ABANDONED. The Twenty Greatest

[Feliks]

This title--I've been hunting it for years--is a very large-format, cloth-bound hardback book. Probably 18" tall on the spine and 11" wide. No idea why it was printed so huge; except perhaps that it contained lots of pictures.

It was a nonfiction book about the film, stage, and music history of the Twentieth Century and it was written in the late 60's - early 70s.

The name of the book would have been something like 'Twenty Greatest' or 'Top Twenty' or '20/20'. It was written by a film historian and it was divided into twenty chapters.

Each chapter moreover, dwelt on what the author believed were the 'top twenty' for a particular genre of film or entertainment. For example, 'Top Twenty Westerns'..'Top Twenty Gangster Films'..'Top Twenty Musicals'. In each topic, he would devote a few paragraphs to explaining why he singled out the movies he chose.

There was also one chapter which focused on what he felt were the top twenty performers of the 20th century. He made impressive arguments for each figure: Charlie Chaplin, Judy Garland, Marlene Dietrich, Hermione Gingold, Lon Chaney, Walter Huston. Each section started off with a fun 'Hirschfield' drawing of the performer, and then throughout the section would sometimes have full-page full-bleed photos of the personality. All the pictures were b&w--no color.

He demonstrated how each of these individuals brought multiple skillsets to their career: singing AND dancing or directing AND acting; stage AND cabaret work; etc.

It was really a fun coffee-table book to browse through. I'd be ecstatic to get my hands on it again.

Thanks in advance!

[Feliks]

bump

[LauraW]

Hm...I seem to remember that I had a book like that for kids to browse through, only it wasn't just for movies, it was for a huge number of different things in life. Sort of like this:
Top 10 of Everything 2013

[SparksofEmber]

This was published a little later but

Great Hollywood Movies?

A reviewer says: "Every chapter is broken down to the most important films of the given genre. For example, "The Sound of Laughter: Great Comedy Movies" begins with brief examples of film comedies by the decade. This is followed by two pages of Charlie Chaplin(perhaps a little long), followed by Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, the Marx Brothers, WC Fields, and Mae West.

Then, it goes into the films themselves: "It Happended One Night", "Bringing Up Baby", "The Philadelphia Story", etc. Now, although no actors, directors, or films are dealt with in much depth, the true charm here is, as in most coffee table books, the pictures. If you only use the book for pictures, it's still worthwhile, for these offer the big titles that typify each of the genres. Whenever I'm referring to a genre, I usually grab this book first, for its quick overview. Genres covered: comedy, musical, romance, western, war, mystery, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, crime, the lower depths(includes some noir), great book and theater adaptations, the "great" movies(Gone With the Wind, the 2 big DW Griffith epics, Citizen Kane, and Greed), and a chapter on the "American" movie, which seems fairly trivial-as a genre, anyway."

[Cheryl]

Feliks, I assume you're still looking? Here's a bump for summer - come back in a couple of months to give it another one, ok?

[Feliks]

Boy I sure wish I could find this. Still looking!

Feliks