Remembering Maurice Sendak. 


The sadness was somewhat softened when I saw that his passing was considered worthy of front-page status in The NY Times.  And the Obit began with “…Maurice Sendak, widely considered the most important children’s book artist of the 20th century....”

And to my tastes, one of the most important artists period.

 In the early 90’s, his publisher Harper Collins was a client of the agency I was working for.  They called a meeting one morning at their offices to discuss the marketing of his upcoming book “ We Are All in The Dumps with Jack and Guy”.  There was concern that the book was going to meet with resistance from both critics and readers-- because though based on two simple classic nursery rhymes…in which the complete text reads: 

We are all in the dumps, for diamonds are trumps, the kittens are gone to St. Pauls! The Baby is Bit, the moon’s in a fit, and the houses are built without walls.
Jack and Guy went out in the rye and the found a little boy with one black eye. “Come,” says Jack. “Let’s knock him on the head.” “No,” says Guy. “Let’s buy him some bread. You buy one loaf, and I’ll buy two, and we’ll bring him up as other folks do.”

… Sendak chose to interpret them in fifty full color images of homeless children living on the streets in a world infested with crime, poverty, pollution, AIDS, and not a single parent, authority figure or adult in sight. It wouldn’t be the first (or last) time that Sendak would have to answer to questions regarding his intentions and views regarding what is and isn’t appropriate reading for young children. 

The Publisher wanted me to produce a half-hour documentary (if I ever transfer it to digital, I’ll post it ) that would tell the story of Sendak's body of work and feature him addressing the pertinent issues (as they, not he saw them) to serve as one of the elements in a press kit designed to introduce the book to booksellers and critics. They also wanted me to shoot a symposium at which Sendak would speak and answer questions from critics, educators, child-psychologists and members of related fields.

Sendak was not present at this initial meeting, and as a big fan and admirer of his work, I sensed that it was likely he was not altogether on board with this proposal, and perhaps even somewhat opposed to it since it had all the markings of a classic chicken-shit strategy that any self-respecting artist would find somewhat insulting and cowardly. So I politely suggested that I first talk to Sendak to discuss what he thought, and so I did.  After a few tentative moments where I sensed he was trying to overcome his suspicions that I was just another weasel from Madison Ave., we somehow got comfortable enough to spend over an hour on the phone throwing ideas back and forth.  We ultimately decided to keep it very simple.  I would come up to his house in Connecticut with a small crew and we would shoot him doing what he does in the course of an average day.  He would be seen working in his office, taking a walk with his dog in the woods, having lunch with a friend, listening to music etc. And we would also have a chat in the backyard which would serve as a one-on one discussion that could continue to be used in Voice-Over throughout the rest of the piece.

The Publisher was OK with the plan, although they had reservations about the fact that I was giving them no script and no shooting boards and no guarantees that it would do what they wanted it to.  But they weren’t giving me much money either, so we were even.

I got my friend and filmmaker Carl to shoot it and the first thing we shot was the symposium.  It was held in a very large conference room with about 40 or 50 attendees.  On the phone I had told Sendak that he should not wear a shirt with stripes, especially not one with thin tight stripes.  It tends to vibrate on-screen. And also avoid white—which tends to glow. So when I arrive in the morning to meet him (for the first time) there he is in a starched bright white shirt with thin tight hot red stripes…and I guess I must have just stared at him as he shook my hand and said “ You don’t look like I thought you would”.  And trying to put the shirt out of my mind I said something like “ I hope you mean that in a good way”.  And he said he did cause I didn’t look like the ‘typical’ commercial Hack.  I think I said that he was right, and that I was an ‘atypical’ commercial Hack.  And then after a well timed few beats, he opens up his briefcase and pulls out a light blue shirt and says…”ok, how’s this?”

I recall that we had some technical problems that held up the start of the event, but eventually we got going and Sendak was terrific.  I was surprised at how many people directly and forcefully objected to the book. The stench of political correctness in the room was overwhelming. Some wondered if he was being deliberately provocative and insensitive.  Some asked him personal questions regarding his actual experience with children and whether as someone who had never been a parent, he was unaware or uncaring or oblivious to their feelings and sensitivities.  

I don’t know how he did it, but he kept his cool and over the course of the hour turned (most of) the room around.  He talked about how he regarded children as far less fearful and far more willing and able to handle stress and distress than adults.  He spoke about how kids are small, and virtually powerless, so they have to trust, they have to stay open-minded and hopeful and brave.  They gotta face facts. They gotta be tough. We adults got it all backwards. We're the ones with too much sensitivity.  And of course, I’m just summarizing the gist of it here…what he said was along the same lines, but it was eloquent, heartfelt, forceful and convincing.

The following week we went up to his home in rural CT. to shoot the main part of the Doc.  Ellen came too cause she wasn’t going to miss the chance to meet a lifelong hero. And I think he appreciated her appreciativeness, and everyone gets along with Ellen. By this time we were all comfortable with one another and the entire day was a total pleasure.  The shoot was bare-bones.  I don’t think we had anything more than a camera, sound-man, hair/makeup and a few all purpose crew guys. Sendak told stories all day long. He railed at Steven Spielberg for buying up all the Mickey Mouse memorabilia that he coveted and took the audacious 'Auteur'  to task for being the one who really frightened children by taking away their power and confidence in order to create stories built on terror and suspense.  He played his favorite Schubert records, he talked about his childhood (the obituary is pretty good at covering that) and he drew a simple sketch of Jack and Guy from the book, and inscribed it to all the members of my family. I’ll treasure it and hand it down to my kids—just like millions will treasure his books and do the same.  

By: Pat Bagley
Salt Lake Tribune
May 8, 2012