Jeanine Basinger

Hollywood: An Oral History by Jeanine Basinger/Sam Wasson is a 2022 Harper publication.

Oral history is a hit or miss with me, but if a book is going to cover old Hollywood at all, I can’t seem to resist. While the page count for this book appears daunting, it’s actually very easy to read. There’s no dense text or history. It is exactly what it says- an oral history. (Though some might beg to differ)

The quotes are quite interesting and give the reader a lay of the land during various periods in Hollywood over the years. It also gives one a look at the Hollywood system from the beginning through to the digital age. It does not cover the streaming era, though. Still, it might enlighten those who want to blow off actors’ current complaints, by educating one on how things normally work for them, and it is not at all like what you might expect.

Some of the more surprising passages were those about Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland- two women who were undoubtedly a victim of the Hollywood system- but were not remembered fondly by some people who had to deal with them in moment.

I did not read this book from start to finish like a novel, but browsed through it here and there until I finished it. I will not lie and say I digested every single portion the same way. The authors cover nearly every single aspect of the movie making business- producers, directors, writers, music, actors, and all points in between. Some of these areas were not as interesting as others, and I seldom recognized the names of the people working some of the behind the scenes jobs- so I confess to having skimmed some sections.

Overall, though, this is a well-organized look at the Hollywood system from every angle, told through the eyes, ears and mouths of those who experienced it firsthand.

It’s an interesting book, and it is obvious the authors put a great deal of effort into it. I think it is important to know two things going in- there is no big, long index, no biographies or photographs. It’s strictly interview snippets that apply to the time period- from silents, to talkies, to the studio system, to the 1970s, the big blockbusters, and finally the digital age.

This is what you should expect and nothing- more- or less. It’s comprehensive and so I can’t imagine why it wouldn't be enough for those interested, but of course the lack of bios and index might be frustrating to some readers. Personally, I didn't feel either of those were necessary.

The book is fun, informative, and should appeal to pop culture enthusiasts, historians, and movie lovers of all ages and stripes.

4 stars… (meer)

The authors have reviewed many interviews from people in the industry, extracted paragraphs of interest, then organized these by topic (e.g. Comedy, Silent Directors, Sound!). Reading a chapter is pretty easy in this format, but reading the book through was more difficult. There is a lot of great stuff here and I enjoyed it a lot, but I have three complaints.
1. This must have been a big undertaking. How hard would it be to add mini-biographies? I recognized many of these people, the stars, the directors, and people like Edith Head, but some I did not know, and I had to guess at their identity from what they were talking about.
2. If mini-biographies were done, there should be figures of these people, especially in a book about the movie industry, unless there are plans to redo this in an illustrated edition.
3. Somewhere in the book there should be a list of the source interviews and the date they were made.… (meer)