Moving Pictures

Memories of a Hollywood Prince

By: Budd Schulberg

Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins

Raised in the Hollywood of the 1920s as the privileged son of a pioneer studio mogul, Budd Schulberg went on to win fame as a distinguished novelist, short story writer, playwright, Oscar-winning screenwriter, and boxing historian.

Moving Pictures is his fascinating remembrance of growing up amidst the glamour, swank, courage, triumphs, defeats, cabals, and double-crosses of an industry in the making. His utterly candid account includes unsparing portraits of outsized characters in all their power, venality, charm, pettiness, and vindictiveness. As a book on the early days of the movies in Hollywood, this one is hard to beat.

©1981 Budd Schulberg (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

How the American Film Industry Developed

Excellent memoir of New York City and Los Angeles in the early 20th century and the evolution of the film industry. This is about the most specific and candid account by someone who actually lived the experience.

Good

Very interesting about the start of motion pictures as well as author’s growing up in the start of it all. Narration is passable but the mispronunciation of famous names and places is truly annoying.

Great insight into old Hollywood

This book is great for anyone who wants an inside look into the beginnings of Hollywood.

A Rare Childhood Experience Recounted Amusingly

Budd Schulberg was a great writer whose parents were involved in the early days of Hollywood. His dad was basically a mogul, making half a million/year in the 1920s -- he got his start under Adolf Zukor. Most of his flicks were made in the 1920s and 1930s -- I have not seen any of them, they were mostly silents. Despite his early success, he ended up in bad shape financially and did not work much at all after the 1930s -- he made one low-budget film towards the end of his life in the late 1950s. Schulberg's mom on the other hand became one of the first big Hollywood agents and it is possible there are still members of the family in showbiz today. Both Budd and his sister lived from WW1 to the 21st century.

Schulberg's dad was the discoverer of Clara Bow among others and Budd knew her when she was just starting out. I doubt when he wrote the book that there many people around who had his familiarity with the early days of Hollywood.

The writing is great and the voice actor is quite good -- perhaps he deserves 5 stars and if I could have given 4.5 stars, that's what I would have done.