What do you think?
Rate this book
They Started Talking
From Frank Tuttle, the director of Kid Boots, The Studio Murder Mystery, True to the Navy, Roman Scandals, College Holiday, and This Gun for Hire, comes a candid and lively backstage tour of the film industry from the 1920s through the 1950s. With a cast of characters that includes Jean Arthur, Mary Astor, Mischa Auer, William Bendix, Joan Blondell, Clara Bow, Evelyn Brent, Louise Brooks, Eddie Cantor, Dane Clark, Bing Crosby, Bebe Daniels, William Demarest, Dick Foran, Mitzi Green, Glen Hunter, Victor Jory, Otto Kruger, Alan Ladd, Angela Lansbury, Veronica Lake, Charlie McCarthy, Fredric March, Thomas Meighan, George Montgomery, Adolphe Monjou, Osgood Perkins, William Powell, Robert Preston, Edward G. Robinson, Charlie Ruggles, Simone Signoret, Phil Silvers, Gloria Swanson, and Monty Wooley, They Started Talking is an affectionate Who's Who of the leading supporting players of Hollywood's golden age. In addition, published for the first time, are rare letters from film directors George Cukor, José Ferrer, Elia Kazan, Stanley Kramer, George Stevens, Norman Taurog, and William Wyler.
244 pages, Paperback
First published January 5, 2004
6 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 12, 2017
A well-written intimate account of movie-making and the people associated with it. No personal details. The introduction deals with his 1951 naming names for the HUAC.
Tuttle wrote it between 1960 and 1962.
Notes:
In the 20s he was rated in the same class as C. B. DeMille.
Graduated from Yale in 1915.
11...worked for PR mastermind Edward Bernays … “press agent, the pirate on the high seas of journalism” … Diaghilev Ballets Russes, king snake PR photos with Swiss opera singer Flore Revalles (for Cleopatra) at the Bronx Zoo
12...gave Nijinsky a tour of Yale. Statue of Hale, One life to give.
43...an autobiographer can’t be detached from his beginnings or prejudices
47...6’1”, 162 lbs … a conservative, then lefty, then disillusioned….then a moderate progressive
56...certain ailments (he had diabetes) are safeguards … force you to take care of yourself, so your odds are better than an overindulgent person’s … Paunchless at 68.
63...Punchline: “He came to paint the barn.”
64...Then it happened. They started talking.
72...Gary Cooper aloof, detached … a retreating male back appeals to women
75...photographs, sound and special effects… you can skip if it sounds dull
77...xmas card cartoon
81...party for stuntmen… nip-ups, pratfalls, and 108s (somersault, landing on your back)
Proud to be their friend
95...outsmarted by Goldwyn … 97...a chiseler, bully, boor
102...Dash Hammett
105...art classes with Stanton Wright
106...Wright painted mural for S Monica Post Office… Tuttle a model. (Also his wife)
https://smpl.org/mural/index.htm
107...Hollywood Athletic Club...started Screen Directors Guild
109...crazy quilt, whoop-de-doo
110...Mrs. Beamer helped stage hula on Waikiki Wedding [related to Keola Beamer, current slack key guitarist?]
114...Akim Tamiroff … Quit Paramount to avoid typecasting in musicals
117...This Gun For Hire, Alan Ladd
139...The Great John L. (Sullivan)
141...Boxing history / ballet … staging scenes ***
151...chalk line .. Simone Signoret … motive-schmotive
152...Letters from novelist/screenwriter Henry Kane: "...who sent me a flock of wonderful, unprintable letters while I was in Paris" in 1948-1949, making Time Running Out.
166...the Method … “Believe It!” before a take [cf, Buddy Rogers in Hard Way]
Recognition or respect for themselves or others
168...stage vs screen: a play is happening, a picture already happened
173...Capra, good guys always win … Show positive qualities of humanity … Helpful if the director is a writer first, because he’s fundamentally a storyteller
187...Geo Stevens.. The Greatest Story Ever Told [written by Macfadden’s associate]
188...Leon Errol, rubber-legged comedian
198...GB Shaw: “the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one, the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap, the being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.”
215...Repeat of the snake story from page 11/12, expanded.
Wrestler Wild Bill Zim (Dad) said that Tuttle asked him to leave Florida and go to Hollywood, in 1933/1934. However, evidence of this wasn't in the book.
Tuttle wrote it between 1960 and 1962.
Notes:
In the 20s he was rated in the same class as C. B. DeMille.
Graduated from Yale in 1915.
11...worked for PR mastermind Edward Bernays … “press agent, the pirate on the high seas of journalism” … Diaghilev Ballets Russes, king snake PR photos with Swiss opera singer Flore Revalles (for Cleopatra) at the Bronx Zoo
12...gave Nijinsky a tour of Yale. Statue of Hale, One life to give.
43...an autobiographer can’t be detached from his beginnings or prejudices
47...6’1”, 162 lbs … a conservative, then lefty, then disillusioned….then a moderate progressive
56...certain ailments (he had diabetes) are safeguards … force you to take care of yourself, so your odds are better than an overindulgent person’s … Paunchless at 68.
63...Punchline: “He came to paint the barn.”
64...Then it happened. They started talking.
72...Gary Cooper aloof, detached … a retreating male back appeals to women
75...photographs, sound and special effects… you can skip if it sounds dull
77...xmas card cartoon
81...party for stuntmen… nip-ups, pratfalls, and 108s (somersault, landing on your back)
Proud to be their friend
95...outsmarted by Goldwyn … 97...a chiseler, bully, boor
102...Dash Hammett
105...art classes with Stanton Wright
106...Wright painted mural for S Monica Post Office… Tuttle a model. (Also his wife)
https://smpl.org/mural/index.htm
107...Hollywood Athletic Club...started Screen Directors Guild
109...crazy quilt, whoop-de-doo
110...Mrs. Beamer helped stage hula on Waikiki Wedding [related to Keola Beamer, current slack key guitarist?]
114...Akim Tamiroff … Quit Paramount to avoid typecasting in musicals
117...This Gun For Hire, Alan Ladd
139...The Great John L. (Sullivan)
141...Boxing history / ballet … staging scenes ***
151...chalk line .. Simone Signoret … motive-schmotive
152...Letters from novelist/screenwriter Henry Kane: "...who sent me a flock of wonderful, unprintable letters while I was in Paris" in 1948-1949, making Time Running Out.
166...the Method … “Believe It!” before a take [cf, Buddy Rogers in Hard Way]
Recognition or respect for themselves or others
168...stage vs screen: a play is happening, a picture already happened
173...Capra, good guys always win … Show positive qualities of humanity … Helpful if the director is a writer first, because he’s fundamentally a storyteller
187...Geo Stevens.. The Greatest Story Ever Told [written by Macfadden’s associate]
188...Leon Errol, rubber-legged comedian
198...GB Shaw: “the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one, the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap, the being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.”
215...Repeat of the snake story from page 11/12, expanded.
Wrestler Wild Bill Zim (Dad) said that Tuttle asked him to leave Florida and go to Hollywood, in 1933/1934. However, evidence of this wasn't in the book.
Displaying 1 of 1 review