In case you haven’t heard, our Summer Learning Odyssey theme for this year is “Hollywood.” The official title is “A Reading Star is Born.” I’ve been gearing up for this by reading books about Hollywood... more specifically old Hollywood. I love watching classic movies, so when I think of Hollywood it’s the “Golden Era” my mind turns to.
I recently read the novel “Goodnight from Paris,” by Jane Healey. For as many old movies that I’ve watched over the years, I never heard of the actress Drue Leyton prior to reading this book. The novel covers her war years in France.
Drue Leyton was a Hollywood movie actress who married a French actor and found herself in France right at the outbreak of WWII in Europe. Instead of taking the easy way out, and going back to America to make another movie, she decided to stay in France. There she worked with the American Embassy and the French to broadcast via radio what was happening in Paris, at the beginning of the war. She risked her life many times, ended up in an internment camp, and still worked for the French Resistance afterward. I really loved this book. Jane Healey wrote another book set in WWII, where John Wayne and Julia Child make appearances. Its title is “The Secret Stealers.”
Another novel I recently read and enjoyed is “Miss del Rio,” by Barbara Mujica. George Bernard Shaw once declared the two most beautiful things in the world were the Taj Mahal and Delores del Rio. Although this book does tell of the Hollywood life of the movie star, it also covers her family’s struggle during the Mexican Revolution. The novel is told through the eyes of a fictional friend, who also fled the revolution, and strives for a simple life, and to uncover a mystery in her family’s past. This book is another page turner I recommend. All three of the above books are in print and cataloged within the library.
If you prefer reading non-fiction books on Hollywood, here are some recommendations - “The Wild Bunch: Sam Peckinpah, Revolution in Hollywood, and the Making of Legendary Film,” was well-researched and written by Austin author W.K. Stratton. The author became friends with several of the actors, through the writing of the book. Don Graham was J. Frank Dobie Regents Professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin and the author of many books including “Giant: Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Edna Ferber, and the Making of a Legendary American Film.” Dan Auiler is a Boerne High School graduate and now an author and film historian. He wrote the book “Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic,” and it’s a great read for Hitchcock fans. Alison Macor recently published through UT Press, “Making the Best Years of Our Lives: The Hollywood Classic that Inspired a Nation.”
We’ll be screening “Vertigo” in our Community Room on Wednesday, June 7th, at 6:00 p.m. On Thursday, June 8th, at 3:00 p.m. we’ll be in conversation online with Dan Auiler about the making of “Vertigo.” Through our partnership with The Center at Kronkosky Place, we’ll be screening “The Best Years of Our Lives” there on Wednesday, July 12th, at 1:00 p.m. On Wednesday, July 19th, at 1:00 p.m., we will talk with author Alison Macor about the making of “The Best Years of Our Lives,” also online. Please join us for the screenings – there will be popcorn at both events! For more information on our Summer Learning Odyssey please call the library or stop in and pick up a program!
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