Showing posts with label actresses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label actresses. Show all posts

Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography Review

Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography
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Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography ReviewIf you have read any of the earlier books on Joan Crawford's life and career and hope to find new information in this book, don't bother. Aside from snippets about her stepfather and Christina Crawford, everything is old hat. Indeed, this book tends to focus more on her movies, giving a lenghty snyopsis of each one and analyzing her acting as well as her co-stars, and while there is nothing wrong with this, it has been done before! Aside from the movie analysis', the authors always follow with a paragraph or two on who Joan went to bed with during the making of the film (which, unless he was gay, married or ugly, was just about all of them). I was hoping for a biography that delved more into Crawford's private life - what made this woman tick? - what kind of beliefs did she have? - what did she do when she was not working on the set? - what did she eat for dinner at night?. This pedestrian bio only scratches the surface - by page 10, Crawford has already made her first movie - very little info about how she reached this stage in her life is given. The authors apparently only talked to a handful of people for this book and most of the information apparently comes from the author's own interviews with her in the 50s and 60s. And it is very annoying when the author (or co-author) writes about himself as if he were someone else! So, sadly, a definitive biography of Crawford has yet to be published.Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography Overview

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Audrey: Her Real Story Review

Audrey: Her Real Story
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Audrey: Her Real Story ReviewI saw this book at my aunt's house, and spent the rest of my visit pouring over the beautiful pictures of Audrey Hepburn. She gave me the book and I then read about Ms. Hepburn, and learned about this wonderful woman, who not only starred in over 20 films, but also was a representative for UNICEF in her later years. This book is a MUST for anyone the least bit interested in Audrey Hepburn, and it's definetely one to add to your collection.Audrey: Her Real Story Overview

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Hedy Lamarr: The Most Beautiful Woman in Film (Screen Classics) Review

Hedy Lamarr: The Most Beautiful Woman in Film (Screen Classics)
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Hedy Lamarr: The Most Beautiful Woman in Film (Screen Classics) ReviewOn a personal level, I liked this book. It was a pleasant surprise to find a study which contrasted Lamarr's questionably ghost written autobiography (ECSTACY AND ME)with known facts and debateable 'truths' that have become urban legend.
As for Hedy, like most celebrities, a lot of her personal background was doctored up by the publicity department at her first studio MGM. Deciphering the truth was no small feat. Ruth Barton researched her subject so thoroughly that whatever was able to be confirmed was (i.e., Hedy's jewish heritage) and she demonstrated extreme reserve with the questionable aspects of Lamarr's history such as the true parentage of Lamarr's adopted son James. Barton's digging was fruitful and presents a much clearer picture of Lamarr than has been seen before.
While this book may not have been as detailed as I would have liked in some respects and I wish Barton might have provided more information regarding all of Lamarr's husbands and her children, this is definitely a good first look at Hedy that presents her at her finest moments and her lowest and addresses her involvement as an inventor. It looks into Lamarr's life and career without sensationalizing the more negative aspects.Hedy Lamarr: The Most Beautiful Woman in Film (Screen Classics) OverviewHedy Lamarr's life was punctuated by salacious rumors and public scandal, but it was her stunning looks and classic Hollywood glamour that continuously captivated audiences. Born Hedwig Kiesler, she escaped an unhappy marriage with arms dealer Fritz Mandl in Austria to try her luck in Hollywood, where her striking appearance made her a screen legend. Her notorious nude role in the erotic Czech film Ecstasy (1933), as well as her work with Cecil B. DeMille (Samson and Delilah, 1949), Walter Wanger (Algiers, 1938), and studio executive Louis B. Mayer catapulted her alluring and provocative reputation as a high-profile sex symbol.In Hedy Lamarr: The Most Beautiful Woman in Film, Ruth Barton explores the many facets of the screen legend, including her life as an inventor. Working with avant-garde composer and film scorer George Antheil, Lamarr helped to develop and patent spread spectrum technology, which is still used in mobile phone communication. However, despite her screen persona and scientific success, Lamarr's personal life caused quite a scandal. A string of failed marriages, a lawsuit against her publisher regarding her sensational autobiography, and shoplifting charges made her infamous beyond her celebrity.Drawing on extensive research into both the recorded truths of Lamarr's life and the rumors that made her notorious, Barton recognizes Lamarr's contributions to both film and technology while revealing the controversial and conflicted woman underneath. Hedy Lamarr: The Most Beautiful Woman in Film illuminates the life of a classic Hollywood icon.

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The First Time Review

The First Time
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The First Time ReviewI have been a fan of Cher's for several years now, and it wasn't until recently that I finally decided to read The First Time. Let me say, I was not disappointed. Cher describes the important firsts in her life, which goes in detail from past to present. There are tales of the beginning of her music career, acting career, and so on. I always had an image of her being an honest and down to earth person, and that's exactly what was confirmed from reading this book. She can be sarcastic, but in a lovable way, and it's obvious that she only wants the best for people, as evident in how she helps children with Craniofacial disease, and other stories told in The First Time. I really enjoyed reading this book, and it's a must have for fans.The First Time Overview

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On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder Review

On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder
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On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder ReviewThis bio is very well-written and reads like a novel, as other reviews agree, and I would add that it is even better than most novels. Often one wonders whether a story in the book has really occurred and that helps to develop the fiction aspect of the book. At first I thought that a bio with more than 600 pages would be boring, but it turned out to be very engaging and informative about the golden age of Hollywood and one of the smartest and sophisticated directors ever. Although this bio has so much infomation, the author has such a fluid writing style and such a story-telling ability that makes it very interesting and entertaining. While reading this book my attention span never sagged and it made me keep reading for a longer period at a time. English being my third language, I really appreciated Mr. Sikov's wide range of vocabulary and slang that seemed to fit perfectly into his varied style of sentence construction.
I agree with Mr. Sikov that screenplay writing is a vital part of a consumate and well rounded director, which other celebrated directors, such as Hitchcock, Ford, and Spielberg lacked. For this reason I consider that the two best directors of all times are Billy Wilder and Akira Kurosawa, who besides being great visual and cinematic artists, they had more input and control of their movies by also writing the scripts. Billy Wilder's use of cynicism, sarcasm and curse words in his movies, when allowed, and in his life never came across as vulgar and lewd, but rather as an effective and witty punch line or criticism about the human condition.On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder Overview

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I Just Kept Hoping Review

I Just Kept Hoping
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I Just Kept Hoping ReviewI found Gloria's biography to be a pleasant way to spend a few hours.Not great,but fairly interesting look at a forgotten movie star of the 1930's.Frankly,I was hoping she would provide more detail about two classic horror films she made in the 30's,"The old Dark House"&"The Invisible Man",but then again,it 's probably hard to come up with amusing anecdotes about movies she made nearly 70 years ago!I wasn't bothered at all by details of her sex life.Some people are probably just shocked to learn that people actually had sex in the 1930's!I Just Kept Hoping Overview

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Humphrey Bogart: The Making of a Legend Review

Humphrey Bogart: The Making of a Legend
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Humphrey Bogart: The Making of a Legend ReviewIf this were classified as fiction, I'd probably give this one 5* because it is one salacious and interesting tale. As a biography, it leaves something to be desired. The author makes a lot of assertions in this book, including an affair Bogart conducted with Bette Davis and an affair that supposedly went on between Ingrid Bergman and Bogie during the making of Casablanca. Since I don't know if there is any truth regarding either claim, it seems in the realm of possible but not exactly probable even though these two women had fairly busy sex lives. The author also asserts that Bogart's 3rd wife (the original crazy lady/booze-aholic Mayo Methot) was ploting to have Bogart murdered. While she was certainly capable of doing so as evidenced by documented behavior during a liquor fueled marriage in which both of the participants continually tried to one-up each other in the outrageous behavior department, it's a good yarn which apparently has never been reliably documented.
It gets better and it gets juicier as one reads on. Bogart's parents are supposedly upscale morphine addicts. There are winks at possible affairs both parents may have had. Bogart was a talented actor who was also a talented lover, having bedded over 1,000 women. He even played watchdog over FDR after a near drowning while FDR was visiting a just revealed new mistress near the Bogart family's summer place. In this book, Bogart is a 20th century Waldo even as a child as he just seems to be everywhere when something is happening.
The trick to writing a 'biography' like this is that there are enough facts (verifiable information) mixed with crazy assertions to make this yarn believable. By the end of this book, it is hard to decipher the truth from the fiction. In an odd way, it can be compared to RAGTIME by E.L. Doctorow. Everthing is tied together in some strange patchwork that blends fact with fiction.
My advice is read this book if you choose, but remember that a lot of it may not ring true and very well probably isn't.Humphrey Bogart: The Making of a Legend OverviewWhereas Humphrey Bogart is always at the top of any list of the Entertainment Industry's most famous actors, very little is known about how he clawed his way to stardom from Broadway to Hollywood.This radical expansion of one of Darwin Porter's pioneering biographies begins with Bogart's origins as the child of wealthy (morphine-addicted) parents in New York City, then examines the scandals, love affairs, breakthrough successes, and failures that launched Bogart on the road to becoming an American icon.Drawn from original interviews with friends and foes who knew a lot about what lay beneath his trenchcoat, this expose covers Bogart's life from his birth in 1899 till his marriage to Lauren Bacall in 1944.It includes details about behind-the-scenes dramas associated with three mysterious marriages, and films such as The Petrified Forest, The Maltese Falcon, High Sierra, and Casablanca. Read all about the debut and formative years of the actor who influenced many generations of filmgoers, laying Bogie's life bare in a style you've come to expect from Darwin Porter. Bogie, we hardly knew you.That's what readers will be saying after reading this dishy, myth-shattering biography of the screen's most famous movie star.Award-winning biographer Darwin Porter reveals for the first time what really lay under that trench coat.Exposed with all their juicy details is what Bogie never told his fourth wife, Lauren Bacall, herself a screen legend. It's all here:The screen icon's unknown affair with Bette Davis, his co-star in The Petrified Forest, and even details about his on- and off-screen romance with Ingrid Bergman during the filming of Casablanca-a tragic liaison which has been falsely denied for years. Detailing the inner secrets of Bogie's tumultuous life from his birth in 1899 until his marriage to Bacall in 1944, The Making of a Legend contains a new revelation on every page. One tantalizing tidbit, for example, provides lurid details about how his third wife, actress Mayo Methot of The Battling Bogarts, plotted his murder. In this biography, the mystery of Bogie's bumpy ride from Broadway to Hollywood has, like the enigma of The Maltese Falcon, been solved.A serial seducer, he enjoyed affairs with the sexiest sirens of Hollywood's Golden Age, including Marlene Dietrich, Barbara Stanwyck, Jean Harlow, Tallulah Bankhead, Joan Crawford, and a host of lesser but in most cases, fiercely ambitious divas. Within the pages of this book, pre-Code Hollywood-flappers, Prohibition, bathtub gin, and sex of all persuasions-is re-created. We learn about Bogie's longtime affair with Verita Thompson, a liaison that lasted longer than any of his marriages and which included a final deathbed declaration of their love. This revelatory book is based on dusty unpublished memoirs, letters, diaries, and often personal interviews from the women-and the men-who adored him.There are also shocking allegations from colleagues, former friends, and jilted lovers who wanted the screen icon to burn in hell. All this and more, much more, in Darwin Porter's newest celebrity expose, Humphrey Bogart, The Making of a Legend.

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Kay Francis: A Passionate Life and Career Review

Kay Francis: A Passionate Life and Career
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Kay Francis: A Passionate Life and Career ReviewI didn't know much about Kay before and I really enjoyed learning about her life. The authors used Kay's private diaries as the source for this book. There's quite a lot of juicy stuff in there about Kay's numerous affairs (with men and women) and her many abortions. The book also goes into a lot of detail about Kay's volunteer work during World War 2 when she traveled the world with Carole Landis, Mitzi Mayfair, and Martha Raye. What I liked best is that the authors include many of Kay's own diary entries in the book. This is really Kay finally telling her story to the world. There is also a filmography, lots of pictures, and a complete chronology of Kay's life. This is one movie star biography that is worth every penny!
I know there are other biographies out there about Kay but this one is simply the best.Kay Francis: A Passionate Life and Career OverviewKay Francis came of age in the Roaring Twenties and relished the era's hedonistic pursuits. Her career as an actress was launched at the same time, and before her death in 1968, she had appeared on many theater stages, in more than 60 films, on radio, in USO tours, as a model, and on television. The tall, stylish actress had a husky voice and dark beauty that was striking on film. Despite her financial success, relaxed morals, and life as a socialite, the millionaire actress shunned luxuries such as limousines and sprawling estates popular among Hollywood elite. The actress who insisted she wanted to be forgotten left behind scrapbooks, boxes of memorabilia and detailed diaries. These rich resources help provide an exhaustive look at the life of one of Hollywood's most intriguing early stars. Francis' biography is the heart of this book, beginning with her family background and her upbringing by a vaudevillian actress mother. The story of her extensive career and never-ending romantic pursuits is peppered with comments from the media and her own diaries, and supplemented with ample photographs. A chronology gives dates of theater openings, film releases, marriages, television and radio appearances, births and deaths. A filmography includes complete cast and credit lists.

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The Making of Some Like It Hot: My Memories of Marilyn Monroe and the Classic American Movie Review

The Making of Some Like It Hot: My Memories of Marilyn Monroe and the Classic American Movie
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The Making of Some Like It Hot: My Memories of Marilyn Monroe and the Classic American Movie ReviewThe one key advantage to Tony Curtis's breezy memoir "The Making of Some Like It Hot" is that you can read in about as much time as it takes to watch the movie. Curtis and his ghostwriter, Mark A. Vieira, aren't particularly introspective and are given to using sub-Hemingway declamatory phrasings such as: "I've got a rich memory bank. It's bursting with treasures. Almost anything can open it up. A sound, a song, a scent, and memories come pouring out." (29) Maybe, but if so, Curtis's memories are only occasionally revealing. The book's focus rests on squarely on Marilyn Monroe: the two of them had a brief relationship, in 1950, before they both became famous, and, on the set of "Some Like It Hot," they briefly resumed it. Yet, Curtis's account only re-affirms what we have known about Monroe for decades - her erratic behavior, her lack of professionalism, and her emotional vulnerability. The book's biggest revelation is Curtis' claim to having fathered the child that Monroe miscarried in December 1958, while her marriage to Arthur Miller was unraveling.
Yet, the focus on Marilyn ultimately takes away from the story of the film. Yes, the famous accounts of the constant delays and near-crack-ups due to Monroe are duly recounted. But Curtis's descriptions of Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond and even his co-stars Jack Lemmon, George Raft, and Joe E. Brown are amazingly one-dimensional. He loves and admires them all and is honored to be working with them - and that's all he really has to say. If you love the movie and don't know a thing about its troubled history, this book is an OK introduction. But, please wait for the paperback version -- this is way too slight to pay the hardcover list price.The Making of Some Like It Hot: My Memories of Marilyn Monroe and the Classic American Movie Overview

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Natalie Wood Review

Natalie Wood
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Natalie Wood ReviewFor me at least, this book is a huge disappointment. Who could possibly be interested in reading about Natalie Wood's gay male secretary Marty Crowley's sordid encounter with a call boy? Or page after Page of cruel unsubstantiated attempts to character assassinate and "out" Scott Marlowe - an actor the young Natalie Wood was in love with, who is not alive to defend himself?
Gavin Lambert, who has written about his own homosexual affairs, goes to extreme and transparent lengths to try to establish that his friend Robert Wagner (for whom I believe, he wrote this book) is a virile heterosexual - even including a sleazy account of a supposed encounter between Wagner and a (Japanese?) prostitute. Who are they kidding?
There are innumerable tasteless and pointless disjointed incidents of Natalie allegedly drunk and "swishing her tail" in front of men - a nasty ruse by Lambert, on behalf (perhaps?) of Robert Wagner, to try to shift the blame to Natalie for her horrible drowning and to deflect attention away from Wagner's suspicious and disgraceful behavior that night. What kind of "friend" of Natalie Wood's - as Lambert claims to be - would write a book about her to make a case that her father, who she loved dearly and who looks just like her, was not her biological parent? Lambert also trashes Natalie's mother and her sister Lana with tacky family gossip apparently provided by Wagner.

This book is a disaster: ditto its ghost writer.Natalie Wood Overview

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Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn Review

Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn
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Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn ReviewThere are already a number of posthumous biographies of the fabled star on the market, the most notable being her son Sean Hepburn Ferrer's loving 2003 memoir, "Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit: A Son Remembers". Author Donald Spoto adds another one, a respectful portrait that may lack the personal detail Ferrer provides but at the same time, allows enough distance from the subject to be a bit more objective. In 1983, Spoto wrote a fascinating profile of Alfred Hitchcock where the legendary filmmaker came across as a repressed, twisted individual whose outlet was the terror he could instill in his films. This time, he etches an in-depth portrait of a woman whose vulnerability, personal insecurity, and innate love of family endeared her to all those exposed to her - Hepburn's inner circle, friends, colleagues, lovers and ultimately the world.
The facts of her life and career are already well known - near-starvation during WWII where she spent her childhood in beleaguered Belgium and Holland, a legendary screen career sparked by a fortuitous debut in 1953's "Roman Holiday", and her selfless work on behalf of UNICEF during her later years. What Spoto adds are multi-textured portraits of Hepburn's parents, surprisingly both Fascist sympathizers whose opinions diverged during the war - he abandoned the family with his beliefs intact, while her mother grew frustrated and joined the resistance movement. Hepburn's film career is well documented here, as are her personal relationships. She wed twice, bearing sons with each marriage - her first husband, Mel Ferrer, is described by her friends as controlling and guardedly jealous of her meteoric success, while her second husband, Andrea Dotti, a psychiatrist, is shown to be a notorious womanizer.
The author also covers Hepburn's own love affairs, often extramarital, with actors William Holden (rejected due to his inability to bear more children), Albert Finney and Ben Gazzara, as well as a newly revealed relationship with screenwriter Robert Anderson, who adapted 1959's "The Nun's Story" for her. Spoto believes this particular movie represents her best screen work as it melded memories of her difficult childhood with her newfound confidence as a serious dramatic actress. It's obvious that Hepburn's Hollywood years is what holds most of the author's fascination, as he is relatively cursory in covering her UNICEF years and her enduring relationship with former actor Robert Wolders. Nonetheless, the book represents a more objective treatment of Hepburn's life than others' efforts, and for that reason, it is a worthwhile read. At the same time, Spoto is as susceptible to her charms as the rest of us, and his periodic fawning is entirely excusable within that context.Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn Overview

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The Hollywood Book of Extravagance: The Totally Infamous, Mostly Disastrous, and Always Compelling Excesses of America's Film and TV Idols Review

The Hollywood Book of Extravagance: The Totally Infamous, Mostly Disastrous, and Always Compelling Excesses of America's Film and TV Idols
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The Hollywood Book of Extravagance: The Totally Infamous, Mostly Disastrous, and Always Compelling Excesses of America's Film and TV Idols ReviewProlific Hollywood author and biographer, James Robert Parish, has just published a fascinating gallery of sketches of the great and near-great Hollywood celebrities from the past 70 years through today in his latest book, THE HOLLYWOOD BOOK OF EXTRAVAGANCE. Let's be honest: there were many great stars of Hollywood's Golden Age who were quite sensible and level-headed (Rosalind Russell, Irene Dunne, Ray Milland and Fred MacMurray easily come to mind) but really, who wants to read about THEM? Far more entertaining are the celebs whose lives and careers flared brightly and often briefly though fate, but more often through mismanagement and by their own personal demons. Such circumstances may have ultimately made for a hellish life to live, but these are the stuff of the biographer's dream - and the reader's delight.
Parish reviews the familiar names such as Marilyn Monroe, Richard Burton, Frank Sinatra, and Joan Crawford, but for the true film aficionado are the cautionary tales of Veronica Lake, Betty Hutton, Oscar Levant, Macaulay Culkin, Burt Reynolds, and many other celebs - some quite forgotten today but celebrated (or notorious) in their own day. A highly recommended book that will make the actors you see on Turner Classic Movies become three dimensional for their follies and foibles.The Hollywood Book of Extravagance: The Totally Infamous, Mostly Disastrous, and Always Compelling Excesses of America's Film and TV Idols OverviewSavor the inside scoop on over-the-top superstars"I'm not a paranoid, deranged millionaire. . . . I'm a billionaire!""Acting is an empty and useless profession.""Good girls go to heaven. Bad girls go everywhere else.""I'm interested in being provocative and pushing people's buttons."Which screen icons gave us the quotes above? How do stars get away with self-indulgent, unrestrained behaviors-or do they? In The Hollywood Book of Extravagance, longtime industry insider and Hollywood historian James Robert Parish gives you a provocative look behind the scenes at the lavish indulgences and larger-than-life egos of Tinseltown's rich and famous. The featured celebrities range from heartthrobs to industry tycoons, and from yesterday's matinee idols to today's hottest celebs. The stars are grouped according to their excesses: ego, neurosis, partying, power, rich living, and romancing. You'll devour little-known details on the excesses and exploits of notables ranging from Mae West to Madonna, Greta Garbo to Marilyn Monroe and Marlon Brando, Bela Lugosi to John Belushi, Zsa Zsa Gabor to Paris Hilton, Errol Flynn to Jude Law, and many more.

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Hollywood Stories: Short, Entertaining Anecdotes about the Stars and Legends of the Movies Review

Hollywood Stories: Short, Entertaining Anecdotes about the Stars and Legends of the Movies
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Hollywood Stories: Short, Entertaining Anecdotes about the Stars and Legends of the Movies ReviewWell finally someone wrote a book, a collection of tales and anecdotes about Hollywood and the people who work and dwell there that is actually readable and believable. I must admit that when I first received this work I was terribly skeptical and actually put if off for a awhile. I am a bit old, a bit jaded and the normal Hollywood "tell all" type of book bores me to tears...well actually, not to tears so much, due to the fact that I normally fall asleep before I finish the first few pages.
Not so this wonderful collection! These stories about our acting "nobility" are quite down to earth. Some (actually many) are extremely funny, others rather whimsical and a few sort of down right sad. The author, Stephen Schochet has a wonderful no nonsense writing style that is absolutely refreshing in this genre. No lurid and off color stories which usually come from the mind and pen of `wishful thinking' so called authors wanting to sell books; no, these are bits of history; pieces of lore taken from what has been and is a strong and influential institution in our country. Like it or not, our entire society has to one extent or another, been influenced by the actors, directors, producers, writers and other workers in Hollywood or film industry.
Each story is smartly written and a delight to read. The author covers the entire gambit of our film industry from the old silent films right up to current times. While not every actor that ever made a film is featured here, literally hundreds upon hundreds are, along with many producers, directors and film makers. There is a bit of something is this work for everyone. There are even stories from T.V. land and its stars to pick from. These little anecdotes are for the most part brief. Many are about a paragraph long...a few extend past a page. Each story though shines in that it is quite obviously being told by a master story teller and a very fine writer. All in all, this is a very impressive bit of work.
For myself, I enjoyed the historical aspect of the work. I must admit that I learned much in that the writer takes us behind the scenes time and again to reveal little quirks, bright remarks, banter between actors and in many cases, why a film was made and how. All of these little tidbits add so much the enjoyment of a movie; both of those you have seen in the past, and those you will in the future.
This work can easily be read from cover to cover; non stop, or it can be picked up at random, a few stories read and set aside to savor another time. The problem I had though; like my title above indicates, this book and these stories were like a bowl of pistachios setting in front of me. I am one of those people who simply cannot eat just one of the darn things, no, no, no...I will eat until each shell is cracked and each nut gobbled. I simply cannot stop. That was the way of this book! Once I started reading the thing, I simply had to go on and on and on.
If you enjoy films, or are interested in film history, or just want a good belly laugh here and there, then you certainly will want to add this one to your reading list soon.
Don Blankenship
The Ozarks
Hollywood Stories: Short, Entertaining Anecdotes about the Stars and Legends of the Movies OverviewAt high noon on a cold November day in 1974, sixty-seven-year-old John Wayne faced off with the staff of the Harvard Lampoon on the famous campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The students had issued their challenge by calling the beloved American icon a fraud. Wayne, who had his new movie McQ to promote, responded by saying he would be happy to show his film in the pseudo-intellectual swamps of Harvard Square. After the screening, without writers, the former USC footballer delivered a classic performance. When one smart young man asked where he got his phony toupee, Wayne insisted the hair was real. It wasn t his, but it was real. The appreciative underclassmen loved him and after the Q and A session, they all sat down to dinner. Later Wayne, who was suffering greatly from both gout and the after effects of lung cancer (sadly the Duke only had five years to live), said that day at Harvard was the best time he ever had.Just when you thought you've heard everything about Hollywood comes a totally original new book. Hollywood Stories: Short, Entertaining Anecdotes About the Stars and Legends of the Movies! by Stephen Schochet contains a timeless treasure trove of colorful vignettes featuring an amazing all-star cast of icons including John Wayne, Charlie Chaplin, Walt Disney, Jack Nicholson, Johnny Depp, Shirley Temple, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Errol Flynn and many others both past and contemporary.A special blend of biography, history and lore Hollywood Stories is full of humorous tales often with unexpected endings. What makes the book unique is that the reader can go to any page and find a completely engaging and illuminating yarn. Sometimes people won't realize that they are reading about The Three Stooges or Popeye the Sailor until they come to the end of the story.A professional tour guide in Hollywood, Stephen Schochet has researched and told thousands of entertaining anecdotes for over twenty years. He is also the author and narrator of two audiobooks Tales of Hollywood and Fascinating Walt Disney. Tim Sika, host of the radio show Celluloid Dreams on KSJS in San Jose has called Stephen, "The best storyteller about Hollywood we have ever heard."

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