In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

181 Chapter Twenty-Seven REACHING FOR THE BUTTERFLY As his eighties approached, Lew kept busy. He was impressively active, walking at least two miles every day and biking out to the cabin where he had once lived and seeing his friends who were still on Lookout Mountain. His pool house in his Brentwood home became his art studio , where he spent hours creating velvet paintings, watercolors, and oil paintings and even composed music. One of his newest artistic pursuits was the creation of massive wood and metal sculptures, some of which weighed well over eighty pounds, and which were hung like shields. Red Cross first aid continued to be an interest Lew actively pursued; he maintained his certification. He even took Justin to participate in first aid and CPR instruction. Lew was thrilled when his teenage son surpassed him, making just one error to Lew’s two, and expressed an interest in continuing the training. Lew also hosted a weekly intellectual and philosophical discussion group in his pool house called the Worldview Group, organized by his friend Leland Stewart of the Unity and Diversity Council. The organization required Lew, the high school dropout, to write weekly compositions on that week’s discussion and bring them to the meeting to discuss . Lew struggled with these writing assignments. Even in his seventies , Lew’s youthful rebellion against organized education remained and only rarely did he bring his own papers to discussions and, even then, he only wrote on the topics that inspired him and often found himself drifting away from the specified topic.1 It was reported in the news that Lew was teaching college classes on comparative religion. In reality, he would serve as a guest lecturer at colleges, often after screenings of Altars฀ of the World. As part of one of these visits, Lew (the high school dropout) received an honorary doctorate from Oakland University in Michigan in 1979.”2 reAChIng For the ButterFLy 182 All of Lew’s writings leaned towards the philosophical, even his letters to close friends. In 1985, a seventy-seven-year-old Lew wrote Paul Yinger: I don’t think I could even write an interesting autobiography in any form. I’m eternally grateful for the marvelous experience this life has provided me, but every time I try to replay a step by step reprise I get bored to bits. I can’t keep from looking around the corner to see what’s coming next . . . and I love it. The other day I was speaking to Justin about how much more interesting life has become in these latter days, and emphatically vowed that, “I would not want to be one year younger.” “Don’t blame you, dad.” Replied my sharp tongued son, “What good would that do? Ask for 50 years or nothing.”3 If Lew meant this, he quickly changed his mind and was soon writing his autobiography, a book he had first promised the public during World War II. As with every project for which he was passionate, Lew put all his energy into the book, creating a massive autobiography detailing his childhood , his youthful experiences as a musician, his Hollywood career, and his war experiences. He titled it Reaching฀for฀the฀Butterfly, an ironic reference to the iconic closing shot of All Quiet on the Western Front, which the public now knew was director Lewis Milestone’s hand and not Lew’s. The reference to All Quiet was appropriate, as Lew had come to fully realize how his role in the film had overshadowed his whole Hollywood career. He wrote, “I never had a role that was more effective, something that is a little frustrating when you think that I did 60 years of films and never again had quite that effect.”4 Considering the enormous amount of work Lew put into his autobiography , it is one of the great disappointments in Hollywood history that it remains unpublished and unavailable to the public. For years, Lew’s artistic contributions had been largely ignored, and that trend continued . As he submitted proposals and samples to countless publishers and literary agents, the responses were unfavorable and no offers were ever made. The only feedback he received was the suggestion that the book was “too philosophical,” and if he were able to alter the text to be more personal and less intellectual there was a possibility of making a sale. Such suggestions were ignored by Lew, who feared that it would make [18.216.94...

Share