Hollywood Dreams – Stars Over Sunset Boulevard by Susan Meissner

Like all of Meissner's fiction, this novel was well-researched and offered some fascinating insights into the Hollywood of the late 1930s and onward. 

The author explores the friendship between two very different women, Violet, a transplant from Alabama, and Audrey, a native Californian. The two women meet at work at Selznick International Studios, where they work in the secretarial pool as filming for "Gone With The Wind" is about to begin. Audrey owns a small bungalow bequeathed to her by her Aunt Jo, and Violet becomes her roommate. Audrey has a very close friend, Burt, who is in love with her, though she does not have the same feelings for him.

Audrey is a little older, and has aspirations to act in the movies, but her big break has failed to come. Violet left home to escape the rigid society of her upper middle class environment, and a broken romance. Both women (of course) have their secrets, which they eventually share and which lead to a situation many friendships could not sustain, which will become the later focus of the plot.

In a moment of poor judgment and after drinking a few too many cocktails at a party they attend with Burt, they "acquire" a hat that is part of the wardrobe of Scarlett O'Hara in the movie. As Burt works in the costume department and is responsible for the items kept there, he gets into trouble for the incident and nearly loses his job. The hat will take on great significance as time passes.

Many things occur in this triangular friendship, and alignments change. Violet falls in love with Burt, and he with her. They marry, while remaining friends with Audrey. World War II intervenes and time continues to pass as the lives of the friends evolve. Where this will all lead is the crux of the story...which has some somewhat unlikely elements that I will leave to other readers to discover.

What seems unfortunate to me is the device author Meissner used to introduce readers to the action – the infamous hat has made an appearance in a vintage clothing store and the store owner, recognizing its significance wants to return it to its owner. This felt contrived to me, at least as it was used in the book, and less than believable. If it had been handled differently, it would have been more effective and much more appealing. The jacket copy describes this as a "journey more enchanting than any classic movie" but this aspect is just not convincing. Otherwise, there is a lot to like about this book in terms of atmosphere and detail.

Another Side of 60s London – East End Passport by Roy and Cécile Curtis

The full title of this charming little book is East End Passport: A Guide to Petticoat Lane. I picked it up at a new (only to me – it's been around for 50 years or so) used bookstore, Rodgers' Book Barn, in Hillsdale, NY, on a recent weekend trip, along with some other treasures. 

Published in 1969, it is wildly out of date as a travel guide, and be warned, uses some language and commentary that over five decades later, could be deemed somewhat offensive or patronizing by certain readers, but it must be taken in its historical context.

It has a wonderful design – the size and shape of an old-style British passport, with numerous pen and ink sketches by the author's wife, Cécile.

Its great value is as a window into the historic East End of London, where numerous immigrant groups passed through on their way to other parts of London, the whole of Great Britain, or to America, as my own great-grandparents did just after 1900. It retains some of the flavor of what it must have been, not unlike New York's Lower East Side, South Philadelphia, or the West End in Boston as they once were, and now are entirely changed to the point of being unrecognizable. 

Fortunately for me, my first trip to London in 1988 included a Sunday walking tour of the area, when it still retained a bit of its old-time flavor. I only wish I had had this book beforehand for more context and added insight. However, I am happy to have it now, and enjoyed it despite the odds and ends that made me wince just a bit.

Radio City on Stage – The Spectacular by Fiona Davis

Fiona Davis's historical fiction, set in iconic New York City locations, is always entertaining reading and offers commentary about the significance of the settings she chooses. 

This book revolves around Marion Brooks, a young woman who becomes a Radio City Rockette in the mid-1950s. The narrative moves back and forth between that decade and 1992. Reading about the audition and practice processes is interesting in itself, and the description of the theatrical women's boarding house where Marion shares a room with another Rockette offers a wonderful feeling of nostalgia for a very different time, though in many ways, Marion is as contemporary as any young woman of our time. She yearns to follow her dream, make her own way, and be independent.

New York City in 1956 was under attack from a person the author renames the "Big Apple Bomber". There actually was a someone planting pipe bombs in busy locations in the city at that time, though his case has been long forgotten, supplanted by other dangerous individuals like the Son of Sam in the 1970s, and now the Gilgo Beach murderer.

Marion struggles with the expectations of her over-protective father, who has tried to shield her and her older sister Judy from danger, after the death of his wife, their mother, who was hit by a car when the girls were young. Her father views her desire to become a professional dancer as a foolish rebellion and prefers that she marry and have a conventional, safe suburban life. 

Before that, however, she becomes embroiled in the search to apprehend the bomber. When she breaks through and defies her father, a series of tragic events and disappointments changes her direction but ultimately takes her on a fulfilling professional life's journey, though the personal cost is high.

The book is a very fast read, and while it rings true as to locations, some of the plot developments seem a bit contrived. I also noticed, as I have in Davis's other books, the occasional use of an expression that seems out of place – more 2020s than 1950s. This is not enough to limit enjoyment of the book, and most likely younger readers than me may not notice, but I expect others of my age group, familiar with the 1950s might.

The other aspect of note is the author's insertion of Parkinson's Disease into the story, into the character of Marion's father as he aged, and Marion herself in 1992. Davis was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2020, and became active in the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. I applaud her for helping to shed light on this affliction and wish her all the best. I hope that she and many others will be the recipient of new treatments as they become available.

Upending Tradition – Varina Palladino's Jersey Italian Love Story by Terri-Lynne DeFino

While I am not Italian-American, I have had and have, close friendships with a number of people of Italian descent, and because they were so kind and welcoming to me, I knew a number of their Italian families, including a few in New Jersey, so quite a lot about this novel reminded of them. But really, I'm not sure how much difference there is between Pennsylvanian Italians, New York Italians, and the Jersey Italians of this novel.

The author precedes each chapter with a few "Jersey" dialect Italian words or expressions – some of which I have heard, even used myself, over the years, though many were new to me too. The definitions and pronunciation guides were very helpful (and often very funny), and now I think I could finally order a sfogliatella (a shell-shaped pastry filled with custard), pronounced svoo-ya-del, in an Italian bakery or café without sounding ridiculous or feeling embarrassed.

The words figure into the story, the saga of the Palladino family, which is based in Wyldale, a fictional working-to-middle class town, which sounds like any number of towns I know in north and mid Jersey (or Brooklyn, Queens, or Philly). Varina, the central character, is a 70-ish widow, who operates a small Italian food specialty store. Sylvia Spini, her 90-plus mother, also widowed, lives with her, and has made finding Varina a boyfriend, who could perhaps even become a new husband, the mission of her remaining years.

There are three grown children: Davide, a high-end hairdresser, owns several salons in the better towns in the area. A ladies' man, he is successful and always in and out of relationships. Dante is the other son, who now heads the family's other business, construction, until recently run by Varina's brother Tommy, who retires and decamps to Florida. Dante is amicably divorced from Pandora, his Greek-American (wow) wife, and has a college-age daughter, Gabriella. The youngest, Donatella, is the wild child, a thirty-something woman who is always in some kind of trouble or difficulty. I must digress here – I love these character's names, which are so expressive of the family's Italian heritage.

The "almost" fourth child is Paulie, a gay man who was rejected by his own parents when they couldn't accept his orientation. He has been unofficially adopted by the Palladinos, works in Dante's business, and since their childhood, has been Donatella's best friend, protector, fall guy, and as an adult, her sometimes lover, despite his identity.

Sylvia and Donatella secretly team up to find a man for Varina, leading to all kinds of unintended, but mostly positive, consequences. Varina makes a new friend, Ruth, a Jewish woman, also widowed, when they meet at a travel agent's office where they have independently booked the same trip to France. Sylvia is skeptical of Ruth (Not Italian, not close to her family, no kids – could she be a lesbian after Varina?), but soon Sylvia will have something else to occupy her thoughts and dreams.

There is one other, shall we say, character in this book, known as Vicky. Vicky is an old-time Victrola record player which has been in the family for generations, that plays opera and waltz music, on its own ghostly schedule...an accompaniment to the three generations of Palladinos and Spinis who have lived in the same house for decades, and just another bit of the craziness of the family dynamic.

Just like life, there are some unexpected twists and turns for the Palladino clan, though we as readers are likely to suss them out before they do. But no matter, as they make for entertaining and heart-pleasing reading that would certainly translate into a joyful film or Netflix series, which I would hope to see one day. As Shakespeare wrote, "All's Well That Ends Well", and the sequence of events makes this novel worthy of your readership.

And Women Too – The Real Mad Men of Advertising, a Smithsonian Film

I recently watched "The Real Mad Men of Advertising", a Smithsonian Channel documentary, produced after the conclusion of the "Mad Men" television series, which ran for seven seasons, from 2007-2015, and depicted the advertising profession in New York in the 1960s, and gave excellent insights into the trends of popular culture and the politics of the time.

The documentary is in four parts, each covering a decade, from the 1950s through the 1980s. A number of former advertising stars, including copywriter Jane Maas (1932-2018), various university professors and museum curators, and others speak about the history, trends, and famous ads of the various decades. Another leading contributor is Matthew Weiner, originator of the "Mad Men" series. Narration is by John Slattery, one of the stars of the "Mad Men" series.

The complete program runs just over 160 minutes, so it can be watched at one sitting...in fact, I would recommend it for maximum enjoyment and immersion. 

On Camera and Behind It – The Girls in the Picture by Melanie Benjamin

With its historical perspective, this novel, a fictionalized version of the friendship between silent film star Mary Pickford and the screenwriter/director Frances Marion, offers unique insights into the lives of two women of influence in the early years of the movie business, and presents portraits of some of the other screen personalities, writers, directors and studio owners, some flattering, some far less so.  

Even though the chapters alternate between Pickford and Marion, Marion is really the heart of the story, and to me, as a fellow writer, the more interesting personality. The chapters about her work in Hollywood, her experiences in World War I as a journalist who planning (and later producing) a film about the women who served in the war, and her relationship and marriage to her husband, Fred Thomson, a minister turned screen cowboy, were very compelling. Marion, who wrote over 300 screenplays and won two Oscars, is one of the subjects of the Women Film Pioneers Project at Columbia University, https://wfpp.columbia.edu/pioneer/ccp-frances-marion/. She also published a number of books, including a memoir, Off With Their Heads!: A Serio-Comic Tale of Hollywood, which was later made into a documentary film. 

Pickford was depicted as very guarded, since her success and reputation was dependent on her screen and public image. I found her difficult to like, and although she supported her mother, sister, brother, and niece financially, she appeared overly attached and childlike in her relationship to her mother. It seemed that she was never really able to leave her past behind and move forward, and was also exceptionally emotionally dependent upon her second husband, Douglas Fairbanks, who eventually divorced her. The other, and very informative, side of Pickford depicted in the book was her business and professional acumen. She was one of the founders of United Artists studios, and of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. 

I originally read this book in hardcover format, but enjoyed it even more as an audio book, read by Broadway actress Kimberley Farr, who has been the reader of many other audio book productions.

A Tragic Family on Stage – Booth by Karen Joy Fowler

For the first time, I am reading and rating books as long list candidates for the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award. Booth was ultimately one of my three choices, and the one I enjoyed most and considered the best-written. Apparently I had inadvertently overlooked it when I made my initial selections, or perhaps it was added at a later point, but as we reached the last week of the rating period, I knew I could fit in one more, and I made a wonderful selection, because it turned out to be an outstanding work of historical fiction.

Even though it was published last year, I was given access to an advance copy of the e-book, which I  found so compelling that I could hardly put my iPad down, and was reading at every possible opportunity. I finished the 480 or so pages over three days, and was sorry when I came to the end, something I haven't experienced all that often lately.

It is the somewhat fictionalized story of the Booth family of actors which most tragically included Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth, the next-to-youngest of the ten children. Booth's father was the famous Shakespearian actor Junius Brutus Booth, and John Wilkes's brothers Junius and Edwin were also actors, Edwin having the most illustrious career of them all. New York's Booth Theater on 45th Street in the current Theater District was named for Edwin. Edwin and the other members of the Booth family were Union loyalists, with John the exception. Booth's mother was Mary Ann Holmes, his father's mistress, whom he eventually married once he was divorced from his first wife, but the children were all born illegitimately.

The Booths lived in Maryland, near Bel Air, about twenty-five miles northeast of Baltimore, first in a rustic and remote cabin on a farm, then in a large house built by Junius Sr. They also had a town house in Baltimore. These locations figure importantly in the book, along with others in Philadelphia, New York, and Richmond.

The book follows the family chronologically through the births (and the many deaths) of the children, their education, entry into adulthood and beyond, until the assassination and capture of John. It particularly portrays the lives of John, Edwin, and their sisters Rosalie and Asia, who was especially close to John. The Booth family story is interspersed with brief chapters that recount Lincoln's political career, his speeches, and episodes from his presidency, leading up to his death, which provides a paralleling timeframe and account of his rise to the White House.

Much of the book is based on historical fact, with the fictional aspects being the conversations and imagined internal lives of the main characters. Anyone who has read non-fiction books such as Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals, or studied even the basics of the Civil War era will recognize that the trajectory of events is quite realistic, but reading what the author Karen Joy Fowler imagines of the family interactions, motivations, and thoughts of the principal characters truly brings them to life and makes them all the more compelling. Her skill brings these historical events out of the past and into the present, with all of its current strife between today's political parties and the culture wars that are causing so much struggle now. The similarities of the gulfs between today's Democrats and Republicans are chillingly striking...

I highly recommend this title for readers interested in history, politics, and theater.