Betsy A. McLane
An unsettling sense of melancholy nostalgia connects two very different new books. The author wrote about Hollywood’s past and, despite the fun moments, both books recall the now lost world of action.
Gail Crowther and “The Treasures of the Lens” by Marc Wanamaker and Steven Bingen ) and Steven Bingen’s Treasures of the Lens include “The Classic Hollywood Success Story” whose success later fades out of charm. Crowther’s is a skilled biographical narrative with only one photo on the cover. Wanamaker/Bingen’s is similarly full of facts, but is almost entirely made of photos. It is over 20 extraordinary Southern California picture books from the Wanamaker series. Although the naked open air is not a huge tragic work, their theme (past days portraits) seems to be the same, and sadly, quaint. The aura they crave on their pages is deeper than the word “Hollywood” in their title.
For those who care about Hollywood history, Marc Wanamaker and Dorothy Parker are both resonant names. Although Parker had a solid position in the pantheon of 20th-century American literature, Wanamaker’s popularity was limited to a group of smaller intellectuals, and each type of famous person was legendary in his own way. On Wikipedia, he was described as “Marc Norman Wanamaker (born October 1, 1947 in Los Angeles)” and was “the founder of the Bison Archives, a study of the film industry.” Mrs. Parker’s entry noted Dorothy Parker (Née Rothschild; August 22, 1893 to June 7, 1967) was a writer of American novels, dramas, dramas, and scripts; she was known for her harsh attitude, and notes Looking at the vulnerability of the 20th century. “Each of these descriptions is an understatement. Wanamaker’s work is crucial to retaining the look and work of Hollywood. Parker’s can engage readers in urban life in the United States from the 1920s to the early 1940s.
There has been a lot of talk about Parker. There is a documentary, “The Ten Years Lunch: The Wisdom and Legend of the Algonquin Round Table” (1984), directed by Aviva Slesin, and also features a novel, “Parker and the Vicious Cycle ” (1994) directed by Alan Rudolph and starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, it introduces all aspects of Dorothy Parker’s life. There are many books and articles about her work, which are still very popular today. However, “Dorothy Parker of Hollywood” is the first to dissect the book Parker wrote about the movie. Wanamaker’s personal life has not been introduced yet, but he knows it to everyone who wants to learn about Hollywood history behind the scenes. His bison archive collection includes thousands of photos, many of which are very rare, and is now located in the Margaret Herrick Library in the School of Film Arts and Sciences. These books are very different, but if readers look closely, Wanamaker and Bingen provide a visual context for the stories told by Crowther.
When “The Talking Picture” took over in the early 1930s, Dorothy Parker was one of many writers recruited by the film studio to meet the sound needs. In particular, producers want people who can write conversations, and Parker’s satire and quotes are known. Her poetry and short stories are known for that kind of lively liner and thorny observation that may make the movie worth listening to. This is the poem “learning from experience”:
When you swear you are his, you shivered and sighed.
He swears that his passion is infinite and immortal-
The lady wrote down this:
One of you is lying.
She is also known for her devastating verbal barbs filmed for everyone she knows. These become particularly cruel when Parker drinks a lot of daily Parker. She often later regretted the pain caused by her words, but remorse did not stop her from drinking or attacking.
The current book details Parker’s many drunken plots in Los Angeles and their ugly days’ consequences. (The book’s description of nightlife in the coconut woods of the Ambassador’s Hotel is reflected in the photo of “Hollywood behind the camera.”) Crowther tried to analyze why Parker drank. These are all difficult to determine, because there is little record of Parker’s book review feeling except for what is collected from her public works. She destroyed letters and souvenirs before her death, so Crowther was forced to rely on other people’s accounts, public records, and observations of the way contemporary society sees a very successful female writer. In Dorothy Parker’s case, that was shocking.
In the first half of the 20th century, there was little discussion about female alcoholism, probably because her romantic partner and others in her social circles also drank a lot of people, and she made quality works that made money and few people faced her. Crowther attributes Parker’s misconduct to her deep insecurity and dependence on good-looking men. The book emphasizes Parker’s lack of confidence and reiterates the way she minimizes and demeans her writing. Depression rises from reading about how this little, smart and successful woman despises herself for reasons. Crowther captures this fascinating story. Parker is famous; her books always sell well, and she is the star of the infamous cocktail-style literary lunch at the Rose Room of the Algonquin Hotel in New York.
Parker was the darling of the city’s roaring 1920s Café Society, and her name carries the kind of reputation that Hollywood bought in the early 1930s. Like many writers, including her dear friend and Algonquin luncheon Robert Benchley, she was convinced by the huge salary offered by the studio. In 1937, she and her writing partner (and husband) Alan Campbell shared a salary of $5,000 per week.
Even so, Parker notoriously hated Hollywood and said, “I can’t talk about Hollywood. When I was there, it was horrible to me, and looking back it was horrible. I can’t imagine how I did it. . When I got rid of it, I couldn’t even refer to this place by name. “There,” I called it.” Like some other literary figures from the 1920s, Scott Fitzgerald (Scott) Fitzgerald, Nathaniel West and John Howard Lawson with John Howard Lawson and John Howard Lawson. Parker’s financial situation is usually a mess. She made huge money, she spent a lot of money on herself and her social causes, which was crucial to her. She was passionate about donating money to people who contributed to poor and disenfranchised, actively re-established in the 1930s in the 1930s Inspired the American Writers Association and even went to Spain to support the popular front in the Spanish Civil War. According to Claut, Parker believed that as long as she supported the political cause she believed in, as well as her capacity, there was no irony. Living a luxurious lifestyle. Her left-leaning action later made her the target of anti-communist investigations, but she survived the worst horrors on the blacklist.
Despite her close identities with New York, Parker has been temporary for most of her life. Crowther documented many of Parker’s moves in Hollywood, New York City, Europe and the farms she and Alan Campbell bought in Pennsylvania. Crowther’s excellent research made many places where Parker lived while in Los Angeles very concerned. Apparently, she never found a house that suited her there. Particularly interesting is Parker’s first Los Angeles residence, the description of Parker’s Gardens on Sunset Strip, where Parker and her husband attend a noisy night party in Robert Bechley’s bungalow. There, her behavior was viewed and written by National Joint Gossip Columnist (including Sheilah Graham, the lover of Scott Fitzgerald). Crowther quotes Graham about Parker: “She is the most unpredictable woman I’ve ever seen in my life…. I realize she is a very unhappy woman. Living in tears, the only way to live with yourself is to murder everyone else with harsh words.”
“Hollywood Behind the Hollywood Lens” learns the area well in 1938’s Schwab Pharmacy Photos, which are all over Crescent Heights Avenue. From Ala Gardens. This place provided most of the wine and food for the residents of the Arra Gardens, as was later done for the Marmont Castle, which was built on Schwab’s Street.
Analyzing Parker’s contribution to the film is just as difficult as fixing her real motivation. Her contribution is certain; she earned 32 screen points, was not involved, and there are at least 6 releases. She and Campbell were nominated for Best Screenplay for the Academy Awards (from 1932’s “The Stars” (1937) by William Wellman Directed by, he shared the Oscars with Robert Carson to get the best original story of Robert Carson. Carson is also considered the writer of the script, and it is in the way the studio system is, This is this confusion with the writer, among other frustrations, which angers many of them.
Gail Crowther’s research is thorough and supported by many footnotes and extensive bibliography, but her book is disappointed by the lack of film analysis. Even if it is nearly impossible to determine what writer (or producer or director) wrote for studio films of this era, there may be more mention of the key to acting, director, editing, studio style, sound or financial pictures. result.
In contrast, Wanamaker and Bingen’s book is all about how movies use techniques and fantasies to make magic. For example, Margot Kidder and Christopher Reeve were seen installing on devices that made Superman “fly”.
Crowther does designate some delicate conversations as Parker’s, who discusses Parker and Campbell’s work as a team, but the focus of the book is Lady Dorothy ·Dorothy Parker. Crowther’s most inspiring image of Hollywood is her seductive description of the studio’s male-dominated writers’ meeting, where Parker (hired as the great wit of New York) sits on weaving.
Parker is a lasting literary work in American culture. Even in November 2024, The New Yorker published Parker’s derogatory view in the Hollywood era: “Although she did her best to kill a successful writing career in alcohol and Hollywood, Parker’s legacy is like Arizona’s. Heritage (Pearl Harbor USS Memorial): The shallow water that lasts, grandes and perpetuates other people’s prose.”
Wanamaker lives and works exactly the opposite; over the past 100 years, he has collected fragments leaked from Hollywood and kept them so that they can be reused and studied. In this way, his contribution to understanding American pop culture can be seen as valuable as Parker’s writing. Everyone has witnessed the victory, tragedy and farce of the past century.
But despite Steven Spielberg’s stupidity of revealing the jaws of his mechanical shark, and the 1934 irony of The Los Angeles Times, calling Parker “the most dangerous in the country.” Women”, but these books are incredible. The smartest thing of both is the existence of the carbon arc of the kleig lamp, which is the glare of endless streaming content today and the acuity of places like Las Vegas spheres.
Hollywood behind the camera: Treasure
Excerpted from “Bison Archives: Marc Wanamaker” and “Steven Bingen” – 226 pages – Rome and Litfield Press, 2024
Dorothy Parker of Hollywood – Gail Crowther – 291 pages – Gallery Book, 2024, Betsy A. McLane is a freelance writer
and documentary experts.
