The Silver Screen Oasis

charliechaplinfan wrote:Fernando, we sound alike, so many good books, so little time

I'd add.....so many films too & so little time!!!

What's also good about the Drew books is that you can read them in random order. Just like Kobal's People Will Talk.

I also have Hurrell's Hollywood Portraits. It's superb!

Talking about Books with gorgeous pictures I'd recommend:

The Hurrell Style
Clarence Bull The Man Who Shot Garbo
John Kobal's Hollywood Glamor Portraits, Movie-Star Portraits of the Forties & Film-Star Portraits of the Fifties
Larry Carr's More Fabulous Faces
The Astoria Studio and Its Fabulous Films

BTW, The Vieira Garbo Book is in my Wish List.

I have the CS Bull book, it is excellent.

I've also got The Art Of The Great Hollywood Portrait Photographers and two books Christine recommended me, The Image Makers - sixty years of Hollywood Glamour and Masters of Starlight -[b]photographers in Hollywood - David Fahey[/b].

All highly recommended if you like to look at the glamour of Hollywood.

A few other film books (mostly from the Silent era) with lots of wonderful photos:

Buster Keaton Remembered--Eleanor Keaton & Jeffrey Vance
Mary Pickford Rediscovered--Kevin Brownlow
Harold Lloyd: Master Comedian--Suzanne Lloyd & Jeffrey Vance
Chaplin: Genius of the Cinema--Jeffrey Vance
Garbo: Portraits From Her Private Collection--Scott Reisfield & Robert Dincan
Louise Brooks: Lulu Forever--Peter Cowie
Silent Movies: The Birth of Film and the Triumph of Movie Culture--Peter Kobel
Stars of the Twenties--James Abbe

I think Jeffrey Vance should publish books about all the major Hollywood stars. They are such great books. I don't have a favorite of the three.

For Chaplin fans there are three books that are a must

His Autobiography
Chaplin, His Life And Art by David Robinson
Chaplin by Jeffrey Vance.

Any fan of Buster or Harold has to get Vance's book.

Thanks for the further recommendations!!!

I also recommend the vintage James Robert Parish books:

Paramount Pretties
The RKO Gals
The Fox Girls

Thanks Fernando, I'll keep my eye out for them

I've just finished reading Mick LaSalle's Complicated Women a story of women in precode Hollywood. It concentrates on Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo primarily but fans out to include all the precode actresses. He gives Norma Shearer an image makeover, she's the actresses referred to in biographies of other MGM actresses of her time as only getting the plum roles because she was the bosses wife. Nothing was further than the truth, she had to convince Irving who was far from convinced. At least they both had the foresight to make these films. NOw in the age of DVD can Norma be seen and reevaluated.

For anyone interested in this era, it a very good book, I'd recommend it. I'm now pondering it's companion Complicated Men.

charliechaplinfan wrote:I have the CS Bull book, it is excellent.

I've also got The Art Of The Great Hollywood Portrait Photographers and two books Christine recommended me, The Image Makers - sixty years of Hollywood Glamour and Masters of Starlight -[b]photographers in Hollywood - David Fahey[/b].

All highly recommended if you like to look at the glamour of Hollywood.

Masters of Starlight--what a gorgeous book! Hollywood Glamour Portraits , The Image Makers: 60 Years of Hollywood Glamour and Four Fabulous Faces have lots of lovely pictures in them too.

Silent Stars and A Woman's View by Jeanine Bassinger are both good informative books. The first takes a number of silent stars, including the Talmadge sisters, Swanson and Pola Negri, Tom Mix and William S Hart and even Rin Tin Tin and gives an overview of their careers and films. The second discusses the impact of those "women's films" of the 30's and 40's and their stars.

I'm reading Bright Blvds and Bold Dreams by Donald Bogle right now. It's about Blacks in Hollywood, but instead of deconstructing their careers and screen images, it deals with life off the screen--the social leaders, night clubs and so forth. Interesting picture of Old Hollywood, from the less famous side.

I loved Silent Stars, The Star Machine was good. I'll probably get around to A Woman's View one day.

I watched part of a documentary about Rita Hayworth this morning and now I find myself wanting to know more. Can anyone recommend a good book about Rita?

I'm reading John Kobal's People Will Talk right now, and am enjoying it immensely.

And I haven't even gotten to the Joan Blondell, Miriam Hopkins, or Katharine Hepburn interviews.

It's a collection of interviews done in the 60's, 70's, and 80's with movie names ranging from Dorothy Gish to Howard Hawks.

I don't even know who Dagmar Godowsky is, and yet I am completely enthralled by her interview. So far so good.

Today's NY Times has an article on celebrity biographer Lee Israel, who has her own memoirs coming out. (The link I copied doesn't work because you are required to log in online to see the article.)

She admits in her book that she made up many of the quotes and letters she has cited in her books, and that she is a thief of memorabilia. Is anyone surprised?

I'm nearly at the end of People Will Talk, I too am enjoying it immensley.

I've just received Eve Golden's book on Jean Harlow called Platinum Blonde. I finished reading David Stenn's book a couple of months ago and although very good the type was large and I finished it really quickly and I don't feel that he told me much about Jean the actress or the films she was in. Although I haven't started Eve's book yet I have read her book on Theda Bara, she doen't shy away from having lots of photographs in her books and I like that, I feel I've got good value for money. I find it totally frustrating in a book when someone is mentioned in conjunction with an actor or actresses life and the I don't get to see what that person looks like. It may just be me. I can't wait to start Eve's book and I'll report back to you all when I've finished it.

I used to trade films online with Dan Bubbeo. So glad to hear he published a book (I seem to recall hearing that he did commentary for at least one classic DVD). I'll have to check it out as soon as I can.

Based on the recommendations of a couple of posters, I also requested Kobal's PEOPLE WILL TALK via interlibrary loan a couple weeks ago. I hope to read it while enjoying my vacation next week.

-Stephen