Thu 7 Jul 2016
Mystery Review: ANDREW BERGMAN – The Big Kiss-Off of 1944.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews[8] Comments
ANDREW BERGMAN – The Big Kiss-Off of 1944. Holt Rinehart & Winston, hardcover, 1974. Ballantine, paperback, March 1975. Perennial Library P673, paperback, 1983.
Andrew Bergman’s novels about Manhattan-based private eye Jack LeVine are very much in the Raymond Chandler vein, which is not a bad vein to be in at all.
From page 15:
Jack is a big guy, bald, Jewish, once married but no longer, smokes Luckies, drinks Blatz, and is a very good guy for a Broadway chorus girl being blackmailed for making the wrong kind of movie to have on her side. What Jack doesn’t count on is that the case will end up with him deeply involved in the Roosevelt-Dewey election campaign of 1944.
Mr. Dewey, in fact, makes a major appearance. Mr. Roosevelt does not. Mr. Bergman, who later on became a well-known scriptwriter and director, knew his way around a typewriter even at this early date, and the story goes down nice and easy. Very enjoyable.
Bibliographic Note: There was one immediate followup novel, Hollywood and LeVine (Holt, 1975), then nothing was heard from Mr. LeVine for over 25 years, when Tender Is LeVine came out from St. Martin’s in 2001.
July 7th, 2016 at 9:18 pm
Smooth as the bourbon Marlowe kept in his desk drawer. Bergman’s voice is assured from page one. Too bad there were only three outings over so many years.
July 7th, 2016 at 11:33 pm
The edition I have is the Ballantine paperback which came out in March 1975 and that is the date of my note in the book. I gave it a superb plus rating and commented:
“This was very enjoyable and exactly the type of hard boiled tough, wise cracking private eye novel I like. This recaptured the 1940’s period perfectly. Definitely influenced by the Nixon Watergate scandal, only in this it’s the Democratic party and FDR that’s corrupt.
Very unusual for a tough detective; he doesn’t kill anyone and the real villains are not criminals but politicians.”
I also read HOLLYWOOD AND LEVINE and liked it a lot. It also is a Ballantine paperback and came out in December 1976 but my note indicates that I read it in November 1976. It takes place in 1947 and deals with the Communist witch hunt in Hollywood.
July 8th, 2016 at 9:54 am
Walker
I’d kind of forgotten about the Ballantine paperback. I’ve added it to the publishing credits before the review itself. Truth is, though, that’s the edition I read and enjoyed when it first came out. When I recently came across a beat up copy of the Perennial edition, I decided to buy it and see if I would enjoy it as much a second time. I’m glad I did, since I really did.
July 8th, 2016 at 5:40 am
Thanks for reminding me there was a third LeVine book. I read the first two in late 1975 but let book three slip right past me. Of course, Bergman wrote (and in some cases directed) classics like BLAZING SADDLES (co-wrote), THE IN-LAWS (“Serpentine!”) and THE FRESHMAN, among others. We also saw his 1986 Broadway comedy SOCIAL SECURITY, starring Ron Silver and Marlo Thomas.
July 8th, 2016 at 9:49 am
Jeff
Those are only some of Bergman’s movie-making credits. I guess it’s no wonder he stopped writing the LeVine books for so long. I’m sure they didn’t make him nearly as money as his work in Hollywood did.
July 8th, 2016 at 7:30 pm
This series is one that I try to emulate in my Stan Wade LA PI novels. Someday, I hope mine are as fun as his.
July 14th, 2016 at 6:26 pm
Just read TENDER IS LEVINE (2001), the third and last LeVine book, and I enjoyed it. How could I not, when it involved Toscanini being kidnapped and replaced by a duplicate, trips to Havana (this is 1950) and (early days) Las Vegas, Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano?
July 14th, 2016 at 7:41 pm
My goodness, this sounds familiar. I think I’ve read this one. There was a period when I stopped writing up reviews of every mystery novel I read. Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano have been characters in lots of mysteries. Toscanini not so many.