Hollywood Kryptonite, the Bulldog, the Lady, and the Death of Superman - Softcover

Schoenberger, Sam Kashner; Schoenberger, Nancy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1419651358 ISBN 13: 9781419651359

Publisher: Createspace Independent Pub, 2006

Synopsis

Two writers examine the evidence left by the late Hollywood writer and MGM executive Sam Myer concerning the death of George Reeves, and they conclude that the first Superman was murdered by a man named Eddie Mannix.

About this title

About the Author

Nancy Schoenberger and Sam Kashner are a married writing team who have co-authored the biography of Oscar Levant (A TALENT FOR GENIUS, recently optioned for film by Ben Stiller and Dreamworks) as well as HOLLYWOOD KRYPTONITE (a source for Focus Features movie HOLLYWOODLAND, starring Ben Affleck and Adrien Brody). Schoenberger's 2001 biography of Lady Caroline Blackwood (DANGEROUS MUSE) was published by Nan A. Talese Books/Doubleday. The couple also contribute articles to Vanity Fair.

From Publishers Weekly

When George Reeves, who had achieved international fame by playing Superman for five years on TV, was found dead by gunshot in 1959, the death was officially recorded as a suicide. According to Kashner and Schoenberger (A Talent for Genius), however, unanswered details about Reeves's demise shroud what in truth was foul play. In this page-turning hybrid of bio and murder mystery, the authors entertainingly pick at the loose ends and point their pens at a killer. Reeves, they show, was hardly as wholesome as his TV image implied. His life was filled with hard-drinking men, manipulative women, mafiosos and a career that plummeted like a comet after The Adventures of Superman went off the air. The authors set down this B movie-style tale with hard-boiled relish. They introduce archetypal sleazebag characters with an entertaining terseness?"Eddie was a tough guy with a heart of tungsten"; "Leonore Lemmon wore the reddest lipstick in New York"?that occasionally veers into cheap Hammett imitations. The well-articulated backdrop of low-budget TV production only enhances the cheesy milieu, however. By laying out Reeves's life before solving the mystery of his death, the authors present the equivalent of a crisp black-and-white TV docudrama, and manage to evoke all the irresistibly creepy nostalgia of a bygone era. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Createspace Independent Pub
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1419651358
• ISBN 13: 9781419651359
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 258