Maidstone: A Mystery
The published text of Mailer's film Maidstone, issued in softcover by New American Library, gathering the screenplay, 'A Course in Film-Making,' a combined account of the filming, color photographs, a cast list, and notes.

Maidstone: A Mystery is the published text of Mailer’s third experimental film, issued in softcover by New American Library on 1 October 1971. (The film itself had premiered at the Whitney Museum in September; following the project’s editorial practice, the film is documented on the Days pages while its published apparatus and the writing about it receive Work pages.) The volume gathers the screenplay, “A Combined Account of the Filming of Maidstone” — drawn from accounts by Sally Beauman (68.17), J. Anthony Lukas (68.14), and James Toback (68.28) — together with “A Course in Film-Making” (71.25), twelve pages of color photographs, a cast list, and notes on the film. The dedication honors the film’s crew: “To Ricky Leacock, Donn Pennebaker, Nick Proferes, Jim Desmond, To Jan Welt and Lana Jokel and to Buzz Farbar.” Reprinted in Existential Errands (72.7) and Pieces and Pontifications (82.19); see 68.16, 81.19, 84.1.
Related pages
- “A Course in Film-Making” (71.25)
- “Mailer Fracas Fails to Jell” (71.15a) | “Norman’s Phantasmagoria” (71.30)
- Rip Torn | Buzz Farbar | New American Library
- 1971
- Norman Mailer, Movie Maker (68.17) | Norman Mailer Enlists His Private Army to Act in Film (68.14) | At Play in the Fields of the Bored (68.28) | Existential Errands (72.7) | The Essential Mailer (82.19) | Mailer Film Party a Real Bash: Broken Jaw, 2 Bloody Heads (68.16)
Referenced by 21
Works
- A Course in Film-Making
- At Play in the Fields of the Bored
- Getting at the Truth about Norman Mailer
- Mailer at Venice with Film Aiming to Be Memorable
- Mailer Discusses His Film
- Mailer Film Party a Real Bash: Broken Jaw, 2 Bloody Heads
- Mailer Fracas Fails to Jell
- Mailer Hails Cinema Verite of His Film Maidstone
- Mailer Offers Views on Amateur Movie
- Mailer, in London, Trades Jabs with Audience over New Film
- Mailer's Maidstone: Where's the Reality?
- Norman Mailer Enlists His Private Army to Act in Film
- Norman Mailer, Movie Maker
- Norman's Phantasmagoria
- Produced by Norman Mailer, Directed by Norman Mailer, Written by Norman Mailer, Starring Norman Mailer, and Introducing Norman Mailer's Friends
- The Greatest Thing in the World