2014 Summer Reading Classic Film Book Challenge - Wrap Up

Thank you to everyone who participated in this year's summer reading challenge. I'm impressed with everyone's efforts and I loved reading the reviews. I only managed to get 3 books in this summer, life got in the way and I should have paid more attention to my own advice. Alas, I still have a lot more reading ahead of me and another challenge next year to look forward to. On to the reviews!

BG of Classic Reel Girl (3)

1. Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations by Peter Evans and Ava Gardner
2. Doris Day: The Untold Story of the Girl Next Door by David Kaufman
3. Frankly, My Dear: Gone With the Wind Revisited by Molly Haskell

Emily of The Vintage Cameo  (1)

1. Cinematic Canines: Dogs and Their Work in the Fiction Film by Adrienne L. McLean

Karen of Shadows and Satin (6)

All six reviews can be found here.

1. Life With Father by Clarence Day
2. Dark History of Hollywood: A Century of Greed, Corruption, and Scandal Behind the Movies by Kieron Connolly
3. Bette and Joan: The Divine Feud by Shaun Considine
4. Center Door Fancy by Joan Blondell
5. Joan Blondell: A Life Between Takes by Matthew Kennedy
6. Palm Springs Babylon by Ray Mungo

KC of A Classic Movie Blog (7)

1. The Wizard of Oz FAQ: All That’s Left to Know About Life According to Oz by David J. Hogan 
2. Sharon Tate: Recollection by Debra Tate
3. Hitchcock’s Partner in Suspence: The Life of Screenwriter Charles Bennett edited by John Charles Bennett
4. Stella! Mother of Modern Acting by Sheana Ochoa
5. Dangerous Rhythm: Why Movie Musicals Matter by Richard Barrios
6. Fred Zinnemann and the Cinema of Resistance by J.E. Smyth
7. Buzz: The Life and Art of Busby Berkeley by Jeffrey Spivak

Laura of Laura’s Miscellaneous Musings (6)

1. John Wayne: The Life and Legend by Scott Eyman
2. Still Memories: An Autobiography in Photography by John Mills
3. Dangerous Rhythm: Why Movie Musicals Matter by Richard Barrios
4. Jacques Tourneur: The Cinema of Nightfall by Chris Fujiwara
5. The Years of George Montgomery
6. Five Came Back: A Story of the Hollywood and the Second World War by Mark Harris

Lê  of Vintage Classic Scrapbook and Critica Retro (2)

1. Na Sala Escura: A Arte De Sonhar Com Os Olhos Abertos by Chico Lopes (review is in Portuguese but you can easily translate it to English!)
2. Beyond Casablanca II: 101 Classic Movies Worth Watching by Jennifer Garlen

Raquel of Out of the Past  (3)

1. Dangerous Rhythm: Why Movie Musicals Matter by Richard Barrios
2. A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907-1940 by Victoria Wilson
3. Steve McQueen: A Passion for Speed by Frederic Brun

Rich of Wide Screen World (4)

1. Three Fingers by Rich Koslowsky
2. Silent Stars by Jeanine Basinger
3. Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
4. The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe by

Robby of Dear Old Hollywood (2)

1. Welcome, Foolish Mortals: The Life and Voices of Paul Frees by Ben Ohmart
2. Life at the Marmont: The Inside Story of Hollywood’s Legendary Hotel of the Stars – Chateau Marmont by Raymond Sarlot and Fred E. Basten

There were three candidates for the final prize. I used Random.org to pick a winner and it was Laura! She wins the set of four Vintage Movie Classics from Vintage Books.

Stars & Their Hobbies - Joan Crawford

Joan Crawford, Knitting

"I took my knitting along so I could keep my hands busy, because I was so nervous."  Joan Crawford

As any knitter will tell you, there is a lot of comfort to be found in the repetitive motions of a pair of knitting needles and some yarn as you knit and purl your way through a pattern. Joan Crawford would often be found on film sets knitting as she waited for her call. It calmed her nerves and kept her distracted during down times. Rumor has it, Crawford was temporarily kicked off the set of The Women (1939) by George Cukor for purposefully annoying Norma Shearer with the constant clicking of her knitting needles.

Source

Crawford teaching Ann Blyth how to knit on the set of Mildred Pierce
Source

My series Stars & Their Hobbies explores how notable actors and actresses from Hollywood history spent their free time. Click here to view a complete list of entries. 

Steve McQueen: A Passion for Speed

Steve McQueen: A Passion for Speed
by Frederic Brun
Hardcover - 192 pages
ISBN: 9780760342480
MotorBooks
October 2011

Barnes and Noble
IndieBound (Your local bookstore)
Powell's

"McQueen will be remembered as one of the finest exponents of speed to ever grace the big screen." - Brun

Steve McQueen: A Passion for Speed is a coffee table book for McQueen fans and car enthusiasts alike. In its 192 pages you'll find beautiful black-and-white and color photographs depicting the actor's passion for racing cars and motorcycles and his enthusiasm for physical sport.

In text written by French journalist Frederic Brun and translated into English by Flo Brutton, we learn about how McQueen's passion for speed influenced all parts of his life including his career as a film actor. The book is divided into six sections with an introduction providing much of the background of McQueen's life, the history of racing and some key figures including John Newton Cooper and Peter Revson. It's followed by 5 chapters each with a different theme: Speed, Physique, Film, Life and Collection. Each chapter starts off with a few pages of text and then continues with single and (almost) double-page spread photographs. These include photos of McQueen in action, candids of him at home, advertisements, movie posters, publicity photos, magazine covers and behind-the-scenes shots. The fun part of reading the book is looking through all the photographs and wishing you could be as cool as Steve McQueen.

I particularly enjoyed the chapter devoted to McQueen's physique, which he kept in tip-top shape with regular exercise. It includes some photos of him exercising at home and some of them are quite revealing of McQueen's physique and unmentionables (oh my!).

Although McQueen was known for having abused his body with cigarettes, alcohol and drugs, I admire his dedication to fitness because it's something that is very important in my life as well. McQueen had a home gym and a personal trainer, in a time when it was very rare to train if you were not a professional athlete. McQueen loved swimming, boxing and martial arts and all of his fitness efforts were ultimately to make him stronger and better suited to his greatest passion: racing.

So if Steve McQueen loved racing so much why didn't he become a professional race car driver instead of an actor? Brun explores this in the book. McQueen was a talent on the race track and kept himself in good shape but even he knew that even that wasn't enough for him make it professionally. He needed to be more fine-tuned in his driving skills and lacked some of the finesse of other more talented drivers. Besides, McQueen's career as an actor allowed him time and money to devote to collecting high performance cars and motorcycles and to influence Hollywood to add more racing and luxury vehicles into their movies.

McQueen's passion for speed was one major aspect of his personality that made him so charismatic and cool. Author Brun says:

"speed has the taste of forbidden fruit; the effect of a powerful stimulant, an unstable force set to destroy whoever consumes it. It is this that makes Steve McQueen so dangerously irresistible."

Steve McQueen glamorized racing and luxury cars on screen. The films discussed at length in the book include The Great Escape (1963), The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Bullitt (1968),  Le Mans (1971) and On Any Sunday (1971). And of course in this book you'll find photos of the famous green Ford Mustang he drives in Bullitt as well as the Porsche from Le Mans.

I'm not going to pretend that I know anything about cars because I don't. I relied on my car enthusiast husband Carlos to translate some of the language in this book for me. You can still enjoy the book even if you're not into cars but knowing the lingo helps, especially when it comes to makes and models.

This book was published by MotorBooks, a company that seems devoted to putting out coffee table books about Steve McQueen. They have five in total! The others include Steve McQueen: A Tribute to the King of Cool, Steve McQueen: The Last Mile... Revisited (written by his third wife Barbara McQueen),  Steve McQueen: The Actor and His Films and McQueen's Machines: The Cars and Bikes of a Hollywood Icon.