By Terri Schlichenmeyer
BOOKWORM
On the hottest day of the summer, you know where it’s coolest.
It’s there, sitting in a cushy seat, watching the movie you’ve been waiting for all year. There’s air conditioning at your favorite theater but before you catch a flick, check out these books about Hollywood stars, films, and pioneers…
First, well, somebody had to be just that: first. And in “The Women Who Built Hollywood” by Susan Goldman Rubin (Calkins Creek, $18.99), you’ll read the stories of fifteen women who made Tinsel Town what it is today.
Mary Pickford was America’s Sweetheart and at a time when women had few legal rights, she called the shots on the films she appeared in. Lillian Gish did her own stunts, often without safety equipment. Frances Marion was once the highest paid screenwriter (male or female) in Hollywood. Light-skinned Fredi Washington identified as Black, despite Jim Crow laws. This book is appropriate (and eye-opening) for movie-lovers ages 13 and up.
If classic Hollywood is your favorite and you love old war movies, then read “Killin’ Generals” by Dwayne Epstein (Kensington, $28.00).
If ever there was a movie that came out at the right time, it was The Dirty Dozen, released in 1967. Then, America was ready for an action movie about military rebels and oddballs; nearly 60 years after its opening, the flick still appeals. Based on interviews with cast, crew, and others, and insider peeks, this is a book your war-movie buff will devour.
You almost can’t have a shelf of books about Hollywood without having one like “On Marilyn Monroe” by Richard Barrios (Oxford University Press, $29.95). You’ll especially want it if you think that everything has already been written about the lovely Marilyn, because Barrios looks at not just her movie career, but also about her work off-screen, her vocal talent, and her side-careers. Fans of Monroe will surely need this book, as will readers who are too young to remember her, first-hand, but who crave more.
And finally, for the person who loves movies, all movies, no matter what they are, “Warner Brothers: 100 Years of Storytelling” by Mark A. Vieira (Running Press, $40.00) is a book you’ll read and display with pride. Filled with publicity photos, film clips, and snapshots, this book also tells a Hollywood story of how one of the oldest studios in the biz influenced the industry. Read about the Oscars won by Warner Brothers’ movies, the people who worked there and, to put it all into perspective, what was going on in the country at various times in the studios’ history. A foreword by Ben Mankiewicz, a member of the founding WB family and “Hollywood royalty” launches it all in this book that any movie fan will cherish.
If these great books about Hollywood aren’t enough to satisfy your read-the-book, see-the-movie summer, then ask your favorite bookseller or librarian for help. They’ve got access to millions of books, and when you think about it, that makes them stars. They’ll help you find these, and other cool books.
Books about Hollywood by various authors c.2023, various publishers $18.99-$40.00 various page counts
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