In this engrossing tribute to her parents, the author provides a thoughtfully documented portrait of early Hollywood. A...
An affectionate portrait of two early Hollywood film legends.
In this captivating dual biography and memoir, Riskin—a former president of the Writers Guild of America West and former director of Human Rights Watch—recounts the colorful lives, hardworking careers, and loving but sadly foreshortened marriage of her parents, actress Fay Wray (1907-2004) and screenwriter/playwright Robert Riskin (1897-1955). Wray is best remembered for her iconic role in the 1933 classic King Kong. Though many of her other films are less memorable, during the 1930s she was one of the most prolific actresses of her day. Riskin made an indelible mark as a screenwriter for several significant films of that same period, most in collaboration with director Frank Capra, including It Happened One Night, for which Riskin won an Academy Award for best adapted screenplay. Wray and Riskin both came from humble origins. One of six children, she “came from pioneer stock” in Utah; he was one of five children brought up in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Both were well-established in their careers before meeting in 1940: Wray was at Paramount, Riskin at Columbia Pictures. Wray had been married previously and had a young daughter. Riskin, in his early 40s, had avoided marriage but had serious involvements with severable notable women, including Carole Lombard. Their eventual marriage would enrich both their lives but was short-lived. Riskin suffered a stroke in 1950 that left him unable to write for the remainder of his life. In alternating chapters, the author traces their careers and shares lively stories of their personal journeys. The narrative is enhanced by richly detailed descriptions of that period, as the author offers fresh insights into the studio system and many of the key players. Much has been previously written about Capra as well as studio moguls such as Harry Cohn; Riskin provides further nuance and context for how these and other industry talents operated.
In this engrossing tribute to her parents, the author provides a thoughtfully documented portrait of early Hollywood. A must-read for fans of this era of film history.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5247-4728-2
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Pantheon
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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