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{{Short description|American writer (born 1951)}}
'''Franz Lidz''' is the author of the childhood memoir ''Unstrung Heroes'' (], 1991), the urban historical ''Ghosty Men: The Strange But True Story of the Collyer Brothers'' (Bloomsbury USA, 2003) and the golf memoir ''Fairway To Hell'' (], 2008). He was a senior writer at '']'' from 1980 to 2007, and a contributing editor at ] ''Portfolio'' (2007-2009). He is a correspondent for '']'' <ref>http://www.gq.com/contributors/frank-lidz</ref> and '']'',<ref>http://www.mensjournal.com/the-shark-is-back</ref> and, since 1983, has written for the '']'' on travel, TV, film and theater.<ref>http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?query=Lidz&d=&o=&v=&c=&n=10&dp=0&daterange=period&srcht=a&year1=1981&mon1=01&day1=01&year2=2010&mon2=02&day2=04&bylquery=Franz%20Lidz&sort=oldest</ref>
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox writer
| caption =
| image = FranzLidz5&25&2009.jpg
| birth_name = Franz Ira Lidz
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1951|9|24}}
| birth_place = ], U.S.
| notableworks = ''Unstrung Heroes (1991)''<br />''Ghosty Men (2003)''<br />''Fairway To Hell (2008)''
| spouse = Maggie Lidz (1976–present)
| children = Gogo, Daisy
| occupation = {{flatlist|
* ]
* memoirist
* American professional basketball executive
}}
| alma_mater = ]
}}


'''Franz Lidz''' (born September 24, 1951) is an American writer, journalist and pro basketball executive.


A '']'' archaeology, science and film essayist,<ref>, August 9, 1998 – ''The New York Times''</ref><ref>, September 29, 2002 – ''The New York Times''</ref><ref>, September 23, 2009 – ''The New York Times''</ref><ref>, February 14, 2020 – ''The New York Times''</ref><ref>, April 11, 2020 – ''The New York Times''</ref><ref>, June 18, 2021 – ''The New York Times''</ref><ref>, January 30, 2023 – ''The New York Times''</ref><ref>, December 26, 2023 – ''The New York Times''</ref> who originated the archeological column "Lost and Found".<ref>, May 1, 2023 – ''The New York Times''</ref><ref>, June 6, 2023 – ''The New York Times''</ref> He's a former '']'' senior writer,<ref>, – ''Sports Illustrated''</ref><ref name="autogenerated700">, May 6, 2013 – ''Sports Illustrated''</ref>'']'' columnist<ref>, December, 2012 - ''Smithsonian''</ref><ref>, November, 2015 - ''Smithsonian''</ref><ref>, May, 2018 - ''Smithsonian''</ref> and a onetime vice president for the ].<ref>, 2016–'17. (Free PDF download). Use search term "''Franz Lidz''"</ref><ref>, ''Smithsonian''</ref> His childhood memoir ''Unstrung Heroes'' was adapted into ] in 1995.<ref name="autogenerated771">, September 21, 1995 – ''Philadelphia Inquirer''</ref><ref name = nyt>, March 4, 1991 – ''The New York Times''</ref><ref> - ''The New York Times''</ref><ref>, September 3, 1995 – ''The New York Times''</ref>
⚫ == '''Early Life''' ==


⚫ == Early life ==
Born in ],<ref>http://www.amazon.com/Ghosty-Men-Brothers-Greatest-Historical/dp/158234311X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265067959&sr=1-1</ref> Lidz inherited his absurdist sensibility from his father, Sidney, an electronics engineer who designed the first transistorized portable tape recorder (the Steelman Transitape).<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/28/obituaries/sidney-lidz.html</ref> Sidney would read to his young son from the works of ],] and ]. In second grade, Franz landed a part as a guard in a production of ]. His only line: "Don't listen to that man behind the curtain." The following year he delivered to his outrageously fortunate classmates ]'s most celebrated soliloquy.<ref>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1121873/index.htm</ref>Lidz went to ]'s high school (Cheltenham, Pa.) and ]'s college (]),<ref>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1125488/index.htm</ref>where he was a theater major, touring the East Coast as a singing chain-fetishist biker in the rock musical ''Suzie Nation and the Yellow Peril''.<ref>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/writers/franz_lidz/archive/index.html</ref> "Nobody in the play had any idea what this thing was about," he recalled. "It was incomprehensible, and survived on the energy of the actors. I'd get bored reading somebody else's lines, so I started making up my own lines every night."'''<ref>http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-02-19/news/1991050047_1_franz-lidz-uncle-kris-dahl</ref> '''In a grad school drama class he chose to interpret the tragic role of ] dressed as a house painter, in coveralls and a spattered cap. The professor was nonplussed. "I wanted to play Othello not as the noble Moor," explained Lidz, "but as Benjamin Moore."<ref>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1121873/index.htm</ref> ], the Canadian comedienne, has said: "Franz is so interested in people that he can always find something new to say about them. He can remember every detail about everybody he meets. It's like he's starved for weird information. It makes him really good at improvising."<ref>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1121873/index.htm</ref>'''
'''


Lidz was born in ], to Sidney, a Jewish ] who designed the first transistorized portable tape recorder (the Steelman Transitape),<ref>, July 28, 1981 – ''The New York Times''</ref><ref>{{YouTube|ofQ5X67p8E8|"Steelman Transitape portable reel-to-reel tape recorder"}}, 1959</ref> and Selma, a homemaker. His father gave him early exposure to authors like ], ] and ].<ref>, September 13, 1998 – ''The New York Times''</ref><ref name="autogenerated702">, April 8, 1991</ref>
⚫ == '''Writing Career''' ==


At age nine, still named Stephen before later legally taking Franz as his first name, he moved to the ] suburbs.<ref name="autogenerated77">, April 7, 1991 – ''Philadelphia Inquirer''</ref><ref>, '']'', May 17, 2015</ref><ref>, '']'', May 27, 2015</ref> Lidz attended high school in ]<ref name="autogenerated1"> – May 10, 1982 – ''Sports Illustrated''</ref><ref name="autogenerated3"> – March 9, 1987 – ''Sports Illustrated''</ref> and college at ],<ref name="autogenerated181"> March 26, 1984 – ''Sports Illustrated''</ref> where he was a theater major.<ref name="autogenerated12">, February 9, 1991 – ''Baltimore Sun''</ref>
Lidz chose journalism because "I wanted to find an 'ism' that wouldn't become a 'wasm'." A graduate school professor had told him, "It's fun to be a reporter. You get to wear a sweater all day." He took the advice and, 200 resumes later, found himself in ], at the one newspaper that gave him an interview. For the next year, he was one of three novice reporters at the weekly ''Sanford Star'', where he wrote a column, covered the police and fire beats, and courted controversy (his first feature story was a profile of the town drunk). He banked occasional finders' fees from the ] for story ideas he'd pass along, e.g., WOMAN LOSES MEMORY FOR LAST 16 YRS. OF LIFE, FORGETS KIDS, and NORWAY BISHOP SAYS NUDISM MAKES FRIENDS, FIGHTS PROBLEMS.<ref>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1125488/index.htm</ref> He left Maine to become a crime reporter and write a column called "Insect Jazz" for an alternative newspaper in ].<ref>http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=3423</ref> He wrote profiles on local characters: a manager of strippers who gave them names like Sheela the Peela and Rhonda Lay; the East Baltimore bookmaker Louis Comi; and Theodore ''Balls'' Maggio, who made a living fetching lost balls out of the ].<ref>http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-02-19/news/1991050047_1_franz-lidz-uncle-kris-dahl/2</ref> When Lidz came to S.I. for a job interview in 1980, he wore black ] hightops, a wool sport coat and a hunted look.<ref>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1125488/index.htm</ref> His résumé read like a picaresque novel. He'd been a DJ, a soda jerk, a substitute teacher, an improvisational actor, a wanderer through ], a cabbie in ], a snail gunder in ] and a bus driver near Baltimore, which is where he met his wife, Maggie, when she was one of his passengers. ("She still owes me for the fare," he said.)<ref>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1125488/index.htm</ref> Until he joined the staff of , he had never read the magazine<ref>http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-blinq/franz.html</ref> and had covered only one sporting event in his life—a pigeon race in a small town in Maine.<ref>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1139796/index.htm</ref> He got the job interview on the strength of a prickly profile of ] written for ''] magazine'',<ref>http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-01-23/features/1991023041_1_western-maryland-university-of-maryland-lonesome-dove</ref> <ref>http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-blinq/franz.html</ref> where he was briefly the executive editor.<ref>http://www.jstor.org/pss/2712766</ref> When he shuffled into ''S.I.'' Managing Editor Gil Rogin's office that steamy August day in 1980, Rogin was struggling to open a jar of orange juice. "Here, open this and you can have the job," he told Lidz. With a flick of the wrist, Lidz did it, handed the jar back and asked, "When do I start?"<ref>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1125488/index.htm</ref> At the magazine, he wrote about a profusion of offbeat characters, including his Uncle Arthur,<ref>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1126884/index.htm</ref> who had amassed a phenomenal collection of discarded shoelaces. '"The sports angle,'" Lidz explained, '"was that most of them were laces from running shoes.'"<ref>http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-02-19/news/1991050047_1_franz-lidz-uncle-kris-dahl/2</ref> Lidz's career highlights include the second descent of the ] River, a globe-girdling road trip in search of sports on the equator.<ref>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1012028/index.htm</ref> 10 days in dog-sledding school,<ref>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1015789/index.htm</ref> a two-week trek retracing ]'s route through the jungles of ],<ref>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1010901/index.htm</ref> three weeks in the ] covering the Paris-to-],<ref>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/siadventure/11/off_road/</ref> a surreal voyage into the 5th Dimension with ],<ref>http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1oH6E9/sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/franz_lidz/02/16/darren/</ref> a 10-page ]ish rumination on],<ref>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1068347/index.htm</ref> and a lengthy powwow with ] that resulted in a 12-page meditation on the boxing promoter's hair.<ref>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1136087/1/index.htm</ref> His essay on ] and the ]' line of succession<ref>http://www.portfolio.com/culture-lifestyle/culture-inc/sports/2007/08/02/Baseball-and-Steinbrenner/</ref> was called the "scoop of the year" in the 2008 ] collection '']''.<ref>http://www.amazon.com/Best-American-Sports-Writing-2008/dp/B001TODOCC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1255367987&sr=1-2-fkmr3</ref>


⚫ == Career ==


Lidz was a novice reporter at the weekly ''Sanford Star'', where he wrote a column and covered police and fire beats. He left Maine to become a crime reporter and write a column called "Insect Jazz" for an alternative newspaper in ].<ref name="autogenerated14">, September 21, 1995 – ''Baltimore Sun''</ref> He later became an editor of ''] Magazine''.<ref>, January 23, 1991 – ''Baltimore Sun''</ref>
== '''Unstrung Heroes, The Book''' ==


In 1980, he joined the staff of '']'',<ref name="autogenerated36">, December 23, 1985 - ''Sports Illustrated''</ref><ref name="autogenerated89">, May 1, 1989 - ''Sports Illustrated''</ref><ref name="autogenerated6">, December 10, 1990 - ''Sports Illustrated''</ref><ref name="autogenerated7">, May 18, 1992 - ''Sports Illustrated''</ref><ref name="autogenerated65">, November 2, 1998 - ''Sports Illustrated''</ref> even though he had never read the magazine<ref name="philly1">, May 7, 2008 – ''Philadelphia Inquirer''</ref> and had covered only one sporting event in his life – a ] in ], ].<ref name="autogenerated101">, September 24, 2010 – ''AARP: The Magazine''</ref><ref>, September 22, 2010 – ''The New York Observer''</ref><ref name="autogenerated702"/> Lidz remained on the writing staff for 27 years.<ref name="autogenerated128">, August 15, 2016 – ''Sports Illustrated''</ref> In 2007 he jumped to the short-lived business monthly ''Conde Nast Portfolio'', and then '']'' magazine<ref>, December 1, 2011 – ]</ref> before landing at ''Smithsonian'' in 2012. His first feature story in ''The New York Times'', on making the second descent of the ], appeared on January 30, 1983.<ref>, January 30, 1983 – ''The New York Times''</ref>
''Unstrung Heroes'' chronicles his improbable childhood with Sidney Lidz and his four "impossible" brothers. Sidney was the youngest and relatively sanest. Neighbors indulged him as "Crazy Sid, the mildly crackpot inventor." As for his brothers, Lidz wrote: "My uncles were smelly, screwy, astonishingly scrawny old guys who had abandoned everyday life.... They were happy to be outsiders; they never had to make the same compromises true adults did; they remained innocent and faithful to their own loopy dreams." Uncle Leo was a self-proclaimed literary genius who was sent to an asylum after declaring himself the Messiah of ]. Uncle Danny was a paranoid of unparalleled persistence. Once during a game at Yankee Stadium, Mickey Mantle hit a foul ball that landed near Franz and a terrified Danny, who scrambled to hide under his seat, convinced that Mantle was trying to assassinate him. Uncle Harry, a veteran of the ],<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/08/classified/paid-notice-deaths-lidz-harry-h.html?pagewanted=1</ref> was sincerely committed to the belief that he was the world boxing champion in nine different weight divisions<ref>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1126257/index.htm</ref>, and Uncle Arthur was the proud possessor of what was very likely the world's largest collection of used shoelaces.<ref>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1139796/index.htm</ref> Of the hardback edition of Unstrung Heroes, he once said: "I think of the first editions as my children, because I know where every one of them is."<ref>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1007145/index.htm</ref>
Among his most controversial features are essays on reappraising the ];<ref>, September 20, 2024 – ''The New York Times''</ref> reconsidering ];<ref>, May, 2019 ''Smithsonian''</ref> the effects of climate change on glacial archaeology;<ref>, November 2, 2021 – ''The New York Times''</ref> the Pacific Northwest barred owl cull;<ref>"", April 29, 2024 – ''New York Times''</ref> ];<ref>, July, 2017 - ''Smithsonian''</ref> the 2002 Paris-to-];<ref name="autogenerated1731">, January 21, 2002 - ''Sports Illustrated''</ref> ] and the ]' line of succession;<ref>, August 2, 2007 – ''Conde Nast Portfolio''</ref><ref>, August 7, 2007 – ''New York Observer''</ref><ref>, July 13, 2007 – ''AOL''</ref><ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081013160831/http://gothamist.com/2007/08/03/hows_the_boss_s.php |date=13 October 2008 }}, August 3, 2007 – ''Gothamist''</ref><ref>, December 15, 2008 – Bronx Banter</ref> the hijinks of onetime ] owner ];<ref name="autogenerated38">, April 17, 2000 – ''Sports Illustrated''</ref><ref>, April 27, 2014 – '']''</ref><ref name="autogenerated41">, April 30, 2014 – ''Sports Illustrated''</ref> and a ''S.I.'' cover story with ] player ] in which Collins became the first active male in one of the four major North American team sports to announce he was gay.<ref name="autogenerated18">, April 29, 2013 – ''Sports Illustrated''</ref><ref name="autogenerated23">, April 29, 2013 – ''Sports Illustrated''</ref><ref>, April 29, 2013 – ''The New York Times''</ref><ref name="autogenerated67">, April 25, 2023 - ''Sports Illustrated''</ref>


== Notable works ==


== '''Unstrung Heroes, The Film''' == === ''Unstrung Heroes'' ===


''Unstrung Heroes'' is about Lidz's childhood, with his mother, father and his dad's four older brothers.<ref name="autogenerated702"/><ref>, April 20, 2000 – ''The New York Times''</ref><ref name="autogenerated213">, September 25, 1995 – ''Sports Illustrated''</ref> He had previously written about two of the uncles in'' Sports Illustrated''.<ref name="autogenerated13">, January 25, 1987 – ''Sports Illustrated''</ref><ref name="autogenerated19">, December 20, 1982 – ''Sports Illustrated''</ref>
In 1995, the unsentimental ''Unstrung Heroes'' was turned into a sentimental film. The movie '']'' starred ] and ] as Sidney and Selma Lidz, and was directed by ]. Lidz's contract forbade him to slam the project, but he did say: '"The script was very neatly typed.'"<ref>http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,298784,00.html</ref> In a 1995 '']'' profile that ran before the film's release, he confessed, "My initial fear was that ] would turn my uncles into Grumpy and Dopey. I never imagined that my life could be turned into ]."<ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=6-QCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA58&lpg=PA58&dq=unstrung+heroes+hebrew&source=bl&ots=WpZ-YXJ4Rs&sig=6IHxhuVT5w_qiMXUhGeG4JwsrwM&hl=en&ei=3dB6S6z9LdGk8AaekqieCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CCwQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=&f=false</ref> Four years later in an essay for the ''New York Times'', he cracked that the cinematic Selma had died not of cancer, but of Old Movie Disease: "The way Disney killed off my mother -- after fixing pancakes, she praises her kids, plants a perversely passionate kiss on her husband's lips and, to soulful strains of ''],'' drifts off to die in a comfy armchair -- reminded me of ]'s send-up of ''].''" He added, "Someday somebody may find a cure for cancer, but the terminal sappiness of cancer movies is probably beyond remedy."<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/10/movies/film-in-a-higher-state-of-being-that-is-dying.html?pagewanted=1</ref>


In his review of ''Unstrung Heroes'' in ''The New York Times'', ] called the memoir "unusual and affecting&nbsp;... a melancholy, funny book, a loony tune played with touching disharmony on mournful woodwinds and a noisy klaxon".<ref>, March 4, 1991 – ''The New York Times''</ref> ] of the '']'' likened the memoir to a "miniature '']''. There's not a false moment in the book, and that is high praise indeed."<ref>, February 20, 1991 – '']''</ref> '']'' called ''Unstrung Heroes'': "Astonishing, hilarious, angry, poignant, always pointed."<ref>, February, 1991 – ''Random House''</ref>


In 1995, ''Unstrung Heroes'' was adapted into ].<ref name="autogenerated771"/> The setting was switched from ] to ], and the four crazy uncles were reduced to an eccentric odd couple. Asked what he thought of the script, Lidz said: "It's very neatly typed".<ref>, September 22, 1995 – ''Entertainment Weekly''</ref> He was unhappy with the adaptation, but was prevented by his contract from publicly criticizing it. "My initial fear was that ] would turn my uncles into ] and ]", he told '']'' magazine. "I never imagined my life could be turned into ]."<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=]|author=Nancy Jo Sales|title=Undone Heroes|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6-QCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA58|date=18 September 1995|publisher=New York Media, LLC|page=58}}</ref> In a later essay for ''The New York Times'', he said that the cinematic Selma had died not of cancer, but of 'Old Movie Disease'. "Someday somebody may find a cure for cancer, but the terminal sappiness of cancer movies is probably beyond remedy."<ref>, January 10, 1999 – ''The New York Times''</ref>
⚫ == '''Ghosty Men''' ==


⚫ === ''Ghosty Men'' ===
''Ghosty Men'', Lidz wrote, was inspired by the real-life cautionary tales that his father told him: "At bedtime, I would listen raptly to his urban horror stories, tales that filled the dark with chimera, bogeymen, golems. The most macabre was the tale of the ], the hermit hoarders of ]."<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/26/nyregion/the-paper-chase.html?pagewanted=1</ref> Besides deconstructing the brothers' descent into their own world of squalor and isolation, Lidz shares recollections of his Uncle Arthur, an eccentric hoarder who was a featured character in ''Unstrung Heroes''. Arthur amassed everything from magazines to parking tickets plucked off windshields, and lived "nested inside his walls of junk."<ref>http://www.amazon.com/Ghosty-Men-Brothers-Greatest-Historical/dp/158234311X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269377262&sr=1-1</ref> He was so habitual a hoarder that Lidz's mother used to call him the lost Collyer brother. "Small, bent and eternally boyish, Uncle Arthur dresses in layers of ] overcoats kept closed with rusty safety pins," Lidz wrote. "Like a Beckett tramp, he holds his pants up with bits of rope. Uncle Arthur was a 19-year-old novice collector when he moved to a tiny tenement apartment in Harlem, only three blocks from the Collyer homestead. He already knew that Homer and Langley were the preeminent junk collectors. '"I'd walk by their house and wonder what of value did they have," he said. '"You got to have brains to collect that much stuff. I always wanted to get in touch with them. I always wanted to get in touch with anybody who collected as much as I did. They collected more. They had their junk up to the windows. I didn't have that much." Uncle Arthur does, however, have quite lot, and he has turned squalor into an art form."<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/26/nyregion/the-paper-chase.html?pagewanted=3</ref>


''Ghosty Men'' (2003) is the story of the ]. Lidz has said that he was inspired by the real-life cautionary tales that his father told him, the most macabre of which was the story of the Collyer brothers, the hermit hoarders of ].<ref>, October 26, 2003 – ''The New York Times''</ref> The book also recounts the parallel life of Arthur Lidz,<ref>, November 2, 2003 – ''Newsday''</ref> the hermit uncle of ''Unstrung Heroes'', who grew up near the Collyer mansion.<ref>, May 16, 2004 – ''Philadelphia Inquirer''</ref>


In his review for '']'', Adam Bernstein wrote, "The Collyer Brothers made compelling reading then, as they do now in this short, captivatingly detailed book."<ref>, January 4, 2004 – '']''</ref>
⚫ == '''Fairway To Hell''' ==


⚫ === ''Fairway to Hell'' ===
In this wildly comic memoir, Lidz goes in search of golf's real soul and takes a globe-girdling and wholly serendipitous journey to the margins of that ancient game. He chronicles his adventures on the links with ] and the drunken heavy metal band ], and a New England farmer who raises llamas as caddies. He reports from a ] course at which 15 holes are guarded by live crocodiles, the Fattie Open - where you're penalized if you weigh under 250 pounds, and a pitch-and-putt tournament at a Florida nudist colony.<ref>http://www.espnbooks.com/book.cgi?id=28</ref> The author encounters a burrowing botfly on a course in Panama and engages in an increasingly preposterous e-mail exchange with a Nigerian scam artist about bank accounts and rocket golf carts.<ref>http://www.amazon.com/Fairway-Hell-Around-World-Holes/dp/1933060433/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269377804&sr=1-1</ref> "Here, there and everywhere body parts – normally
concealed from public view -- bobbed, swayed and quivered," Lidz writes of the nudist colony. "Some breasts were the size of Pinnacles; others hung like head covers stuffed with bricks. Some men had chest hair thicker than muskrat pelts; some women had hair on their heads, but nowhere else. A few of the ladies wore day dresses, untied and unbuttoned. A few of the gents wore bulging T-shirts from which drooped what looked to be a Thanksgiving turkey's giblets. No woman carried a purse, though one man sported a colostomy bag. In case you were wondering, his bag didn't match his shoes."


''Fairway to Hell'' is a 2008 memoir centering on Lidz' unusual golfing experiences: encountering nudists, llama caddies<ref name="philly1"/> and celebrities like the heavy metal band ].<ref>, November 27, 1986 – ''Sports Illustrated''</ref><ref>, April, 2008 – ''ESPN''</ref> ] reviewed the book on the ] show '']'', saying "His estimable wit is also evident in ''Fairway To Hell''."<ref>, May 30, 2008 – ''Only A Game, NPR''</ref>


== '''Personal''' == == Collaborations ==


Lidz has written numerous essays for '']'' with novelist and former '']'' colleague ].<ref>, November 15, 1998 – ''The New York Times''</ref><ref>, January 30, 2000 – ''The New York Times''</ref><ref>, August 5, 2001 – ''The New York Times''</ref> Three of them appear under the title ''Piscopo Agonistes'' in the 2000 collection ''Mirth of a Nation: The Best Contemporary Humor''.
Lidz lives on a six-acre farm in ]'s Brandywine Valley with two llamas (Ogar and Edgar), two ] (Ella and Errol), two cats (Yojimbo and Sanjuro), three dozen chickens and guinea fowl (don't ask), two daughters (Gogo and Daisy Daisy) and one wife (Maggie), an author<ref>http://www.amazon.com/Ponts-Houses-Gardens-Brandywine/dp/0926494694/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265325080&sr=1-1</ref> and the historian at the ] in ]. "We must be the only household in the world that subscribes to ''Llama'', ''Poultry News'', ''Sumo World'' and '']''," Lidz has said.<ref>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1007145/index.htm</ref> On his first date with Maggie he realized that one week earlier her father, journalist Gerald Renner<ref> </ref>, had picked him up hitchhiking on ]. Lidz, then in grad school, and Maggie married seven months later -- the day after her high school graduation. For years afterward, Maggie's three younger sisters would greet their dad when he got home by asking: "Daddy, did you pick us up a hitchhiker?"<ref>http://www.oprah.com/relationships/Finding-the-One-By-Chance</ref> Gogo and Daisy Daisy (Didi) were named after the protagonists in ]. "I always wanted to play the title character," he once said, "but I would have spent the whole night in the wings."<ref>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1121873/index.htm</ref> Lidz insists that his dream double-play combination is Ginsberg to Whitman to Pound because they represent "true poetry in motion."<ref>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1139796/index.htm</ref> Inspired by the advice of ] scholar ] ("You have an obligation to visit the great men of your time"), Lidz once made a pilgrimage to ]'s villa in ], ], inveigling his way in with the line: "I'm on a world tour of the homes of everyone I've ever seen on ]." He has appeared on ]'s show with his pet parrots Peter Rabbit and Mrs. Falbo, unsettling the host with the observation: "Peter speaks 16 bird dialects, including loon. He's learning Waring Blender, but I can't let him get too close to ours. He thinks it's a Jacuzzi."


Lidz has been a commentator for '']'' on ],<ref>, November 19, 1998 – ''The Tuscaloosa News''</ref> and was a guest film critic on the syndicated '']'', following ]'s passing. The segment did not air.<ref>, April 16, 2000 – ''The New York Times''</ref> He also appeared on ]'s ].<ref name="autogenerated1"/>
⚫ == References: ==


== Personal life ==
http://www.portfolio.com/contributors/Franz-Lidz
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/writers/franz_lidz/archive/index.html


Lidz lives in ]<ref>, Fall, 2020 - ''Ojai Quarterly'', pgs. 38-41</ref> with his wife, Maggie, an author and onetime historian at the ] in ].<ref>, January 21, 2010- ''The New York Times''</ref><ref>, February 18, 2014- ''Slate''</ref><ref>, December, 2009 ''Delaware Today''</ref><ref>, February, 2009 '']''</ref> They have two daughters.<ref name="autogenerated118">, June 23, 2003 – ''Sports Illustrated''</ref><ref>, November 21, 2004 ''Los Angeles Times''</ref><ref>, ''Newsweek''</ref><ref>, July 23, 2010 – ''The New York Times''</ref>
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Latest revision as of 04:52, 18 December 2024

American writer (born 1951)

Franz Lidz
BornFranz Ira Lidz
(1951-09-24) September 24, 1951 (age 73)
New York City, U.S.
Occupation
  • Journalist
  • memoirist
  • American professional basketball executive
Alma materAntioch College
Notable worksUnstrung Heroes (1991)
Ghosty Men (2003)
Fairway To Hell (2008)
SpouseMaggie Lidz (1976–present)
ChildrenGogo, Daisy

Franz Lidz (born September 24, 1951) is an American writer, journalist and pro basketball executive.

A New York Times archaeology, science and film essayist, who originated the archeological column "Lost and Found". He's a former Sports Illustrated senior writer,Smithsonian columnist and a onetime vice president for the Detroit Pistons. His childhood memoir Unstrung Heroes was adapted into a Hollywood film of the same title in 1995.

Early life

Lidz was born in Manhattan, to Sidney, a Jewish electronics engineer who designed the first transistorized portable tape recorder (the Steelman Transitape), and Selma, a homemaker. His father gave him early exposure to authors like Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter and Eugène Ionesco.

At age nine, still named Stephen before later legally taking Franz as his first name, he moved to the Philadelphia suburbs. Lidz attended high school in Cheltenham and college at Antioch College, where he was a theater major.

Career

Lidz was a novice reporter at the weekly Sanford Star, where he wrote a column and covered police and fire beats. He left Maine to become a crime reporter and write a column called "Insect Jazz" for an alternative newspaper in Baltimore. He later became an editor of Johns Hopkins University Magazine.

In 1980, he joined the staff of Sports Illustrated, even though he had never read the magazine and had covered only one sporting event in his life – a pigeon race in Shapleigh, Maine. Lidz remained on the writing staff for 27 years. In 2007 he jumped to the short-lived business monthly Conde Nast Portfolio, and then WSJ. magazine before landing at Smithsonian in 2012. His first feature story in The New York Times, on making the second descent of the Zambezi River, appeared on January 30, 1983.

Among his most controversial features are essays on reappraising the dodo; reconsidering Neanderthals; the effects of climate change on glacial archaeology; the Pacific Northwest barred owl cull; Hannibal; the 2002 Paris-to-Dakar Rally; George Steinbrenner and the New York Yankees' line of succession; the hijinks of onetime Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling; and a S.I. cover story with NBA player Jason Collins in which Collins became the first active male in one of the four major North American team sports to announce he was gay.

Notable works

Unstrung Heroes

Unstrung Heroes is about Lidz's childhood, with his mother, father and his dad's four older brothers. He had previously written about two of the uncles in Sports Illustrated.

In his review of Unstrung Heroes in The New York Times, Christopher Lehmann-Haupt called the memoir "unusual and affecting ... a melancholy, funny book, a loony tune played with touching disharmony on mournful woodwinds and a noisy klaxon". Jonathan Kirsch of the Los Angeles Times likened the memoir to a "miniature Brothers Karamazov. There's not a false moment in the book, and that is high praise indeed." The Village Voice called Unstrung Heroes: "Astonishing, hilarious, angry, poignant, always pointed."

In 1995, Unstrung Heroes was adapted into a film of the same title. The setting was switched from New York City to Southern California, and the four crazy uncles were reduced to an eccentric odd couple. Asked what he thought of the script, Lidz said: "It's very neatly typed". He was unhappy with the adaptation, but was prevented by his contract from publicly criticizing it. "My initial fear was that Disney would turn my uncles into Grumpy and Dopey", he told New York magazine. "I never imagined my life could be turned into Old Yeller." In a later essay for The New York Times, he said that the cinematic Selma had died not of cancer, but of 'Old Movie Disease'. "Someday somebody may find a cure for cancer, but the terminal sappiness of cancer movies is probably beyond remedy."

Ghosty Men

Ghosty Men (2003) is the story of the Collyer brothers. Lidz has said that he was inspired by the real-life cautionary tales that his father told him, the most macabre of which was the story of the Collyer brothers, the hermit hoarders of Harlem. The book also recounts the parallel life of Arthur Lidz, the hermit uncle of Unstrung Heroes, who grew up near the Collyer mansion.

In his review for The Washington Post, Adam Bernstein wrote, "The Collyer Brothers made compelling reading then, as they do now in this short, captivatingly detailed book."

Fairway to Hell

Fairway to Hell is a 2008 memoir centering on Lidz' unusual golfing experiences: encountering nudists, llama caddies and celebrities like the heavy metal band Judas Priest. Bill Littlefield reviewed the book on the National Public Radio show Only A Game, saying "His estimable wit is also evident in Fairway To Hell."

Collaborations

Lidz has written numerous essays for The New York Times with novelist and former Sports Illustrated colleague Steve Rushin. Three of them appear under the title Piscopo Agonistes in the 2000 collection Mirth of a Nation: The Best Contemporary Humor.

Lidz has been a commentator for Morning Edition on NPR, and was a guest film critic on the syndicated Siskel & Ebert, following Gene Siskel's passing. The segment did not air. He also appeared on David Letterman's show.

Personal life

Lidz lives in Ojai, California with his wife, Maggie, an author and onetime historian at the Winterthur Museum in Delaware. They have two daughters.

References

  1. "Film; Sorry, Uma, There's Only One Emma", August 9, 1998 – The New York Times
  2. "Film; The Scenery, Though, He Won't Chew", September 29, 2002 – The New York Times
  3. "Biblical Adversity in a '60s Suburb", September 23, 2009 – The New York Times
  4. "Here Lies the Skull of Pliny the Elder, Maybe", February 14, 2020 – The New York Times
  5. "At the Sourdough Library, With Some Very Old Mothers", April 11, 2020 – The New York Times
  6. "She Fell Nearly Two Miles And Walked Away", June 18, 2021 – The New York Times
  7. "What The Ancient Bog Bodies Knew", January 30, 2023 – The New York Times
  8. "What To Do With A Bug Named Hitler", December 26, 2023 – The New York Times
  9. "Ancient Romans Dropped Their Bling Down the Drain, Too", May 1, 2023 – The New York Times
  10. "Put a Bird on It? Ancient Egypt Was Way Ahead of Us", June 6, 2023 – The New York Times
  11. "Classic Archives: Franz Lidz", – Sports Illustrated
  12. "Jason Collins", May 6, 2013 – Sports Illustrated
  13. "Dr. NakaMats, the Man With 3300 Patents to His Name", December, 2012 - Smithsonian
  14. "Behold The Blobfish", November, 2015 - Smithsonian
  15. "Britain's Lake District Was Immortalized by Beatrix Potter, But Is Its Future in Peril?", May, 2018 - Smithsonian
  16. "Detroit Pistons Media Guide: Executive Staff", 2016–'17. (Free PDF download). Use search term "Franz Lidz"
  17. "Franz Lidz", Smithsonian
  18. ^ "Lost In Translation", September 21, 1995 – Philadelphia Inquirer
  19. "Books of The Times; Reality Was Relative and the Relatives Were Nuts", March 4, 1991 – The New York Times
  20. Search: Franz Lidz - The New York Times
  21. "Film: Unstrung And Calling The Shots", September 3, 1995 – The New York Times
  22. "Sidney Lidz – Obituary", July 28, 1981 – The New York Times
  23. "Steelman Transitape portable reel-to-reel tape recorder" on YouTube, 1959
  24. "Beginning at the Ending at the Bates Motel", September 13, 1998 – The New York Times
  25. ^ "From the Editor", April 8, 1991
  26. "A Writer's Relative Chaos: How Crazy Were Franz Lidz's Uncles? We're Glad You Asked That ...", April 7, 1991 – Philadelphia Inquirer
  27. "Arn Tellem and Franz Lidz Are Going to the Hall of Fame", Philadelphia, May 17, 2015
  28. "Franz Lidz & Arn Tellem entering Hall together", Philadelphia Daily News, May 27, 2015
  29. ^ "Letter From The Publisher" – May 10, 1982 – Sports Illustrated
  30. "Letter From The Publisher" – March 9, 1987 – Sports Illustrated
  31. "Letter from the Publisher" March 26, 1984 – Sports Illustrated
  32. "Lidz weaves a tale of family, life on fringes", February 9, 1991 – Baltimore Sun
  33. "Odds are, these guys are real characters", September 21, 1995 – Baltimore Sun
  34. "Redford movie may be filmed locally", January 23, 1991 – Baltimore Sun
  35. "Good Ol' Charlie Schulz", December 23, 1985 - Sports Illustrated
  36. "What is Jeopardy!?", May 1, 1989 - Sports Illustrated
  37. "From Hair To Eternity", December 10, 1990 - Sports Illustrated
  38. "Meat Bomb", May 18, 1992 - Sports Illustrated
  39. "She's Got Balls", November 2, 1998 - Sports Illustrated
  40. ^ "The Sport of Drunken Hairy Scots", May 7, 2008 – Philadelphia Inquirer
  41. "Gil Rogin Resurfaces", September 24, 2010 – AARP: The Magazine
  42. "The Virtuoso of the Canorama: Gil Rogin Ran SI at Its Peak, But His Fiction Might Make Him Immortal", September 22, 2010 – The New York Observer
  43. "Almost Famous", August 15, 2016 – Sports Illustrated
  44. "Upstairs, Downstairs and In Between", December 1, 2011 – WSJ.
  45. "The Great Zambezi River Expedition", January 30, 1983 – The New York Times
  46. "Who’s the Dodo Now? A Famously Extinct Bird, Reconsidered", September 20, 2024 – The New York Times
  47. "What Do We Really Know About Neanderthals?", May, 2019 Smithsonian
  48. "As Earth Warms, Old Mayhem and Secrets Emerge From the Ice", November 2, 2021 – The New York Times
  49. "They Shoot Owls in California, Don’t They?", April 29, 2024 – New York Times
  50. "How (and Where) Did Hannibal Cross the Alps?", July, 2017 - Smithsonian
  51. "Off-Road Warriors", January 21, 2002 - Sports Illustrated
  52. "Baseball After The Boss", August 2, 2007 – Conde Nast Portfolio
  53. "Portfolio Diagnoses Steinbrenner, but New York Post gives a Second Opinion", August 7, 2007 – New York Observer
  54. "The Journalist Who Revealed How Ill George Steinbrenner Was", July 13, 2007 – AOL
  55. "How's the Boss? Steinbrenner Looks Dreadful" Archived 13 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine, August 3, 2007 – Gothamist
  56. "The Nack: Great Reporting, Vivid Writing", December 15, 2008 – Bronx Banter
  57. "Up and Down in Beverly Hills", April 17, 2000 – Sports Illustrated
  58. "Donald Sterling Has Been Lost In Another Century For Some Time", April 27, 2014 – Chicago Sun-Times
  59. "Sterling's offensive behavior was no secret for years", April 30, 2014 – Sports Illustrated
  60. "Why NBA center Jason Collins is coming out now", April 29, 2013 – Sports Illustrated
  61. The story behind Jason Collins' story: How it happened, April 29, 2013 – Sports Illustrated
  62. "How Sports Illustrated Broke the Jason Collins Story", April 29, 2013 – The New York Times
  63. "Jason Collins, 10 Years Later: Progress Made, but There's Work to Be Done for LGBTQ Athletes", April 25, 2023 - Sports Illustrated
  64. "Summer Films: Creature Features; The Ongoing Adventures of Moose and Squirrel", April 20, 2000 – The New York Times
  65. "To Our Readers", September 25, 1995 – Sports Illustrated
  66. "My Uncle, The Collector: A Hobbyist on a Shoestring", January 25, 1987 – Sports Illustrated
  67. "Uncle Harry Never Lost A Fight But He Never Really Fought One, Either", December 20, 1982 – Sports Illustrated
  68. "Books of The Times; Reality Was Relative and the Relatives Were Nuts", March 4, 1991 – The New York Times
  69. "The Unlikely Heroics of Unstrung Heroes", February 20, 1991 – Los Angeles Times
  70. "Unstrung Heroes", February, 1991 – Random House
  71. "The star and author of 'Unstrung Heroes'", September 22, 1995 – Entertainment Weekly
  72. Nancy Jo Sales (18 September 1995). "Undone Heroes". New York. New York Media, LLC. p. 58.
  73. "In a Higher State of Being (That Is, Dying)", January 10, 1999 – The New York Times
  74. "The Paper Chase", October 26, 2003 – The New York Times
  75. "A Trashy Read / Hoarding hermits? A typist's true tale", November 2, 2003 – Newsday
  76. "Author delves into his inner hoarder His eccentric uncle led him to write about the Collyer brothers", May 16, 2004 – Philadelphia Inquirer
  77. "If Anything Should Inspire ...", January 4, 2004 – The Washington Post
  78. "Heavy Metal Rockers Find Peace And Quiet—and Rock Fans—on The Links", November 27, 1986 – Sports Illustrated
  79. "Fairway to Hell", April, 2008 – ESPN
  80. "Books In Review", May 30, 2008 – Only A Game, NPR
  81. "We Know What You'll See Next Summer ...", November 15, 1998 – The New York Times
  82. "Here A Comic Genius, There A Comic Genius", January 30, 2000 – The New York Times
  83. "How to Tell a Bad Movie From a Truly Bad Movie", August 5, 2001 – The New York Times
  84. "News Briefs", November 19, 1998 – The Tuscaloosa News
  85. "A Shot at Thumb-Wrestling With Roger", April 16, 2000 – The New York Times
  86. "The Uses of Irreverence", Fall, 2020 - Ojai Quarterly, pgs. 38-41
  87. Requiem For A Jumble of Artworks, January 21, 2010- The New York Times
  88. "The Amazing Costumes of Downton Abbey", February 18, 2014- Slate
  89. "The duPonts: Houses and Gardens in the Brandywine", December, 2009 Delaware Today
  90. "Meeting Maggie", February, 2009 O, The Oprah Magazine
  91. "Introducing Miss Daisy", June 23, 2003 – Sports Illustrated
  92. "Where the wild things are – inside the tent", November 21, 2004 Los Angeles Times
  93. Gogo Lidz: Staff Writer, Newsweek
  94. "Daisy Lidz, Thor Ritz", July 23, 2010 – The New York Times
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