by Walter Brasch
Michael Blake died last week.
You probably don't know the name.
You probably don't know about his life.
You probably don't know most of what he wrote. That's probably because he didn't write diet and exercise books. Or cookbooks. Or "feel good" books. Or books about celebrities. Or books that advanced junk science or conspiracy theories.
Michael Blake fused history and social issues, writing about social justice. Writing books that mattered. Writing screenplays that were never produced and then discarded.
He was born in Fort Bragg, N.C.; his father was in the Army, and later became a telephone executive. But it was his mother, Sally, who dominated his life. It was her last name, "Blake," that he adopted as his own, pushing aside his father's name, "Webb."
Michael Blake studied journalism at the University of New Mexico, dropping out in his senior year; he would later study film at the Berkeley Film Institute.
His semi-autobiographical novel, Airman Mortensen, talked about life in the Air Force. His autobiography, Like a Running Dog, revealed his life in the 1970s, sometimes homeless and hungry, living in cars, living on friends' and acquaintances' sofas, hanging out with musicians, writers, actors, and others in the creative arts, working at odd jobs, sometimes selling features and investigative stories to the alternative press, which were publishing stories of importance in the 1960s, stories the mainstream media would never touch. Eventually, he would be hired full-time at the L.A. Free Press, one of the most important alternative newspapers of the era. Even with a steady paycheck, albeit it not a large one, he usually ate only one meal a day, often a sandwich from a Jewish deli near the newspaper's office.
His screenplay, Stacy's Knights, written while he was in his late '30s, starred his friend, a little-known actor, Kevin Costner. It gave both of them temporary financial security.
Blake would continue to write about social issues, many of the stories and books not bringing in significant income. But he wrote and spoke out about issues that mattered--the slaughter of wild horses and burros, the problems that developed from racial conflict, the lack of social justice. He was honored with the Environmental Media award, the Animal Protection Institute's humanitarian of the year honor, the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for work with minorities and the ministry.
On the day he died, two men shared $300 million by
appearing at a Las Vegas casino and tried to beat the life out of each other.
Michael Blake, in his lifetime, never earned what the loser earned in that
fight. The royalties from all of his writings never even equaled the salary for
one year for a major league pitcher or a celebrity with a paid entourage.
With one exception, his writing brought him a modest lifestyle.
That one exception began as a screenplay, but Kevin Costner wanted him to rewrite it as a novel, believing that a book would have more impact. About three dozen publishers rejected it, most of them concerned more about marketability and profits than editorial quality and social issues, before Fawcett published it but gave it little promotion. The novel, published only in paperback, sold a few thousand copies.
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