Some Like It Hot: The Official 50th Anniversary Companion

by Laurence Maslon

Featuring never-before-seen photos of Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon, Some Like It The Official 50th Anniversary Companion celebrates Billy Wilder’s classic film, voted the number one funniest movie of all time by the American Film Institute. Granted full access to the MGM vaults, author Laurence Maslon offers a fully illustrated companion guide of memorabilia and behind-the-scenes tidbits perfect for anyone who loves comedy, jazz, and American film.

Genres: Nonfiction

192 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2009

About the author

Laurence Maslon is an arts professor at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, as well as associate chair of the Graduate Acting Program. He is the writer and coproducer of the American Masters documentary, Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me, broadcast on PBS in 2019, as well as the artistic director and writer of “Yes I Can: The Sammy Davis, Jr. Songbook” at the 92Y’s “Lyrics and Lyricists” series. He is also the host and producer of the radio series, Broadway to Main Street on the local NPR-affiliate station WPPB-FM. The program is winner of the 2019 ASCAP Foundation/Deems Taylor Award for Radio Broadcast. His most recent book is the companion volume to the Broadway phenomenon Come From Away, as well as an update third edition companion volume to the PBS series Broadway: The American Musical. His history of recorded music from Broadway, Broadway to Main Street: How Show Music Enchanted America, was published in 2018 by Oxford University Press. He edited the two-volume set American Musicals (1927-1969) containing sixteen classic Broadway librettos, published by the Library of America in 2014 to national acclaim, as well as the Library of America’s Kaufman & Co., an anthology of Broadway comedies by George S. Kaufman. He wrote the American Masters documentary Richard Rodgers: The Sweetest Sounds in 2001 and with producer/director Michael Kantor, he cowrote the PBS series Make ‘Em Laugh (Emmy nomination) and two episodes of the Emmy-winning Broadway: The American Musical as well as its companion volume (third edition upcoming in fall 2019). He served on the nominating committee for the Tony Awards from 2007 to 2010. He was written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Opera News, Stagebill, and American Theatre.

Reviews

[Giuseppe Sirugo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some Like It Hot: The Official 50th Anniversary Companion de Laurence Maslon es generalmente muy apreciado por los fans de la película de Billy Wilder. El libro se publicó en 2009, con motivo del 50º aniversario del estreno de la película original en 1959.

¡El comentario tiene más valor para la película! Se trata de una obra (película y libro) bastante anticuada, con un contexto sencillo y agradable. Sin duda, ver la película o leer el libro nos remonta a un cine genuino donde la falta de efectos especiales es un punto a favor, ya que acentúa una narrativa de otra época.
A pesar del tiempo transcurrido, la historia pertenece a un género que ha conseguido transmitir valores cinematográficos atemporales, que aún hoy se toman como modelo. En ella se puede apreciar a una Norma Jeane Mortenson, Marilyn Monroe, (1926 - 1962), en pleno esplendor. Un hecho que evoca a la Marilyn de la Edad de Oro de Hollywood, quizás un cine donde el enfoque de la profesionalidad era diferente al de los actores de hoy.

En múltiples ocasiones, la película se emite en la televisión italiana y sus imágenes en blanco y negro acentúan esa época pasada. Sin embargo, no es solo la falta de color lo que confiere valor a la película y a los años transcurridos desde la publicación del libro complementario. El verdadero mérito reside en la vasta e interesante biografía que dejaron los protagonistas que hicieron la historia del cine de aquella época, un aspecto digno de estudio para los interesados.
Uno de los aspectos más fascinantes para los lectores del libro de Laurence Maslon son precisamente las anécdotas relativas a la turbulenta producción y a la compleja relación entre el director Billy Wilder y las estrellas, en particular Marilyn Monroe. Se narran las famosas dificultades de Marilyn para respetar los horarios y recordar sus líneas, con Tony Curtis y Jack Lemmon apostando sobre "qué toma sería la buena".

Inevitablemente, también se explora la dinámica de la relación entre Marilyn, Tony Curtis y Jack Lemmon en el set.

[Gilda Bonelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a movie or book very old, but in looking nice! Surely, watching or reading remembers a cinema genuine where the special effects not exist. It is Good. Furthermore recalls a Marilyn Monroe, born Norma Jeane Mortenson (Los Angeles, 1º June 1926 – Brentwood, 5 August 1962) in the laurels. Furthermore recalls a Marilyn in laurels over a period that Hollywood was lacking Actors professional, can be considered a movie other times: sometimes, the movie is transmitted in Italian television and images in black and White accentuating a bygone era. Something that has been done and exceeded and will not be repeated. Nevertheless, it is not the lack color that characterizes the film how old, because little by little principal actress remains a long biography for people who want to study she.

[Judge Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book about my favorite movie! The writing was good but the pictures were magic! Thank you!

[Merja Pohjola · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing really new but worth the money... a handsome(ish) coffee table book ;)