The Hollywood StoryThis fully revised and updated edition of an award-winning classic traces the history of Hollywood from the silent era to the present day. The Hollywood Storycomprehensively covers every aspect of movie-making in America, taking in nickelodeans, drive-ins and multiplexes; the transition from silent to sound, black and white to color; the relationships of producers, directors, stars and technicians; and the function and output of the studios - their major hits and most expensive flops. |
Contents
| 13 | |
| 36 | |
| 51 | |
| 65 | |
| 79 | |
Fox | 109 |
MGM | 140 |
Paramount | 173 |
United Artists | 232 |
Universal | 256 |
Warner Bros | 283 |
Disney | 317 |
PART THREE THE FACTS AND FIGURES | 335 |
Box Office Hits | 356 |
Bibliography | 383 |
RKO | 209 |
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Common terms and phrases
actor addition American appeared arrived art director awards became began beginning Best Picture Bette Davis black-and-white box office cameramen changes Charles chief cinema CinemaScope colour Columbia comedy continued contract contributed cost costume David designers developed directed director Disney distribution early earned Edward example expensive fact film finally followed four Frank George Goldwyn Harry headed Hollywood important independent industry interest Jack James John Joseph Joseph Schenck King late later leading less major marked Mary million movie musicals nominated Oscar Paramount peak period played popular production profits reflected relatively released Richard Robert role running screen shorts signed soon sound stars Steven Spielberg Story studio success Technicolor throughout took turned Univ Universal Warner Bros westerns winners York young
Popular passages
Page 87 - Every Friday the front door opens and I spit a movie out into Gower Street. ... I want one good picture a year [usually made by Frank Capra]. That's my policy. . . . And I won't let an exhibitor have it unless he takes the bread-andbutter product, the Boston Blackies, the Blondies, the lowbudget Westerns and the rest of the junk we...
Page 101 - Lady for a Day, It Happened One Night, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Lost Horizon, You Can't Take It With You, Mr.
Page 150 - WILLIAM CAMERON MENZIES for outstanding achievement in the use of color for the enhancement of dramatic mood in the production of Gone With the Wind...
Page 66 - TO WARNER BROS, for producing The Jazz Singer, the pioneer outstanding talking picture, which has revolutionized the industry...
Page 304 - Warners never made you feel you were just a member of the cast. They might star you in one movie and give you a bit part in the next ... You were still well paid and you didn't get a star complex.
Page 141 - I remember Mr. Mayer saying to me, 'If it's an MGM film, it has to look like an MGM film...
Page 320 - Disneyland will be something of a fair, an exhibition, a playground, a community center, a museum of living facts, and a showplace of beauty and magic.
Page 141 - Some writers have implied that Mayer was tyrannical and abusive, and a male prima donna who outacted his actors. As I knew him, he was kind, fatherly, understanding, and protective. He gave me picture assignments up to the level that my abilities could sustain at the time, and was always there when I had problems.
Page 7 - ... maximum potential in subsequent arenas. Cinema exhibition accounts for a relatively small proportion of the revenues earned by Hollywood features, a total of about 26 per cent in the late 1990s and early 2000s, according to Screen Digest.5* This does not mean cinema exhibition is unimportant, however. Release in the cinema remains the biggest stage on which to display Hollywood's wares. It is the most prestigious part of the life-cycle of Hollywood entertainment. Success in the cinema is what...
Page 271 - You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (1939), My Little Chickadee (1940), The Bank Dick ( 1940), and Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941)— his...