Jennifer K. Lafferty's Blog: Authors' Musings

Comedian Memoirs

I have noticed, over the past several years, that memoirs by comedians are among the most entertaining non-fiction books around. None of the many autobiographies I have read by comics have let me down. Of course, it helps that I'm a fan of all these people, but there's no guarantee that a memoir by someone you like or admire is going to be a fun read. I really think comics try harder to be entertaining with these books and naturally, they are going to be funnier than a typical memoir. My favorites include books by Steve Martin, "Born Standing Up", Bob Newhart's "I Shouldn't Even be Doing This!", Martin Short's "I Must Say" Mel Brooks' "All About Me." and Carol Burnett's "In Such Good Company". I've actually read two of Carol Burnett's memoirs the first was more of a biography while "In Such Good Company was about her hugely popular variety show. I enjoyed both of them. I highly encourage you to listen to an audiobook version of memoirs by comics if the author has narrated it, for obvious reasons. It makes a big difference. This books are also good to read in between heavy stories. I like to alternate my dramas with comic relief.

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Books to Film that Made Us Wonder About the Characters' Fate

There are many novels that feature a vague or open ending. some of these books are adapted to film, leaving audiences as well as readers to decide the ending in the own imagination.

Depending on how emotionally invested people are in the characters, this ambiguity can be frustrating and in some cases, such as the ending to "Gone with the Wind", inspire a lot of speculation among fans. The conclusions of these three books/movies made us wonder about the fate of the leading characters.

Gone Girl

Based on the bestselling novel by Gillian Flynn, 2014 mystery thriller "Gone Girl" revolves around the high profile search for young wife and former quiz writer Amy Elliot Dunne (Rosamund Pike) who also inspired her parents’ children’s book series “The Amazing Amy”. As widespread media coverage escalates over the next few days, speculation grows that the still missing Amy has been murdered, and massive suspicion is cast on her unfaithful husband, Nick (Ben Affleck).

It turns out that Amy is very much alive and has cleverly framed Nick for a crime that never took place. However, Amy has gone on to commit numerous crimes including a particularly horrific murder, which makes Nick reluctant to take her back, fearing he might be next on her list. But when she tells him she's pregnant, he decides to stay for the child's sake. Assuming he manages to survive, the big unanswered question is: what kind of life would Nick have with this brutal killer while raising a child together?

https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/gon...

Alfie

Michael Caine memorably stars in the title role of the groundbreaking 1966 comedy drama "Alfie", depicting casual sex from the perspective of a swinging London bachelor during the early days of the sexual revolution, The novel by Bill Naughton was adapted to the stage before it was brought to the big screen.

Alfie is focused on bedding as many women as possible while remaining commitment free, but he is ultimately impacted by the consequences of his actions, such as unplanned pregnancy and finally his own broken heart after being tossed aside by a woman as sexually loose as himself. When a more philosophical Alfie talks to the camera in the final scene, he appears to have grown somewhat as he reflects on his shallow lifestyle. It is unclear whether he is merely feeling regretful or is actually on the brink of changing his ways, resulting in a poignantly ambiguous ending.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Alfi...



Gone with the Wind

Many decades after the release, the iconic Civil War era drama saga "Gone with the Wind", based on Margaret Mitchell's classic novel, the question of whether or not Scarlett (Vivien Leigh) ever reunited with Rhett (Clark Gable) is still the subject of much debate among fans. Despite the publication of 1991 sequel “Scarlett”, penned by author Alexandra Ripley and a subsequent film adaptation, GWTW purists tend to think of Mitchell's original book as a stand alone story. This leaves the door open for readers as well of viewers of the 1939 film, from legendary producer David O. Selznick, to imagine the fate of these star-crossed lovers.

After Rhett walks out on Scarlett, who has finally realized he is her true love, she vows to get him back somehow. Scarlett has proven multiple times that she’s good at getting what she wants but we never find out if the two reconcile.

https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/41442...

Advantages Silent Movies Had Over Talkies

Silent films have become an underrated art form since the advent of talking movies in the late 1920s. However, silent cinema has a unique appeal all its own and there are many advantages to watching these films. The popularity of silent pictures like "The Artist" (2011) it's obvious that there is still an audience for these titles.

Inspired in part by a collection of books about silent movies and artists such as Charles Chaplin: My Autobiography, The Girls in the Picture, and Vamp: The Rise and Fall of Theda Bara, and others, I've listed 10 Advantages Silent Movies had Over Talkies.



No Need to Keep Sets Quiet

Before film studios were equipped to record sound, movie sets were very noisy places during filming. Not only could there be background noise from the equipment that was being used and crew members talking to one another, but all kinds of noise came from neighboring sets during this era when movies were shot in small spaces that were located right next to each other. The freedom to be noisy on the set also meant that directors could give the actors instruction while the scene was in progress, sometimes shouting directions through a megaphone.

Following the sound revolution, film crews became so conditioned to keeping quiet while the camera was rolling, that by the time Mel Brooks made the 1976 comedy “Silent Movie”, he had to remind them it was okay to laugh, explaining to “DGA Quarterly” in a 2012 interview, “I had to scream at the crew, 'Laugh! We're not recording sound. So that was hard for the grips and the crew and everybody to get used to, because there’s always quiet when you’re shooting.”

https://www.dga.org/Craft/DGAQ/All-Ar...



https://www.edhat.com/news/movies-way...


Simpler Screenplays

In the silent film era, screenwriters were usually called scenario writers or scenarists. They were responsible for providing a scenario of the events that would take place on screen and in some cases would also write the title cards – text that would appear on screen featuring snippets of dialogue or information the audience needed to know. Since there was so little dialogue to write and most were relatively short, these movies could be written more quickly than sound pictures.

While the silent movie scenario is a simpler version of a conversation-filled screenplay, talented scenarists like Frances Marion and June Mathis were highly in demand. Many of these writers successfully transitioned to writing for talkies such as Herman J. Mankiewicz, one of the top scenarists during the 1920s, who went on to write the iconic 1941 drama “Citizen Kane”

https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/1210...


https://www.wgfoundation.org/screenwr...


No Language Barriers

Since silent films used such a visually based form of storytelling, they were more accessible to international audiences because language was not an issue. The little text that was needed for the dialogue or description could be translated into different languages. Of course, modern films are sometimes dubbed or more often use subtitles for foreign releases. However, subtitles can be distracting since they appear onscreen throughout the film, while the actors are speaking, leaving many viewers to feel that they are reading the movie instead of watching it. In the silent days, so much of the story was communicated through action, imagery, facial expression and body language, that the words on title cards were used sparingly.

https://www.cjonline.com/story/news/p...


Actors’ Voices were Irrelevant

Since talkies came along, the sound of an actor’s voice has been part of the criteria when casting a role. If the voice doesn’t fit a filmmaker’s idea of what the character should like, either because of the type of voice they have or an accent that contradicts the character’s background, there’s a good chance the actor will be passed over for the part.

Obviously, in silent movies, it doesn’t matter what an actor sounds like because the audience can’t hear them speak. Prior to talking pictures, many actors employed by American studios, including some of the top stars like Rudolph Valentino, Pola Negri and Vilma Banky played characters of various nationalities, including American roles. We’ll never know if Valentino could have transitioned to talkies because he died just before the sound revolution, but there were a number of popular actors whose careers ended seemingly overnight, despite help from voice coaches, because of a thick accent or some other vocal issue.

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Heyday of Slapstick Comedy

While physical comedy has always been popular, the heyday for slapstick humor, as it is often called, was during the silent screen era. Since dialogue-based humor was limited to title cards, slapstick was a perfect fit for early cinema that relied so much on pantomime. This genre gave rise to some of the most iconic comedians of all time, like Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and duo Laurel & Hardy. Contemporary filmmakers and comedic actors still draw inspiration from Chaplin and other silent film comedy legends. Some of these entertainers went on to be very successful in talkies as well but they built their careers on the silent screen, which provided an amazing opportunity for them to thrive. Many of the silent films that feature physical comedy hold up surprisingly well with modern audiences. A number of these movies such as “The Kid”, “The General”, “City Lights”, and “Safety Last!” have become classics that are still widely popular with comedy fans the world over.

Other image heavy genres such as action-adventure were not noticeably harmed by the emergence of talkies. However, slapstick comedy has never returned to the phenomenal success it had during the pre-sound days of motion pictures.


https://videolibrarian.com/articles/e...

https://www.thehindu.com/in-school/si...

Faces

When fictional silent screen star Norma Desmond famously says, “We didn’t need dialogue. We had faces,” in the 1950 movie “Sunset Boulevard”, she actually had a pretty good point. The absence of spoken dialogue in silent films meant that is was important for actors to have very expressive faces. Dramatic or exotic faces were especially popular, like Mabel Normand, Greta Garbo and Conrad Veidt. It was also essential that the actor’s appearance fit the audience’s concept of what the character would look like. The delicate Mary Pickford, with her doll like features and golden curls, became famous for playing sweet, wholesome young girls. The sensual, mysterious-looking Theda Bara became a star with her roles as conniving seductresses, known as vamps. While an actor’s appearance or the expressiveness of their face is still a consideration when a part is being cast, these things aren’t nearly as high on the list of priorities for filmmakers as they once were. Dialogue and verbal acting are relied on to a large degree to create characterizations that we rarely see the kind of truly striking, mesmerizing faces that once filled the screen. .

https://collider.com/best-starter-sil...

https://projects.latimes.com/hollywoo...



The Artistry of Pantomime

Acting in silent films was really pantomime, which is a compelling art form of its own. Just because an individual was talented at pantomime didn’t necessarily mean they would be suited to acting a part with dialogue. While some of the greatest actors of all time, such as Sarah Bernhardt and the Barrymore family starred in silent films, many of the other actors in these pictures were not necessarily gifted at verbal acting. As long as they could convincingly pantomime the part, it wasn’t a problem but when sound took over, the technique used by many of these actors did not translate well to talkies.

The artistry of pantomime featured continually in silent movies for so many years all but vanished from the screen with the advent of sound pictures. One of the few pantomime artists to succeed in film during the sound era was French actor Marcel Marceau, whose popular clown character Bip was partially inspired by Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp.

https://sites.utexas.edu/ransomcenter...


https://www.worldmime.org/en/about-mi...





Actors did Not Have to Memorize Lines

Ever since spoken dialogue was introduced into motion pictures, actors have been burdened with having to memorize dialogue, often many pages of it. Actors frequently flub lines or forget dialogue while filming a scene, which causes delays and results in more money being spent on the production. These problems did not exist in silent movies. Of course, the actors needed to talk or move their lips to make it appear that they were talking to each other. While at least some of these movies did have real scripts, the actors were much freer to improvise. Many times they were not actually reciting dialog or saying anything related to the scene that was being filmed. Fritz Leiber Jr. compared his visit to the set of “Cleopatra” (1917) starring his father Fritz Leiber Sr. and Theda Bara, to an experience he had watching another silent movie being filmed. He said that on “Cleopatra” he heard his father and Bara speak their lines but in the other film the actors were just chatting about a baseball game instead of reciting dialogue.

Directors warned actors against using foul language, in case moviegoers could read lips, especially members of the deaf community who tended to be very adept at lip reading. However, there were many times when actors did curse on screen. Some people complained about the cursing but it provided added amusement to the other audience members, who were able to decipher their obscenity-laced speech.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-x...

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Live Music

Music has always been a part in cinema, helping to set the mood or to evoke a certain emotion. The score or a theme song is sometimes just as memorable as the movie itself. In the silent screen era, live music often accompanied the film, which was usually played by either an organist or a pianist. In large cities the music was sometimes even provided by a small orchestra. Patrons got a movie and a concert at the same time, for one inexpensive ticket. What began as a practical solution to drown out distractions like the loud projectors and the sound of audiences talking, became an important artistic element of motion picture exhibition and later film production.

Not only does it add to the entertainment value and meaningfulness of the movie, but it also helps with the suspension of reality that is necessary to accept the illusion on screen. This musical accompaniment can be even more powerful and compelling when performed live. Unfortunately, the pairing of live music with movies was phased out when talkies caught on in the late 1920s and is now a very rare occurrence, except for special events like cinematic themed symphony concerts.

http://www.filmreference.com/encyclop...


Require More of the Audience’s Attention

Because silent movies are nonverbal, the audience must stay focused on what is happening on screen in order to follow the story instead of just halfway watching while listening to the dialogue of the movie as viewers often do with sound pictures, allowing distractions to interfere with the experience, or multi-tasking during the movie. Since the switch to talking pictures, it has been a big challenge for filmmakers to find ways to hold the audiences’ concentration and draw them into a film as much as possible. Missing even small moments can make a difference. A look or a gesture may tell us something important about a character, a brief image can provide the clue to a mystery, a quick action might be used to indicate a new plot development. Being forced to pay close attention helps us to really absorb the film. This can result in a much richer, more enjoyable experience.

https://nationaltoday.com/national-si...


https://collider.com/best-starter-sil...

10 Surprising Facts about the Rowdy British Music Halls

There have been many books written about the history of the old British Music Halls and of course, they have been used as the backdrop of fiction books as well, including author Susana Aikin's colorful novel "We Shall See the Sky Sparkling". I was inspired by the book to revisit this fascinating era is the history of live entertainment. Here is some surprising trivia about the rowdy music halls.

During the 19th and early 20th century, music halls in England and their American counterpart vaudeville in the United States were massively popular forms of affordable entertainment and social activity. People from all classes and backgrounds would flock to numerous live theaters featuring an eclectic range of performances which ran the gambit from traditional actors performing one-act plays, opera singers and ballet dancers to slapstick comedy, popular music and bizarre novelty acts. However, it was often a peculiar business and environment, especially the British music halls, possibly because taverns and saloons were among the main venues that early music halls grew out of and alcohol remained a big part of the experience.

Although these theaters thrived for well over fifty years, the theatrical world changed enormously with the advent of motion pictures. The halls gradually died out following WWI, due to the popularity of films and jazz music along with other factors, bringing an end to this exciting phase in the history of performing arts. Check out these surprising and even shocking facts about the British music halls of yesteryear.

Theater/Restaurant/Bar and More

Just as the on-stage music hall entertainment became more varied as time went on, so did other amenities offered. “By the 1850’s music hall theatres solely dedicated to entertainment had evolved…” Instead of food and alcoholic beverages being limited to specific rooms in the establishment the audience members could eat, drink and smoke right there in the theater while watching the performers, with light refreshments sometimes served to patrons during the show. Liquor was definitely a big draw for these theaters, so much so that The Temperance Movement criticized the music halls for encouraging heavy drinking. The few “dry” music halls that sprang up did not last long.

The sketches performed also frequently made fun of drunkeness and one of the most popular music hall songs was “Champagne Charlie” performed and co-written by famous entertainer George Leybourne, who was subsequently dubbed Champagne Charlie and was eventually sponsored by champagne producers Moet and Chandon.

Despite the notoriously rambunctious crowds, some attractions were culturally elevated. The lavish Canterbury Music Hall featured an art gallery.

https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK...

Confusing Architecture

Music halls evolved in interesting and often strange ways, including their architecture. While some establishments, prior to the restrictive 1843 Theatre Act, started out as saloons with a theater later added to the building, others were converted basements. But surprisingly, many of the first music halls strongly resembled “churches with a fenced-in sanctuary for the performance area and pipe organs to accompany the singers.” This was ironic considering how wild the atmosphere could get and the somewhat risqué acts that might appear. On the opposite end of the spectrum there were also grandiose theaters with some featuring ornate chandeliers, and grand staircases, which were predecessors to the variety palaces of the 20th century. Unlike traditional theaters, music hall audiences would be seated on benches at long tables, a carryover from the old taverns.

https://www.musicals101.com/musichall...



Circus Acts

Just about any type of entertainment could be found at a music hall, which makes sense considering the high demand for new acts and fierce competition among the many theaters during the heyday of these venues. In addition to the consistently popular singing and dancing numbers and comedy routines, there were also plenty of acts that would come to be almost exclusively associated with the circus, such as gymnasts, tight rope dancers, sword swallowers, animal performers, trick cyclists and “freak show” performers.

Some unusual acts were difficult to categorize or even describe, such as a comedian called Professor Stanley Urwin, who spoke in gobbledygook, making much of what he said incoherent. Another comic with an offbeat gag was Jack Douglas who came up with his twitching Alf Ippititimus character on the spur of the moment when his comedy partner couldn’t come on stage during a routine because he was locked out of the theater. In desperation Douglas entertained the audience with an impersonation of a colleague who had a twitch. Douglas’ twitching movements were so exaggerated playing Alf Ippititimus, that some have said the bit looked like an epileptic seizure. As disturbing as this may sound, the audience loved it, cracking up with laughter.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008...

https://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/i...



Uncivilized Behavior

It is an understatement to say the patrons of music halls could be rowdy. The halls gained a reputation for having a generally vulgar atmosphere and for being extremely noisy with people regularly carrying on conversations and other activities during the show. Besides rudeness, it was not unusual for individuals in the crowd to physically attack the performers. According to author/filmmaker Susana Aikin, audience members would frequently fling items at the entertainers including: “bottles, old boots, even a dead cat. Industrial towns favored hurling iron rivets.”

It is no wonder that in some venues “bottles carried by the waiters were chained to the trays” and orchestras were shielded from flying objects by a steel grill, not unlike the chicken wire protection bands often perform behind in particularly rough bars today.

https://www.susanaaikin.org/post/lond...








Fun for the Whole Family

Even with the loud, crass, smoke-filled environment and hazardous antics of the intoxicated crowd, it was sometimes considered acceptable for people to bring their children and babies to the music hall. While the kids may not have been protected from air-born rivets, at least the on-stage entertainment was clean – mostly. The raunchiness of the more provocative music hall acts was kept to a minimum since these theaters sought to provide amusement that was appropriate for the whole family. Sometimes double entendres were a way for performers to get around the rules, using phrases that could have more than one meaning, like the Marie Lloyd song “She Sits Among Her Cabbages and Peas”.

https://www.musicals101.com/musichall...



Singing News Broadcasts

As entertaining as the music hall performers were, they could also be very informative. Like televised news broadcasts of later decades, these acts would educate people on important issues of the day, but in theaters the news was delivered in person and usually set to music. Topics included everything from Parliamentary bills to social issues, court trials and alterations to the local landscape. The idea of informing the masses on politics and teaching them about their rights was actually controversial at the time and actions were eventually taken to regulate the subject matter of these songs.

https://www.susanaaikin.org/post/lond...


Prostitution

The music halls were also a place where people frequently conducted business, especially those involved in the world’s oldest profession. It was typical for prostitutes to roam the aisles looking for potential clients. Not only were the venues convenient markets for these ladies of the evening to engage customers, but the actual transaction often took place right there at the hall itself. With the smoke so thick it was difficult to even see the entertainers on stage, prostitutes could practice their trade in the balcony without being seen.

The authorities tried to crack down on prostitution and other vices within these theaters. Sometimes a music hall would actually be closed down if women were so much as seen entering the venue unaccompanied by men. However, married women, particularly during the early years of the halls, were encouraged to accompany their husbands because it was believed that the presence of their wives would keep men in line.

https://victorianweb.org/mt/musichall...

https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/music-...



There Were So Many of Them

Although similar entertainment had been available in taverns going back to medieval times, eventually spreading to the 18th century coffee houses, the popularity of the music halls in the 19th and early 20th century was a true phenomenon. At the pinnacle of their success during the late Victorian era, there were well over 300 music halls doing business in the London area alone and hundreds more throughout the UK. One of the biggest reasons for the rapid growth of the halls was the industrial revolution which drew a huge number of people into the city, creating the need for convenient, relatively inexpensive urban entertainment.

https://www.musicals101.com/musichall...


Early Film Icons Started in the Music Halls

It may be a well known fact that film stars, especially in the early years of the cinema, started out as stage actors in what was known as the legitimate theater, but it is a little more surprising to learn that movie icons like Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel were celebrated music hall stars before they ever set foot in front of a motion picture camera.

Chaplin practically grew up in the music halls, as both of his parents sang in these venues. His mother, Hannah, often brought him to the theaters with her when he was a child because she did not want to leave him home alone. As depicted in the 1992 Robert Downy Jr. starring biopic “Chaplin”, he first appeared on the stage at the age of five, when his mother was having trouble with her performance and he was nudged on to sing in her place. At the age of nine, he started his professional career with a group of juvenile clog dancers known as “The Eight Lancashire Lads”.

Charlie Chaplin later depicted musical halls in his own films, including the 1915 silent comedy “A Night in the Show”, which captured the rowdy atmosphere of the halls, and again in his classic 1952 romantic dramedy “Limelight” about a down on his luck music hall comedian who saves and falls in love with a suicidal ballerina.

https://www.charliechaplin.com/en/art...

Acts with Special Purposes


Silent acts like acrobatics and animal acts were often featured in British music halls as well as vaudeville and could be useful for opening and closing the show because they would not be interrupted by the sound of the audience entering or leaving the theater. These silent or “dumb acts” as they were typically called, were also used in early British cinemas between movies in a hybrid format that combined music hall style entertainment with motion pictures.

Comedy was always a staple in the British music halls, but especially popular with the large working class British audiences were skits that depicted their own daily plight such as difficult working conditions and stresses of domestic life. They enjoyed the opportunity to laugh at these situations that were all too familiar to them as well as poking fun at the upper classes.


https://www.musicals101.com/musichall...

https://www.google.com/books/edition/...

Sunset Boulevard & Cleopatra

Today's post is about two behind-the-scenes books that are both in-depth examinations of iconic films: Close-Up on Sunset Boulevard Lib/E: Billy Wilder, Norma Desmond, and the Dark Hollywood Dream and My Life with Cleopatra: The Making of a Hollywood Classic. One big difference is that "My Life With Cleopatra" is a personal memoir by producer Walter Wanger, written in diary form, while "Close-Up on Sunset Boulevard" is a heavily researched book by noted film/ theater history author Sam Staggs who has done such an impressive job with books about "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "All About Eve".

Coming from two very different perspectives these titles are both compelling in their own special ways.

The making of the film "Sunset Boulevard" was from pre-production through filming itself a colorful story, in part, because of the interesting, eccentric, larger-than life people involved, such as writer/director Billy Wilder, and castmates Gloria Swansen and Erich Von Stroheim.

There are many great anecdotes surrounding the production and, as usual, Staggs provides a detailed account of subsequent projects inspired by or based on the movie, such as the popular Broadway musical adaptation. It's surprising to learn how many other projects, multiple teleplays, skits and films were offshoots of the maternal. Perhaps most surprising of all is the revelation that Gloria Swansen herself spent a considerable amount of time, energy and money to try to mount a stage musical version of "Sunset Boulevard" in which she would star. This was, of course, decades before the famous Andrew Lloyd Webber production, which sadly, she did not live to see. Although Swansen's project was never produced the compositions were good quality and the demos she made of the songs show her to be a talented singer.

"My Life With Cleopatra" is a very inside story about the day to day activity on the troubled sometimes disastrous and hugely over budget production of the Elizabeth Taylor-Richard Burton starring movie "Cleopatra", written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. There are really two stories here: the one about the struggle to make the film itself and the one about the scandalous romance between Taylor and Burton (both married to other people) which received more attention from the press than the movie.

Another thing these two books have in common is that they can both get into the weeds at times and drag a little but overall they are fun, insightful reads.

Jennifer Lafferty: author of The Many Faces of Jane Eyre: Film, TV and Stage Adaptations

An Eclectic List of Celebrity Bios

Today I'm going to highlight books about Berry Gordy, Alfred Hitchcock & David O. Selznick and Charlotte Bronte. These people would seem to have very little in common except that they were all celebrities of one kind or another in their own time and their bios all happened to be on my GR reading list for 2021.

Anyone who really loves music is probably at least a little curious about the behind-the-scenes goings on of the music industry and To Be Loved about Motown founder Berry Gordy is a great place to start. The fact that this is Berry Gordy's autobiography is a real plus in some respects. It's a very personal story a times and an inspiring one as well. However, as with most autobiographies we usually just get one side of the story so you may want to supplement this book with one of the other many books available about the history of Motown. I do want to say it is interesting to experience these remarkable events from the perspective of the man who made it happen and Gordy remembers EVERYTHING.

I think a lot of people tend to lump Charlotte Bronte together with other 19th century spinsterish writers like Jane Austen and poet Emily Dickenson but Charlotte Brontë: A Fiery Heart dispels much of this stereotype and presents a multidimensional woman of great passion, contradiction, initiative and backbone. Bronte comes across as even more intriguing than her most famous heroine. I read this book as research for my new book The Many Faces of Jane Eyre: Film, TV and Stage Adaptations but it turned out to be very entertaining and I would highly recommend it, especially to fans of Charlotte Bronte's work.

Hitchcock and Selznick: The Rich and Strange Collaboration of Alfred Hitchcock and David O. Selznick in Hollywood is a little harder to get through than these other two titles, mostly because it can be very technical at times. Iconic producer David O. Selznick and legendary director Alfred Hitchcock were, in addition to both being extremely talented filmmakers, also two of the most provocative characters from the golden age of Hollywood but this book is mainly about their careers which is good news to some readers and disappointing to others. If you want a detailed analysis of the films these two geniuses made together and their often difficult working relationship then you should enjoy this one. If not, there are plenty of other titles to choose from which provide a more personal perspective.

The Reporter Who Knew Too Much

Mark Shaw's nonfiction book, The Reporter Who Knew Too Much: The Mysterious Death of What's My Line TV Star and Media Icon Dorothy Kilgallen about the life and suspicious demise of the multi-talented journalist/TV personality is both revealing and intriguing. This biographical read focuses heavily on Kilgallen's extensive investigation into the JFK assassination and subsequent murder of Lee Harvey Oswald. As Shaw points out, evidence she may have found concerning a possible conspiracy might have made the tenacious reporter a target of foul play. Over all I enjoyed this book and found Shaw's direct, unpretentious style of writing to be refreshing. However, the second half of the book could be somewhat longwinded, repetitive and, at times, overly technical when it came to the details of Kilgallen's death and the response of the medical examiners office. Of course, it is important to include the results of tests and other key facts as well as any suspicious activity related to the case but I felt it would have been easier to follow if the author had summarized more of this information. The Reporter Who Knew Too Much should appeal to fans of many different genres, including, celebrity bios, true crime, 20th century American history and feminist literature. Dorothy Kilgallen, alone, is a fascinating subject for a biography and this is not the first book devoted to her. She was a complex woman. Kilgallen was a religious, tenderhearted loving mother and genteel lady and at the same time a tough, gutsy, super ambitious reporter who socialized with mobsters and carried on a long-term extra-marital affair with singer Johnnie Ray. She was a woman with lots of fans and more than her share of enemies. It may seem like a shame that Kilgallen is best remembered today for her long stint as a regular panelist of the game show What's My Line? instead of her amazing career as a journalist and how much she accomplished as a woman in what was considered a man's business at the time. But due to the timeliness of the profession, few journalists, even the most revered, achieve immortality in the in the public eye. What's My Line? which continues to be popular in reruns decades after its cancellation helps to keep Kilgallen's legacy alive.

Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie

Tony Lee Moral's book chronicling the production of one of Alfred Hitchcock's most intriguing films, Marnie, stands out for being a thoroughly researched and very detailed book. We get an insider's glimpse into how the iconic director worked. It would have seemed very unlikely, when the film was originally released in 1964 to disappointing box office results, that anyone would ever want to read a book about it. But nothing about Marnie, which follows a beautiful, mysterious compulsive thief as she tries to outrun the law and love at the same time, came easily. It was a struggle to be made and took a long time to gain the popularity it deserves. The story, director and film itself were all ahead of their time, which is part of what makes this book interesting. There has been a lot of publicity surrounding the sexual harassment allegations made by the film's leading lady Tippi Hedren about Alfred Hitchcock. This book, which came out prior to Hedren's autobiography, does not delve deeply into the alleged sexual harassment. This is primarily an exploration of a very memorable film that audiences, especially Hitchcock fans have embraced in the past few decades. The behind-the-scenes story could easily be a film itself. We read about efforts to bring Grace Kelly out of retirement to play the title role, about Hitchcock's discovery of his next ice princess -- Tippi Hedren -- how he and wife Alma gave her acting lessons in preparation for The Birds, the multiple writers who tried to tackle the adaptation of Winston Graham's novel and Hitchcock's unique way of developing and directing a project. Fans of Marnie will want to dive right in to this book.

Hitchcock and the Making of [bookcover:Hitchcock and the Making of MarnieMarnie|374984]



P.S. I would like to mention that my new novel Songbird of Culpeper County has just been released. Please take a look.

More than Love: An Intimate Portrait of My Mother Natalie Wood (book review)

The iconic and beloved actress Natalie Wood was the kind of actress who could make an audience believe that they really knew her. Reading More Than Love: An Intimate Portrait of My Mother, Natalie Wood by her eldest daughter, actress Natasha Gregson Wagner, it's clear that many of the endearing qualities she displayed on screen, her warm, sensitivity, big heart and combination of strength and vulnerability were very real. But there was even more to her that fans wouldn't necessarily know. Natasha has given us a very special portrait of her that only a daughter could provide.

There were many surprises in this book but the one I keep going back to is the generosity of Natasha Gregson Wagner in sharing such intimate memories and feelings with us. I've read a couple of books about Natalie Wood but this one is especially powerful, beautiful, and personal because it was written by her own daughter who clearly adored her. This couldn't have been an easy story for her to tell and at times I didn't feel I was worthy to hear it, being just another fan. It's a real privilege to learn about this amazing woman from the perspective of someone who was so close to her. I also appreciated Natasha's candor. This was no sugar-coated tribute. It could be startlingly honest in revealing her mother's imperfections while at the same time deepening my admiration for Natalie Wood. Another surprise was in how helpful the book was to me on a personal level. Some of the things Natasha has struggled with like separation anxiety are challenges for many us and it's comforting to hear about how she was able to deal with these things. I listened to the audio version read by Natasha herself which made it even more personal and meaningful. I enthusiastically recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about Natalie Wood. More Than Love: An Intimate Portrait of My Mother, Natalie Wood

Olivia Newton-John memoir

As you might expect this memoir Don't Stop Believin' by the sweet, perky songstress Olivia Newton-John is uplifting.

She is very selective with the memories she chooses to share, so if you come for dirt and sensationalism you'll be disappointed. She meticulously avoids any mudslinging or scandal but what it lacks in juiciness, the author makes up for a contagious optimism and cheerfulness that could turn even the grumpiest cynic into Mary Sunshine for a day.

You kinda feel like you've been to a motivational seminar after reading this book, and just want to go out and make the world a better place, especially after hearing about all the of ONJ's good works. She goes into detail about her involvement in worthy causes and the impressive lengths she's gone to raise money for them.

She is inspiring on many levels including as: artist, advocate, cancer survivor and as a person.

If you admire Olivia Newton-John and her contributions as a singer/actress, you will likely enjoy this memoir. I highly recommend listening to the audio-book which is beautifully narrated by the author.