Tag Archives: Hollywood

A Year in Books/Day 171: Walking with Garbo

Posted on July 15, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: Walking with Garbo Conversations and Recollections
• Author: Raymond Daum
• Editor and Annotator: Vance Muse
• Year Published: 1991 (HarperCollinsPublishers)
• Year Purchased: 1993
• Source: Unknown
• About: Greta Garbo. The Swedish Sphinx. She of eternal mystery. One half of the most famous screen (and real-life, but that’s another story) couple of the 1920s. The great actress may have valued her privacy, both before and after retirement, but she was no shut-in. Continue reading →

A Year in Books/Day 170: Sophia Style

Posted on July 11, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: Sophia Style
• Author: Deirdre Donohue
• Year Published: 2001 (Barnes & Noble Books)
• Year Purchased: 2004
• Source: Barnes & Noble clearance rack
• About: In the physical sphere, Sophia Loren is everything I am not: tall, leggy, busty. Sure, we have a tiny waist in common but, on her, because of her height, it is more of a thing. Her style, on camera but especially in life, matches her features: striking, angular, and beautiful. Of course, even if she wore a potato sack (like Marilyn in that famous early cheese-cake photo) she would out-shine us all. Sophia Style examines and connects her characters’ wardrobes with her personal clothing choices, resulting in a book that is a melange of fashion, film, and personal history: it is really more interesting than it probably sounds.  Whether you love film or fashion, or are just looking to shade your brain from the reality of an ugly word for a couple of hours, it is a quick and fun read. It’s full of gorgeous photos from her first five decades in the spotlight.
• Motivation: Sometimes I just like to look at pretty people in pretty clothes. It’s a nice break from thinking too much, which is how I usually spend approximately 95% of my waking hours.
• Times Read: 2
• Random Excerpt/Page 81: “(Marc) Bohan’s white slip gown in A Countess from Hong Kong is a unique creation, having an exceptional relationship to both Loren’s body and the character she portrays. This quality was requested by the director, Charlie Chaplin, as well as by Loren. Chaplin was very earnest and exacting about the countess’s look, and Loren, awed by this iconic film figure, uncharacteristically deferred wholly to his authority.”
• Happiness Scale: 10+++
  

  Cropped screenshot of Sophia Loren from the film Five Miles to Midnight (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

   

A Year in Books/Day 161: Hollywood and the Great Fan Magazines

Posted on June 18, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: Hollywood and the Great Fan Magazines
• Editor: Martin Levin
• Year Published: 1970/This Edition: 1991
• Year Purchased: 1990s
• Source: Unknown, but likely B. Dalton Bookseller
• About: This book is a collection of articles from the heyday of film fan magazines-the 1930s. Equal parts pop culture and history (and 100% fun), it is a fascinating look at the Hollywood publicity machine in full swing at top strength. Don’t let the mostly light-hearted topics fool you: this was a serious business that helped fuel an incredibly powerful industry. The frivolity is underpinned by ruthlessness and a lot of money. It is this carefully placed juxtaposition that intrigues me. You’ll find the following articles and then some: What’s Wrong With Hollywood Love; What I Will Tell My Baby; Charlie Chaplin’s Kids; Four Rules of Married Love; Career Comes First With Loretta; I’m No Gigolo! Says George Raft; I Want to Talk About My Baby!; The Price They Pay For Fame; Mystery Tales of the Stars; The Story Jean Harlow Never Told; Tarzan Seeks a Divorce; Ronald Colman Gives the Lowdown on Himself; Watch Your Step, Ann Dvorak!; Ginger Rogers Asks, “Did I Get What I Wanted Out of Life?”; Can Hollywood Hold Errol Flynn?; and Hollywood’s Unmarried Husbands and Wives. The photos are splendid and rare.
• Motivation: I collect movie magazines from the 1910s-1950s. As a teenager in the early 1990s, that hobby was still in my future. This book was the next best thing.
• Times Read: A few
• Random Excerpt/Page 42: “PRIZE CONTEST! Can You Describe Errol Flynn In ONE SENTENCE Using Just 20 Words? How proficient are you in the use of adjectives? In order to describe Errol Flynn most effectively at least three descriptive adjectives should be used. For instance, here’s a sample sentence of 20 words containing three adjectives which we think fit his type and personality: One of the most debonair and adventurous Hollywood actors is attractive Errol Flynn whose hobby is traveling in strange places.” (Ed. Note: I want to travel back in time and take this person’s job.)
  

  Ann Dvorak watching her step (Photo credit: Screen shot from Three on a Match via Wikipedia)

• Happiness Scale: 9

A Year in Books/Day 156: Merchant of Dreams

Posted on June 13, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: Merchant of Dreams Louis B. Mayer, M.G.M., and the Secret Hollywood
• Author: Charles Higham
• Year Published: 1993 (A Laurel Book)
• Year Purchased: 2000?
• Source: Unknown
• About: This is not a nice, unicorns and rainbows biography; nor does it go to great lengths to throw dirt on its subject. Any dirt tossed about was thoroughly earned by the actions of Mayer. It relies heavily on interviews with people who worked with the M.G.M. head  who, although willing to engage in breathtakingly awful antics to further his studio, made an incomparable contribution to Hollywood history. He was one of the leading architects in making it a place of mind, and not just a spot on the map. The mythology that he helped put in place is still screwing with our minds a  century later. Merchant of Dreams also succeeds in humanizing Mayer. Even if he isn’t likable or particularly respectable, he is interesting, controversial  and successful-three qualities that would make him an ideal subject for a biopic of his own.
• Motivation: My passion for cinema history goes deeper than knowing films and their players; I love the machinations and inner workings of the entire system, down to every behind the scenes contributor–no matter how obscure or powerful. Mayer was definitely the latter.
• Times Read: 1
• Random Excerpt/Page 25: “Work, constant work was the Puritan solution for grief, and the young Louis B. Mayer worked desperately hard in the first months of 1914. He was determined to build himself up as a motion picture distributor, taking on all comers.”
• Happiness Scale: 9
  

  English: Louis B Mayer at the “Torch Song” movie premiere in Los Angeles, Calif., 1953 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A Year in Books/Day 150: Classics of the Silent Screen

Posted on June 9, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: Classics of the Silent Screen A Pictorial Treasury
• Author: Joe Franklin
• Year Published: 1959 (Cadillac Publishing Co., Inc.)
• Year Purchased: 1990s
• Source: Antique Barn at the Ohio State Fair
• About: When this book was published in 1959, silent movies could still be glimpsed in the cultural rear view mirror. The childhood memories of those over 35 would likely have included going to the movies before talkies existed, when the only noise in the theatre came from the accompanying orchestra or fellow patrons’ coughing and munching. Classics of the Silent Screen is split into two parts, with the first half devoted to Fifty Great Films and the second to Seventy-Five Great Stars. The variety of  films and performers is more interesting than the standard roll call usually found in contemporary studies, as the fame of silent movies and their stars has dropped considerably in the last five decades. Franklin is  both a solid film scholar and an unabashedly passionate fan-the ideal combination for a movie writer. The stills that adorn the text are priceless, and add greatly to the book’s appeal. It is well worth the effort to track this one down.
  

  Betty Bronson (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

• Motivation: When I bought this book, I hadn’t started writing about silent movies. I was just a young old movie fan turned theatre student, still in the early stages of learning everything I could on the subject. This was one of the first volumes on silent cinema I owned.
• Times Read: 4 or 5
• Random Excerpt/Page 72: “Even Peter Pan seemed almost ordinary by comparison when, the following year, director Brenon and star Bronson teamed again to make this second adaptation from Barrie. One of the loveliest and most poignant films ever screened, it was, sad to relate, a flop at the box office-putting an immediate end to further follow-ups.”
• Happiness Scale: 10

A Year in Books/Day 145: Marilyn-The New York Years

Posted on June 1, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: Marilyn-The New York Years
• Author & Photographer: Sam Shaw
• Year Published: 2004 (Lardon)
• Year Purchased: 2004
• Source: Unknown, but it was in conjunction with a show of Sam Shaw’s Marilyn photographs.
• About: Sam Shaw was a photographer who also worked as a movie producer (most notably on several John Cassavetes films). He was a long-time close friend of Marilyn Monroe, and acted as the still photographer on The Seven Year Itch (1955). After her famous move to New York City to study acting with Lee Strasberg, during which time she married playwright Arthur Miller, Sam Shaw took up his camera to capture his friend at her luminous best. The trust she felt for Shaw is apparent: whether candid or posed, there is an ease and casual glamour to most of the images not seen since her earlier modeling work with Andre de Dienes. It is a beautiful coffee table volume that allows the photography to shine; the text is limited to a few brief quotes by Shaw and Monroe.
• Motivation: Sam Shaw is my favourite Marilyn photographer; many of the images in this book were never-before-published. Win-win.
• Times Read: A few
• Random Excerpt/Page 4: “Eventually, Marilyn found herself in the business of being a superstar. She became a business woman. She became a big tycoon trying to lay the law down to the Hollywood bigshots. And she nearly beat them. In today’s atmosphere, with women all over demanding more rights, she would have won hands down.”
• Happiness Scale: 10+++

A Year in Books/Day 141: Silent Players

Posted on May 25, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: Silent Players A Biographical and Autobiographical Study of 100 Silent Film Actors and Actresses
• Author: Anthony Slide
• Year Published: 2002 (The University Press of Kentucky)
• Year Purchased: 2010
• Source: Half Price Books
• About: Most of the stars profiled in this book were forgotten within a few years of the end of the silent era; the rest-the lucky few- are mere by-words for Old Hollywood, names disconnected from faces. Leftovers from our great-Grandparents’ childhoods. Anthony Slide, over the course of a couple of decades, had the pleasure or the privilege to have met the majority of entertainers featured in this volume. Thus, Silent Players is not dry biography or weak conjecture, nor is it pure scholarship (although it has a foundation of extensive research); it is alive with personal experiences and revealing reminiscences. His passion for his subjects shines through his clear, yet keen writing. A must-have for anyone interested in silent cinema and those who graced it with their magic.
  

  Publicity photo of Mae Marsh from Stars of the Photoplay (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

• Motivation: Many of my favourite film performers appeared in silent movies. I write on the subject. A lot. In fact, silent movies are one of my biggest passions!
• Times Read: 1
• Random Excerpt/Page 127: “The number of Hollywood extras is probably in the hundreds of thousands. As early as November 1934, Photoplay reported some 17, 541 individuals registered as extras with Central Casting. Among the number of small part and bit players available at that time were former stars, including Monte Blue, Betty Blythe, Mae Marsh, and Dorothy Phillips, and silent directors, including Francis Ford, Frank Reicher and George Melford. One-time stars might become extras, but the only extra to ever be accorded the celebrity and fame of stardom is Bess Flowers.”
• Happiness Scale: 10+++

A Year in Books/Day 136: Starstruck

Posted on May 18, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: Starstruck
• Author: Jib Fowles
• Year Published: 1992 (Smithsonian Institution Press)
• Year Purchased: 1993?
• Source: Little Professor Book Center
• About: Jib Folwes would like to welcome you to Star Village, a term he coined to cover the 100 celebrities who, at any given time, receive the highest concentration of interest by the public. Although early 21st century forms-such as the Internet, YouTube, and reality television-have perhaps skewed the numbers and demographics, the foundation of his theory remains strong. He dissects every aspect of stardom, starting with how modern celebrity came to be, how it is achieved, maintained, and how, for some, it dies. He uses a cross-section of actors, musicians, comedians, and athletes, including: Louis Armstrong, Clara Bow, Doris Day, Buster Keaton, Billie Jean King, John Lennon, Liberace, Steve McQueen, Marilyn Monroe, Roy Rogers, Babe Ruth, Lawrence Welk and Mae West. It is a fascinating, almost sociological, look at a hierarchy we are born into, take for granted, and rarely seriously question.
• Motivation: I’m a sucker for old Hollywood. I also love the logic, research and data behind serious sociological studies, even when the subject is pop culture.
• Times Read: 2
• Random Excerpt/Page 75: “Viewed within the context of the twentieth century’s eruption of metropolitan living and machine production, the star phenomenon can be seen to have resulted from two historical imperatives. The need of uprooted city dwellers for personality models was compelling enough, but a second force-related yet distinct-was at work.”
• Happiness Scale: 9 1/2
  

  Jib Fowles will tell you why, exactly, I became famous! (Photo of Lawrence Welk courtesy of Wikipedia)

   

A Year in Books/Day 132: Whatever became of…? All New Ninth Series

Posted on May 14, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: Whatever became of…? All New Ninth Series Over 100 profiles of the most asked about personalities from television series, documentaries, and movies
• Author: Richard Lamparski
• Year Published: 1985 (Crown Publishers, Inc.)
• Year Purchased: 1990/1991
• Source: Antique Barn vendor, the Ohio State Fair
• About: The cover tag says it all, so I won’t rehash what you just read 5 lines above. The best thing about Lamparski’s series is who he focuses on: B-movie and television stars, flashes in the pan, and former A-listers who, through fickle chance, faded into obscurity instead of attaining permanent icon status.
• Motivation: I was a teenager when I found these books at the public library. I was deep in the early rapturous phase of discovering old movies. I was also a theatre student. To this day, many of my favourite actors and actresses are the little-remembered also-rans.
• Times Read: Countless
• Random Excerpt/Page 74: “When her parents were cast in the touring company of No, No, Nanette Leila (Hyams) remained in New York City, studying dramatic acting while she supported herself by modeling. Oliver Clive, a noted artist of the time, called her “The Golden Girl” because of the delicate coloring of her skin and hair. According to the New York Times she was the first model to appear in advertisements for Listerine mouthwash.”
• Happiness Scale: 9 (even in our IMDB universe)

A Year in Books/Day 128: Fast-Talking Dames

Posted on May 7, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: Fast-Talking Dames
• Author: Maria DiBattista
• Year Published: 2001 (Yale University Press)
• Year Purchased: 2002/2003
• Source: Edward R. Hamilton Bookseller Company
• About: The best part of screwball comedies is, of course, the dialogue. The plots are usually superfluous and in soft-focus; the snappy writing and whirlwind performances are what make these staples of the 1930s and 1940s so entertaining and timeless. While the male performers were no slouches, the women killed it time and again, routinely giving some of the best comedy turns in film history. The actresses discussed include Claudette Colbert, Rosalind Russell, Ginger Rogers, Carole Lombard, Katharine Hepburn, Irene Dunne, Myrna Loy and Barbara Stanwyck. Whew, what a list! Are you interested yet?
• Motivation: The title alone was allurement enough. Throw in the snazzy cover photo of Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell from His Girl Friday (1940) and I was a goner. Oh, and then there is the subject itself.
• Times Read: 1
• Random Excerpt/Page 103: “Like Harlow, Carole Lombard is often impatient or unhappy with the way her life is going, but her comic response to her predicaments is more rambunctious than raffish. Her sexual morals are definitely higher, but she is also the more accomplished liar. Or should we say, in a more generous mood, that where Harlow makes candor her comic calling card, Lombard is the great pretender.”
• Happiness Scale: 8 1/2
  

  Cropped screenshot of Carole Lombard from the trailer for the film Nothing Sacred (Photo credit: Wikipedia)