Like a rock star. If you had stumbled into the Baldwin Library Birmingham Michigan this past Thursday night you might have wondered what all the commotion in the basement was. I heard someone ask “What’s going on?”
The words “Elmore Leonard” were all that were needed. A couple hundred admiring fans jammed a basement meeting room to listen to Elmore Leonard and his son Peter Leonard, both who were releasing new books. Elmore Leonard, of course, was promoting his new book “Raylan” which is receiving additional attention due to the award-winning TV series “Justified” which is based on Leonard’s Raylan Givens character.
In “Justified” Federal Marshall Raylan Givens, played by Timothy Olyphant, is a fast-draw expert who shoots to kill with no remorse. He is a perfect Leonard character who first appeared in the books “Pronto” and “Riding the Rap”. Leonard later wrote a short story “Fire in the Hole” upon which the TV series is based. “Raylan” sort of takes the character full circle and expect to see more Raylan Givens in future Leonard novels. Also expect to see a barrage of publicity and advertising for the series and book. Just that morning Leonard taped a public radio segment on “Justified” and “Raylan”.
At 85 years old, Elmore is really enjoying his new group of fans, many of them younger and newly introduced to one of the country’s greatest mystery-thriller and western writers. Leonard has now written something like 45 books and many of them have been made into blockbuster movies with major stars like Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, and George Clooney.
In addition to a clever give and take, question and answer format between father and son, the two Leonard’s signed books for a couple hours with many in line asking for special inscriptions for friends and relatives.
Elmore told some fun stories about his days at Campbell-Ewald where he wrote ad copy for Chevrolet trucks and he would visit working class bars where he would get ideas for ad copy. He said jokingly that he would tell the patron to “say something colloquial.”
Elmore only lasted six years at the ad agency during which time he wrote five Westerns while writing ads.
Elmore Leonard said “Hemingway started me-I thought Heminway was it. He was succinct and all made sense, but I realized he didn’t have a sense of humor.
“I have funny lines, but most of my characters don’t know they are funny.”
Pete Leonard remembers the time he stopped in to visit his father who was in sandals, jeans and a Nine Inch Nails t-shirt and realized he also needed to get out of advertising. Very shortly after his first novel was released.
Elmore Leonard for sure hasn’t looked back on his decision to leave advertising saying “sixty years and it’s worked out.”
It sure has, and some scenes and storylines from his new book Raylan will begin to show up in episodes of “Justified” according to Leonard’s researcher and assistant Greg Sutter. During the signing, Sutter and Detroit News writer Susan Whitall were having a good time reliving their days at Creem magazine, the Detroit based rock magazine.