Movieland: Hollywood and the Great American Dream Cutlure

“With an unabashed fan’s passion and a novelist’s descriptive flair, [Charyn] takes on the chronicle of the movies, reliving treasured scenes and evoking screen idols in a triumph of personalized history.” Digby Diehl, Playboy [From the back cover.]

in Movieland, Jerome Charyn Mingles His Own Life As A Moviegoer With The History, Romance, And Sadness Of Hollywood. He Meets Paul Newman, Viveca Lindfors, And Mae Clark, The Actress Who Was The Original Bride Of Frankenstein; Explores Cinecitta, Mussolini's Own Hollywood On The Tiber; Recalls His Own Life As Otto Preminger's House Writer (and Jester) During Preminger's Decline; Reinvents The Lost Years And Lost Stars Of The Silent Era --irving Thalberg, Gloria Swanson, And Clara Bow -- And Seeks Out The Hieroglyphics Of Modern Hollywood; Writes Of The Nazi Officer Who Saved The Cinematheque Francaise And Its Library Of American Films; And Pays Homage To Hollywood's Heroes, Victims, Goddesses, And Neglected Lords: Louise Brooks, Raymond Chandler, Carole Landis, Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, And More.

publishers Weekly

as He Did In Metropolis , Charyn Once Again Revisits Old Haunts, Concentrating Here On The Movies (and Movie Houses, Like Loew's Paradise In The Upper Bronx) That Have Obsessed Him Most Of His Life. Lovingly He Recalls America's Screen Idols: Astaire And Rogers; Lombard, Grable And Hayworth; Fay Wray And May Clarke; Bogart And Powell; Directors Orson Welles And Arthur Penn; Screenwriters Daniel Fuchs And Raymond Chandler; Moguls Thalberg And Mayer. He Meets And, In Some Cases, Works With Paul Newman, Otto Preminger, Viveca Lindfors; Borges And Primo Levi Would Become Mentors And Kindred Spirits. The Author Travels Beyond Hollywood To Henri Langlois's Cinematheque Archive In Paris, Italy's Cinecitta Studios And An International Meeting Of Crime Writers At Gijon, On The Bay Of Biscay. Some Of Charyn's Loyal Readers May Be Disappointed By The Superficiality And Lack Of Focus In This, His 23rd Volume. (may)

PRELUDE: THE LOEW’S PARADISE 7 1. FACES ON THE WALL 13 2. PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS BUFFALO BILL 26 3. GILDA’S GLOVE 44 4. ANGEL ON MY SHOULDER 57 5. MOGUL 73 6. "YOUNG FELLAH” 93 7. COWARDLY LIONS AND FORGOTTEN MEN 108 8. DANCING IN THE DARK (WITH DiCK POWELL) 126 9. CHILDREN OF PARADISE 141 10. TWO-HEADED MAN 161 11. WILDIES 181 12. THE HOUSE ON NINETY-FIFTH STREET 208 13. MR. FEATHERS 221 14. POISONVILLE 232 15. PILGRIM’S PROGRESS 247 16. THE FIRST EMPEROR 259 NOTES 273 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 290 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 295 INDEX 297 Mingles the author's own life as a moviegoer with the history, romance, and sadness of Hollywood. The author meets Paul Newman, Viveca Lindfors, and Mae Clark, the actress who was the original bride of Frankenstein; and explores Cinecitta, Mussolini's own Hollywood on the Tiber.