davidraphael
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Being a screenwriter and all-round movie buff I have quite a few books about the golden age of Hollywood. But I'm sure that there are tomes that I don't yet know about.
Does anyone have any favorites?
Here are a selection of some of mine:
The Genius of the System - Thomas Schatz
"In The Genius of the System, Thomas Schatz recalls Hollywood’s Golden Age from the 1920s until the dawn of television in the late 1940s, when quality films were produced swiftly and cost efficiently thanks to the intricate design of the system. Schatz takes us through the rise and fall of individual careers and the making—and unmaking—of movies such as Frankenstein, Casablanca, and Hitchcock’s Notorious. Through detailed analysis of major Hollywood moviemakers including Universal, Warner Bros., and MGM, he reminds us of a time when studios had distinct personalities and the relationship between contracts and creativity was not mutually exclusive."
City of Nets - Otto Friedrich
"In 1939, when 50 million Americans went to the movies every week, Louis B. Mayer was the highest paid man in the country and Hollywood produced 530 feature films, among them Gone With the Wind, Ninotchka, Wuthering Heights and The Wizard of Oz. A decade and 5000 movies later, the studios were tottering, Ingrid Bergman and Charlie Chaplin were exiled, the Hollywood Ten went to prison and millions were watching Milton Berle at home. What happened in those 10 years is as rich and colorful a story as can be imagined and Friedrich has more than done it justice"
Adventures with DW Griffith - Karl Brown
"Brown was assistant cameraman then cameraman on all the Griiffith films from 1914 until Broken Blossoms and was later a director himself. Brownlow persuaded him to write his story, which he then edited. KB calls it 'a dramatic, and often hilarious, story of a boy trying to cope with a complex technical process, and helping to make history.Everyone who loves films should be grateful that, when D W Griffith was working on his greatest pictures, Karl Brown was there - on our behalf'."
Backstory 1: Interviews with screenwriters of Hollywood's Golden Age and Backstory 2: Interviews with screenwriters of the 1940s and 1950s
"Fifteen screenwriters talk about their careers, blacklisting, and censorship, and share their impressions of actors, actresses, directors, producers, and other writers."
"The 1940s were a period of transition for the motion picture industry, from an era of hope and glory and the upheavals of World War II to a postwar era of caution and confusion. The 1950s brought a great decline in the number of films produced and led to the extinction of that peculiar creature, the contract writer.
The survivors of Hollywood's most productive years remain wonderfully talkative, however. In this lively collection of interviews they contribute useful writing tips, radical correctives to screen history and industry folklore, and just plain fascinating gossip. As a whole, the interviews provide a compelling biographical close-up of an entire generation of men and women whose talent, vision, and tenacity were critical to the institution we know as "Hollywood."
Monkey Business: The Lives and Legends of the Marx Brothers - Simon Louvish
"Told with tremendous style and sparkle, Louvish's composite portrait of the Marx Brothers offers an indispensable overview of the actors' saga. Decked out with photographs and sprinkled with excerpts from reviews, interviews, memoirs, film dialogue and hitherto unpublished skits and scripts, this biography captures the sheer exuberance of the foursome as they conquered vaudeville, Broadway and Hollywood. "
Stan and Ollie - Simon Louvish
"Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy both passed away in the 1950s, yet their films still have the power to reduce audiences old and new to helpless laughter. There has been no comprehensive account of their lives and work, until now. The roots of their comic greatness lay in 19th century variety theatre. Lancashire-born Stan Laurel was steeped in the traditions of the music hall, and found himself touring the USA in the 1910s as Charlie Chaplin's understudy. American Oliver Hardy had established himself as a 'fat funny man' by the time he and Laurel were first paired in 1927. Laurel inspired Hardy to forge their famous double act, in which Laurel played the eternal comic fool, Hardy his temperamental master. Both men were devoted to their professional partnership, which outlasted multiple marriages. They saw themselves only as jobbing comedians, but their great work in the years 1927-1938 ensured that they remain recognisable in the furthermost corners of the globe."
Hitchcock by Truffaut: The Definitive Study
"One is ravished by the density of insights into cinematic questions...Truffaut performed a tour de force of tact in getting this ordinarily guarded man to open up as he had never done before (and never would again)..."
Truffaut takes Hitchcock through all his films and each are discussed in detail.
The Pat Hobby Stories - F. Scott Fitzgerald
"The setting: Hollywood: the character: Pat Hobby, a down-and-out screenwriter trying to break back into show business, but having better luck getting into bars. Written between 1939 and 1940, when F. Scott Fitzgerald was working for Universal Studios, the seventeen Pat Hobby stories were first published in Esquire magazine and present a bitterly humorous portrait of a once-successful writer who becomes a forgotten hack on a Hollywood lot. "This was not art" Pat Hobby often said, "this was an industry" where whom "you sat with at lunch was more important than what you dictated in your office." "
Harpo Speaks! - Harpo Marx with Rowland Barber
Harpo Marx's autobiography;
Does anyone have any favorites?
Here are a selection of some of mine:
The Genius of the System - Thomas Schatz
"In The Genius of the System, Thomas Schatz recalls Hollywood’s Golden Age from the 1920s until the dawn of television in the late 1940s, when quality films were produced swiftly and cost efficiently thanks to the intricate design of the system. Schatz takes us through the rise and fall of individual careers and the making—and unmaking—of movies such as Frankenstein, Casablanca, and Hitchcock’s Notorious. Through detailed analysis of major Hollywood moviemakers including Universal, Warner Bros., and MGM, he reminds us of a time when studios had distinct personalities and the relationship between contracts and creativity was not mutually exclusive."
City of Nets - Otto Friedrich
"In 1939, when 50 million Americans went to the movies every week, Louis B. Mayer was the highest paid man in the country and Hollywood produced 530 feature films, among them Gone With the Wind, Ninotchka, Wuthering Heights and The Wizard of Oz. A decade and 5000 movies later, the studios were tottering, Ingrid Bergman and Charlie Chaplin were exiled, the Hollywood Ten went to prison and millions were watching Milton Berle at home. What happened in those 10 years is as rich and colorful a story as can be imagined and Friedrich has more than done it justice"
Adventures with DW Griffith - Karl Brown
"Brown was assistant cameraman then cameraman on all the Griiffith films from 1914 until Broken Blossoms and was later a director himself. Brownlow persuaded him to write his story, which he then edited. KB calls it 'a dramatic, and often hilarious, story of a boy trying to cope with a complex technical process, and helping to make history.Everyone who loves films should be grateful that, when D W Griffith was working on his greatest pictures, Karl Brown was there - on our behalf'."
Backstory 1: Interviews with screenwriters of Hollywood's Golden Age and Backstory 2: Interviews with screenwriters of the 1940s and 1950s
"Fifteen screenwriters talk about their careers, blacklisting, and censorship, and share their impressions of actors, actresses, directors, producers, and other writers."
"The 1940s were a period of transition for the motion picture industry, from an era of hope and glory and the upheavals of World War II to a postwar era of caution and confusion. The 1950s brought a great decline in the number of films produced and led to the extinction of that peculiar creature, the contract writer.
The survivors of Hollywood's most productive years remain wonderfully talkative, however. In this lively collection of interviews they contribute useful writing tips, radical correctives to screen history and industry folklore, and just plain fascinating gossip. As a whole, the interviews provide a compelling biographical close-up of an entire generation of men and women whose talent, vision, and tenacity were critical to the institution we know as "Hollywood."
Monkey Business: The Lives and Legends of the Marx Brothers - Simon Louvish
"Told with tremendous style and sparkle, Louvish's composite portrait of the Marx Brothers offers an indispensable overview of the actors' saga. Decked out with photographs and sprinkled with excerpts from reviews, interviews, memoirs, film dialogue and hitherto unpublished skits and scripts, this biography captures the sheer exuberance of the foursome as they conquered vaudeville, Broadway and Hollywood. "
Stan and Ollie - Simon Louvish
"Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy both passed away in the 1950s, yet their films still have the power to reduce audiences old and new to helpless laughter. There has been no comprehensive account of their lives and work, until now. The roots of their comic greatness lay in 19th century variety theatre. Lancashire-born Stan Laurel was steeped in the traditions of the music hall, and found himself touring the USA in the 1910s as Charlie Chaplin's understudy. American Oliver Hardy had established himself as a 'fat funny man' by the time he and Laurel were first paired in 1927. Laurel inspired Hardy to forge their famous double act, in which Laurel played the eternal comic fool, Hardy his temperamental master. Both men were devoted to their professional partnership, which outlasted multiple marriages. They saw themselves only as jobbing comedians, but their great work in the years 1927-1938 ensured that they remain recognisable in the furthermost corners of the globe."
Hitchcock by Truffaut: The Definitive Study
"One is ravished by the density of insights into cinematic questions...Truffaut performed a tour de force of tact in getting this ordinarily guarded man to open up as he had never done before (and never would again)..."
Truffaut takes Hitchcock through all his films and each are discussed in detail.
The Pat Hobby Stories - F. Scott Fitzgerald
"The setting: Hollywood: the character: Pat Hobby, a down-and-out screenwriter trying to break back into show business, but having better luck getting into bars. Written between 1939 and 1940, when F. Scott Fitzgerald was working for Universal Studios, the seventeen Pat Hobby stories were first published in Esquire magazine and present a bitterly humorous portrait of a once-successful writer who becomes a forgotten hack on a Hollywood lot. "This was not art" Pat Hobby often said, "this was an industry" where whom "you sat with at lunch was more important than what you dictated in your office." "
Harpo Speaks! - Harpo Marx with Rowland Barber
Harpo Marx's autobiography;
