The History Book Club discussion

Here is your new thread for 2013.

Our Format:

JANUARY

1. by Winston Churchill
Finish date: March 2008
Genre: (whatever genre the book happens to be)
Rating: A
Review: You can add text from a review you have written but no links to any review elsewhere even goodreads. And that is about it. Just make sure to number consecutively and just add the months.

Note: I will delete required format post once you get started.

JANUARY

1. by Karen Abbott
Finish Date: January 14, 2013
Genre: Biography
Rating: B-
Review: I am fascinated by the popular culture of America in the first half of the 20th Century and have an interest in Gypsy Rose Lee so the subject matter was right up my alley. What I knew about Lee was more or less confined to the book of the broadway musical so I learned a lot. However, the writing style was a constant irritation. For some reason, the author found it necessary to jump decades forward and backward throughout the book so that there is no chronological narrative of Gypsy's life story. To make matters worse, the story of the Minsky family, which founded a burlesque empire in New York City, also jumps around and is interwoven with the Gypsy chapters. By the end of the book, I was wondering if the author had done this to obfuscate, though I'm not sure what. She did seem to promise more juicy murder details than she delivered, however. On balance, I'm glad I read it but I would steer clear of the author's other books.

Bea, don't forget to add the month in bold at the top of the first book for that month. Also, add the genre.

Somehow I knew you would be up and running quickly!

Bea wrote: "1. by Karen Abbott
Finish Date: January 14, 2013
Rating: B-
Review: I am fascinated by the popular cul..."

The jumping around in time didn't bother me that much but that seems to be the major complaint about this otherwise rather fascinating book. I think I liked it better than you did.

2. by Gregory William Mank
Rating: A-
Genre: Biography/Film History
Finished: January 29, 2013
Review: This terrific book is the product of decades of interviews and correspondence by the author with the families, friends, and colleagues of Lugosi and Karloff. While the focus of the book is on the films the two actors made together and the so-called "rivalry" between the two, you get so much more. There is more or less a complete biography of both men with at least a mention of every film by each made after they catapulted to stardom in 1931. Some of the key solo films (Dracula, Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, etc.) and all the co-starred films get detailed coverage. When I say detailed, I mean anecdotes from every cast member the author could interview, budget details, salary details, and how the film was publicized. While this might sound dry, I can guarantee it is anything but. Just try out the stories about how openly gay director James Whale revealed an unexpected interest in the costuming of ladies' undies during the making of Bride of Frankenstein! In addition, in the course of describing the actors' social lives and their publicity activities, we get a wide perspective on Golden Age Hollywood.

It's pretty clear that Karloff never saw Lugosi as a rival or bore him any ill will. Lugosi, on the other hand, barely disguised a seething resentment at the fact that Karloff worked constantly and became a millionaire while he was bankrupt by October 1932 and struggled almost constantly after that working for peanuts in whatever came his way.

The author never comes to a definite consclusion but others told him several times that one of Lugosi's biggest handicaps was his failure to master English. His thick accent simply wouldn't work for many parts. I wonder if his lack of fluency contributed to his persistent failure to stand up for himself.

Another strike against him, I think, was his age. Lugosi was 49 when Dracula was made (Karloff was 42 the same year). For an actor whose appeal, even in his "monster" role, was matinee idol looks, this was a late date to be starting a movie career. Karloff who was essentially a character actor had no such disadvantage. Finally, I think Karloff was simply a finer and more versatile actor. To be fair, however, Lugosi was a major star on the Hungarian stage and we will never know how he would have fared in his native tongue.

One anecdote provided by Ray Walston (who played Renfield in a stage revival of Dracula) - Lugosi's wife said "Well, you know, he was the John Barrymore of the Budapest stage!" And with that, Lugosi spoke up in alllll seriousness and said, "No, no. I was the Clark Gable of the Budapest stage!"

Bea, please go back and add the genre. It is helpful information for all of us.

Bryan wrote: "Bea, please go back and add the genre. It is helpful information for all of us."

Done. Sorry!

Thanks Bea and Bryan.

FEBRUARY

3. by John Wilson
Rating: B+
Genre: Non-Fiction/Reference/Entertainment/Humor
Finished: February 26, 2013
Review: The founder of the Razzie Awards, given annually the day before the Academy Award ceremony to the worst in their categories for the year, has compiled this guide to his choices for the hundred "best" bad pictures of all time. The earliest film is Maniac (AKA "Sex Maniac") (1934) and the latest is Glitter (2001). The films cover the full range of genres and are mostly U.S. made. The very few that are not were released dubbed.

Wilson writes well and made me laugh out loud repeatedly. He also made me want to search out some of these ludicrously awful films for a few more laughs. Recommended for connoisseurs of such things.

MARCH

4. by Michael Adams
Rating: B
Genre: Non-Fiction/Entertainment
Finished: March 8, 2013
Review: Author Adams devoted a whole year to finding the "worst movie ever made". The book is devoted to his adventure, which included interviewing many bad and good filmmakers for recommendations, and also describes his life during the time. There is quite a bit of overlap with the Razzie Guide above but also many more movies. This is not as humorous as the preceding book but not too bad.

Adams' list of the worst of the worst was:

Bad Harvest 2: The Maize
Vampire Blvd.
Big Sister 2000
Rollergator
Search for the Beast
Hollywood High Part II
The Room (I've seen clips from this. Really bad and really funny.)
Ben & Arthur
Curse of Bigfoot
Da Hip Hop Witch
Manos: The Hands of Fate
The Party at Kitty and Studs
Curse of the Zodiac
Green River Killer
B.T.K. Killer
The Weird World of LSD
Ring of Terror
Ax 'Em
Police Academy 3

by John Wilson

5. by Donald Richie
Rating: A
Genre: Biography/Film Criticism/Film History
Finished: March 10, 2013
Review: Yazujiro Ozu, who made Tokyo Story among other masterpieces, is one of my very favorite directors. This book has greatly enhanced my appreciation of his films. It breaks down Ozu's style by characteristics of his script, shooting, and editing. Appended to the book is a biographical filmography which discusses each of his films in the context of his life. This book goes a long way in explaining the ineffable quality that makes many of the films transcendent despite their surface similarity in plot and their constrained and formal style.

Author Donald Richie lived most of his life in Japan and was one of the preeminant scholars on both Ozu and Kirosawa. He died on February 19, 2013. He had an interesting life. Here is a link to his obituary:

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/feb/...