Let Yourself Go ... To Old Hollywood

Brief review of the 1977 profile of Ida Lupino by Jerry Vermilye

This brief book review is a contribution to the 2022 Classic Film Summer Reading Challenge,, run by Raquel Stecher of the Out of the Past blog.

In 1977, Jerry Vermilye published a small booklet about Ida Lupino's career as part of a series of such booklets, Pyramid Illustrated History of the Movies. It is a quick read, 140 or so pages, with plenty of pictures. The back cover suggests the book's aim is to cover "the life and career of this outstanding star". This is a worthy goal, but far too ambitious for this book.

A more appropriate title for this book would be The Films of Ida Lupino. A brief intro contains some interesting, insightful and respectful thoughts about Lupino's career, including expressing appropriate disbelief that her talents had never been acknowledged by the Motion Picture Academy with any nomination for an Oscar. Unfortunately, that flavor soon disappears in a parade of film descriptions and commentary about the films—much of which is not very insightful, often is unfairly dismissive, and sometimes contains inaccurate descriptions. There are also a few factual errors about Lupino's career, though, fortunately, such mistakes are limited in number.

One of the book's biggest deficiencies is that it downplays several critical aspects of Lupino’s career. For instance, it glosses over her unique position as the only woman director in Hollywood for a generation, plus how and why she accomplished becoming an independent producer-director-writer. It also spends very little time on Lupino’s television career in the 1950s, including her sitcom Mr. Adams and Eve. This period was probably the peak of her fame given the gigantic audiences for the TV networks at the time.

In short, I would not recommend this book for those seeking to learn more about Ida Lupino's life and career. As a biography of Lupino, it is completely lacking. As a summary of her films, it is marred by inaccurate and dismissive commentary about many of them. The book may be useful if you merely want a reference to her films or a rough outline of the timeline of her career. It does have a nice collection of photographs from Lupino's films.

Brief review of Lana Turner's autobiography

This brief book review is a contribution to the 2022 Classic Film Summer Reading Challenge, run by Raquel Stecher of the Out of the Past blog.

After re-watching Ziegfeld Girl (1941), the film that turned Lana Turner into a big star, I decided it was past time to learn more about Turner's life and career. Fortunately, her autobiography is still readily available. Published in 1982, the book is called Lana: The Lady, the Legend, the Truth, and it is an engrossing story of a fascinating—and somewhat puzzling—life.

The text flows so smoothly that I would not be surprised if Turner had a ghost writer—but her voice really comes though. It feels as if she is talking to the reader directly. She discusses so much personal detail of her life, including some very painful stories and many embarrassing details, that I emerged feeling like I knew her as a person. Even so, it is still difficult to understand some of the decisions she made—particularly in her choice of husbands. She had almost too many to keep track of and the quality started bad and did not get better.

Notable episodes in the first portion of the book are her pre-stardom period at Warner Brothers and MGM, her ridiculously bad marriage to bandleader Artie Shaw, her horrible experience with an abortion, and her relationship with Tyrone Power, who she considered the love of her life. Turner later devotes a substantial amount of space to the story of her and Johnny Stompanato—including details that could not be recounted by anyone else. As many may already know, her violent relationship with this gangster ended when Turner's teenage daughter Cheryl stabbed him to death in their home. Turner relates the whole horrific story. The book proceeds through her life all the way up to the early 1980s, when Turner was emerging, apparently successfully, from a semi-alcoholic depression.

This is an excellent first-hand look at a character who personified the image of the glamorous classic Hollywood movie star and played into that image with all her energy—highly recommended.

Brief review of Greg Mitchell's book The Beginning or the End

This brief book review is a contribution to the 2021 Classic Film Summer Reading Challenge, run by Raquel Stecher of the Out of the Past blog.

The Beginning or the End: How Hollywood—and America—Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb by Greg Mitchell tells a very interesting story. It is a story that joins two separate interests of mine: classic Hollywood and American history.

The first half of the book concentrates on the behind-the-scenes story of how the movie The Beginning or the End (1947) was put together by MGM studio, starting very soon after the two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan in August, 1945. This story highlights all the various compromises that went into the final product to satisfy the government and Army, which MGM viewed as a imperative. Along the way, it also depicts how the atomic scientists' cautionary warnings for the coming atomic age—the initial inspiration for the motion picture—were gradually left by the wayside.

The last half departs from the Hollywood focus and relates the politics and history of the aftermath of President Truman's decision to use the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Overall, Mitchell's book is well-written and a page-turner, though there are many passages that could be tightened up significantly. The Beginning or the End left me wanting to find another book that takes the story of the beginning of the atomic age past early 1947, when this movie was released. And of course it also inspired me to track down and watch the actual movie in question, which was fascinating in its own peculiar way—especially knowing all that went into it after reading Mitchell's book.

Brief review of the 1971 book Hollywood and the Great Fan Magazines

This brief book review is a contribution to the 2021 Classic Film Summer Reading Challenge, run by Raquel Stecher of the Out of the Past blog.

Aside from a brief introduction by the editor, the 1971 book Hollywood and the Great Fan Magazines is a curated collection of articles from old Hollywood fan magazines. The articles are not dated, but they are exclusively from the 1930s, with a few from 1940-41. They appear to retain similar formatting to the original source material, including accompanying photos with captions.

As someone fascinated by old Hollywood and familiar with many, if not most, of the names of that era, this was a very enjoyable read. (Admittedly, I skipped over perhaps 1/3 of the articles that were about personalities I am not particularly interested in.) The articles are clearly not randomly chosen, as at one point there were several articles about Joan Bennett and her marriages/divorces in the 1930s right after each other in the book, though several years apart in real time. Bette Davis gets a similar treatment later.

The subject matter of most of the articles was about the personal relationships of various stars, but there were a few broader Hollywood subjects occasionally discussed. Nothing focusing on any specific movies of the period was included, by my recollection.

Particularly noteworthy to me was reading an article about Joan Blondell discussing her very young son, Norman (born in 1934). The article appears to have been written in 1935, while Blondell was still married to George Barnes (divorced in 1936). I know from other reading that Blondell later married Dick Powell and young Norman took the Powell name. I looked up Norman Powell and discovered he had been a successful television executive and was still alive. Alas, less than a week later, news hit that this same Norman Powell had passed away at age 86.

While many of these magazines from which the articles in this book were taken are these days available online via the Media History Digital Library (a terrific resource!), it was still quite fun to have this specific collection assembled in a book form to leaf through.

Brief review of the script for the 1940 play Ladies in Retirement

This brief book review is a contribution to the 2021 Classic Film Summer Reading Challenge, run by Raquel Stecher of the Out of the Past blog.

Ladies in Retirement is an excellent play. The title doesn't quite indicate what to expect, but it could be considered a gothic thriller. Some have compared it to Arsenic and Old Lace, but other than involving some not-very-sane older women and being set in an old house, it is quite dissimilar. Ladies in Retirement is decidedly not a comedy.

Ladies in Retirement was written by Edward Percy and Reginald Denham and originally performed on Broadway in 1940, with Flora Robson in the starring role. The play was a substantial hit and was soon adapted for the screen by Columbia Pictures.

The play's script is virtually the same as the great 1941 film starring Ida Lupino and Louis Hayward. If you’re familiar with the movie, what differences there are can be fascinating. One notable difference is that the critical murder takes place after a curtain closing in the play, while it is depicted in real time in the film, albeit off-screen. I also think Ellen Creed, the Robson/Lupino character, is less sympathetic in the play.

One major difference between seeing a play performed and the experience of reading the script is that the stage directions interrupt the flow of the dialogue. I am not used to reading play scripts, so that took some getting used to, and I don't think I quite got there. Yet I still very much enjoyed reading the source material for one of my all-time favorite films.

Brief review of the Joan Harrison bio "Phantom Lady" by Christina Lane

This brief book review is my contribution to the 2021 Classic Film Summer Reading Challenge, run by Raquel Stecher of the Out of the Past blog. (I originally posted a variant of this on Goodreads.) #classicfilmreading

Phantom Lady was an interesting, well-written, well-researched biography about a previously neglected person in the history of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Joan Harrison was one of only a handful of women producers in pre-1960s Hollywood, and was one of Alfred Hitchcock's primary collaborators in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

While this was certainly a worthwhile read, I did have some concerns. One is that the author spends too much of the text in detailed plot summaries of numerous movies Joan Harrison helped to create (and at least one she did not) and not enough portraying Harrison as a real person with a personality. In addition to slowing down the biographical narrative, this leads to spoilers of movies I was planning to watch or re-watch soon thanks to being reminded of them by this book.

Perhaps a more fundamental issue: by the end, I didn't feel like I knew Joan as a human being, aside from as someone consumed by her work. I probably learned more personal details about Alfred Hitchcock and his wife Alma Reville than about Harrison. The Kindle edition I purchased also doesn’t appear to have any photographs, which may have helped partially counteract this last deficiency.

Brief review of "Bogart" by Ann Sperber and Eric Lax

This brief book review is my contribution to the Classic Film Reading Challenge, run by Raquel Stecher of the Out of the Past blog. (I originally posted a variant of this on Goodreads.)

Ann Sperber and Eric Lax's biography Bogart is a fabulous book on the life and career of one of the most important Hollywood figures of the 20th century. The book is weighted towards Humphrey Bogart's nearly twenty years with Warner Bros., due to the extensive research done in that studio's archives. That is an understandable focus given the importance of those years and the films Bogart made in that period. The other parts of his life, particularly his Broadway and early Hollywood years, get less detailed attention, but are still significantly covered. I can’t recommend this strongly enough for anyone interested in the classic Hollywood era, in general, and Humphrey Bogart, in particular.

Brief review of "Miss D & Me" by Kathryn Cermak

This brief book review is my contribution to the Classic Film Reading Challenge, run by Raquel Stecher of the Out of the Past blog. (I originally posted a variant of this on Goodreads.)

I listened to the audiobook version of Miss D & Me, read by the author, Kathryn Cermak. Cermak was a personal assistant and later friend and surrogate daughter to Bette Davis, starting in 1979. As insight into the final decade of Bette Davis’ life, this book is excellent and unique. Critical happenings during this period include Davis‘ stroke and prolonged recovery, aided by Cermak; Davis’ daughter's betrayal of her mother via her slanderous book; plus Davis’ final trip and death in France. Cermak provides much insight into these events, plus the film work that Davis was doing during this period. I was less interested in Cermak’s diversion into her own aborted romance, but it does have some relevance to her relationship with Davis, so I understand why Cermak included it.

Miss D & Me is a worthwhile book for anyone interested in the last decade of Bette Davis’ life and career. Davis' personality really shines through.

Brief review of "Memoirs of an Amnesiac" by Oscar Levant

Earlier this summer I read the mid-1960s Memoirs of an Amnesiac by Oscar Levant. This brief review is my contribution to the Classic Film Reading Challenge, run by Raquel Stecher of the Out of the Past blog. (I originally posted a variant of this on Goodreads.)

This is an invaluable window into the life and times of a fascinating, but very troubled, man. The writing is excellent, if a bit scattershot. But that’s Levant's style, and his acerbic yet hilarious personality shines through. To get the most out of this book, it helps to have a passing familiarity with or interest in the Hollywood and classical music scene of the 1920s-1950s, and perhaps the television scene of the 1960s. If you do have any interest in those scenes, read this book!

Brief review of "The Brothers Mankiewicz" by Sydney Stern

Earlier this summer I read the new double-biography The Brothers Mankiewicz by Sydney Stern. This brief review is my contribution to the Classic Film Reading Challenge, run by Raquel Stecher of the Out of the Past blog. (I originally posted a variant of this on Goodreads.)

I started reading the Kindle book but switched to the audiobook after a couple chapters. This is extremely well researched and well-written. In fact, I think it is an essential book for anyone interested in the golden age of Hollywood. The Hollywood connection stretches from Herman's beginning as a writer in the 1920s to the end of Joe's career as producer-writer-director in the 1970s.

Both of the brothers, Herman and Joe Mankiewicz, come across as pompous asses, but they are fascinating and important characters. Joe’s patronizing and disrespectful attitude toward the women in his profession is an indication of how tough women had it in Hollywood at the time (and still, no doubt). This is especially true since I get the impression that, as bad as he was, Joe may have been one of the better of the Hollywood power players on that front.

The chapter on Cleopatra is fascinating all by itself, and the humbled Joe that emerged from that experience was a more appealing version of his character.