You Must Remember This: Life and Style in Hollywood's Golden Age

Category: Books,Biographies & Memoirs,Arts & Literature

You Must Remember This: Life and Style in Hollywood's Golden Age Details

From Booklist Wagner and Eyman, who coauthored Wagner’s 2008 autobiography, Pieces of My Heart, this time tell the story of a place and a time: Hollywood from the 1930s through the ’60s. Divided into topical chapters, including “Houses and Hotels,” “Style,” and “Nightlife,” the book follows Hollywood from its early days—until Cecil B. DeMille arrived in 1913, Hollywood was just another place outside Los Angeles—through its heady decades as the trendsetter in style and popular culture, and ending with the collapse of the studio system, when profits were in steep decline and many of the Golden Age stars were dying or aging out of the spotlight. You can tell that Wagner, whose acting career started when the Golden Age was its most golden, truly misses that time and place; his fondness for it and his distaste for the modern way of moviemaking come through on almost every page. For Wagner, the emblems of Hollywood at its grandest—the mansions, the stars, the parties, the watering holes—evoke a better world, and his account of how it was then just may leave nostalgic readers similarly affected. --David Pitt Read more Review "In terms of grace and style, you couldn't ask for a better tour director than actor Robert Wagner."~Douglass K. Daniel, Associated Press " [A] charming tribute to off-screen lives during a period many may regard as Hollywood's finest."~Kirkus Reviews"[You Must Remember This] takes you into the palatial mansions, castles and luxurious houses of the stars in great detail. It will become a great reference book for all lovers of silent and talkie movies and the actors and the actresses who peopled those homes. Fairbanks, Pickford and Chaplin, they are all here amongst many others."~Ann McDonald, RedCarpetCrash.com "With great affection and a twinkle in his eye, veteran actor Wagner recalls Hollywood's glory days of the 1940s and early 1950s, when class, manners, friendship, and a code of values ruled the city of stars."~Publishers Weekly Read more See all Editorial Reviews

Reviews

Robert Wagner has written two books, to my knowledge, and I've read them both. The first was more autobiographical; this current one I would term as more sociological. His stories can largely be categorized as how much the times have changed for the stars. No longer do the stars have safe-havens, classy little hide-a-ways where they can relax among their own and be themselves (within reason) and not be accosted by overly-familiar fans or deliberately intrusive reporters and photographers. His stories about Chasen's Restaurant, the Brown Derby (-ies) and the Coconut Grove of the Ambassador Hotel are more than entertaining. I could have read much more about the ambience and experiences he has had at these and other Hollywood watering holes.If I had a criticism (as apart from a critique) it would be that the book is neither long enough nor detailed enough. His first-hand experiences with some of the greatest names in motion picture history must be legion. So many of these fine actors (like Norma Shearer: who of the modern movie-goers remembers her?) are passing out of all consciousness. It's a shame that that is happening. Only veterans with good memories, like Robert Wagner, can perpetuate the glory and glamor that was once Hollywood. I hope he has a follow-up.

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