Whatever Happened to Hollywood?

By: Jesse L. Lasky Jr.

Narrated by: Richard Niles

Length: 14 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

Screenwriter Jesse L. Lasky, Jr. tells his Hollywood tales as an insider, with stories and insights sparkling with poetry, humor and the heat of first-hand observation. The son of the man who produced Hollywood’s first feature film, Jesse’s book is the history of the film industry, the birth of an art form and a compelling personal memoir. There are revealing portraits of Lasky, Sr. and his partners Samuel Goldwyn and Cecil B. De Mille (for whom Jesse wrote eight films, including The Ten Commandments) - and friends and colleagues such as Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Alfred Hitchcock, Harry Cohn, Darryl Zanuck, Nick Ray and Sam Fuller. From dating Jean Harlow to writing for Gary Cooper, Edward G. Robinson and Yul Brynner, here are the artists and the conmen, the breathtaking creativity and the destructive treachery, described by a man who knew everyone and saw everything.

New edition, music by narrator Richard Niles (richardniles.com) ©2021 Niles Smiles Music (BMI)

©2021 Niles Smiles Music (P)2021 Niles Smiles Music

Critic reviews

"Jesse Lasky, the son of one of filmland’s great founders, has written a bitter-sweet memoir of his life as a Hollywood screenwriter. It evaporates the mist of fantasy surrounding the Hollywood dream factory to reveal the realities that built the fairy-tale image." (Joan Crawford)

"It is certainly many notches above most of the other books on 'Hollywood'." (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.)

"...a nostalgic, romantic and frequently hilarious account...impressive!" (Variety)

Terrific first person anecdotes, Editor needed.

While this book is bursting with first person and at-arms-length anecdotes of the golden age of Hollywoodland, only available from this author's unique perspective, it might beggar belief that this tome came from a professional writer's pen.

It is certainly worth the while but the listener is warned of the whiplash they may get from the narrative's subject often changing mid-sentence, and not being told the name of the new subject until much later in the paragraph. This may "read" better in print since there may be paragraph breaks the eye could see that the narrator might barrel through here. Keep the "rewind 30 seconds" button handy so you can keep track of who is now being profiled when things stop making sense.

The biggest detractor however is the desperate need for a good sound engineer or editor. Sentences are often restarted, without these retakes being trimmed. Some beginnings and middles you get to revisit no less than four times in a row! (how like Hollywood; always eager for another "take"). A more professional reader would also help.

But... if you can grit your teeth past the sometimes clunky similes, annoying alliterations, confusing structure, and audio gaffs, beyond the seemingly scattershot use of adjectives (I don't think the author looked up their definitions after finding alternatives in the thesaurus; many do not fit at all: "inoculate" keeps appearing instead of "imbued", "inculcated", or various other "i"type words), or past the guffaw-out-loud passage where the author uses the phrase: "paragraph of purple prose" to describe clothing - with no hint of self reference or irony - then this is a worthwhile listen for any lover of Hollywood's golden-cogged machine at its zenith. Few have had such a privileged inside look as this author, and even fewer have put it down on paper for themselves.

Great Insight

Such a unique perspective on a by-gone era of Hollywood. These experiences shared by Jesse Lasky Jr are a very personal look into a life molded by the Golden era of Hollywood.