Clarence Day’s “Life With Father” | A Timeless Masterpiece
By: Zachary Weber
Many times throughout my life, at varying stages of ignorance, I have asked myself, “What’s the point? It’s so old and outdated. I won’t understand it. Unless it’s Hemingway...” I love Hemingway so he’s always gotten a pass. Anything else I was reluctant to explore. There was always an immediate excuse ready to erupt at any moment. As I reflect, the only one missing out was the man in the mirror.
Aside from reading books, I frequently partake in the vast resources available to hone the skills and craftsmanship of storytelling, screenwriting, filmmaking, etc. One of those resources is the site Masterclass. For my money, the membership is worth it considering my interests and the people providing the wisdom in those said interests. As it relates to my writing, the classes that were key for me to complete, were Aaron Sorkin’s (Screenwriting) and David Mamet’s (Drama). To be fair, it wasn’t until Sorkin’s course that I figured I ought to do Mamet’s as well. Sorkin is a huge influence for my brother and myself in our screenwriting/filmmaking journey. In his course, he mentioned how influential Mamet was to his dialogue and how Mamet is one of the best to ever do it in terms of writing dialogue. This was way before I knew that he was an influence to Paul Thomas Anderson and Quentin Tarantino as well. From there, I jumped into David Mamet’s Masterclass and his work.
Immediately, I loved his teaching style and his philosophy on not only drama but writing as a whole. Additionally, I love his films and plays. I hadn’t seen or read really anything of his prior, but I fervently read through numerous plays and watched a great chunk of his filmography. I even picked up a copy of the House of Games screenplay. Throughout the course, he provides various reading suggestions to which I immediately started to read. One of those suggestions was Clarence Day’s Life With Father by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, which is a 1939 play. I searched online to purchase and quickly found an inexpensive copy of Life With Father by Clarence Day. “That’s strange,” I thought, “It says Clarence Day is the author, not Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse.” I continued to look through the Amazon page but was stopped by the page number. It read 134 pages, which checks out for a play if you include the introduction and other miscellaneous pages. Alright, fine. Ordered. $5.80, something felt off.
Assuming I purchased the wrong thing, I went to Google. I quickly learned that Clarence Day is a writer and Life With Father is a series of comedic/satirical stories about his upbringing, in chronological order. In other words, it feels like a novella or a short novel. To answer my initial question, yes, I ordered the wrong thing. Fortunately, it wasn’t for nothing. This piece of timeless literature has been adapted to not only the stage but for the screen as well in 1947. What amazes me, is how it’s able to reach the three mediums (Book, Stage-play, Film/TV) and still retain the level of authenticity as well as keeping a respected legacy.
I decided to read shortly after it arrived. I was finishing another book but I decided not to return it. It couldn’t hurt to read it, the page count was small and far from intimidating. Besides, it wasn’t like the $5.80 sticker price was very ludicrous. During my research process, I learned the book was published in 1935. From there, I was fully braced for further confusion and difficulty with the material. Luckily, the more I’ve read, it’s not what I made it out to be like I felt it was during elementary school and high school (reading older material). As an adult, it’s not as difficult and frankly not much different. It isn’t the daunting experience I made it out to be when I was younger. I always struggled with reading comprehension so in hindsight it was just another excuse I’d use throughout my experience in the education system. Although, I’d say they ultimately won as I’m here writing book reports for fun.
What I appreciated about Life With Father is it brilliantly showed the relationship between a father and son. To elaborate, while the content itself may not be relevant in terms of the technologies and such, rather, it showed the dynamic relationship between differing members in a household, coming from complexly different generations. He shows these differences in a timeless way as anyone older will inevitably have a different viewpoint on the world. The older I get, the more I realize every generation is in its own world, with its own set of unique thoughts. But only really unique to its generation as if it’s lumped into a template. Even if the generation gap is small, the disconnect is typically much greater despite the age difference. The world simply advances too fast. That doesn’t mean constant conflict and differing generations can’t coexist; still, there’s no doubt the differences between the groups are irrefutable and they often present humorous situations. If you can discern metaphors well, it’s no problem to relate these stories to your own life. Ultimately, they are stories about living with someone(s) from a different generation.
Aside from the work’s subtext, I appreciated the historical element to Life With Father. It’s a much more intimate look into the past than say a history book because it’s someone’s personal experience. Naturally, upon its release it wasn’t history. Now, close to ninety years later, it’s history and an intimate look into the late 1800’s and early 1900’s in the United States. In addition, the book is considered “satire/comedy”. As a fan of that space, I was thrilled to see the evolution of the art. I wonder how many “inside jokes” I might have missed being that I come from a completely different time. Situationally there is tons of humor, some I still may not fully understand. Either way, it’s further expanded my interest in the evolution of comedy and the times that came with it. Why they found certain things funny or what certain events during the times/world changed their view points, etc. Just from reading the accidentally purchased book, I’ve launched myself into a fascinating rabbit hole I’m not sure I would have ever thought to delve into otherwise.
I believe it’s valuable to read classic literature and watch old films. There’s so much to learn even if you’re not a writer or filmmaker or anything alike. Sure, I may be “tunnel visioned” into what I’m trying to “learn” from a storytelling perspective but I do keep my mind wide open for the additional nuggets of knowledge that inevitably come, whether it’s historical, psychological, sociological, etc. I also know at any point, I can shift my “mental focus” to whatever I’m interested. To summarize, it’s an easy way to open creative floodgates; not to mention it exposes interests, opinions, and ideas living deep within yourself.