The Silver Screen Oasis

I was digging through the shelves at my favorite used book store this morning, looking to add to my collection of early 20th century pulp fiction, when I stumbled across the companion book to Kevin Brownlow's miniseries "Hollywood: A Celebration of American Silent Cinema." I own the series on VHS, but i'd never managed to stumble across the book before.

It looks beautiful.

^ Hey! That's great, Jon! I know how much you love Kevin Brownlow! Great that you found that book...and no doubt for a great price as well!

Well done!

pktrekgirl wrote:^ Hey! That's great, Jon! I know how much you love Kevin Brownlow! Great that you found that book...and no doubt for a great price as well!

Well done!

Amazon sellers have it from $14 to $47, and I paid $10, so yeah, that was a decent price.

Which brings me to one of the things about Amazon (and ebay, for that matter). On the one hand, it's great that when you're looking for something out of print or rare, you can just go online and buy it in a way that wasn't possible before the internet.

But there's nothing like browsing through a real used bookstore, with stacks of unfiled books blocking the aisles and a cat sleeping in the window and a crazy old coot with a beard down to his chest behind the counter, and stumbling across that one thing that makes your whole day. The internet just can't do that.

I had a similar moment a couple of months ago -- spending a hour in the musty store, finding nothing of interest, while leaving I glance at the as-of-yet-unpriced new arrivals, and there it was...Cornell Woolrich: First You Dream, Then You Die (Nevins), and in beautiful condition.

When I asked about the price, the proprietor looked at it, then at me, and said, "You know this is out-of-print. Do you know this is the Woolrich biography? Do you know what this goes for online?" I looked at my shoes and mumbled something. "That'll be 20 bucks." Sold.

Good for you, ChiO!
That is a very tough title to find, and to afford once you find it!
Woolrich has got to be one of the all-time greatest "lost talents" of the 20th Century (along with Jim Thompson, John Kennedy Toole & Dalton Trumbo); you'd think being championed by everyone from Dorothy Parker to FDR to William Faulkner would've pushed him into some lasting measure of intercultural spotlight . . but, alas . .

Ultimately, I guess it proves that despite one's level of brilliance, and recognition, if you shoot yourself in the foot often enough, eventually, you can't rise up towards any goal . .

I think the best "score" I ever had was at the last day of a Friends of the Library book sale at Ohio University. I paid $5 for a bag that I could fill up with as many books as I wanted, and one of the books I snagged was a first-edition copy of Weegee's Naked City.

We have a couple of stores in the Metro KC area that are called "Half-Price Books". Is this perhaps a franchise? I have found several wonderful old reference books that were a fraction of the original price. They don't have the ambience that Jack/Moraldo describes, but for the price, I'll settle for no musty smell, no cat, and no bearded guy



CoffeeDan, I love your Liberty magazine covers, but my poor old eyes aren't what they used to be..Could you explain the new one, I can't seem to figure out who's doing what to who.....

Thanks!
Nancy

knitwit45 wrote:CoffeeDan, I love your Liberty magazine covers, but my poor old eyes aren't what they used to be..Could you explain the new one, I can't seem to figure out who's doing what to who.....

Thanks!
Nancy

Glad to, Nancy. From 1926 to 1932, the covers of Liberty told the story of Lil Morse, who started the series as a giddy young flapper with a new beau every week. During the course of the cover series, entitled "For the Love O' Lil," she eventually married Sandford "Sandy" Jenkins and had two sons. Each cover, painted by Leslie Thrasher (who used himself as the model for Lil's father) illustrated a new installment in the story of Sandy and Lil. It was a real circulation builder for Liberty in those years, and the series later inspired a movie and a radio show.

In the covers that preceded this one, Sandy and Lil were held up by a robber during a night on the town. In a fit of rage, Sandy flew at the robber and beat the stuffing out of him, but suffered some head injuries which laid him up at home for two weeks. He became a hometown hero, and this cover (from October 5, 1929) shows the still-bandaged Sandy's first day back at work, with his co-workers offering him sympathy and congratulations. In case you can't read it, the cover title is "Wreaths of Laurel."

CoffeeDan wrote:...From 1926 to 1932, the covers of Liberty told the story of Lil Morse, who started the series as a giddy young flapper with a new beau every week. During the course of the cover series, entitled "For the Love O' Lil," she eventually married Sandford "Sandy" Jenkins and had two sons. Each cover, painted by Leslie Thrasher (who used himself as the model for Lil's father) illustrated a new installment in the story of Sandy and Lil. It was a real circulation builder for Liberty in those years, and the series later inspired a movie and a radio show.
...

Cool! What was the movie that was inspired by this Liberty series?

Ditto!!
The girl shaking his hand looks kind of haughty, couldn't figure out if she was being made to shake hands, why the bandage, etc. What a great story. I absolutely loved the Christmas cover, of a Mom threatening Santa with violence if he leaves the drum set. (Been there, done that).

Thanks, Dan, for sharing a bit of Americana with us.

Nancy

I'll be looking for the next installment!