This Was Hollywood: Forgotten Stars and Stories (Turner Classic Movies)

I have been a fan of film for fifty years and read countless books on Hollywood and it's Stars. So it is remarkable that any new book could come along that could take my breath away in its quality. If they gave Oscars for book writing Carla Valderrama would win won for this outstanding achievement.There is a wonderland of stories presented in her book. While it covers the history and growth of film into the art form it becomes, she did not resort to a chronology or a historical treatise on the subject. Instead she chose a set of stories of events and of stars, many forgotten, to take you back in time and use those to tell the history. The stories are chosen to literally help you feel what Hollywood was like in those glorious golden years of development. Many of these stories have been told before but usually as sound bites. Carla has taken them and expertly pieced together a more comprehensive storyline that provides for a much more complete picture. She seems to know the exact length to make a story so that it keeps your interest and you are left still wanting a little bit more because it was so good. She draws you in with great suspense at stories that are simply remarkable.There are stars and events that should have been given much more due than they were. There are reasons why they weren’t and so it is with the deepest gratitude that I appreciate Carla for finally letting these be known. A woman director that was every bit as great as D.W. Griffith or Cecil B. DeMille but couldn’t fit the “Old Boys Club” or the child star that may have exceeded all of the others in career had it not been for walking away from “the casting couch”. And her treatment of John Garfield during the time of the Hollywood Blacklist was a masterpiece.What is equally extraordinary is the format of this book - it is simply gorgeous. It reminds me of the movie magazines of old and includes a cornucopia of beautiful photos and layouts. Everything so meticulously researched from newspapers, original fan magazines, to actual interviews with those still alive to tell the story. It is true archive level research.This book is a masterpiece. My one hope is that I can one day meet this author who clearly shares a love of Hollywood as I have for most of my life. And if I had one question to ask her it would be why she thinks these golden age films touch us old souls in such a way that new films simply can’t despite their increased level of sophistication and technology. I have never been able to adequately express why and after reading her work I have faith that she might actually be able to put this into words.If you are a fan of Hollywood, do yourself a favor and buy this book.

I have read many books about Hollywood, including a score of biographies. This is a great book with stories and viewpoints I've never run across anywhere. Some of the best entries are about now forgotten people. It also reveals the nastiness of the powerful execs there who demands sexual favors from would be starlets. However, the book focuses on accomplishments, making the book enjoyable.

Valderrama is able to succinctly lay out stories of Old Hollywood that are heartwarming, funny, tragic, frustrating, and always interesting. She deftly boils down each story into easy to digest segments, getting to the core of each tale without becoming overly political or incendiary in the telling. The text respects the subjects and the sometimes sensitive nature of the stories - this does not read like some tabloid or scandal rag. There is no ax to grind.Also worthy of mention is the layout of the book. Thick, glossy pages help all of the photographs and colorful accents pop around the text in fun and creative ways. The photos are always relevant to the subject and have exceptional clarity.I could barely put this one down, and Carla's reverent and hopeful coda choked me up, which I was not expecting. I hope she has the opportunity to make this a series going forward. Regardless, I wait in eager anticipation of her future endeavors.

Carla Valderrama has written a very interesting take on the history of the Hollywood of the Golden Era beginning with the Silent Screen period and ending with the beginning of Paul Newman’s career in the 1950s. This Was Hollywood: Forgotten Stars & Stories is a compendium of vignettes detailing the good, bad, and the ugly of Hollywood’s checkered history. Some of the “forgotten stars” are perhaps better-known than others, for example Rin Tin Tin (“the dog who saved Warner Bros.”), Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, John Garfield, and Rita Hayworth, as opposed to Florence Lawrence, Sessue Hayakawa, Lois Weber, Cora Sue Collins, Eleanor Powell, and Susan Peters. Nonetheless, the stories author Valderrama tells of these “forgotten” actors, dancers, singers, and directors are quite revealing about what life was like for the people who were attracted to the glitz and the glamour of American cinema during the period from the 1920s to the 1950s. These are the decades of cinematic history in which I am more interested than those that coincide with the decades of my adulthood. So, I appreciate a chance to read about the careers of fabulous dancers such as the Nicholas Brothers, Eleanor Powell, and Vera-Ellen, all of whom should be remembered as just as skilled, if not more so, than the better remembered Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. I also am reminded of the sad tale of John Garfield, whose career and life were destroyed by the ugly activities of the House Unamerican Activities Committee (HUAC) and the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover in the early 1950s. Another of my memories is connected to a talented songstress, Marni Nixon, whose singing career was designed to be forgotten as it was transpiring, since she is best remembered for having ghost-sung for the likes of Deborah Kerr, Natalie Wood, and Audrey Hepburn. A telling reminder of the back-door treatment given the beautiful and talented Lena Horne during her life is perhaps unconsciously emulated by the author in the two-page inset showing off, strangely enough, how well Ms. Horne could decorate clothing of the 1940s. At least, a lengthier treatment is given the superbly talented Nicholas Brothers, who could dance rings around the much better remembered (and white) Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, and whose contributions to Hollywood’s dance history largely consisted of acrobatic dance masterpieces that, so unfortunately, could be easily excised from a film when distributed to the racist South. Talk about ugly Hollywood history. Fortunately, one can appreciate the abilities of both Ms. Horne and the two brothers in a film like Stormy Weather (1943). This Was Hollywood, published under the imprimatur of Turner Classic Movies, can be highly recommended to readers today who are interested to learn more about the blacker aspects of Hollywood cinematic history ranging, if you will, from the black-listing of John Garfield during the HUAC disgrace to another form of black-listing to which performers of color were subjected who made the mistake of being born the wrong color. Of course, I do not have to read history books to find out what that means, since all I have to do is to watch today’s news.

Adorei e estou adorando saber dos bastidores.

This was a fun, well written book. I really enjoyed the stories and found that she did a very good job researching stories that are not overly well known. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in old Hollywood.

Très beau cadeau de Noël

There were a lot of missed things in the history of Hollywood that could have been quite interesting for readers, but we are waiting for a second book, right! However, the book is extremely interesting and wonderful illustrations can be found inside.I highly recommend it to the vintage and movie lovers!

Es un libro estupendo, con fotos y anécdotas inéditas de los actores del Hollywood clásico. Ojo, el texto es todo en inglés. Pero yo sé lo he regalado a mis hermanas y han quedado encantadas porque, además, es un libro estéticamente precioso. Un 10 para mí.