Movie Stars, Real People, and Me

by Joshua Logan

Movie Stars, Real People, and Me

346 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1978

Reviews

[Larry Hostetler]

An interesting book providing insight into both Broadway and Hollywood in the 40s, 50s, and 60s. It was an interesting read, and contained humor, some suspense, and the perspective of a director.

It made me want to see some movies, like Bus Stop, Picnic, and Camelot (again, now that I know some of the way it was put together.)

The chapter comprised of humorous stories was very interesting, and the only times I felt the reading slowed was at the end when Josh turned to his personal life. While I understand and appreciated what he shared about his wife and his personal travails, it didn't fit with the rest of the book.

But it was a good read that I can recommend to others; feel free to stop before the last two chapters.

[Line]

A fun but honest read of an era gone by, Mr. Logan gives a frank memoir of his co-workers and the life he lived.

[Russell Sanders]

It’s wrong to speak ill of the dead, they say, but after reading Joshua Logan’s first memoir and now his second, Movie Stars, Real People, and Me, I find I don’t like the man. I don’t dislike him, but I didn’t bond with him through his writing. Logan was a talented writer and director for stage and screen and is responsible for some of our most enduring shows and films. In fact, after reading in this book, his detailed accounts of filming South Pacific and Sayonara, I have rewatched both movies. It was entertaining to see what he was talking about as to his directorial and design choices. I also plan to see Camelot once again (to see if he did indeed never use the color red in the film) and I hope to see both Bus Stop and Paint Your Wagon yet again. I have seen all these films multiple times, but it is fun to see them after you read their creator’s descriptions of them. I highly recommend this book to those interested in stage and film history. So why did I not like Joshua Logan, the man? He simply does not generate warmth. He tells us how much he loved his wife and children, he speaks of enduring friendships, and he relates working with difficult actors. But never did I truly feel he was a genuinely good man. He wants us to believe he was good with working with historically difficult actors, like Monroe and Brando, but instead of admiring his relationships with them both, I felt he was adept at manipulating them more than actually gaining their cooperation through his showing them how much he admired them or their work. It is widely thought that autobiographies are deeply colored by their authors’ personalites, whether to build themselves up, soften their “bad press,” or to feed their egos. And, we must not forget that human memories differ. If two people tell a story about a mutual incident, the accounts may be wildly different just from the fact the each remember things differently. I’m glad, however, I read both of Logan’s books because I love reading about movies and theater, and, taken with a grain of salt, it is great to get into a creator’s mind.