Hollywood at Play

It's A Photo Shoot. Somebody Find Me A Scotty Dog!!

This kind of book is just catnip. Posed photos of Golden Era movie stars "at play". As stars like Dick Powell, John Garfield, Vincent Price and Betty Grable, and even really big names like Bogart, begin to fade from memory it's important, at least to me, to keep them still in mind. It helps if the curator has a sense of humor about the whole thing, and I doubt it was an accident that the first four star photos all featured a star with his or her special Scotty dog pet. Do you really think of Bette Davis as a "dog person"?

Anyway, apart from histories of Hollywood's greatest bars, restaurants and watering holes, the next best thing is stars cavorting around pools. (As to the former, nothing beats Mark Bailey's "Of All the Gin Joints: Stumbling Through Hollywood History", which would be perfect paired with this book.)

The photos are a gift wrapped nostalgia parade. Of course, we have the stars. But look behind and around them, too. Banquet tables loaded with "Old Crow" bourbon bottles and littered with ashtrays and crushed red Pall Mall unfiltered cigarette packs. Argyle socks, half inch wide belts, fedoras, and more Lionel "Prairie Steamer" train sets and celebrity dads than you would have thought possible. (As a sort of bonus there are also shots of memorabilia like old hotel adverts, playbills, advertisements for various Hollywood attractions, matchbook covers from the old nightclubs, and that sort of thing.)

The authors describe this as a "celebration of celebrity and simpler times", and it does seem like this was a simpler, milder, and more comfortable celebrity culture than we have now. To be fair, the authors freely acknowledge that this classic-era, (1925-1960), Hollywood has been sanitized here for your viewing pleasure, with all of the nasty and unjust bits swept under the carpet. Sure, these images were staged, and were intended to serve ulterior purposes - maintain a sense of glamour, paper over trouble with marriages and kids, deflect attention from various indiscretions or problems with those "Old Crow" bottles. But, we are wisely reminded that these photos, at heart, capture the time's prevailing idea of play and relaxation and escape, (including, apparently, bowling and playing golf in high heels).

So, read the book as a collection of metaphors of how we wanted life to be, or read it as something of a coded historical document, or just look at it as an unashamed and affectionate nostalgia piece. If you grew up with these people as your entertainers and as your celebrities, you might be surprised by how many memories a book like this can trigger.

And as I said, as these sorts of books go this one is thorough and good-natured, but also just a touch ironic and just a bit edgy, because it is at bottom and ultimately a collection of dreams, and dreams are just such tricky stuff.

(Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

if you like old Hollywood this is the book for you. I was enthralled by these photos and movie descriptions of the actors and actresses. Seeing them all younger was such a treat.

I love books, I love old photographs, and I absolutely love old Hollywood movie stars. Anyone who says they don't know what to get me as gifts must not know books like this exist
It's one of my favorite things.

Debbie Reynolds with Lucille Ball, Jane Russell with Vincent Price, Judy Garland and Elizabeth Taylor. Pairings that I probably never would have imagined.
Seeing everyone outside of a movie set just being natural, hanging out with friends is the greatest thing. It made them so real. No role, no act, just absolute Hollywood glamour.

I'm a believer that everything (and one) was so much prettier than now, I don't know what it is but there's something special to me about that time. The way everyone dressed, the way they did things and just the simplicity of the little things.

It was so much fun looking through the pictures in this book and reading some background on the actors themselves. There's something kind of magical about being able to take a look back at the world of something that seems so long ago.
I just loved it so much.

Rarely seen pictures of such legendary stars as Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Marilyn Monroe, etc, etc, too many, just how many memories a book like this can make, do and I grew up in the 70's but loved these actors/actresses. Just to know their lifestyles back then, history. They don't make Stars like they use too. Not the same. Very enjoying book. Strongly recommend.

Received a free copy for honest review, and really enjoyed this book by Netgalley. Thank you.

I love books, I love old photographs, and I absolutely love old Hollywood movie stars.