Rare Birds An American Family

What does a writer do when he's got a family that includes a blacklisted member of the hollywood ten, the brains behind tony the tiger and the marlboro man, a trio of gay puppeteers, the world's leading birdwatcher, sixties hippies, a dutch stowaway who served in an all-black regiment during the american civil war, a mother of unusual compassion and understanding, and a convicted murderer he tells their stories and secrets, illuminating 150 years of american life along the way. Dan bessie begins the journey through his family history with his great-grandfather in the cargo hold of a ship bound for new york on the storm-tossed atlantic.What follows are stories of his grandfather's various entrepreneurial schemes including a folding butter box business , a grandmother who was voted new york's prettiest shop girl and who resisted the recruitment efforts of various city madams , and his uncle harry's turnabout theater in los angeles a renowned puppet theater drawing patrons as diverse as shirley temple, ray bradbury, and albert einstein . Through inherited journals and literary effects, bessie comes to a new understanding of his father, alvah.An actor and writer, he fought in the lincoln brigade during the spanish civil war.When he returned to the states, he headed to the warner back lots to begin a screenwriting career.But as congress began investigating radicals in the film industry, alvah was blacklisted for his communist sympathies and was soon sent to jail as one of the ...

What does a writer do when he's got a family that includes a blacklisted member of the hollywood ten, the brains behind tony the tiger