Publisher's Synopsis
Once, in years past, there was a thriving factory town called Hollywood. In it were nine or ten large establishments known as studios. In these studios, which were operated by somewhat noisy and aggressive men (and their relatives) who were called producers, was created an interesting form of native handicraft called motion pictures.This so-called business flourished for half a century in Hollywood and then, without warning, it ended. In recent years, scholars have been attempting to collect relics, artifacts and information about Hollywood and the curious people who labored there. Max Wilk, prowling through the ruins with a tape recorder, has, fortunately, been unable to gather much practical information about the movie business. Instead, listening to Nunnally Johnson, Joe Mankiewicz, Jack Benny, George Burns, Donald Ogden Stewart, Sam Goldwyn, Groucho Marx, Goodman Ace, the late and fabled Harry Kurnitz and many others, he has unearthed countless examples of what were called, in the old days, belly laughs. Movie fans will find this book hysterical. Serious students, critics, Film Society faithful and the Cahiers du Cinema crowd will find it historical.
