An aura of elusive mystery pervades Finding Sylvia. An Alan Shayne novel of pages-filled suspense. Reminiscent of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. And Laura by Vera Caspary. Both remain forever popular.
Finding Sylvia is a tale yearning to be filmed, as was the 1940 Rebecca with Joan Fontaine and Sir Laurence Olivier.
Ravishing Gene Tierney starred in the 1944 Laura with Dana Andrews and Clifton Webb under Alfred Hitchcock’s memorable direction.
Two all-time cinema classics that remain on the best-of-the-best list.
Laura, helmed by Otto Preminger, gave us the haunting titled song by David Raksin that took him 10 minutes to compose. With Johnny Mercer adding his alluring lyrics (“Laura is the face in the misty light Footsteps that you hear down the hall”).
In Finding Sylvia, available on Amazon, a movie producer, who is in love with her, searches obsessively for a titled British woman who has disappeared. Searching for her in a small New England town, the producer also finds himself in Hollywood, New York, London, Israel, Spain and Marrakech. Baffled by disparate findings in his quest for the truth about the mysterious Sylvia.
An ideal role for the great Cate Blanchett.
Author Alan Shayne summers in the town of Washington, Connecticut, as does Stephen Sondheim, along with other writers and artists, and winters in West Palm Beach, Florida.
His is an extraordinary life.
A Bostonian who polished his acting talents in summer stock, Alan was awarded a scholarship to the New School of Social Research. Fellow students included Marlon Brando and Elaine Stritch in Stella Adler’s sought-after classes for young thespians.
Broadway followed, performing opposite the illustrious Lena Horne in the hit musical Jamaica.
More Broadway hits with Maurice Evans (Hamlet), Katharine Cornell (Antony and Cleopatra), Martita Hunt (The Madwoman of Chaillot).
Countless leads in successful television shows like Studio One. Before changing horses and soon taking over as casting head for CBS and Warner Bros. Television, where he presided for ten years. Creating hit series, many on the air for five years, that’s the desired goal for syndication.
Among his long-running shows: Night Court, Growing Pains, Dukes Of Hazzard, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Alice, Head Of The Class.
Additionally “shepherding” Wonder Woman, Spencer, Love Sidney, the first TV show to have a gay leading character (played by Tony Randall).
Alan’s acclaimed for his TV movies. Katharine Hepburn in The Corn Is Green, the Agatha Christie mysteries, and miniseries such as The Thorn Birds and Scruples.
“While I never produced the shows myself,” he reveals, “I often put them together or sold them to the networks. And I watched over them. I was constantly putting out fires and battling to keep them on the air.”
A lifetime filled with the thrill of creativity and achievement … Alan Shayne is people you should know.