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Samuel Goldwyn was the premier dream-maker of his era, and in this lavishly-praised biography, the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author of Lindbergh and Max Perkins: Editor of Genius offers a life story as rich with drama as anything found on the silver screen...
Paperback: 580 pages
Publisher: Riverhead Books; 1St Edition edition (October 1, 1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1573227234
ISBN-13: 978-1573227230
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.4 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #136,258 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #65 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Movie Directors #158 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Movies > Video > Direction & Production #189 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Movies > Direction & Production
What a story! A remarkably easy to read account of Sam Goldwyn's rags-to-riches life. Did you know "Goldwyn" was not his real name? Did you know he was thrown out of the MGM company after a few years?! Goldwyn worked at some stage or other with just about every famous name in the business, and also fell out with just about everybody he ever met. A cantankerous and perverse character who loved contradicting people. When people quit because he made their lives intolerable, he sometimes felt personally attacked and betrayed. The book is full of colourful characters, and Scott Berg has done a wonderful job of using quotations and dialogues to really bring these people alive: Gary Cooper, Marlon Brando, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Lillian Hellman, William Wyler, Billy Wilder, and the remarkable Hilda Berl. It reads like a movie! By tracing Goldwyn's history, the book also covers the story of many of the other famous movie companies that are still famous today: United Artists, Universal, Paramount, Warner Brothers, RKO and of course MGM. Goldwyn also came across many young actors and actresses before they were stars: Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, David Niven, Marlon Brando, John Wayne, etc. And of course the famous Goldwyn malapropisms are here, though limited to the ones actually traceable (as far as possible) to Goldwyn himself: "Anyone who sees a psychiatrist should have their head examined! Include me out! A verbal agreement isn't worth the paper it's written on," to pick just a few.A remarkably well-written and well-researched biography that brings this vigorous, infuriating, yet oddly attractive ugly duckling to vibrant life. This must rank amongst the best biographies, up there with Ron Chernow's book about the Morgans. Anyone at all interested in movies and movie history will enjoy this.
A most compelling, intricate, mesmerizing, passionate, heartfelt and respectful account of Goldwyn's life! A. Scott Berg has created a profound work as equal an opus to any of Goldwyn's best stuff. The neat thing is that you feel as if you were there - the birth, growing pains and maturity of Hollywood - brutally recreated for our pleasure. Bravo!!
Great book! I enjoyed reading about a man who literally came from poverty to be on of Hollywood's pioneer filmmakers. He was a rough man to work with no doubt, but knew what worked and lasted in an industry that is hard to last in! A. Scott Berg did a wonderful job of writing a respectful book about this man!
Parts of this book are fascinating, like Goldwyn's life as a young man and his emigration to the USA, and start in the motion picture inductry The book suffers from the frequent litanies about so-called movie stars. The most interesting ones were the group who were able to convert from silent to sound movies, and more could have been said about this epoch. Also disappointing was the section on the McCarthy witchunt in the early 1950s. If Maxwell Perkins had edited this book it could have become an outstanding one!Douglas Stuart, PhD, DSc (hc)University of Arizona
I picked this book up at the library not knowing what to expect and was amazed! Although it is indeed a biography of Sam Goldwyn, it is also a very well told piece about the studio system and Hollywood in the first half of the century (with an emphasis on the 20's) Not only insightful but entertaining; it makes for a read more gossipy than the trashiest celeb autobiography while maintaining class and style.I recommend this book to anyone the least bit interested in the classic hollywood days. It is the best book I've read thus far on the era, and it will get you down to the video store hunting down old movies just to see the actors and actresses you've read about.
I had to do a project based on a biography of a person who influenced American history in some way or another. I didn't want anyone else to have the same person as me, so I picked Goldwyn, because he changed history in a more subtle way than the obvious figures (I'm pretty sure I watched 6 presentations on Abraham Lincoln by the time this thing was over).Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was pretty entertaining and described his life well. I was expecting it to be horribly boring because I never read biographies, but this was actually very interesting. I learned a lot about Goldwyn including lesser known things about him, and I was able to create a pretty great project and presentation using this book.
Scott hit home runs with Lindgergh and Hepburn but Goldwyn can only be classified as an unsuccessful bunt. Why Scott chose to bore rhe reader with endless summaries of the movies he was involved with is beyond me. I think it only detracts from the central purpose of any bio ... The LIFE of the subject. I still hope to read his next undertaking.
This true life rags to riches story is worthy of a full length movie itself. Samuel Goldwyn, was one of the earliest and most brilliant immigrants who began the motion picture industry. The characters, unbridled ambition, ruthless behavior, desperate poverty, and fabulous wealth form the backdrop of this truly fascinating biography of Goldwyn. If you have any interest in early Hollywood and its founders you won't find a better book on the subject.
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