Bøger af Diana Altman

How did the business of movies grow? Who were the people who made it grow? What innovative twists did mobsters Al Capone and Willie Bioff add? Hollywood East tells the story of how the movies evolved as a business-a business controlled from the Eastern seaboard. As Diana Altman notes, "Hollywood was a pretty face but New York was the heart and lungs." Most film historians concentrate on the Hollywood studios and treat the New York side as an unimportant annoyance to the creative geniuses of Hollywood. In fact, New York ran the whole show, and the geniuses were merely employees as far as New York was concerned. Many of the elements of film art and technology were developed in the East. The screen test was an eastern innovation. James Stewart, Joan Crawford, Ava Gardner, and many other unknown actors who became stars got their start in the Fifty-fourth Street Manhattan studio where MGM screen tests were shot. Hollywood East is the story of Louis B. Mayer from his days as a theater owner in New England through his tenure as studio head at MGM, through his dismissal from the company bearing his name. It is the story of William Fox, the avaricious founder of Fox News (1919), the mightiest newsreel company, and Fox Film which eventually merged with Twentieth Century. At one time Fox sought to control the entire film industry and had a net worth of $100 million. Sent to prison for bribery, he sank into such obscurity that the New York Times referred to him as "the late William Fox" while he was still alive. It is the story of Marcus Loew, the benevolent ruler of the country's largest theater chain. It is the story of Adolph Zukor, Samuel Goldwyn, Cecil B. DeMille, and other pioneers. It's all here: how the stars emerged, how the public relations mills did their jobs, how the moguls put aside their rivalries when they were threatened by adverse publicity. Many of the photographs in the book are from the one-of-a-kind collection of the author's father.

In Theda Bara's Tent follows the adventures of a spirited orphan who makes his way into the burgeoning movie business in the days when the screen was silent and the moguls were just small-time theater owners. Harry Sirkus is so brave and lovable everyone wants to help him including a struggling theater owner named Louis B. Mayer who, at age 22, living in Haverhill, Massachusetts, is years away from being studio head at MGM. Harry runs away from Haverhill at age 13 and must make his way in the world alone. After many adventures and heartbreaking struggles he goes to New York to work for the avaricious William Fox, founder of Fox News, a newsreel company. In his search for love and prosperity, Harry encounters screen stars, Tin Pan Alley song pluggers, bootleggers, dare-devil cameramen, movie moguls, and a young gossip columnist who steals his heart. Rich in historical context, with a cast of characters real and imagined, this page-turner follows Harry Sirkus as he makes a mark in the flourishing film industry and goes on to become a famous news broadcaster. Harry's personality is so captivating and vivid readers will be hard-pressed to remember that the author made him up. Written by Diana Altman who grew up in the movie business, this is fictionalized history at its best.

In the 1950s, when Sonya was fourteen, her glamorous, beautiful mother left her for months, seeking treatment for a "stomach tumor." The secrets surrounding this event haunt Sonya for years. When she finally unravels the lies-the truth is not at all what she expected.