Intimate Strangers: The Culture of Celebrity

by Richard Schickel

Beginning with the American movie business in the twenties, the noted critic examines modern cultural history, covering film, theater, television, the press, pop music and art, to assess the phenomenon of celebrity and its influence on society

Genres: Nonfiction, Research

299 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1955

About the author

Richard Schickel is an important American film historian, journalist, author, filmmaker, screenwriter, documentarian, and film and literary critic.

Mr.Schickel is featured in For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism. In this 2009 documentary film he discusses early film critics in the 1960s, and how he and other young critics, rejected the moralizing opposition of Bosley Crowther of The New York Times who had railed against violent movies such as Bonnie and Clyde.
In addition to film, Schickel has also critiqued and documented cartoons, particularly Peanuts.

Schickel was a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1964. He has also lectured at Yale University and University of Southern California's School of Film and Television.

Reviews

[kac attac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Breezy and rambling, but very much worth reading. Especially if you think journalistic style is inherently superior to academic style; even you will be hankering for some academic temperance (and a bibliography) by the end. But, as they say, he makes some good points.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't finish. It's been lying around forever. The premise is solid, the examples good, it's just dated since the phenomenon has only accelerated since the Time Magazine movie critic wrote this book in the late 1980s. Bought it for $1, ready to donate to the library.

[rndgmoat · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is an interesting rant that periodically hits on a valuable point here and there (and never really lives up to the promise of the first few chapters) but never really coheres. By the end, you are sick to death of the author's cynical pontificating and undefended putdowns of mass-culture. Meh.