You think people come to Portland to drink the microbrews, or shop at Powells, or visit the Rose Garden? Wrong. They come to breathe the same air at Jean Auel, a technical writer turned Ice Age fabulist whose books are loved around the world. Jean Auel is Oregon’s most successful author, with her Earth’s Children series selling more copies than there are stars in the sky.

Here’s what I like about Jean. She knew her books were going to be successful, so she went to business school and got an MBA before she wrote them.

That’s what I call confidence.

Jean Auel entered Oregon film history when Darryl Hannah appeared in the big screen adaptation of Clan Of The Cave Bear. You can meet the woman who invented Ayla this Sunday afternoon at Oregon Historical Society where she will be signing books from 3:00 – 4:00 PM.

If you want to know more about Jean Auel’s research methods, or her approach to writing fiction, she just so happens to be giving a talk at 2:00 PM at First Congregational Church, 1126 SW Park Ave, just before she strolls across the street to Oregon Historical Society to sign books.

Admission is $10 for OHS members/$15 for non-members. Tickets are available online.

Be there or be square! I have a feeling she will be sharing all the secrets to her success.

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Here’s the report on OHS’ Dec. 4 event “A Conversation With Jean Auel”.

Jean gave a wonderful talk about the origin of her Earth Children novels in her dawning awareness that there was no such thing as a “caveman” – that there is very little to distinguish Homo sapiens from Homo neanderthalensis. She wrote about fictional Ice Age characters as an attempt to explore and flesh out the implications of this realization.

I was wrong! She corrected my misapprehension that she went to night school for her MBA as the first stage of her writing career.

She said when she finished her degree, she quit her day job with Tektronix and wasn’t sure what she would do next. We know now what she decided to do.

I have a theory that some people live their lives backwards. Jean Auel could have studied for her MBA because she “remembered” that she would need one in the future, even though she could not “remember” what she needed it for.

Dennis Nyback, who is half Finnish, points with pride to Jean Auel’s maiden name, Untinen. Perhaps she, like he, is part Laplander.

Last but not least, Jean gave a huge shout out to Multnomah County Library, which got a big round of applause.

]]> http://www.talltalestruetales.com/2011/12/ohs-presents-a-conversation-with-jean-auel-first-congregational-church-dec-4-200-pm/feed/ 0 http://www.talltalestruetales.com/2011/04/scorecard-fans-choose-top-ten-films-on-oregon-movies-a-to-z/ http://www.talltalestruetales.com/2011/04/scorecard-fans-choose-top-ten-films-on-oregon-movies-a-to-z/#comments Sun, 24 Apr 2011 06:13:31 +0000 Anne Richardson http://www.talltalestruetales.com/?p=13419 Animal House? The Goonies? One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest? You think these are the most well loved Oregon films? You’re wrong. At least you’re wrong if you use traffic on Oregon Movies, A to Z as a guide.

What is your favorite Oregon film?

Here are the leading favorites on Oregon Movies, A to Z:

1. Clan of the Cave Bear (1986)

The all time top favorite post on Oregon Movies, A to Z. A testimony to the deep love Jean Auel’s fans have for anything to do with the Earth Children series.

2. Family Dog (1987)

Brad Bird’s first animated film appeared on television as part of Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories.

3. Free Willy (1993)

Starring Oregonian Jason James Richter, and set and shot on the Oregon Coast. One of a long line of Oregon animal films.

4. Drum Beat (1954) /Lost film

Set and shot in Modoc country, on the border of Oregon and California, and featuring Charles Bronson’s first lead performance.

5. Vortex 1: A Biodegradeable Festival of Life (2005)

Using home movie footage and the recollections of attendees, Vortex 1 documents a 1970 rock festival organized by state bureaucrats in Salem, and held in McIver Park.

6. Alice In Wonderland (1951)

Marc Davis, the only one of Disney’s Nine Old Men to graduate from Klamath Union High School, was the animation supervisor.

7. Magic Trip: Ken Kesey’s Search For A Kool Place (2010)

Ken Kesey’s first career goal was to become an actor. He never lost his love of movies, and this documentary uses his own home movie footage.

8. MacKenna’s Gold (1969)

Omar Sharif and Gregory Peck look for gold and find Julie Newmar. Partially shot in Oregon.

9. The Great American Cowboy (1973)

Real life Oregonian (and rodeo champion) Larry Mahan was the subject of this Oscar winning documentary.

10. Even Cowgirls Get The Blues (1993)

Tom Robbins’ novel about a gifted hitchhiker was brought to life by Gus Van Sant in his fourth feature film. Shot in Central Oregon with Uma Thurman playing Sissy Hankshaw.

Hmmmmmmmm. Three animal films (Clan of the Cave Bear - which does star Bart the Bear, Family Dog and Free Willy), three drug films (Vortex 1, Alice In Wonderland and Magic Trip) and four  films starring people in cowboy hats (Drum Beat, MacKenna’s Gold, The Last Great American Cowboy and Even Cowgirls Get The Blues.)

I wonder what that means.

Jean Auel has an international following so devout that a previous post about her on Oregon Movies, A to Z was rewarded with hundreds and hundreds of hits.

Jean Auel’s next book, The Land Of Painted Caves, is the last installment in her Earth’s Children series. It will come out in March 2011.

As Jeff Baker notes in the Oregonian, Jean Auel is a home grown artist.

1. researched her first book at the Multnomah County library

2. worked a day job at Tektronix

3. met her agent at Willamette Writers Conference

Proponents of the theory that Oregonians are secretly French can point to Auel, who, without changing her Oregon address, chose to live her imaginative life in the caves of pre-historic France. Millions of readers the world over joined her there, as did  John Sayles, Michael Chapmen and Darryl Hannah, who brought one novel in the series to the big screen in Clan of the Cave Bear.

Maybe we will see that happen again for The Land Of Painted Caves. Congratulations, Jean!

Science imitates art? I thought the question of whether modern man slept with Neanderthals was  throroughly investigated in Jean Auel’s novels (and the film Clan of the Cave Bear, 1986). But I haven’t read the novels, so maybe someone else can clarify this for me. Isn’t this research something they could have skipped if they had just been more familiar with Oregon film history?

John Sayles wrote the screenplay for this ambitious Ice Age costume drama in which Daryl Hannah appeared opposite Bart the Bear. Clan Of The Cave Bear lost millions at the box office. Based on the novel by the same name by Oregonian Jean Auel, Clan of the Cave Bear was directed by Michael Chapman, better known for his work as cinematographer for Taxi Driver and Raging Bull.

I hereby claim Clan Of The Cave Bear as an Oregon film, based on novelist Jean Auel’s status as an Oregonian.

For people who missed it on Sunday, here’s Jeff Baker’s profile of Jon Raymond in the Oregonian.

My favorite part:

“Wendy and Lucy” is the second movie filmed in the same location Raymond used in a short story. The first, “Old Joy,” mostly takes place at Bagby Hot Springs, where Raymond and the gang from Plazm magazine once took photos of Bigfoot, with director Todd Haynes playing the lead role in a furry suit.

I’m trying to think of a New York magazine that would have thrown Todd into a furry suit and taken him to a hot springs. No wonder he moved to Portland!

Jon Raymond joins Ernest Haycox, Walt Morey, Ken Kesey, Walt Curtis, Jean Auel, John Varley and Chuck Palahniuk – all Oregon writers whose work has been adapted to the big screen.

Read more about Wendy and Lucy, which has replenished the spiritual stores of lots of hardened film critics, or better yet, go see it at Cinema 21.