Dangerous Rhythm: Why Movie Musicals Matter by Richard Barrios

This is my first review for the 2014 Summer Reading Classic Film Book Challenge.

Dangerous Rhythm: Why Movie Musicals Matter
by Richard Barrios
Oxford University Press
ISBN 9780199973842
Hardcover - 288 pages
May 2014

Barnes and Noble
IndieBound (your local indie bookstore)
Powells

Amazon 

 “[Musicals] can be substantial... everyone’s scorn.”

Musicals. You gotta love ‘em. Or you gotta hate ‘em. When it comes to how people think about musicals, most people's feelings are on one extreme or the other. Some of us relish how musicals carry us away and entertain us with song and dance. Others scratch their heads at the notion of people randomly bursting into song. If those skeptics do watch these musicals, they tend to fast-forward through the song and dance numbers. Why do musicals illicit such strong feelings from audiences? And why does the genre have such a complicated past?

Dangerous Rhythm: Why Movie Musicals Matter by Richard Barrios is a revealing look at the movie musical genre. It explores how musicals have been received by audiences and how they’ve struggled to grow and succeed as a movie genre. Richard Barrios is a leading expert on musicals and I very much enjoyed reading his previous book A Song in the Dark. Barrios is opinionated and frank in the way only someone who truly understands a particular subject can be. While A Song in the Dark was about the early history of movie musicals, Dangerous Rhythm explores the history of the genre as a whole. The musicals discussed in this book run the gamut from popular to obscure, from old to new, from live action to animation and from respectable to fluff. Revelations come left and right and the book serves as an eye-opening look at a troubled genre that has become such an integral part of film history.

The introduction alone is full of interesting and enlightening observations. In fact, it’s my favorite part of the book and I was sad when it was over and had to move on to the themed chapters. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the introduction:

“...they manage to embody American optimism, American enterprise, American taste and exuberance and vulgarity.”

“The movie musical had been an American institution... and from 1972 onward it would die many deaths.”

“The truth is that in an age of media saturation and virtual realities and immediate gratification, musicals do not always fit in well.”

“Part of the problem is that musicals are seen as a collaborative endeavor, one that does not permit an individual artist to leave a signature.”

Each chapter focuses on a different topic. These include origins, money, hits, misses, animation, personalities, choreography, songs, race, sexuality and television. The chapters have great titles, and part of the fun of starting a new chapter was figuring out what it will be about by deciphering the fun title. Sometimes it was very obvious and a few times it was trickier. Barrios reveals a lot about the movie musical genre. The inherent problems of musicals are many. There are natural constraints of the form and there are problems imposed on them by the public. Good ideas were “recycled and regurgitated” (page 20) and experimentation came mostly at the beginning. I really loved the following observation Barrios makes, which I think reveals a lot about why the genre has had such a complicated reception: “falseness and honesty: what is a musical if not a phony way to tell the truth?” And then there is this major point, which many people talk about but never gets really discussed at length: “the ... reason that many audiences and a number of filmmakers won’t go near musicals: the perception that they are based on the notion of people bursting into song.” To be truly entertained by a movie we have to watch something that is both different and familiar. It’s a tricky balance and if something seems to phony it can be off-putting to part of the audience whereas others will embrace it for what it is.

The book is well-structured with its themed chapters. However, the book can be a bit manic in the way it travels through time, going breezily back and forth between different eras. In order to exemplify his various points about the genre as a whole, Barrios juggles many different movies in his different discussions. It jumps around a lot which can be a little confusing however it gives the author the freedom to really explore the topic at hand. You have to be familiar with musicals, especially early ones, to be able to fully grasp the subject matter. I don’t think someone with very little knowledge about musicals will be able to appreciate this book.

There are footnotes throughout the chapters which serve as additional information to complement the text. They’re not necessary to read but serve more like bonus trivia. There are some photos in the book but I don’t feel like they were needed and didn’t reveal anything important on their own. But they are nice to have nonetheless.

Dangerous Rhythm is a valuable book because of its numerous enlightening observations about musicals. If you are interested in musicals or want a better understanding of film history as a whole, then this book is essential reading. And I have to say, of all of the classic film related books I've been reading in the past few years, this has one of the best cover designs. It's stunning!

Thank you to Oxford University Press and Larissa of Claire McKinney PR for sending me a copy of the book to review! Stay tuned as I’ll be posting an interview with author Richard Barrios on the blog soon.

Stella! Mother of Modern Acting by Sheana Ochoa

Stella! Mother of Modern Acting
by Sheana Ochoa
Applause Theatre and Cinema Book Publishers (an imprint of Hal Leonard)
ISBN 9781480355538
Hardcover - 354 pages
April 2014

Barnes and Noble
Powells
IndieBound (Your local Indie bookstore)
Amazon

"…a vibrant woman, full of idealistic dreams and a relentless gluttony for life's offerings." - Ochoa

Stella! Mother of Modern Acting by Sheana Ochoa is an in-depth biography about the life and career of one of the greatest acting teachers of the 20th Century, Stella Adler. Adler was a renown actress of American theater, an actor's director, an important influence on many acting legends and even dabbled in film acting and producing.

Author Sheana Ochoa was surprised that such an influential figure in the world of theater and acting was not very well-known today. Adler's name is not as recognizable as Lee Strasberg or Constantin Stansilavski. This book seeks to change that.

The book starts with the life story of Stella's father Jacob Adler. He was a renowned Jewish actor of Yiddish and American Theater in New York City who had connections to many in the business including Alla Nazimova and Isadora Duncan. Jacob Adler's influence on his daughter was both good and bad and he became a central figure in her life even long after his death.

Life in theater is vastly different from the one of movies so it's very interesting to delve into this parallel world. Stella Adler grew up in the world of theater and it became the great passion that never dwindled. The author notes that "by age eight Stella was a seasoned professional." When she wasn't acting, she was directing and working with other actors.

"… Stella felt she did not belong in the world outside the theater. She would feel this way for most of her life." - Ochoa

Adler began teaching acting in 1934 after her trip and training with Stanislavski in Russia. Adler was involved with The Group Theater, known for it's socialist ideology and for key figures including Elia Kazan. This lead to her being put on trial by the HUAC. She was blacklisted prior to being on trial and she decided not to testify against her friends. After that she focused on teaching. The book goes into detail of acting technique and Adler's methodologies. It also explores her Jewish heritage and what it was like for her to be Jewish in WWII.

"Having transitioned from the Yiddish stage to Broadway, from Strasberg to Stanislavski, Stella displayed a forward-thinking approach toward the evolution of acting."- Ochoa

While not strictly a classic film book, fans of old Hollywood will find many familiar names including Shelley Winters, James Coburn, Franchot Tone,  Arthur Miller, Luise Rainer, Sylvia Sydney, Gregory Peck, Karl Malden, Ralph Bellamy, Marlon Brando, Harpo Marx, Charlie Chaplin, John Gieguld and more. Stella Adler had a short-lived film career which included Love on Toast (1937), Shadow of the Thin Man (1941) and My Girl Tisa (1948). She also helped produce the films Madame Curie (1943) DuBarry Was a Lady (1943) and For Me and My Gal (1942).


Ochoa also delves into the personal life of Stella Adler and her relationships with husbands Harold Clurman and Mitchell Wilson, the loves of her life, as well as her tenuous relationship with her only child Ellen Adler. She struggled with depression and illness, including tuberculosis). Adler often struggled with money and always had a strong desire to have the appearance of glamor even when finances were tight.

"Stella knew exactly what she was doing; she understood the transformative potential of art and its capacity to edify humanity." - Ochoa

Adler's influence on the acting community was profound. To understand Stella Adler is to understand this and it is something the author does very effectively. I love this quote from Marlon Brando, one of Adler's students. And before you rush to judgement about "method acting", make sure you take note of the various explanations of how the methodologies of acting diverged greatly between Strasberg and Adler and Stanislavski.

"It is troubling to me that because she has not lent herself to vulgar exploitations, as some other well-known so-called 'methods' of acting have done, her contributions to the theatrical culture have remained largely unknown, unrecognized, and unappreciated." - Marlon Brando (foreword to Stella Adler's book)

This is the key to why Stella Adler is not as well-known today. She was never all that good at self-publicity. It was something she was turned off by but ended up being that missing ingredient that would have led to future immortality. This is a theme throughout the book and a point the author does very well to drive home.

This is the definitive biography of this complicated and talented woman. The book is seamless, natural in flow and very rich with information. Because there is so much information to absorb, I relished the short chapters (often 5-12 pages in length) as bite sized morsels that made the whole dish a lot more enjoyable. Each of these chapters starts with a great quote about Stella Adler from an important figure in the business.There are two sections of black and white photographs on glossy paper. These photos could have easily been dispersed throughout the book instead of relegated to their own sections. There is also a very lovely foreword written by one of Stella Adler's students, actor Mark Ruffalo.

I knew nothing about Stella Adler and next to nothing about theater and theater life. I'm very glad I read this book because it gave me a broader understanding of acting and actors which had previously been limited by my exclusive interest in film.

This book is pretty much flawless and I was quite captivated by it. I try to be balanced in my book reviews and point out any thing I find that didn't do the book any favors. I really couldn't find anything here to criticize. Ochoa has done a fine job with this biography! I'd be remiss if I didn't point out Ochoa's lovely writing style. It's very clear and focused and she uses some beautiful language throughout. I loved some of her metaphors, especially the one where she likens Harold Clurman sorting out his failed marriage to Adler as washing a dirty rag in clean water.

You can learn more about her book on her Stella Adler blog or about Ochoa on her website. Ochoa is also the producer of the play Harold and Stella: Love Letters. You can follow her on Twitter @SheanaOchoa.

Thank you to the publisher Hal Leonard/Applause Books for the copy I received at Book Expo America!

Classic Film Books at Book Expo America

A recent business trip took me to New York City for Book Expo America, the largest and most well-known book industry convention. Although my work schedule was packed, I was lucky enough to have some time to meet two very wonderful ladies.

On the first day of the show, I headed over to The Overlook Press booth at the Javits Convention Center to meet Farran Smith Nehme, better known as the Siren of the acclaimed classic film blog The Self-Styled Siren. I've been wanting to meet her for a long time and was pinching myself that the moment had finally arrived. Farran wrote a novel called Missing Reels which The Overlook Press is publishing in November of this year.

Here's a summary of the book from the publisher:

New York in the late 1980s. Ceinwen Reilly has just moved from Yazoo City, Mississippi, and she’s never going back, minimum wage job (vintage store salesgirl) and shabby apartment (Avenue C walkup) be damned. Who cares about earthly matters when Ceinwen can spend her days and her nights at fading movie houses—and most of the time that’s left trying to look like Jean Harlow?

One day, Ceinwen discovers that her downstairs neighbor may have—just possibly—starred in a forgotten silent film that hasn’t been seen for ages. So naturally, it’s time for a quest. She will track down the missing reels, she will impress her neighbor, and she will become a part of movie history: the archivist as ingénue. 

As she embarks on her grand mission, Ceinwen meets a somewhat bumbling, very charming, 100 percent English math professor named Matthew, who is as rational as she is dreamy. Together, they will or will not discover the reels, will or will not fall in love, and will or will not encounter the obsessives that make up the New York silent film nut underworld.

A novel as winning and energetic as the grand Hollywood films that inspired it, Missing Reels is an irresistible, alchemical mix of Nora Ephron and David Nicholls that will charm and delight

Farran was just as friendly as I thought she would be. I got to chat with her quickly at her signing and again when she stopped by my work's booth too. I really look forward to reading her novel and will treasure my signed and personalized copy.

On the last day of the show, I headed over to Hal Leonard' booth to meet Sheana Ochoa
who was signing copies of her book Stella! Mother of Modern Acting. I was very excited to meet Sheana. She's a tireless promoter and has a true passion for theater and for all things Stella Adler. Her enthusiasm is infectious and I always adore meeting intelligent and passionate people like herself.

Here's a summary of the book from the publisher:

Arthur Miller decided to become a playwright after seeing her perform with the Group Theater. Marlon Brando attributed his acting to her genius as a teacher. Theater critic Robert Brustein calls her the greatest acting teacher in America. At the turn of the 20th century by which time acting had hardly evolved since classical Greece Stella Adler became a child star of the Yiddish stage in New York, where she was being groomed to refine acting craft and eventually help pioneer its modern gold standard: method acting. Stella's emphasis on experiencing a role through the actions in the given circumstances of the work directs actors toward a deep sociological understanding of the imagined characters: their social class, geographic upbringing, biography, which enlarges the actor's creative choices. 

Always "onstage," Stella's flamboyant personality disguised a deep sense of not belonging. Her unrealized dream of becoming a movie star chafed against an unflagging commitment to the transformative power of art. From her Depression-era plays with the Group Theatre to freedom fighting during WWII, Stella used her notoriety as a tool for change. For this book, Sheana Ochoa worked alongside Irene Gilbert, Stella's friend of 30 years, who provided Ochoa with a trove of Stella's personal and pedagogical materials, and Ochoa interviewed Stella's entire living family, including her daughter Ellen; her colleagues and friends, from Arthur Miller to Karl Malden; and her students from Robert De Niro to Mark Ruffalo. Unearthing countless unpublished letters and interviews, private audio recordings, Stella's extensive FBI file, class videos and private audio recordings, Ochoa's biography introduces one of the most under recognized, yet most influential luminaries of the 20th century.

Sheana signed the book for me with a lovely personalized inscription. It was a finished hardcover too which was an extra treat! I had an egalley from the publisher but was struggling to make it work for my Nook device. So I was extra happy to get the book into my hands and I immediately started reading it on my way home. It's a wonderful book and my review of it will be up shortly.

Thank you so much to Farran Smith Nehme and Sheana Ochoa for taking the time to chat with me and pose for photos.

Hollywood Digs: An Archaeology of Shadows by Ken LaZebnik

Hollywood Digs: An Archaeology of Shadows
by Ken LaZebnik
Kelly's Cove Press
ISBN: 9780989166447
Paperback
March 2014

Hollywood Digs seeks to do what an archaeologist does when excavating a site: dig up material and put it into the context of human history. Film and television writer Ken LaZebnik unearths stories of old Hollywood through the discovery of materials, most of which are photographs. He chronicles lesser known tales of notable Hollywood figures including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dick Powell, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Samuel Goldwyn, Farley Granger, Micky Moore and other figures including the real life Gidget and painter Thomas Kinkade.

There are thirteen different chapters, each serves as its own excavation. I read this book from cover to cover, however, each chapter stands on its own and you could easily read them out of order if you wish. There is an introduction at the beginning explaining the books' purpose. The chapters don't flow together and read more like a hodge podge of stories. The whole concept of a "Hollywood Dig" works to put some semblance of cohesiveness to this book. Like with a real archaeology dig, you never know what you'll find.

My favorite of all the chapters was a lengthy one entitled "Samuel Goldwyn's Birthday: A Contact Sheet by Leigh Weiner." It chronicles the story of producer and movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn from his inauspicious beginnings as an orphan in Warsaw up until the grand eightieth birthday party thrown for him by Hollywood elite in 1962. It also tells the stories of the various figures whose images appear on the photographer's contact sheet including Harpo Marx, Eddie Fisher, George Jessel, Jimmy Stewart, Milton Berle, Shirley Jones and Frank Sinatra. I've always loved stories derived from objects and photographs. This chapter was a delight and I had fun going through the contact sheet one image at a time.

"On August 26, 1962, Goldwyn's eightieth birthday, the royalty of Hollywood gathered for a dinner in his honor. The tables were filled with carnations, as if the guests were attending a memorial service for someone who didn't want to pay for lilies. This created a floating could of flowers that bordered the faces of all the stars. The men smoked cigars; the smaller their current stature in the business, the larger the cigar. George Jessel sported an enormous stogie; Frank Sinatra had none." - Ken LaZebnik

From LIFE magazine 1962

Because all of the chapters are so different from one other, the collection as a whole is kind of a mixed bag. There were some sections I didn't care for, including one called Providence which began as an intriguing observation on Hollywood's reluctance to accept failure or to even use the term but I quickly lost interest as it developed into something else. There were a couple chapters that on first glance were not for me but I found something interesting in them. For example, the anecdotes on Peter O'Toole as found in the chapter on painter Thomas Kinkade.

I would recommend this book to a classic film and TV expert who is looking for a non-traditional book with unique and obscure stories. This book is not for a newbie; it's for a seasoned veteran looking to dig up different material.

Hollywood Digs: An Archaeology of Shadows is published by Kelly's Cove Press, a small publisher with a list that focused on California art and literature. You can only purchase this book and other Kelly's Cove Press titles from their website or from a select group of California bookstores. Traditional outlets like Barnes & Noble, Amazon or independent book stores across the country won't carry it, unless it's a used copy for reselling.

Many thanks to Kelly's Cove Press and Julia Drake PR for sending me a copy of this book to review.