Education
Wasserman attended Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, California. Never having graduated from college, Wasserman worked at many jobs before landing a position at the Chronicle at age 24.
columnist film critic journalist music critic
Wasserman attended Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, California. Never having graduated from college, Wasserman worked at many jobs before landing a position at the Chronicle at age 24.
Known more for humor and originality than in-depth analysis, he"s best known for his creative reviews of bad films, clever skewering of glitzy performers, and passionate advovacy for those in whose talents he believed. His first attempts to get a journalism job were rebuffed. Finally, an opening for an assistant critic came up in the paper"s entertainment department.
His audition review, A GATHERING OF EAGLES with Rock Hudson, landed him the job.
The paper"s executive editor, Bill German, recalled that John"s review "was the only one that didn"t bore medical " Wasserman"s best writing years were 1970 to 1979, when he had his own column. His columns covered anything vaguely related to entertainment: film, theater, music, comedy, bodybuilding, and even live sex shows at the famous Mitchell Brothers O"Farrell Theater.
He could count Jerry Lewis, Russian Meyer, countless music promoters and crowds of Osmond fans among his detractors. He was a highly visible presence in San Francisco.
He was the first person Marty Balin asked to manage Jefferson Airplane.
He taught an annual "Media and the Arts" extension course for San Francisco State. He served as a stand-in for George C. Scott on the set of PETULIA and Clint Eastwood on the set of THE ENFORCER. He also did a brief walk-on in the motorcycle film Community College AND COMPANY. He died in a car accident on February 25, 1979, south of San Francisco in which two others in another car were also killed. His blood alcohol level was found to be.26, nearly three times the legal limit at the time.
Decades later, his writing and perspectives on entertainment are still missed.
The book is Praise, Vilification & Sexual Innuendo, or How to Be a Critic: The Selected Writings of Wasserman, 1964-1979.