Hollywood: An Oral History by Jeanine Basinger/Sam Wasson is a 2022 Harper publication.

Oral history is a hit or miss with me, but if a book is going to cover old Hollywood at all, I can’t seem to resist. While the page count for this book appears daunting, it’s actually very easy to read. There’s no dense text or history. It is exactly what it says- an oral history. (Though some might beg to differ)

The quotes are quite interesting and give the reader a lay of the land during various periods in Hollywood over the years. It also gives one a look at the Hollywood system from the beginning through to the digital age. It does not cover the streaming era, though. Still, it might enlighten those who want to blow off actors’ current complaints, by educating one on how things normally work for them, and it is not at all like what you might expect.

Some of the more surprising passages were those about Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland- two women who were undoubtedly a victim of the Hollywood system- but were not remembered fondly by some people who had to deal with them in moment.

I did not read this book from start to finish like a novel, but browsed through it here and there until I finished it. I will not lie and say I digested every single portion the same way. The authors cover nearly every single aspect of the movie making business- producers, directors, writers, music, actors, and all points in between. Some of these areas were not as interesting as others, and I seldom recognized the names of the people working some of the behind the scenes jobs- so I confess to having skimmed some sections.

Overall, though, this is a well-organized look at the Hollywood system from every angle, told through the eyes, ears and mouths of those who experienced it firsthand.

It’s an interesting book, and it is obvious the authors put a great deal of effort into it. I think it is important to know two things going in- there is no big, long index, no biographies or photographs. It’s strictly interview snippets that apply to the time period- from silents, to talkies, to the studio system, to the 1970s, the big blockbusters, and finally the digital age.

This is what you should expect and nothing- more- or less. It’s comprehensive and so I can’t imagine why it wouldn't be enough for those interested, but of course the lack of bios and index might be frustrating to some readers. Personally, I didn't feel either of those were necessary.

The book is fun, informative, and should appeal to pop culture enthusiasts, historians, and movie lovers of all ages and stripes.

4 stars ( )

The authors have reviewed many interviews from people in the industry, extracted paragraphs of interest, then organized these by topic (e.g. Comedy, Silent Directors, Sound!). Reading a chapter is pretty easy in this format, but reading the book through was more difficult. There is a lot of great stuff here and I enjoyed it a lot, but I have three complaints.
1. This must have been a big undertaking. How hard would it be to add mini-biographies? I recognized many of these people, the stars, the directors, and people like Edith Head, but some I did not know, and I had to guess at their identity from what they were talking about.
2. If mini-biographies were done, there should be figures of these people, especially in a book about the movie industry, unless there are plans to redo this in an illustrated edition.
3. Somewhere in the book there should be a list of the source interviews and the date they were made. ( )

Apart from the author’s intro and outro, this is a wonderful compilation of quotes from big names and the ‘unknown’ behind-the-scenes people. Added together, it makes for a fascinating narrative.

The bulk of material is from the early days through to the 1950s. I found this to be the most entertaining. I watch films from all eras, so I knew many of the old stars who are featured, like comedy genius Harold Lloyd and the wonderful Mary Pickford.

Having mentioned that, Mary is only referred to, not quoted. She’s among several big names who aren’t quoted, plus many others don’t get any mention. Clara Bow, for example, is referred to only once.

This isn’t a case of the author deciding certain stars are unworthy to be remembered. Rather, it’s down to the material she had at her disposal. She mentions at the end how she wishes she had more stars to include, and regrets having to cut many hours’ worth of material. What we have, though, is excellent.

Beforehand, I didn’t think I’d be too interested in the cameramen and other behind-the-scenes people, yet they all add to the fascination of early Hollywood.

My fascination downgrades to interest when we leave the Golden Years and venture into the 1960s. From the 1970s onwards, much of the sparkle has gone, but that’s not to say it’s boring. It does become patchy, though.

In the main, however, this is a superb read. ( )

The “authors”, really editors who add occasional continuity passages, beautifully patch together quotes from Hollywood actors, directors, screenwriters, producers to create a gripping narrative history of the Hollywood film industry from its beginning. What the authors achieve which makes this book remarkable is that the story is able to maintain real drive and that the story is told by those who were there.

Many of the people involved at the start of Hollywood were only names to me, but this history helped to explain their significance and their contribution to the film industry.
I was a child in the 1970’s and so I saw Chaplin and Laurel & Hardy on morning television during the school holidays, I saw “golden age” musicals and westerns from the 1940’s to 1960’s as television matinees on wet Sunday afternoons, and I saw 1970’s and later films at the cinema.
The coverage feels weaker after the 1970’s, perhaps because I lived through that period, but it does try to bring the story up to 2022.
This book provides a fascinating glimpse of that world, and although it is long, it is readable, engaging, funny and entertaining. If you are interested in Hollywood, or popular culture, then this is an excellent read. ( )

The editors of this book—film historian Jeanine Basinger and film chronicler Sam Wasson—have gone through thousands of transcripts of interviews with Hollywood actors, directors, writers, flunkies, producers, etc. who started working in the early twentieth century, up to people who are still working in Hollywood. The film industry.

The book is sectioned into parts like 'Silent actors', 'The studio workforce', 'The end of the system', and 'The deal'. Both Basinger and Wasson contribute by adding contextual passages to make stories flow better.

> **[MERVYN LEROY](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mervyn_LeRoy)**: In those days, anything could happen. If you made a drama, sometimes when you previewed it, it became a comedy. And title writers—if something wasn’t working, they could take a comedy and write a dramatic title and make a drama out of it, and vice versa if it was a drama. You know, when you wrote titles, all you had to do was, when you saw them open their mouths, write a title and stick it in so the audience would know what happened. A lot of good pictures were made that way! It’s true!

The hard thing about these stories is that they're told by people who are deeply engaged. Some stories might be false. Others misremembered. Still, you see certain red threads, threads that are selected and edited by Basinger and Wasson.

Even if you have the most skeptical and critical eye when reading these stories, there's both beauty and horror.

> **[HAL MOHR](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Mohr)**: In those days, when you made a picture, there was no designation of responsibilities. I mean, four or five people would get together and take the script, break it down and talk it out, have story conferences, discuss the thing and make decisions. All of us together. And women, too. Universal sent me out with Ruth Stonehouse. They sent me out with Ruth to be her cutter and to keep her straight on the filming techniques. I was sent out that way with men, too, because I had done directing, photographing, and cutting. I could help. You know, there were women directors then. Besides Ruthie, there were other women directors: Ida May Park, Lois Weber.

> **[LILLIAN GISH](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillian_Gish)**: I directed a picture when I was twenty. With my sister, Dorothy. She was the most talented of the two of us, because she had comedy and wit. I thought I could bring it out as a director. I was too busy acting to do much more directing, but there were many women directors . . . and of course, writers, too . . . in the early years. The opportunity was there for a woman if you wanted it. It changed later, after sound came in, I think.

Things that seem weird now were the norm then.

> **[KING VIDOR](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Vidor)**: I remember that with the silent films, the director was always asking the cameraman, “What speed? What speed are you going?” And they had a little speedometer on the camera. You don’t see that anymore. Films were shot at sixteen frames per second and projected at about eighteen to twenty frames. Charlie Chaplin said to me once, “Nobody ever saw me run around, turn the corner, as I actually do it, because those cameramen would drop down to half speed.” That slow cranking speeded him up double, made him faster. Everyone was constantly utilizing different speeds on the camera to achieve a sense of “hurry up.” Even Griffith did it. In Birth of a Nation, he has horses traveling at seventy miles an hour pulling chariots. After the interlock came in, everything became twenty-four frames per second and it was locked down.

There's a lot of funny anecdotes throughout the book. One example:

> **[RIDGEWAY CALLOW](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0130564/)**: From the point of view of assistant directors, he was indeed a tyrant. He was the most sarcastic man I have ever worked for, and I did several pictures with him in the capacity of “herder.” In the early days of the picture industry—that is, before the formation of the Directors Guild—whenever they filmed mob scenes, “herders” were employed to help out the few assistant directors assigned to the show. Although termed “herders,” they were actually extra assistant directors for crowd control. In productions with complicated action of the extras, one herder was employed for every hundred extras. The biggest use of herders in those lush days, was, of course, DeMille, who specialized in epics with “casts of thousands.” DeMille was a master in mob control. He demanded complete silence when he spoke, so much so that one could hear a pin drop. He was addressing his mob one day when he caught an extra talking to her friend in the background. “When I’m talking, young lady, what do you have to say that’s so important?” The girl in question was a well-known extra by the name of Sugar Geise, an ex-showgirl and a great wit. Bravely, she spoke up. “I only said to my friend, ‘When is that bald-headed son of a bitch going to call lunch?’” There were a few apprehensive seconds of silence. Then Mr. DeMille yelled, “LUNCH!” So he did have a sense of humor.

Then there are origin stories:

> **[RICHARD SYLBERT](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Sylbert)**: William Cameron Menzies was the greatest designer that ever lived, the father of the words production design. He didn’t invent that title. David O. Selznick gave it to him. He wanted to bring him in to do the designs for Gone with the Wind. And there was already an art director on the film, so they asked Selznick, “What are you going to call him? Art Director Two?” He said, “No, no, we’ll call him the production designer.” That’s where the term came from.

From the Hollywood of old to the 1970s:

> **[PAUL SCHRADER](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Schrader)**: In Japan, if a man cracks up, he closes the window and kills himself. In America, if a man cracks up, he opens the window to kill somebody else. And that’s what’s happening in Taxi Driver.

Money started flowing in; film studios started becoming banks more than creative pots.

> **[MEL BROOKS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Brooks)**: I don’t want to give twenty-five points to a star. For what? They’re only there for three weeks. I’m there for two years.

>**[JOHN PTAK](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0699668/)**: Columbia is one of the last studios to be taken over and run by corporate thinking. The rest of the studios are really very large corporations that are in many businesses, especially Universal, which even owns a savings and loan.
>
>**[SUE MENGERS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sue_Mengers)**: Therefore they’re not as adventurous as they were when they were going through their youth syndrome.
>
>**JOHN PTAK**: In 1936, Warner Bros. made sixty pictures. In 1940, they made forty-five. In 1950, they made twenty-eight. And in the last twelve years, it’s vacillated between thirteen and twenty-two.
>
>**[DAVID PUTTNAM](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Puttnam)**: And I see the day when a lot of the things that I treasured as a kid have ceased to exist, because they don’t make any economic sense in a worldwide corporate environment.

> **[JACK NICHOLSON](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Nicholson)**: Anybody who had a pancake at the International House of Pancakes on Sunset when it first opened and then goes there today understands why conglomeration deteriorates the quality of the product.

All in all, this book is a look back at highlights and lowlights that are related to Hollywood. There's loads of industry talk in this book, funny recollections, bad memories, and overall, a lot of witty comments. It's a long laugh. Should be, the book is almost 800 pages long.

Keep a cool head as you're reading it, and you'll get a lot of insight. Film students probably know most of this already, but there's enchantment to hear straight from the mouths of people who were and are *there*. ( )