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This Was Hollywood: Forgotten Stars and Stories
- Turner Classic Movies
- Narrated by: Carla Valderrama
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
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Publisher's summary
In this one-of-a-kind Hollywood history, the creator of Instagram's celebrated @ThisWasHollywood reveals the forgotten past of the film world in a dazzling visual package modeled on the classic fan magazines of yesteryear.
From former screen legends who have faded into obscurity to new revelations about the biggest movie stars, Valderrama unearths the most fascinating little-known tales from the birth of Hollywood through its Golden Age.
The shocking fate of the world's first movie star. Clark Gable's secret love child. The film that nearly ended Paul Newman's career. A former child star who, at 93, reveals her #metoo story for the first time. Valderrama unfolds these stories, and many more, in a volume that is by turns riveting, maddening, hilarious, and shocking.
Drawing on new interviews, archival research, and an exhaustive library of photographs, This Was Hollywood is a compelling and visually stunning catalogue of the lost history of the movies.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
Critic reviews
"Carla Valderrama genuinely loves Hollywood history, as you can tell from every page of this book. Her enthusiasm is matched only by her determination to back up her stories with good, old-fashioned research. I learned a lot from This Was Hollywood and you will, too." (Leonard Maltin, film critic and historian)
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Story
Believe it or not, America's fascination with celebrity culture was thriving well before the days of TMZ, Perez Hilton, Charlie Sheen's breakdown, and allegations against Woody Allen. And the stars of yesteryear? They weren't always the saints that we make them out to be. Part biography, part cultural history, the stories contained in this book cover the stuff that films are made of: love, sex, drugs, illegitimate children, illicit affairs, and botched cover-ups.
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Riveting journey
- By Jennifer on 10-07-14
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Hollywood Black
- The Stars, the Films, the Filmmakers
- By: Donald Bogle, John Singleton - foreword, Turner Classic Movies
- Narrated by: Donald Bogle
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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The films, the stars, the filmmakers - all get their due in Hollywood Black, a sweeping overview of Blacks in film from the silent era through Black Panther, with striking photos and an engrossing history by award-winning author Donald Bogle.
By: Donald Bogle, and others
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20th Century-Fox
- Darryl F. Zanuck and the Creation of the Modern Film Studio
- By: Scott Eyman
- Narrated by: Suehyla El-Attar
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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March 20, 2019 marked the end of an era - Disney took ownership of the movie empire that was Fox. For almost a century before that historic date, Twentieth Century-Fox was one of the preeminent producers of films, stars, and filmmakers. Its unique identity in the industry and place in movie history is unparalleled - and one of the greatest stories to come out of Hollywood.
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Our media world is unlike anything we’ve ever known
- By Amy Evans on 12-04-21
By: Scott Eyman
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Myrna Loy
- Being and Becoming
- By: James Kotsilibas-Davis, Myrna Loy
- Narrated by: Holly Palance
- Length: 15 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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The actress recalls her long, rich, and varied career in Hollywood, on the stage, and as a political activist.
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Great actress, great person, great book.
- By MikeEC on 10-15-20
By: James Kotsilibas-Davis, and others
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Harlow in Hollywood
- The Blonde Bombshell in the Glamour Capital, 1928-1937
- By: Darrell Rooney, Mark A. Vieira
- Narrated by: Christina Delaine
- Length: 4 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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In her short decade in Hollywood, Jean Harlow created a new genre of movie star - her fans idolized her for her peerless image, her beautiful body, and her gorgeous façade. Harlow in Hollywood is the story of how a town and an industry created her, a story that's never been told before. In this book, renowned Harlow expert Darrell Rooney and Hollywood historian Mark Vieira team up to present the most beautiful - and accurate - book on Harlow ever produced.
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A quick listen
- By Michelle on 07-26-22
By: Darrell Rooney, and others
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Adventures in the Screen Trade
- By: William Goldman
- Narrated by: Kiff VandenHeuvel
- Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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No one knows the writer's Hollywood more intimately than William Goldman. Two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter and the best-selling author of Marathon Man, Tinsel, Boys and Girls Together, and other novels, Goldman now takes you into Hollywood's inner sanctums...on and behind the scenes for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President's Men, and other films...into the plush offices of Hollywood producers...into the working lives of acting greats such as Redford, Olivier, Newman, and Hoffman...and more.
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Stone cold Hollywood classic with one of the better Narrations you’ll ever hear
- By Anonymous User on 10-14-22
By: William Goldman
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City of Nets
- A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940's
- By: Otto Friedrich, Glen David Gold - foreword
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
- Length: 25 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1939, 50 million Americans went to the movies every week, Louis B. Mayer was the highest-paid man in the country, and Hollywood produced 530 feature films a year. One decade and five thousand movies later, the studios were faltering....
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Disjointed and flawed
- By A. N. Onymous on 01-18-22
By: Otto Friedrich, and others
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The Genius of the System
- Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era
- By: Thomas Schatz, Steven Bach - preface
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 24 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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At a time when the studio is making a stunning comeback, film historian Thomas Schatz provides an indispensable account of Hollywood's traditional blend of business and art. Working from industry documents, Schatz traces the development of house styles, the rise and fall of careers, and the making - and unmaking - of movies, from Frankenstein to Spellbound to Grand Hotel. The Genius of the System gives the definitive view of the workings of the Old Hollywood and the foundations of the New.
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A Textbook on Old Hollywood
- By Charlie Morton on 05-26-23
By: Thomas Schatz, and others
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The Movie Musical!
- By: Jeanine Basinger
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 24 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Irresistible and authoritative, The Movie Musical! is an in-depth look at the singing, dancing, happy-making world of Hollywood musicals - an essential audiobook for anyone who's ever laughed, cried, or sung along at the movies. Leading film historian Jeanine Basinger reveals, with her trademark wit and zest, the whole story of the Hollywood musical - in the most telling, most incisive, most detailed audiobook of her long and remarkable career.
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So You Think You Know Movie Musicals
- By Orson Scott Card on 02-19-20
By: Jeanine Basinger
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The Purple Diaries
- Mary Astor and the Most Sensational Hollywood Scandal of the 1930s
- By: Joseph Egan
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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1936 was a great year for the movie industry - the financial setbacks of the Great Depression were subsiding, so theater attendance was up. Americans everywhere were watching the stars, and few stars shined as brightly as one of America's most enduring screen favorites, Mary Astor. But Astor's personal story wasn't a happy one. Born poor and widowed at 24, Mary Astor had spent years looking for stability when she met and wed Dr. Franklyn Thorpe.
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Impossible not to like for old movie buffs
- By Gary on 03-09-17
By: Joseph Egan
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Oscar Wars
- A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears
- By: Michael Schulman
- Narrated by: Charlie Thurston
- Length: 21 hrs
- Unabridged
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In Oscar Wars, Michael Schulman chronicles the remarkable, sprawling history of the Academy Awards and the personal dramas—some iconic, others never-before-revealed—that have played out on the stage and off camera. Unlike other books on the subject, each chapter takes a deep dive into a particular year, conflict, or even category that tells a larger story of cultural change, from Louis B. Mayer to Moonlight. Schulman examines how the red carpet runs through contested turf, and the victors aren't always as clear as the names drawn from envelopes.
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Fascinating and FUN
- By Peter Riley on 06-11-23
By: Michael Schulman
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Best Pick
- A Journey Through Film History and the Academy Awards
- By: John Dorney, Jessica Regan, Tom Salinsky
- Narrated by: John Dorney, Jessica Regan, Tom Salinsky
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Authors John Dorney, Jessica Regan and Tom Salinsky provide a captivating decade-by-decade exploration of the Oscars. For each decade, they examine the making of classic films, trends and innovations in cinema, behind-the-scenes scandals at the awards ceremony and who won and why. Twenty films are reviewed in-depth, alongside 10 detailed 'making-of' accounts and capsule reviews of every single Best Picture winner in history. In addition, each Best Picture winner is carefully scrutinised to answer the ultimate question: 'did the Academy get it right?'
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They pretend to love movies
- By nery saenz on 06-29-23
By: John Dorney, and others
What listeners say about This Was Hollywood: Forgotten Stars and Stories
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Lady in the Pink House
- 05-02-21
Interesting
The information was interesting enough, but the narrator was extremely irritating and repeatedly mispronounced words.
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- N. Male
- 07-05-21
Good writing, good listen, good narrator
How refreshing it was to listen to the author narrating her book and my enjoying the subject matter. I wish she had more to tell. Of course this could be that I'm old enough to have watched a lot of these stars in their heyday. It was an entertaining read and worth the credit.
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- Anonymous User
- 04-26-22
thank you for collecting all of these stories
heartfelt thank you to the author for collecting all of these stories together. it was very interesting and as a script writer truly inspired me. a million thank yous to you!
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- Pgparks
- 07-31-23
Written in an Entertaining Way
“This Was Hollywood: Forgotten Stars and Stories” by Carla Valderrama (and published by Turner Classic Movies) is written in an entertaining way, it contains an interesting and broad selection of stories that will intrigue you no matter how big a fan of classic Hollywood you are. Beautifully edited and laid out like a “Photoplay” magazine.
You will read about early silent film stars, forgotten heart throbs, power couples, animal movie stars, successful women behind the camera, the first Academy Awards show, saving the 'Hollywood' sign, child stars, musicals, and spotlights on various film stars like Paul Newman and Rita Hayworth.
Valderrama draws on new interviews, archival research, and a huge library of photographs. “This Was Hollywood“ is a compelling and visually stunning catalogue of the nearly lost history of the movies. It’s a thorough examination of Hollywood during the golden age of cinema, this is a good read if you’re a movie buff – if not you might be bored. But then why would you pick up this book if you are not interested in old Hollywood?! For me it brought up warm memories of some of my favorite actors as well as the history of the studios and (my favorite part) the cogs in the wheels.
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- Rebecca
- 12-29-23
Very interesting & beautiful
Love learning about history but I have a hard time with reading books about history. I’m a very auditory person. Listening to this book was such a treat. Being able to get a glimpse of how Hollywood was started and little tidbits through the years. Always a pleasure listening to an author reading their own book. Well done!
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- Mary Barletta
- 12-29-20
Great!!!
Great book for anyone interested in old Hollywood.The author did a great job reading it
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6 people found this helpful
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- Packrat
- 08-07-21
Wonderful
I look forward to more This was Hollywood. I’m not a movie buff but found the content on known and unknown Hollywood people ver interesting. A previous reviewer said narration interfered. I did not find it to be a problem.
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- Ray928
- 06-20-21
Very Interesting
I really liked this book. Perhaps one reason I like it is because I am 78 years old and I can remember seeing a lot of the stars and things she talks about in movies I saw when I was young. Us old folks tend to like things that are nostalgic. The content is very good/interesting and she did a good job of narrating it. Good job Carla.
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- TX Ann
- 05-07-21
What was she thinking?
I love Hollywood stories so I really did like the book. But that was the worst performance I’ve ever heard. I almost stopped listening it was so bad. I’m amazed someone didn’t tell her “don’t do it!!”
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- Timothy A Beighley
- 04-26-21
Loved the content but...
Loved the inside stories. Very interesting and informative. That said I wish a little more attention had been paid to the pronunciation/enunciation of words, particularly those with a T in them. Books are “written” not “wridden.” A “patent” can be issued but I’m not sure a “padent” can. I appreciate the hard job it must be to read a book out loud for the rest of us to enjoy. That said, if issues like this bother you be forewarned before you purchase this book.
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