What Makes Sammy Run?: Part 1

Just watched this, the first hour part of the TV version of Budd Schulberg's novel "What Makes Sammy Run?" which was adapted by him and his brother, Stuart. In this one, Sammy Glick (Larry Blyden) goes from copy boy to radio columnist at a New York paper where he is monitored by proofreader and fellow writer, Al Manheim (John Forsythe). He then goes to Hollywood where he quickly becomes a big shot producer and starts an affair with novelist Kit Sargent (Barbara Rush). Manheim later comes there hoping to write screenplays but quickly becomes disillusioned, along with Ms. Sargent, with Glick's slick personality...Quite a compelling first hour of the way things were run in the movie capital at the time and a little witty with the references to various important celebrities of the period. Producer/director Delbert Mann keeps things snappy with both dialogue and camera movements that you're caught in the whirlwind of Sammy's world as Manheim likes to refer to it near the end. Blyden, Forsythe, and Rush as well as the supporting cast brings life to the sometimes self-conscious lines to the point that you don't want to leave right in the middle but since this was a one hour TV slot, you had to wait for the following week to see the conclusion when this show first aired. Fortunately, I only have to switch to Part 2 on the DVD I watched this off of...