The Hollywood Book of Love: From True Romance and Blushing Brides to Tawdry Trysts and Femme Fatales

by James Robert Parish

An authoritative and humorous look at Hollywood's ever-changing take on love, romance, and marriage over the decadesFrom steamy silent classics like "A Fool There Was "to romantic musicals like "Grease "to epic schmaltz-fests like "Titanic," Hollywood historian and bestselling author James Robert Parish provides a very personal (but quite factual) run-down on how the Hollywood dream factory has portrayed love, marriage, and divorce on the big screen. "The Hollywood Book of Love "reveals in an entertaining fashion how the attitudes and standards the audience absorbs from the movies influence their expectations in real-life relationships.

Writing with his trademark dry wit and rich knowledge of American movie history, Parish provides perceptive and amusing takes on 200 feature films and offers tantalizing sidebar factoids on everybody from Liz, Bette, and Bogie, to Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, and Nicole Kidman.

352 pages, Paperback

First published May 29, 2003

About the author

James Robert Parish, a former entertainment reporter, publicist, and book series editor, is the author of many published major biographies and reference books on the entertainment industry including Whitney Houston: We Will Always Love You; The Hollywood Book of Extravagance; It’s Good to Be the King: The Seriously Funny Life of Mel Brooks; The Hollywood Book of Breakups; Fiascos: Hollywood’s Iconic Flops; The Hollywood Book of Love; Jet Li; The Encyclopedia of Ethnic Groups in Hollywood; The Hollywood Book of Death; Gus Van Sant; Whoopi Goldberg; Rosie O’Donnell’s Story; The Unofficial “Murder, She Wrote” Casebook; Today’s Black Hollywood; Let’s Talk! America’s Favorite TV Talk Show Hosts; Prison Pictures from Hollywood; Prostitution in Hollywood Films; The Great Cop Pictures; Ghosts and Angels in Hollywood Films; Pirates and Seafaring Swashbucklers on the Hollywood Screen; Gays and Lesbians in Mainstream Cinema; Hollywood’s Great Love Teams; and The Fox Girls. Mr. Parish is a frequent oncamera interviewee on cable and network TV for documentaries on the performing arts. The author resides in Studio City, California.

Reviews

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

first, the title I read this under was actually "the hollywood book of love: an irreverent guide to the films that raised our romantic expectations," I guess just a different subtitle; same author.
It was fun, since my favorite thing is to read plot summaries. However, he strives for a light mocking tone that doesn't always come off.

[Caitlin]

The Hollywood Book of Love : From True Romance and Blushing Brides to Tawdry Trysts and Femme Fatales by James Robert Parish (2003)