Movie Anecdotes - Softcover

Hay, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195045955 ISBN 13: 9780195045956

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1991

Synopsis

Hollywood, Walter Winchell quipped, is where they shoot too many movies and not enough actors. Always looking for an angle, always, scheming, always the scene of clashing egos, the movie industry is where they place you under contract instead of observation--and if you don't have anything nice to say, write it down. "In 1940, I had my choice between Hitler and Hollywood," French director René Clair recalled, "and I preferred Hollywood--just a little."
In Movie Anecdotes, Peter Hay treats us to a delightful ride through the world that has captivated audiences for almost a century, with stories that are often hilarious, sometimes tragic, and always entertaining. He takes us from the rough-and tumble early days (when one studio paid Pancho Villa $25,000 to launch his attacks only in daylight, after a film crew had set up) to the studio era (when Joan Crawford refused to cross the street on the MGM lot except in a chauffeured limousine) to the shenanigans of today's global industry. Here are stories about all the legends: Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Mae West, Lucille Ball, Marilyn Monroe, Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Judy Garland, Sophia Loren, John Wayne, and, of course, Ronald Reagan. There are the great directors from D.W. Griffith, Hitchcock, and Eisenstein, to Kurosawa, Bergman, Visconti, Huston, Ford, and Woody Allen. And Hay has selected tales of the writers, the wits, and the grand moguls, including perhaps the largest collection of Goldwynisms--both genuine and apocryphal.
Along with the laughter, this volume recreates the conflicts that have torn the movie world, from battles over money and contracts, to discrimination, divorces, and scandals. Colorful, incredible, bitter, funny--the stories about moviemaking are as fantastic as the pictures themselves. Now they have been gathered together in an irresistible bouquet that is certain to delight every movie buff and provide fascinating insights for serious students of film.

About this title

About the Author

Peter Hay, an expert in script development, is founding artistic director of First Stage in Hollywood. He is also the author of Theatrical Anecdotes and Broadway Anecdotes, both published by Oxford.

Review

"Well-chosen....Wry, telling and tinged (not drenched) with a kind of bittersweet nostalgia....If you're a movie buff, or live with one, I suspect that Movie Anecdotes will likely end up on your coffee table."--The Los Angeles Times

"Amusing, critical tales--tall and true. Hay is a pro at unearthing acerbic or outrageous sayings or events; his topical arrangement is smooth and his delivery fluid."--Booklist

"[Hay] reveals the backstage and often hilarious lives of a plethora of screen legends."--The Sunday Express

"Another enjoyable collection from the anecdote-archivist Hay....[The stories] range from one-liners to full-fledged stories and as a rule reveal film folk as the eccentrics many believe them to be....Light, browse-able entertainment."--Kirkus Reviews

"A melange of stories on Hollywood and its inhabitants which range from the droll to the bizarre to the informative....Hay embellishes and tells stories with such zeal and fluidity that even items on less famous persons as Arnold Schoenberg and William Meiklejon make good reading....This makes
the book informative as well as entertaining....Make a date with Movie Anecdotes. It's bound to be an enjoyable experience."--The New Straits Times

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0195045955
• ISBN 13: 9780195045956
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 336