Tag Archives: Movie Stars

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 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 120: Cannes

Posted on April 29, 2012 by maedez

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• Title: Cannes Fifty Years of Sun, Sex & Celluloid
• By: The Editors of Variety
• Year Published: 1997 (Variety, Inc./Miramax Books/Hyperion)
• Year Purchased: 2000?
• Source: Barnes & Noble clearance rack
• About: The Cannes Film Festival is as much about the shenanigans of the beautiful movie stars as it is about the actual films vying for the prizes. Or, at least it was. In recent years (decades?) the whole enterprise seems stale and tepid. You have to go back to the 1950s and 1960s  to find the truly interesting stories and dazzlingly cheesy stunts. This thin volume, covering the first five decades of the festival, gives readers a light-hearted, conspiratorial look behind the scenes. The photos are exceptional.
• Motivation: Film buff and writer in the house.
• Times Read: 2
• Random Excerpt/Page 19: “Ironically, Cannes was not created for the film buff at all, but to lure attention away from Venice, the granddaddy of all film festivals, as well as to increase tourism, image and the sheer gloire of the host country, ever a fervent combatant for culture. (Not coincidentally, the Cannes festival jury was all-French until 1952, when some carefully screened outsiders were admitted.)
• Happiness Scale: 7 1/2