“There remains a basic question about the mountain of Hollywood’s reminiscences: Are they true? Well, perhaps partly true. Remember that Hollywood people lived and still live in a world of fantasy, and they are accustomed to making things up, to fibbing and exaggerating, and to believing all their own fibs and exaggerations. Remember, too, that they all had press agents who made things up, and that fan-magazine writers made things up, and that ghostwriters still make things up, and that the celebrities who sign these concoctions no longer remember very well what really happened long ago.”
… Otto Friedrich in the Foreword to City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940’s
(Verbum sat sapienti est)
this is a great quote. i find star autobiographies fascinating as a record of how they wanted to be remembered, how they viewed themselves and this remarkable past and not necessarily exactly how things went.
ReplyDeleteThank you Meredith and welcome back. I have a pretty decent film library amassed over some years and my attitude toward the books is similar to your own. But I never stop reading them. I am currently reworking my way through the Moguls. Settle in and tell us about the lands across the water. Gerald
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