Overview

For me it begins in such an ordinary way ... with a gorilla, a blonde, and a gun ... Mid- 20th century Hollywood; 'Raymond Chandler's LA before Pilates and cell phones'. Clancy Sigal (who would later be the inspiration for Doris Lessing's 'Saul Green') is just back from fighting in the Second World War and an abortive solo attempt to assassinate Hermann Goering at the Nurenburg trials. Charming his way into a job as an agent with the Sam Jaffe agency, Sigal plunges into a chaotic Hollywood peopled by fast women, washed-up screenwriters, wily directors, and starstruck FBI agents trailing 'subversives'. He parties with the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Barbara Stanwyck, Tony Curtis and an anxious Peter Lorre, who becomes a drinking buddy. But this is the era of the Hollywood Blacklist and Sigal, like many of his contemporaries, is subpoenaed to testify before the HUAC. Will he give up the list of nine names, burning a hole in his pocket, to save his own skin? Hilarious, touching, intimate and revealing: Sigal's memoir reads like a forgotten hardboiled detective novel and has all the makings of an instant classic.

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9781785784392

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Reviews

The beauty of Black Sunset, for most readers, will be found in the details, lovingly or painfully described, page after page. Clancy was there, at close range, as [Hollywood screenwriters] went down for the count or got themselves better, on the run from official and unofficial blacklisters. Sigal brings the innocent and guilty back, once more, at close range, and proves himself the liveliest of literary nonagenarians in the process. -- LA Review of Books Sigal stumbles into Hollywood [...] lands the most reviled job in the biz - talent agent - and this milieu is where most of Black Sunset takes place, haunted by the Wink and by a conspiracy of accidents. Black Sunset moves with the express swagger of a Hawks or Wellman picture, although it feels like an Ozu once it's all over and the characters linger in silhouette as if they were a fixture of the freeway system at night. -- Counterpunch 'Superbly evokes the Cold War fears of communist subversion, the hidden FBI microphones, subpoenas, and the naming of names ... What stands revealed is a hypocritical culture and society. Sigal's prose style is that of the secret agent in the macho gun-toting sense, with a side-of-the-mouth, shoulder-holster private-eye delivery out of Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett.' -- Mail on Sunday

The beauty of Black Sunset, for most readers, will be found in the details, lovingly or painfully described, page after page. Clancy was there, at close range, as [Hollywood screenwriters] went down for the count or got themselves better, on the run from official and unofficial blacklisters. Sigal brings the innocent and guilty back, once more, at close range, and proves himself the liveliest of literary nonagenarians in the process. -- LA Review of Books Sigal stumbles into Hollywood [...] lands the most reviled job in the biz - talent agent - and this milieu is where most of Black Sunset takes place, haunted by the Wink and by a conspiracy of accidents. Black Sunset moves with the express swagger of a Hawks or Wellman picture, although it feels like an Ozu once it's all over and the characters linger in silhouette as if they were a fixture of the freeway system at night. -- Counterpunch 'Gripping ... a great tale of survival. [Sigal is] a terrific writer.' -- Literary Review 'Superbly evokes the Cold War fears of communist subversion, the hidden FBI microphones, subpoenas, and the naming of names ... What stands revealed is a hypocritical culture and society. Sigal's prose style is that of the secret agent in the macho gun-toting sense, with a side-of-the-mouth, shoulder-holster private-eye delivery out of Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett.' -- Mail on Sunday

Buzzes with gossip and scandal....This is one of the best Hollywood memoirs ever. - The Jewish Chronicle The beauty of Black Sunset, for most readers, will be found in the details, lovingly or painfully described, page after page. Clancy was there, at close range, as [Hollywood screenwriters] went down for the count or got themselves better, on the run from official and unofficial blacklisters. Sigal brings the innocent and guilty back, once more, at close range, and proves himself the liveliest of literary nonagenarians in the process. -- LA Review of Books Sigal stumbles into Hollywood [...] lands the most reviled job in the biz - talent agent - and this milieu is where most of Black Sunset takes place, haunted by the Wink and by a conspiracy of accidents. Black Sunset moves with the express swagger of a Hawks or Wellman picture, although it feels like an Ozu once it's all over and the characters linger in silhouette as if they were a fixture of the freeway system at night. -- Counterpunch 'Gripping ... a great tale of survival. [Sigal is] a terrific writer.' -- Literary Review ..His scapegrace adventures are described with so much vitality and scabrous wit you feel as charmed as one of his serial conquests...[a] marvellous book. - The Spectator 'Superbly evokes the Cold War fears of communist subversion, the hidden FBI microphones, subpoenas, and the naming of names ... What stands revealed is a hypocritical culture and society. Sigal's prose style is that of the secret agent in the macho gun-toting sense, with a side-of-the-mouth, shoulder-holster private-eye delivery out of Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett.' -- Mail on Sunday

'Buzzes with gossip and scandal....This is one of the best Hollywood memoirs ever. ' -- The Jewish Chronicle 'The beauty of Black Sunset, for most readers, will be found in the details, lovingly or painfully described, page after page ... Sigal brings the innocent and guilty back, once more, at close range, and proves himself the liveliest of literary nonagenarians in the process.' -- LA Review of Books Sigal stumbles into Hollywood [...] lands the most reviled job in the biz - talent agent - and this milieu is where most of Black Sunset takes place, haunted by the Wink and by a conspiracy of accidents. Black Sunset moves with the express swagger of a Hawks or Wellman picture, although it feels like an Ozu once it's all over and the characters linger in silhouette as if they were a fixture of the freeway system at night. -- Counterpunch 'Gripping ... a great tale of survival. [Sigal is] a terrific writer.' -- Literary Review 'His scapegrace adventures are described with so much vitality and scabrous wit you feel as charmed as one of his serial conquests...[a] marvellous book.' -- The Spectator 'This true story of life as a theatrical agent is as good as any Chandler novel, full of intrigue, betrayal and incredible stories of the hard-boiled and hard-drinking seediness behind the glamour. A fantastic read' -- Virginia Ironside, author of No Thanks! I'm Quite Happy Standing 'Superbly evokes the Cold War fears of communist subversion, the hidden FBI microphones, subpoenas, and the naming of names ... What stands revealed is a hypocritical culture and society ... Sigal's prose style is that of the secret agent in the macho gun-toting sense, with a side-of-the-mouth, shoulder-holster private-eye delivery out of Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett.' -- Mail on Sunday

Author Information

Clancy Sigal's parents were both union organizers, and he was largely raised solely by his mother, Jennie, After a stint in the army Sigal was a union organiser in Detroit, then a talent agent in Hollywood. Escaping the Macarthyite witch-hunts, he emigrated to Great Britain, where he met and commenced a four-year affair with the writer Doris Lessing. He returned to the US, married, and with his wife co-wrote the Oscar-winning 2002 Salma Hayek movie Frida. He died in 2017.

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