"There's No Business Like Show Business!"

     The stories you see on your movie and television screens often pale in comparison to the behind the scenes tales of insanity, excess, power, greed, corruption, good, and evil that you don't see on screen. The early Hollywood movie making scene and the early days of television in New York and Hollywood are full of great stories that often make for great books.

    Julian David Stone started out in show biz as a rock and roll photographer and then became a director and screenwriter. He's also written a couple of enjoyable books about the early days of the screen. The Strange Birth, Short Life, and Sudden Death of Justice Girl takes the reader into the earliest days of tv, the early 1950s, the days of live television and several competing networks. The protagonist is a writer for a comedy show on a struggling small network, on its last legs. Because of the Red Scare and his association with blacklisted writers, he's fired. As a last gesture of defiance, he decides to sabotage the show by creating an inane character called Justice Girl and inserting her into the wrong sketch on the show. Lo and behold, she's a hit, and the network demands more.  Our hero has no idea that the actress playing Justice Girl is working undercover to root out the commies in tv and boost her father's political career. Justice Girl becomes larger than either expected and takes on a life of her own.  

    Stone's most recent book is It's Alive!, set during the couple of weeks before Universal Pictures starts production of the 1931 movie classic "Frankenstein." Following the blockbuster "Dracula," starring Bela Lugosi. "Frankenstein" propelled Universal to the top, launching Boris Karloff into stardom and leading to a whole franchise of classic monster movies. This time, the protagonist is Junior Laemmie, de facto head of the studio, after his father relaxed the reins. It was Junior who released "Dracula," and it was huge, despite his father's disapproval. Now, his father returns to the studio, planning to stop "Frankenstein" before it begins filming. So a father-son battle ensues, but there is also a competition between Bela Lugosi and relative newcomer Boris Karloff, both of whom want the role of Frankenstein's monster.  It makes for a great story.

    Let's go back a few year's to William Mann's Tinseltown, published in 2014, and set during the Roaring Twenties in Los Angeles. If you like narrative nonfiction and true crime, you will enjoy this non fiction work about the murder of William Desmond Taylor, noted director and producer and president of the Motion Picture Directors Association. The murder is still officially unsolved, but Mann lays out his theory, using many sources, including recently released FBI files. Along the way, he paints Hollywood as a place where starlets, moviemakers, and studio heads will do just about anything to get on top, and drugs, sex, violence and cover-ups are never too far out of the picture.

    I LOVE MEL BROOKS! It will be an incredibly sad day when the 96 year old superstar comedian, writer, director, and producer dies. Last year, he published his autobiography, All About Me! Now, I've pretty much seen and read almost all of his interviews and have heard a lot of stories multiple times, but this book is still fantastic. And of course, the Audiobook, narrated by Brooks, is even so much awesome-r. (Come to think of it, I listened to all of these books.) He covers his entire life and goes into great detail about each project and how it came into being. This book is a master class on creativity, comedy, directing, producing, and just simply being an outstanding human being. There is no man on earth who is more supportive of his friends and collaborators, and that shows through in his work. I loved every second of the book, and I really want to watch all of his movies again.

My Favorite Reads of 2021

     I fell behind my reading mark a little this year, on track to reading 35-40 books by the end of the year. Now, it's time to look back on my favorite reads of the year. As it turns out, my favorites all reflect a unique way of looking at things. Here they are, in no particular order.

    

    Americanon: An Unexpected U.S. History In Thirteen Bestselling Books by Jess McHugh examines 13 bestselling American nonfiction books and their history and legacy. The books include the Old Farmer's Almanac, Noah Webster's Dictionary and Spellers, Emily Post's Etiquette, How to Win Friends and Influence People, The McGuffey Readers, Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography, Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook, and Everything You Always Wanted Know About Sex. They each had a major impact on American culture when they were first published, and many are still printed, updated, and selling copies today. Each one has sold more copies over the years than the best selling novels in American history. (And many of them pass through multiple hands, especially Webster's and McGuffey's schoolbooks, exponentially increasing their reach and readership.) McHugh calls them "how-to" books because they were all designed to solve a problem or problems that the authors saw in their America, and each one had a very definite agenda, to improve American society.  She has created a list of books that are truly part of the American canon, books that reflected and molded an American identity, still impacting us today.

    In Travels With George, author Nathaniel Philbrick and his wife follow in the footsteps of George Washington's travels through the original 13 states during his presidency. Washington wanted to visit each state in order to thank the people for their support and to personally see and hear the sights and sounds of the brand new country over which he presided. Philbrick includes a lot of history, and it's fun to read the stories of Washington's visits and to see how they are remembered and commemorated today. Along the way, Philbrick meets interesting historic interpreters, archivists, and local historians and reflects on the evolution of the legacy of Washington.

    Since moving to Florida in 2020, I've made it a point to read books about Florida history and to experience the history of my new home. Journalist Craig Pittman, a rarity - a native Floridian, has made a career writing about Florida people and Florida issues. This year, he published a collection of his past stories and essays about "Florida Men, Florida Women, and Other Wildlife" in his book The State You're In.  There are 51 stories of people (and animals) who have made Florida what it is. There are criminals, victims, writers, environmentalists, developers - people of all walks of life.  Pittman's style is unique, insightful, and witty, always a pleasure to read, but always informative and educational.

    Speaking of unique, The Course of History: Ten Meals That Changed the World is a totally new and unique way of looking at history, especially for someone like me who loves history and food.  The authors look at 10  major events in history, including the Camp David Accords, Nixon's trip to China, the Tehran Conference of the Big Three, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and the Congress of Vienna, but they look at each event through the prism of a meal connected with each event. Each event is discussed in detail and put into the context of world history, but they also go into great detail about the big meal served during the event, describing its significance, even including the menu and the recipes. It's great fun, and I learned a lot of history too. And it reminds me of a culminating assignment I often assigned in American and European history; students were required to create a dinner party of historical figures, designing the venue, décor, and menu and explaining what happened and why they invited each guest. (Look for a future  Histocrats classroom blog on that assignment.)

    We Had a Little Real Estate Problem by Kliph Nesteroff may be my favorite read of the year. The cover calls it the "story of Native Americans & comedy," but it is so much more. It's a book about Native American History in general and about the common misconception that Native Americans are always  humorless and solemn. That misconception comes from more than a century of  perpetuated stereotypes and racism in pop culture. Nesteroff tells the story of contemporary Native American actors, stand up comedians, and sketch comedians as well as legendary past performers like Will Rogers who worked, and are working, to not only build a career in entertainment, but also to shatter those misconceptions and stereotypes. Nesteroff is a great historian of comedy, having previously written The Comedians, a thorough history of 20th century comedy.  This is a must read book if you enjoy Native American history and/or the history of comedy/entertainment.