Forgotten Hollywood

BiblioBuffet serves up a banquet of zesty book reviews, piquant literary commentary, savory bibliophilistic observations, and tantalizing conversations. We spice up your reading life by leading you to books you deserve to read.

   One of their writers, Carl Rollyson is a Professor of Journalism at Baruch College, The City University of New York. He reviews biographies regularly for the Wall Street Journal, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and other newspapers and periodicals. The professor has just written a Hollywood-related article that offers up a comprehensive review of Forgotten Hollywood Forgotten History. He candidly shares:

…If you are a movie buff, try Manny Pacheco’s just published Forgotten Hollywood Forgotten History, which takes an unusual approach that treats character actors in terms of the historical epics they appeared in. I warn you that Pacheco’s prose is not analytical. For the most part he does not interpret. Instead, he writes engaging overviews, situating actors in key roles that make their careers a little more familiar, even if you’ve watched these films on Turner Classic Movies, American Movie Classics, or similar channels.

Pacheco’s book is a little over a hundred pages, and I wish he had fattened it up with more anecdotes. Occasionally he is not to be trusted. Sinclair Lewis is not the most important writer of the first half of the twentieth century—his Nobel Prize notwithstanding. But for the students I teach, who know next to nothing about history or Hollywood, this book fills a gap, giving them the gist of several important pictures and actors quickly in an engaging and accessible style…

   – an excerpt from Biography and the Backstory

   I appreciate Rollyson’s honest, unsolicited review. The entire story can be found at:

http://www.bibliobuffet.com/biographology

   BiblioBuffet… stop by for the appetizing articles du jour. Stay for the  bounty of reading suggestions; a cornucopia of nourishment for the mind.

    I enjoy a bouquet from a glass half full: Occasionally I’m to be trusted.

Until next time>                                “never forget”