Dr. John Haase (August 21, 1923 – August 3, 2006) was an American dentist and author whose most well-known novel was adapted into the 1968

Richard Lester Richard Lester Liebman (born January 19, 1932) is an American retired film director based in the United Kingdom. He is best known for directing the Beatles' films '' A Hard Day's Night'' (1964) and '' Help!'' (1965), and the superhero films ' ...

film ''

Petulia ''Petulia'' is a 1968 British-American drama film directed by Richard Lester and starring Julie Christie, George C. Scott and Richard Chamberlain. The film has a screenplay by Lawrence B. Marcus from a story by Barbara Turner and is based on ...

'' starring

George C. Scott George Campbell Scott (October 18, 1927 – September 22, 1999) was an American actor, director, and producer who had a celebrated career on both stage and screen. With a gruff demeanor and commanding presence, Scott became known for his port ...

and

Julie Christie Julie Frances Christie (born 14 April 1940) is a British actress. An icon of the Swinging Sixties, Christie is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She ...

Life

Haase was born in Frankfurt, Germany, the only son of a Lutheran father and Jewish mother. The growing threat of Nazi power forced the family to migrate to San Francisco in 1936. He graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, and then studied at the Dental School of the University of San Francisco. He enlisted during World War II, and served in the Army in Texas. Haase practiced in the Westwood section of Los Angeles, with many celebrities, including Conrad Hilton, for clients, for nearly 40 years. He married Jean Rosenblatt in 1948. They had four children, but the marriage ended in divorce. In 1975, he wed Janis. He died in Montecito, California, of complications arising out of emphysema.

Haase as author

His first novel, The Young Who Sin, appeared in 1958. ''Me and the Arch Kook Petulia'' takes a searingly satirical look at the America of the 1960s. It is the story of an affair between a middle-aged doctor, in the midst of a divorce, and a self-described kook who wants to have an affair because she has been married for six months and has not had one yet. Haase was not happy with the adaptation for screen. However the release of Lester's film was greeted with acclaim. The ''New York Times'', commenting in July 2006 on a DVD collection of comedies from the 1960s and 1970s, called ''Petulia'' the most notable of a group of groundbreaking films from the 1960s. ''Erasmus with Freckles'' features Erasmus Leaf, who nurses a crush for

Brigitte Bardot Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot ( ; ; born 28 September 1934), often referred to by her initials B.B., is a former French actress, singer and model. Famous for portraying sexually emancipated characters with hedonistic lifestyles, she was one of the ...

, and his father, an absent-minded poet with a distaste for science, who has to deal with the mathematical genius that his son demonstrates. ''Big Red'', a historical novel, describes the construction of the Hoover Dam in the early 1930s. The title refers to the Colorado River, although the appellation is not well recognized among locales. Haase had in mind, from personal chats, to produce a book that could be compared to Steinbeck's ''Grapes of Wrath''; unfortunately, the novel was not well-received. Much of its local geography is based upon the research of a geographer, who engaged in fieldwork in Haase's behalf.Sutton, I. (1968). "Geographical Aspects of Construction Planning: Hoover Dam Revisited," ''Journal of the West,'' 7(3): 301–344. Haase was a prolific travel writer too, with several articles appearing in magazines and newspapers. He also wrote an episode of the '' Richard Boone Show'' on in 1963, titled ''The Wall to Wall War''.

Bibliography

* ''The Young Who Sin'' (1958) * ''Road Show'' (1960) * ''The Fun Couple'' (1961, made into a play of the same name) * ''The Sherbert Colours'' (1963) * ''Erasmus with Freckles'' (1963; made into the film '' Dear Brigitte'', 1965) * ''Me and the Arch Kook Petulia'' (1966; made into the film ''

'', 1968) * ''The Noon Balloon to Rangoon'' (1967) * ''The Nuptials'' (1969) * ''Seasons and Moments'' (1971) * ''Big Red'' (1980) * ''San Francisco'' (1983) * "A Boy's Rite of Passage Out of Nazi Germany" (article in the ''Los Angeles Times'', 1984)

Trivia

* He married Janis aboard a cruise ship in San Pedro, California, with the band (friends of Haase)

Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. Credited with "restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene", Van Halen was known for its energetic live shows and for the virtuosity of its lead gu ...

performing dockside. * "The first draft was better than the book...(the later screenwriter) wrote about a world I'd never known existed, and if it does, I'd strongly suggest he keep it to himself." - Haase writing about the screen adaptation of his novel ''Me and the Arch Kook Petulia'' in the ''Los Angeles Times'' in 1967 * "Adapting a brilliant dentist's charming novel to the screen was like pulling teeth." - ''Dear Brigitte'' screenwriter

Hal Kanter Hal Kanter (December 18, 1918 – November 6, 2011) was a writer, producer and director, principally for comedy actors such as Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, and Elvis Presley (in '' Loving You'' and ''Blue Hawaii''), for both feature films and televis ...

in the ''Los Angeles Times'' in 1964.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haase, John 1923 births 2006 deaths Deaths from emphysema 20th-century American novelists American dentists University of San Francisco alumni American male novelists 20th-century American male writers 20th-century dentists German emigrants to the United States University of California, Los Angeles alumni United States Army personnel of World War II