Hollywood in the 40's.

I've been reading a book about Hollywood in the 40's, "City of Nets" by Otto Friedrich.  (I've mostly been reading non-fiction since I started writing, with a few mysteries thrown in.)

Even though the author says he's trying to elucidate some of the less known stories of that era, I'm not sure what it says about my consumption of Hollywood lore that I've heard of most of them.

But one thing that really stands out is how accidentally the Classics happened, how many compromises and last minute changes and artistic choices were made that we now take for granted and which we can't imagine being any other way.

A kind of running joke that Humphrey Bogart keeps taking roles that George Raft turns down -- until finally he's had enough.  "I'm not doing Casablanca!!!" (Supposedly one of the reasons he was so sarcastic in the movie was because he hated being in it.)

I grew up with three channels on TV, and on most of the late nights and weekends they showed black and white movies from the 40's and 50's.  All the great film noir were being shown back then.  Just lucky that they hadn't decided yet than any crap color film from the 60's was better than classics from the 40's.  (Even creaky 30's movies...)

Anyway, so much of what is now written in celluloid legend forever was sometimes haphazardly done, a cast off, a happy accident.

What it says to me is -- keep writing, keep doing what comes to you, and it may be what works and it may not be what works and you may not know until you've done it.