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Movie Profiles & Premiums Volume
3, Number 13. July 31, 2005 I've created a sign-up box on the Auction Notes Sample page, so anybody who's interested in receiving that weekly bulletin no longer needs to email me direct, they can just fill out the brief form themselves to sign-up. For interested collectors, here are the key links to my items currently for sale: eBay Store (5,000+ listings at this time!) On to our show, in summary, here are the opening credits... I want to apologize for there not being any
images accompanying Diana's review of Nosferatu. Diana will often supply
images from her own collection, but somehow between the two of us neither one
had anything appropriate for her article! There doesn't seem to be a
wealth of 1920's German items out there, so sorry, no scary Max Schreck shots
for you here! There are plenty of images on Tammy's Silent Collection page
covering Mary Miles Minter (another request from me, thank you Tammy for being
so flexible!). Along with those two articles are a brand new
crossword puzzle from Carly Svamvour plus three new Photo ID Guides filled with
images of items I've recently acquired and placed for sale. By Spencer Shannon-(AFI member/Variety's
"Oscar-Oracle!")
1) "M-G-M: When the Lion Roars" by Peter May. Not
to be confused with "The MGM Story" This book is also my personal
all-around runner-up favorite to TCM Host Robert Osborne's "75yrs. of
OSCAR." MGM: When the Lion Roars was also made into a tremendous 1992
6 hour documentary which first aired on PBS. TCM now airs it
very-often (don't know if it's as yet on dvd/video?). Both the book &
the 6 hour companion-piece special are must have items!)
2) "Movies We Love - 100 Collectible Classics" By
"Sin-City" writer: Frank Miller of all people! Forward by Robert Osborne. This
is among few items I was able to purchase from TCM's now defunct store.
This book covers mostly MGM/WB's & RKO films from the 1920's-40's with a few
from the 1950's as well. A superb book, that needs a sequel!
3) "The Great Movie Stars: The Golden Years" by David
Shipman. A fellow TCM-ite (Mongo) tipped me onto this and yes, it's
another must have! I cannot stress strongly enough as to just how much
and how well this covers of the glorious stars of that era (plus, the silent
era as well). To name a few heavyweights: *Gable, *Tracy, *Bogie,
*Cooper, *Kate, *Davis, *Crawford, W. Powell & Myrna Loy, W.C. Fields, Chaney,
Sr., J. Barrymore, Marx Bros., *Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, Fred & *Ginger & of
course, Garbo! Many more! P.S. I was able to get this online at only
about $11
4) "Hollywood Is A Four Letter Town" by legendary James
Bacon (who's still alive at the age of 91) in 1976. (This is another one
that I found online & at only about $7 bucks!) Most film historians know
of Jim Bacon. He does not gossip here. This amazingly lucky journalist,
got to hang-out with the likes of: *Brando, *Gary Cooper, William Claude
Dukenfield (W.C. Fields), McQueen, *"Duke" Wayne, Mitchum, Groucho Marx,
Marilyn-(a very personal story with MM!), *Bogie & Bacall, *Spencer Tracy
(plus, a famous incident involving him & *Kate Hepburn). Bacon has also
acted in lots of flix himself, including "Planet of the Apes" & was as close
as a columnist can get to Howard Hughes!
5) "The It's a Wonderful Life Book!" by Jeanine Basinger & Leonard Maltin assisted, as did legendary *Frank Capra! This is a terrific book including tons of pix, entire script, etc.
Honorable Mention:
"David O. Selznick's HOLLYWOOD" by Ronald Haver.
Listing this due to fact that this book is the single most massive (like his
own *"GWTW") of all my library. Arguably, the largest coffee table book I have
even seen too!)
Now what do others have? Well, as for me there are some books that I'm quite passionate about. I'm a bit of a bibliophile in general as boxes upon boxes of books in the attic can attest for me, but I do try and keep a dozen or so film related titles out on the shelf. I just finished reading a great biography this week, "Pickford: The Woman Who Made Hollywood" by Eileen Whitefield (1997) does not only an incredible job covering Mary Pickford, it gives a great history of early film, especially from about 1912-early 1930's. A similar type bio that is equally well-done would be "Goldwyn: A Biography" by A. Scott Berg. Coincidentally enough I just caught the two-hour documentary based on this book on PBS last weekend. I have to mention the classic "The Parade's Gone By" by Kevin Brownlow (1968), it's a book I'm willing to bet most of you have. For those who don't it's an extraordinary peek at the behind the camera workings during the silent era as well as a look at some of the biggest stars of the time. 1994's "Seductive Cinema: The Art of Silent Film" by James Card is a great history of early film with entire chapters dedicated to DeMille, von Sternberg, King Vidor and Monta Bell. Finally a fun book with many biographical entries is "Silent Players" by Anthony Slide (2002). One hundred silent film actors and actresses are covered, all with accompanying photos. Slide writes pretty gossipy stuff, but it's all interesting. There you go, and into the time tunnel we go: As always feel free to e-mail any thoughts or ideas
to us at
things@things-and-other-stuff.com, we're always
willing to listen.
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