Bringing up Oscar : the story of the men and women who founded the Academy

Format:

Book

Title:

Bringing up Oscar : the story of the men and women who founded the Academy

Other title(s):

Men and women who founded the Academy

Author:

Pawlak, Debra Ann author

ISBN:

9781605981376

9781605982748

Edition:

1st Pegasus books cloth edition.

Publication:

New York : Pegasus Books, 2011.

Physical Description:

xvii, 361, [16] pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

General Note:

"January 2011"--Title page verso.

Contents:

The flickers -- Welcome to Hollywood -- Team biograph -- The scribes -- The silent types -- The idols -- Calling the shots -- How did they do that? -- Head of the House -- The guardians -- On top of the mountain -- Lions and tigers and brothers, oh my! -- The lunatics -- In the zoo -- The rest of 'em -- The gang's all here -- Let's go on with the show -- Scholars, tough guys and bishops -- Three men and a lady -- Mad hatters, macho men and Mexican divorces -- Businessmen, artists and mediators -- Mogul to mogul -- Ancient slaves, bad facelifts and broken towel bars -- Pretzels, lawyers and potentates -- Last founders standing -- That's a wrap!

Summary:

Presents the story of the thirty-six motion picture pioneers, including Cecil B. DeMille and Mary Pickford, who joined together to found the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and organized the annual Academy Awards.

Corporate Subject:

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences -- History.

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. (OCoLC)fst00541493

Subject(s):

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences -- History.

Academy Awards (Motion pictures)

Motion pictures -- United States -- History.

Geographic Term:

United States.

Genre:

Motion pictures.

History.

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Monmouth Public Library	791.43 Pawlak, D. 2011	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Dallas Public Library	791.43 Pawlak	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

The founders of the now infamous Academy were a motley crew as individuals, but when they first converged in Hollywood, then just a small town with dirt roads, sparks flew and fueled a common dream: to bring artistic validity to their beloved new medium.Today, movies are so ingrained in our culture it is hard to imagine a time when former cowpunchers, prospectors, vaudevillians, even junk dealers made up the rules as they went along. Prohibition and the Great Depression were keeping everyone on edge, and the business was rife with murders and drug scandals. Something had to happen. And so on January 11th, 1927, thirty-six members of Hollywood's elite and not-so-elite came together at the behest of MGM chief Louis B. Mayer. From Cecil B. DeMille to Mary Pickford, Harry M. Warner, who owned a bike shop before launching the revolutionary "talkie" The Jazz Singer, even Joseph M. Schenck, freed from jail just in time to discover Marilyn Monroe--each guest was more colorful than the last. Although they didn't know it yet, these thirty-six achievers and dreamers gave birth to a golden child.Who were these movers and shakers who would change movies forever? And what about Oscar, their famous son? He is fast approaching his 100th birthday, and is still the undisputed king of Hollywood. Yet with such dynamic parents, what else could we expect?

Author Notes

Debra Ann Pawlak has spent over ten years writing about Hollywood history and is a frequent contributor to The Mediadrome . She is the author of Farmington and Farmington Hills , for Arcadia's "Making of America" series, and has written a screenplay about Clara Bow. She lives in southeastern Michigan.

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Pawlak, a contributor to Arcadia Publishing's "Making of America" series, traces the lives of the 36 key figures in the cinema community who launched the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1927, the same year talkies arrived with The Jazz Singer. An opening about 19th-century Hollywood and one-reel flickers leads into brief biographies of picture pioneers Sid Grauman, Louis B. Mayer, Jesse Lasky, Samuel Goldwyn, Cecil B. DeMille, and others involved in the early expansion of the film industry: "By 1908, about 8,000 neighborhood movie theaters had opened throughout the country." The book features such actors as Douglas Fairbanks and Harold Lloyd, and the roster of directors includes John Stahl, Fred Niblo and Raoul Walsh, followed by producers Harry Rapf and Irving Thalberg. Pawlak covers only three women among the 36-actress Mary Pickford, screenwriter Beth Meredyth, and actress-writer Jeanie Macpherson, who had herself imprisoned to research her 1922 Manslaughter screenplay. By skillfully weaving such highlights of Hollywood history throughout this Tinseltown tapestry, Pawlak succeeds in recreating that colorful era when flickers turned into features and silents converted to sound. (Jan. 15) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Review

Pawlak (Farmington and Farmington Hills, 2003) charts the establishment of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization best known for its annual distribution of the Academy Awards.Unfortunately, Oscar fans will find little here to entice them. The author mostly foregoes any discussion of the fabled ceremonies, instead providing biographical sketches of the Academy's founders. The result is a useful but dull primer on the movers and shakers of early Hollywood, with the familiar histories of such luminaries as Douglas Fairbanks and Cecil B. DeMille leavened with those of less well-known players, including lawyer Edwin Loeb and early special-effects maven Roy Pomeroy. Pawlak has done her homeworkmost of the profiles include information on the salient figure's parents, siblings, employment history, marital status and financial standingbut the cumulative effect of all the data, especially as regards the relatively obscure likes of, say, Fred Niblo or Milton Sills, is ultimately stultifying and frustratingly hard to keep straight. The Academy was founded to help settle disputes, act as an educational repository for advancements in film technology and protect the industry's image amid scandals and public outrage at the extravagance of the movie-star lifestyle. Pawlak largely neglects to report on the Academy's activities in the pursuit of these goals. Instead, the author uses the founding of the Academy as a seemingly arbitrary matrix for celebrating the careers of Tinseltown's pioneering artists, technicians and businessmen. Pawlak's workmanlike prose and journalistic approach fail to elevate the material beyond an admirably detailed historical survey, but the sheer invention of the first generation of moviemakers inevitably results in appreciation.A serviceable but flavorless history of early Hollywood.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

In January 1927, movie mogul Louis B. Mayer gathered together 36 of the leading movers and shakers in the still-fledgling film industry and proposed the founding of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, arguing that by working together this group of cantankerous individualists could ensure that business would prosper in the coming decades. From Thalberg to Warner to DeMille, Mayer's big idea was met with approval, and the academy was born, eventually to give birth itself to a statuette called Oscar. In this fascinating if scattered account, Pawlak gallops through the early history of moviemaking, following the various careers of the original 36. Much of this material especially about the moguls is available elsewhere, but by focusing on all the founders, Pawluk is able to re-create the peculiar form of community that existed among a group of otherwise vicious competitors. Unfortunately, the book is devoid of any real narrative structure, and the unnecessary repetition of the same stories becomes more than a little annoying. Still, for those willing to mine the rambling text for anecdotes, there are nuggets aplenty to be found here.--Ott, Bill Copyright 2010 Booklist

Library Journal Review

The annual Academy Awards ceremony is one of the most anticipated, lucrative, and highly publicized events on the Hollywood calendar. Although millions watch the presentation around the globe, the origins of the academy are generally unknown and the details of the first ceremony in 1927 are predominantly only discussed by students of early film history. Pawlak (Farmington and Farmington Hills) fills this knowledge gap in pop-culture history with her look at the academy through the lives of the 36 pioneers-producers, directors, actors, writers, and technicians-who created it. Verdict This fast-paced, light look at an epoch in film history will be of interest to those seeking a quick read or a starting point on the mythology of old Hollywood. A nice addition to public library shelves, this book should enjoy steady circulation.-Teri Shiel, Westfield State Univ. Lib., MA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.