Hollywood: Mecca of the Movies

[nice clean as-new copy, no discernible wear to book; the jacket has a bit of wrinkling and a faint paper-clip indentation at the top edge of the front panel]. (line drawings) The first English translation of this report on the movie colony as it was in 1936, when the author, on assignment for "Paris-Soir," spent a couple of weeks ensconced in the Roosevelt Hotel, and reported on his observations in a series of articles for his newspaper, which were later expanded and published in book form (originally in French, as "Hollywood, La Mecque du Cinma"). Although he was a renowned man of letters in France -- a prolific poet, novelist and essayist who was no stranger to filmmaking, having worked as an actor and assistant director for Abel Gance) -- his name meant little, then or now, to an American readership, and although his book was translated into numerous languages, the present book is the first edition in English. "Part diary, part tall tale, [the book] records Cendrars's experiences on the streets of Hollywood, at studio gates, and in the hottest bars and jazz clubs, where he encountered out-of-work drifters, star-crazed sailors, and a vast pool of undiscovered talent. His chance meeting with Douglas Fairbanks, conversation with Paramount's master makeup artist, and ruminations on Los Angeles geography are all recounted in a highly personal, conversational style that anticipates the 'new journalism' of such later writers as Tom Wolfe." (It's interesting to ruminate on how this book -- widely published throughout the non-English-speaking world -- may have colored the perception of "Hollywood" in other cultures.)

Product Info

Publisher: University of California Press

Year: (c.1995)

Type: Used

Binding: Hardcover

First Edition

Seller Info

ReadInk

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Country: United States