The Prints Of Hollywood, Enjoyable Read
Posted by Roger Hitts on Apr 5, 2009 - 4:26:46 PM
BEVERLY HILLS—Imagine a world in which men in sinister suits and fiendish fedoras round up men and women based nearly solely on their looks, hand them binding contracts requiring them to become different people four to six times a year, paying them what amounts to a stockbroker’s lunch tab. Just so they don’t get out of hand, doppelgangers are hired to let them know they can be replaced. And if they squawk too much, they are banished and branded with a Scarlet A.
It’s an Orwellian scenario for sure, or the makings of a great cult classic sci-fi film. But it was actually the studio contract system Hollywood operated on for decades, a point driven home in exquisite detail in writer Tommy Garrett’s latest, and best, Tinseltown offering, "The Prints of Classic Hollywood."
Photo Courtesy:Bear Manor Publishing
Garrett’s newest page-turner is crammed with more than 200 photographs of actors from the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood, a term that refers more to the studio reaping profits than what the actors actually experienced. Some of the stars would be recognizable in the dark; others may make movie fans, especially younger ones, scratch their heads.
But what amazed me most in seeing these stars staring back at me in their studio publicity shots is the feeling of looking at ghosts, even though a full half of the actors pictured are very much alive. Even the fact that these publicity stills were once common tender, and likely the only place many of these stars were seen outside their movie and TV work, smacks not only of another era, but, indeed, another world.
Do the stars of today even do these glamorous headshots anymore? The likes of Tom Cruise, Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt and Sandra Bullock are now hounded and photographed getting their morning coffee, going out to dinner, fetching their dry cleaning. A film world that was once so controlled now seems up for grabs for any of the general public to ogle, making Garrett’s impressive collection of photos from his personal Hollywood library all the more fascinating.
But it’s Garrett’s notations, and impeccable eye for detail (obviously a labor of love) that makes "Prints of Classic Hollywood" sing. Among the more famous, Katherine Hepburn’s and Bette Davis’s legendary struggles with the studio system are detailed, along with the curious case of Lee Grant, who was actually blacklisted and kept from working her craft.
Not to say Garrett’s book is always such dour stuff. More than anyone working in chronicling old Hollywood today, Garrett’s work is a combination of the historical and personal. It may seem odd to have Paul Newman granted a couple of paragraphs in a Hollywood book— while Tab Hunter gets a whole chapter! But it’s the appeal of the idiosyncratic Garrett, who gives more attention to the people who have actually touched his life— many of whom he has represented as a PR agent. It’s not that the household names receive short-thrift; but stars which no longer necessarily shine in the mind’s eye are brought back to vivid life.
It’s a wonderful trip down memory lane looking at gorgeous old black and white stills of the likes of Newman, Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor and Grace Kelly. Even more fascinating is seeing pictures of Luise Rainer, the first back-to-back Oscar-winning actor but whose name has dimmed from memories. She joins the likes of Deanna Durbin, Jeff Chandler and John Agar as major stars of their day whose names have dimmed with time. Other actors featured in Prints of Classic Hollywood, such as old oater actors Peter Brown and Ty Hardin and original scream queen Jane Addams, may never have received their due during their acting careers, but Garrett makes amends for that now.
Also adding a most personal feel to the book are the actor’s inscriptions to Garrett on their photos. The fondness stars’ have for Garrett is in evidence—Newman wishes Garrett the best, and Hugh O’Brien wishes happiness. Edd ``Kookie” Byrnes goes for the punch line, inscribing a photo of himself dining with Sandra Dee and a serious-looking Frank Sinatra, ``Tommy can’t make it tonight, Frank, don’t get mad!”
It’s also fun to look at the old stars and play the guessing game of who might be their matches today—for example, in looking at the aforementioned Lee Grant in her youth, I think she is a dead ringer for current TV actress Vanessa Marcil!
"Prints of Classic Hollywood", by virtue of its picture-intensive format and Garrett’s tight, economical style of writing, can be finished in a breezy two hours. I suspect, however, many readers like me will find themselves lingering over the photographs of Sophia Loren, Heddy Lamar and Rudolph Valentino. It may be a flight of fancy, but I almost find myself playing interviewer to those photos, asking, ``Were you happy then?”
If pictures could talk, I’m sure I’d received a mixed response to that question. Regardless, Garrett succeeded in putting a smile on my face, and even made me wistful for a period in American history I wasn’t around to experience.
