look like that now).

by Anonymousreply 35April 13, 2021 8:19 PM

That was after a plane crash that he was trapped inside while on fire and used his head as a battering ram to free himself from the wreckage. And that was on top of a lifetime of other head injuries and concussions.

by Anonymousreply 36April 13, 2021 8:26 PM

The biggest surprise was he actually was totally hot when young. I thought it was all about the machismo - but he was stunningly Square jawed, broad shouldered, great smile, tall stud. And into sex.

by Anonymousreply 37April 15, 2021 3:26 AM
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