“UNLIKE SO MANY, THESE FEW UNDERSTOOD NO ART CAN SO POWERFULLY EXPLOIT THEDIMENSIONS OF TIME AND SPACE – – – NO OTHER ART HAS SO MANY WAYS OF INVOLVING AHUMAN BEING. IT INVOLVES EYES, EARS, MIND, HEART, ALL APPETITES AND ALL AT ONCE.CINEMA IS DRAMA, MUSIC, POETRY, NOVEL, PAINTING AT THE SAME TIME. IT IS THE WHOLE OFART IN ONE ART, AND IT DEMANDS THE WHOLE OF YOU THE WHOLE TIME . . . .”, thank you,Time Magazine Cinema Reviewer, Brad Darrach, Time – The Weekly News Magazine,September 20, 1963, page 82, “CINEMA – A Religion of Film”.Because Part One, “Nazi Films in America, Behind the Scenes of ‘They WereExpendable’, The Films of Audie Murphy”, and Part Two, “Dynamic Dames –50 Leading Ladies Who Made History”, were so well received, this reviewerhad to develop this Part Three . . .
Reviewed and Highly Recommended by Don DeNevi
“WHEN WOMEN WROTE HOLLYWOOD”, edited by Rosanne Welch, Foreword by CariBeauchamp. McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers: 2018, 229 pages, sc; $39.95. Visit:www.mcfarlandpub.com.“HOLLYWOOD’S HARD-LUCK LADIES – 23 Actresses Who Suffered Early Deaths, Accidents,Missteps, Illnesses and Tragedies”, by Laura Wagner. McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers:2020, 225 pages, sc; $39.95. Visit: www.mcfarlandpub.com.“WESTERN WOMEN”, by Boyd Magers and Michael G. Fitzgerald. McFarland & Company. Inc.Publishers: 1999, 274 pages, sc; $39.95. Visit: www.mcfarlandpub.com.“S. SYLVAN SIMON, MOVIEMAKER – – Adventures with Lucy, Red Skelton and Harry Cohen In theGolden Age of Hollywood”, by David C. Tucker. McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers: 2021,
218 pages, sc; $39.95. Visit: www.mcfarlandpub.com.
“WHEN WOMEN WROTE HOLLYWOOD” is a collection of more than 20 essays focusing onthe lives of female screenwriters of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Their writings helped createunforgettable stories and characters beloved by audiences to this 2022 year. Who ever heardof Ida May Park, Eve Unsell, Gene Gauntier, Lillian Hellman, Adela Rogers St. Johns, Anita Loos,let alone what they wrote. Absolutely a must read for the serious Hollywood buff, or student of
cinema resolute in finding a career in the motion picture industry.
“HOLLYWOOD’S HARD-LUCK LADIES” is a sad text to hold and read. Yet, again, an absolutemust to all who love cinema. In the motion picture industry, from the very beginning, therehave been so shortages of tragedies, i.e., movie stars succumbing to mental illness, addiction,accidents, suicides, early deaths and more. Author Laura Wagner, a brilliant young writer,poignantly depicts those women who achieved some measure of success before fate dealtthem losing hands, in full public view, no less. Overviews of their lives and careers provide awealth of previously unpublished information and set the record straight on long inaccuracies.Excellent research, and a personal thank you from this reviewer, Laura.“WESTERN WOMEN” offers a superb collection of leading ladies of Westerners, along withseveral who are not so well-known. Most toiled in B westerns, and a select few workedexclusively at the A level, while a few drifted into television. Even the most knowledgeablemovie enthusiast will be hard pressed to recognize more than a smidgen of the 50 stars, letalone not fall in love with the glossy close-ups.“S. SYLVAN SIMON, MOVIEMAKER” directed or produced more than 40 films, with stars like RedSkelton who considered him his favorite director, Lana Turner, Abbott and Costello, WallaceBeery, and literally hundreds of others. He loved to make people laugh, think, and, above all,feel to the very cores of their hearts. Whether war stories, murder mysteries, musicals, dogstories, westerns, it didn’t matter. “Just hand me the script, I’ll know what to do.” No doubt hewas a genius. The great loss for American cinema was that he died at the age of 41 whiledirecting “From Here to Eternity”. This biography is the first ever of Simon’s life and career,drawing on interviews with family and colleagues, genealogical records, archival materials andhis own annotated scripts.
Stay tuned, more McFarland’s to follow in the coming months.
