Hollywood: The years of innocence

by John Kobal

Book by Kobal, John

Genres: Media Tie In, Nonfiction, History, Film

192 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1986

About the author

John Kobal was an Austrian-born British based film historian responsible for The Kobal Collection, a commercial photograph archive related to the film industry.

Reviews

[Beth Cato · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a photography book with minimal text, mostly highlighting the stunning work of Hollywood photographer Nelson W. Evans. A number of the photographs I have not seen before, though I have been reading many books on this era. The whole "innocence" angle makes me cringe, and in many ways is a case of omission here. The very end brings up matters like the Fatty Arbuckle case, but it doesn't go into matters like the religious backlash against Hollywood (for what was being produced in this so-called period of innocence) and the start of censorship in the 1920s.

However, if you want a book of beautiful photographs from the 1910s, this does have quality work, BUT: do be aware that there are several pages of Maxfield Parrish-styled dreamy nude pictures, including a single page of cherubic ones of kids; as whimsical and strategically-covered as they are, I don't think they'd be published in any contemporary book, but this one came out in 1985. In this case, as most of the book is relevant to research, I sliced out the dubious page and shredded it. I've never had to do that before.

[Greta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picture book of scenes of Hollywood, early pictures of stars, some nudie pics. All pretty much pre 20s. The version i saw was published by Thames and Hudson, 1985.