Preview Harvey

by Bruce Kimmel

Once upon a time there were Major Studio Previews. They were highly kept secrets and the people attending wouldn’t know what the preview was. Sometimes you’d get a winner and sometimes you’d get a stinker – it was the luck of the draw.

Harvey Minton, is a self-confessed preview nut. In 1954, at fourteen years of age, he sees his first Major Studio Preview, and from that moment on there is no looking back as he becomes obsessed with going to as many Major Studio Previews as he can, year after year. Along the way, he meets director Blake Edwards at a preview in 1960 and he becomes Edwards’ good luck charm. He meets Jerry Lewis at a preview and Lewis gives him the nickname he’ll become known by – Preview Harvey. We also meet Harvey’s mother and father, follow his travails growing up as a self-described 5’3” turtle, getting his one and only job at a famous record store in Hollywood, and all his lovingly described Major Studio Previews over the course of three decades, until that all changed and morphed into something completely different in the late 1970s.

So, come along on Preview Harvey’s journey as he becomes a legendary fixture at previews, beloved by the studios, who basically adopt him. Told in his own non-stop, unique way, thanks to a series of cassettes he makes in 1968 recounting his life seeing previews, Preview Harvey is a warm, funny, and loving look back at a time when moviegoing was the national pastime and nothing was more fun than attending a Major Studio Preview and seeing a movie before anyone else did. Reading this book just might make you wish that you could go back to those glory days before streaming and cable and multiplexes and Rotten Tomatoes and the internet, back to movie palaces and double bills and, of course, Major Studio Previews.

215 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 3, 2023

About the author

Bruce Kimmel wrote, directed and starred in the cult movie hit, The First Nudie Musical (available on a Special Edition Blu-ray). He also co-created (with David Wechter) the story for the hit film, The Faculty, directed by Robert Rodriguez. As an actor, Mr. Kimmel guest-starred on most of the long-running television shows of the 1970s.

Since 1993, Mr. Kimmel has been one of the leading producers of theatre music on CD, having produced over 180 albums. He was nominated for a Grammy for producing the revival cast album of Hello, Dolly! and his album with jazz pianist Fred Hersch, I Never Told You, was also nominated for a Grammy. He has produced solo albums for Petula Clark, Helen Reddy, Jason Graae, Liz Callaway, Christiane Noll, Rebecca Luker, Brent Barrett, Sally Mayes, and many others. He has a successful record label, Kritzerland.

His musical, The Brain From Planet X (written with David Wechter) has been seen in Los Angeles, New York, the UK, Canada (in both French and English), Australia and other fun places. Most recently, he is the creator/writer/director of the new short form comedy series Sami, now showing on Amazon Prime Video and garnering rave reviews and several festival wins around the country for Best Web Series.

Mr. Kimmel is the author of twenty-seven books – his acclaimed Benjamin Kritzer trilogy (Benjamin Kritzer, Kritzerland, and Kritzer Time), the mysteries Writer’s Block and Rewind, his seven Adriana Hofstetter mysteries (Murder At Hollywood High, Murder At The Grove, Murder At The Hollywood Historical Society, and Murder At The Masquers, Murder at the School Musical, Murder at the Hollywood Division, and Murder at the Magic Castle), Patrick Bronstein Presents, Thrill Ride, his collection of short fiction, How To Write A Dirty Book and Other Stories, Red Gold, his two memoirs (There's Mel, There's Woody, and There's You - My Life In The Slow Lane and the follow up, Album Produced By... More of my Rollercoaster Life). GEE, Simply: A Lifetime of Lyrics, Some Days Are Murder, and its sequel, Tis the Season to Be Murdered, Preview Harvey, the new Benjamin Kritzer novel, Kritzer World, Directed by, Vegas Can Be Murder, and Richard and Me.