For someone who loves the movies so much that he once watched seven in one day, Jeff Hockenheimer spends a lot of time writing. The 72-year-old New Orleanian is about to publish his 12th book, a work of historical fiction based on the life of Robert Dudley, first Earl of Leicester, a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I.
Hockenheimer’s previous books include a memoir of his childhood in a tiny town in Mississippi, reminiscences of life working in neighborhood movie theaters and a couple of books that summarize, with tongue in cheek, the works of William Shakespeare.
Hockenheimer grew up in Panola, Mississippi, about 50 miles south of Memphis where, they say, “the hills meet the Delta.” He went on to graduate from the University of Mississippi in Oxford, where he majored in history.
After a stint in Memphis he moved to New Orleans, where he became a familiar presence behind concession stands at the Prytania Theatre and other local movie houses while auditioning for work in the growing local film industry. And of course, he continued to write.
Hockenheimer’s self-published books fill several pages on Amazon. He writes the manuscripts in the cursive script he learned at Panola Elementary School. A natural storyteller with a quip always ready, the author claims his typist, Lauralyn Rose, doesn’t charge him to type the books, “she charges me to read my handwriting.”
The following conversation has been lightly edited for space and clarity.
What brought you to New Orleans?
I moved to New Orleans because they filmed a lot of movies here, and when I moved here in the ‘80s, they were hiring extras out of the employment office. And I got a lot of work, but the only problem is you can’t get (speaking parts in large-budget) movies unless you’re in the Screen Actors Guild, and you can’t get in the SAG unless you have a speaking part in a movie.
What are some of your film roles?
I’ve been in some independent movies. They had everything they needed to make the movies, except the money to pay anybody. Which is OK, I don’t do it for the money. I played the Catholic priest in “Lucinda’s Spell.” And I played the preacher in “Zombies vs. Mardi Gras.” Those were my biggies.
“Zombies vs. Mardi Gras”? What was that about?
It was about a zombie who comes to New Orleans and chases people around the French Quarter. “Lucinda’s Spell” is about a bunch of witches who come to New Orleans and chase people around the Faubourg Marigny. And I was in a movie called “Samurai Steel,” and it’s about how gas leaks out of something, like a train, and a lot of people get gassed, and they chase people around the CBD.
A lot of chasing people around.
Yes.
Are you a person who can watch two or three movies a day?
When I worked at the movie theaters, back in the ’80s, when you worked at one theater all the other theaters would let you in free. And one day, I went to a trade screening at 10 o’clock in the morning. It was “Dune.” Then I watched three movies in the afternoon. I watched two movies that night, and I went to a midnight movie. And I guess the midnight movie was “Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
Is that a record, do you think?
I think so. And then I went home and watched one on TV.
Tell us about some of your books.
My first book was “The Secrets of the Bell Witch.” It’s about a famous legend from Tennessee and it is also well-known in the part of Mississippi I’m from. My co-writer was John Howell. He was the editor of the Panola paper, and he’s the one who really taught me how to write.
Another one is “An Invisible Star.” It’s about my fourth-grade teacher, Dorothy Langhofer. She was probably the most influential person in my life. She died at the age of 96, but she was still living when the book came out.
What is the story of Robert Dudley, from your latest novel?
Robert Dudley was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I. There was a lot of gossip about them. His wife, Amy Dudley, died mysteriously. She was found at the bottom of (a flight of) stairs with her neck broken. Some people thought she fell; that was the official coroner’s report. Some people thought Dudley had her pushed. Historians have been arguing about that ever since.
The book is called “The Haunting of Cumnor Manor.” I tried to be historically accurate, more historically accurate than Sir Walter Scott was in his book about it, “Kenilworth,” but I had to make up some things. I couldn’t get the exact quotes.
Do you have a favorite among your works?
If I’m going to give someone one of my books, it’s probably going to be “Drive-in Matinee.” It’s a story about teenagers hanging out at the drive-in movie theater. We had a drive-in movie theater out on Highway 51.
And if I see a kids’ birthday party, sometimes I’ll give them a copy of “Uncle Jeff’s Fairytale Storybook for Good Little Kiddies, Etc.” The stories are both classic fairy tales and some I made up. Well, most I made up. My favorite story in that book is about the “big, bad wolf.” You know how so many fairy tales have a big, bad wolf in them? In my story, the wolf has an agent, who gets him all these fairy tales to be in.
Anything coming after the Dudley book?
Well, a while ago I wrote “A Free Pass to the Movies,” about a guy who works at a movie theater. When everyone gets fired, he disappears and no one knows where he is. I figured I’d write a sequel, “Arf Arf Broadway.” And after that, “Please Don’t Kill Me, I Want To Be In a Sequel.” Then they all go to Europe, and that one is called “The Fourth Part of the Trilogy.”
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