MOSES LEVI'S "CRIMINAL
MIND"
by Jack MacMillan, with Arnel
MOSES
LEVI'S crowning achievement, a freshly penned novella entitled "CRIMINAL
MINDS", published by The Goldman Publishing House and distributed to every
major bookseller from New York City to Monowi has finally been released to a
rabid fanbase spawned by the release of his newest Hollywood hit, “GUN TOTING
HEROES”. To date, this daring tale is the highest selling book in the true*
(ish) crime genre in American history, and yet, because of its unforgiving grit
and impeccable attention to detail, has received little if any notoriety by the
most widely circulated cultural publications and popular media. Similarly, in
spite of its novelized account of an infamous public scandal, it has not been
subjected to the normal accolades and criticism which is normal for such a
culturally important effort such as this. One might wonder if the "Great
American Novel" is a term reserved only for the sake of publicists and
advertising agencies.
Perhaps
this may also be due to Mr. Levi's unwillingless to participate in such
traditional book marketing efforts as interviews, public events, and book
signing tours. In fact, my own efforts to contact the author by his publisher
was met with a boilerplate response letter refusing correspondence due to his
"determined intent to maintain his privacy".
A letter to
a literary agency, known for representing similarly celebrated writers in the
"Pulp Noir" world was met with a handsomely typed response, stating
that, "Mr. Levi is not represented by any known agency, nor is his address
or telephone information available on any of our lists. The Goldman Publishing
House appears to manage his affairs directly, and with discretion at the
Author's request."
Shunning
the limelight by celebrated authors is not unusual in the field of pulp crime
fiction, and many established writers, famous for works in various fields, publish
their work pseudonymously, often disguised by different identities, somewhat
like brand names. Such authors are quite common, especially those who write for
both "family friendly" and "morally questionable"
audiences.
It is a
sort of "Industry Insider Secret" that many popular juvenile book
series, such as (SERIES TITLES REDACTED), produced under the direction of
(PUBLISHER'S NAMES REDACTED) staff editors, each following a strict
"formula" for predictability, familiarity, and consistency, with an
intention to maintain audience expectations. Most individuals who find that
their personal preferences to any particular genre or style of media will
understand how successful this production method can be. Musicians themselves often
find themselves "styled", with music and lyrics often written
"For Hire" (or co-written) and performed by a staff of (usually
uncredited) studio musicians and producers. In the literary field, a staff of (again,
usually uncredited) readers and editors are generally employed to "clean up" the final
published version of a manuscript.
After
several telephone calls and formal letters, I was eventually directed by one of
Goldman Publishing's staff, who was familiar with Mr. Levi's catalog of work,
and who agreed to discuss the novel, its mysterious author, and any other
details he could offer. Elated by the invitation, our informant agreed to meet,
though only under conditional anonymity. For sake of this article, we'll call
him "Arnel", for the classic Italian "Tart Arnel"
sunglasses which Levi's flashy protagonists seem rather fond. ("Where the
Aston Martin, Martini and Walther PPK are signature brands which define James
Bond's style, so too do Levi's nostalgic references to Tart Arnel, Trimm Trab,
Florsheim, Pimms, and Poljot, to name a few).
Though much
of our conversation was dominated by Arnel's encyclopedic knowledge of every
aspect of Moses Levi's characters, plot synopses, and a detailed exploration of
philosophic minutia, it became abundantly clear that Arnel himself is a radical
fanatic for "all things Levi".
The Goldman
Publishing House was established shortly after the ending of the Second World
War. ......... Goldman, a Jewish born American, served with the Marine Corps in
the Pacific Theatre, returning from service several weeks after Japan's
surrender. Upon returning to New York, he completed his Masters of Business
Administration at Stern. He took advantage of his time spent at the school
making acquaintance with as many professionals as he could in the publishing
industry.
Within
three months of receiving his degree (he did not attend his graduation
ceremony) he launched his first periodical, "Magazine of the Year".
The pulp magazine was moderately priced, and included "bottom drawer"
sensationalist news articles, "top drawer" tasteful nudes, and
"fair to middling" single page cartoons. Most of the content which
filled the pulp-rag were trashy "knock-off filler", loosely
infringing on materials previously published in more established
"entertainment newsies". In spite of the production method of the
magazines' content, which has been described by industry insiders as "particularly parasitically
plagiaristic" in nature, it found a reverent audience quickly. Goldman invested highly in
"grifting the grifters", those "Slick Talking Ad Boys",
that is, literary confidence men who "Scratched the itchy palms of Ad
Agencies everywhere they could find one, greasing them with "kickbacks and
easy pickings" -- or so his competitors have claimed. He himself has
called it "Commission", and notes that most hard working sales
persons in "pretty much every industry” earns their bread that way.
Goldman has a great respect for his "Slick Talkers", and since the
beginning of his career, has notoriously employed three times more "Book
Agents" than he has actual creative staff, editors, and administration,
and reportedly pays them nearly double what he does to his legal department.
Arnel
reports that the Goldman records show payments to Levi for his stories and
articles begin just over twenty years ago, in December of 1960, for a short
story entitled, "Juicy Big Guns", for which the author was paid $10.
The title had been mis-spelled on the receipt, as the article which was
featured in Goldman's magazine "SPICY MYSTERIES" was printed with the
title "Juicy Bigguns", and featured a "mildly tittilating"
illustration of a frightened, scantilly clad brunette (ATTACH ILLUSTRATION).
That early payment record showed that Levi was paid in cash, and that his
registered correspondence was listed as, "No Fixed Address. Hold for
Pickup."
Arnel's
dive into the publishing company's vast warehouse full of "big metal
rodent, fire and water-proofed filing cabinets" began nearly the day he
began working at the company. He explains that he was fresh out of College,
having applied himself to receiving a Bachelors Degree in English Literature,
and had spent his first summer as an intern reader for the advertising
department. It had been suggested to him that back-issues of every magazine
ever produced by the company, including rate cards, tear sheets, contracts,
licensing agreements, collections of photos, original artwork, hand typed or
hand written original manuscript submissions, and virtually every other kind of
transaction record imaginable (including a long row of cabinets filled with
flyers, empty matchbooks, and handbills for call girls and brothels). Perusing
through the stacks became Arnel's primary resource for easy plagiarism (an
ongoing theme at Goldman's offices, one might surmise). Arnel confessed that,
during his first year grinding through a gauntlet of “poorly revised”
advertising copy, he found a dead end avenue in the file warehouse, and set up
a fold-out cot with a wool blanket, which was made his interim home for days at
a time.
It was at
this time that he was given a short story by Moses Levi to edit. Ten pages of
perfectly typed pages, paper clipped together, with hand-written notes in the
margins. It was titled, "LITTLE BONES". It brought tears to Arnel's
eyes, and inspired a lifetime obsession. He found a section of cabinets filled
with Levi's manuscripts, and immersed himself in every story and article he'd
ever published with Goldman's Publishing House, including collections of
poetry, pornographic literature, parodies, satyre news items, church bulletins
-- anything and everything imaginable, thousands upon thousands of pages,
neatly typed out on an old Smith Corona, or hand written in clean, elegant
cursive script on cheap, lined student's foolscap. The three hole punched kind.
The
publisher kept meticulous files documenting each article, contributor, rights
holder, each folder contained a list of published works related to those names,
tear sheets, copies of the original typed manuscripts, royalty payments,
copyright registration and renewal documentation, library of congress catalog
information, and copies of any correspondence related to each item. A single,
plastic wrapped hard copy of the magazine, book, or anthology it was printed
in, including foreign translations. And the occasional award nomination, grant
request, newspaper clipped review, or
media mentions. Here and there were included cease and desist demands directed
to pirated stories, thinly veiled plagiarized versions, and demands for
payments, or threats to sue (along with subsequent details related to out of
court agreements on claims. Such legal actions never seem to have required
litigation.)
Inside each
of the files was included a photograph or Xerographed copy of a single
handwritten page -- a letter agreement on Mr. Goldman's personal letterhead,
dated January 1, 1961 -- directing the
Publisher to act as agent, administrator, distributor, publisher, and business
manager on behalf of MOSES LEVI, his intellectual property, including all
necessary legal and administrative activities related to those works, royalty
payments, rights, services, taxes, fees, etc. (inclusive of any and all conceivable
and inconceivable necessities, from this time until the end of time), Signed S.
GOLDMAN and M. LEVI (Witnessed and Notarized, etc. At the bottom of the
agreement was added a handwritten note in Goldman's loose script, "I, S
............... Goldman, promise to publish every contribution offered by Moses
Levi in a timely fashion, with prompt cash payment as agreed by both parties,
to be determined at the time of submission, with every consideration given in
the agreement dated December 31, 1960, inclusive." This note was
countersigned by Levi and Goldman, and witnessed by Goldman's wife, ...... and
the initials "RE M.McM".
Thus, the
mystery concerning the secretive existence of one, Mr. Moses Levi is resolved.
He is not a figment for the imagination, a fictional character, a phantom, nor
a pseudonymous collective of secretive ghostwriters, but a well preserved
reticent. Whatever his reason for avoiding his well-deserved celebrity, his
literary success has certainly commanded the attention and notoriety it
deserves.
At the end
of our interview, Arnel admits -- with a wild eyed desperation -- that he has never met Moses Levi in
person, but he has caught sight of him "once or twice" when he
had visited Mr. Goldman's office. "It was an enormous privilege", he
gushed, "to have been near enough to have shared the same air."
He
continued on about his "fathomless passion" for every word he could
immerse himself in, revealing that he had read Levi's critical review of Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood"
over five hundred times in a single sitting. "Over and over again."
he described, looking down at his well manicured hands, "So much that the
pages were tattered and fraying at the edges, the newsprint covered in shades
of pinkish brown from my own worn out fingertips, pages wrinkled with my tears.
Eventually, I couldn't read it anymore, the pages just got stuck together,
somehow." He sighed deeply, "It was a tremendous work. More
tremendous than even Jack Olsen's vicious diatribe about Capote's
sensationalism." Arnel paused for a thoughtful second, and concluded with,
"If Capote INVENTED crime fiction, Moses PERFECTED it."
.......
Jack
MacMillan is a respected professor of cultural anthropology and literary critic
whose articles have been published nationwide.