The Hollywood Sign

The Hollywood Sign PDF Author: Leo Braudy
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300158785
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
The story behind the massive white block letters set into a steep Los Angeles hillside—and the city and culture they represent: “Terrific.”—San Francisco Chronicle To so many who see its image, the Hollywood sign represents the earthly home of that otherwise ethereal world of fame, stardom, celebrity—the American and worldwide aspiration to be in the limelight, to be, like the Hollywood sign itself, instantly recognizable. How an advertisement erected in 1923, touting the real estate development Hollywoodland, took on a life of its own is a story worthy of a movie itself. Leo Braudy traces the remarkable life of this distinctly American landmark, which has been saved over the years by a various fans and supporters, among them Alice Cooper and Hugh Hefner, who spearheaded its reconstruction in the 1970s. He also uses the sign’s history to offer an intriguing look at the rise of the film business from its earliest, silent days through the development of the studio system that helped define modern Hollywood. Mixing social history, urban studies, literature, and film, along with forays into such topics as the lure of Hollywood for utopian communities and the development of domestic architecture in Los Angeles, The Hollywood Sign is a fascinating account of how a temporary structure has become a permanent icon of American culture. “An entertaining tale.”—The Washington Post

The Hollywood Sign

The Hollywood Sign PDF Author: Leo Braudy
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300158785
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Get Book Here

Book Description
The story behind the massive white block letters set into a steep Los Angeles hillside—and the city and culture they represent: “Terrific.”—San Francisco Chronicle To so many who see its image, the Hollywood sign represents the earthly home of that otherwise ethereal world of fame, stardom, celebrity—the American and worldwide aspiration to be in the limelight, to be, like the Hollywood sign itself, instantly recognizable. How an advertisement erected in 1923, touting the real estate development Hollywoodland, took on a life of its own is a story worthy of a movie itself. Leo Braudy traces the remarkable life of this distinctly American landmark, which has been saved over the years by a various fans and supporters, among them Alice Cooper and Hugh Hefner, who spearheaded its reconstruction in the 1970s. He also uses the sign’s history to offer an intriguing look at the rise of the film business from its earliest, silent days through the development of the studio system that helped define modern Hollywood. Mixing social history, urban studies, literature, and film, along with forays into such topics as the lure of Hollywood for utopian communities and the development of domestic architecture in Los Angeles, The Hollywood Sign is a fascinating account of how a temporary structure has become a permanent icon of American culture. “An entertaining tale.”—The Washington Post

Lost Horizons Beneath the Hollywood Sign (Hardback)

Lost Horizons Beneath the Hollywood Sign (Hardback) PDF Author: David Del Valle
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781593939816
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 458

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Book Description
This is the HARDBACK version. David Del Valle, writer, curator, collector, and Hollywood historian, takes you on a first person tour of the man-made Shangri La beneath the Hollywood sign, ultimately descending into the smog-shrouded netherworld of Lost Horizons. His candid recollections prove to be a celebration of contrasts, as David hangs out with the reigning pop culture icons of the day, Timothy Leary, Christopher Isherwood, Terry Southern, and Kenneth Anger. David maintained a life-long passion for those artisans that created the Horror genre. He grew up as a monster-watching kid of the 1950s, watching those films unfold on television, and his interactions with genre personalities like Vampira, John Carradine, Christopher Lee, and Barbara Steele testify to his devotion to their legacy. The book also delves into his long relationships with Vincent Price and Curtis Harrington during twenty-five years of living in Beverly Hills, as well as unforgettable moments such as introducing Hermione Baddeley to the Avant Garde filmmaker Rainer Fassbinder in a West Hollywood leather bar while Martha Raye searched her purse for poppers. Ken Russell, one of David's favorite directors, was fond of reminding David "Every day in Tinsle town is Halloween." Enter the realm of Lost Horizons and discover that you are no longer a tourist. You are now one of the attractions.

Peg Entwistle and the Hollywood Sign Suicide

Peg Entwistle and the Hollywood Sign Suicide PDF Author: James Zeruk, Jr.
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786473134
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
This is the first complete biography of actress Peg Entwistle, known as the "Hollywood Sign Girl" because of her suicide fall from the HOLLYWOODLAND sign in 1932. It details her childhood, stage and film career, marriage and divorce, and her suicide and almost cult-like pop culture status today. Extensively researched and written with the complete cooperation of the Entwistle family, this work includes excerpts from interviews with Peg Entwistle's brother Milton and her cousin Helen Reid, both of whom recalled much of Peg's years living in Hollywood, her career and private life, and her final weeks. It also features many of Peg Entwistle's own words from extant letters to her family and newly discovered interviews with theatrical reporters. Nearly 30 previously unpublished images from the author's collection, the Entwistle family, and a number of other sources complete an intimate look at a life that was defined by far more than its famously unhappy end.

All That Shines Under The Hollywood Sign

All That Shines Under The Hollywood Sign PDF Author: Michele McDannold
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781940213057
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 122

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Book Description
Writer Iris Berry has always been fascinated by the reality of modern-day Hollywood and its glittery history as Tinseltown, and in her new collection of poetry, All That Shines Under the Hollywood Sign, the two worlds collide. She marvels about the way jazz glides "its way/down translucent highways/at one in the morning" and "ephemeral evenings/draped across Hollywood" and rhapsodizes about such long-lost local landmarks as the Tropicana Motel and the Garden of Allah. Accompanied by evocative L.A.-centric illustrations by Scott Aicher. Berry's portraits of vanishing and changing Southern California are often sentimental but infused with a rueful punk-rock perspective as she mulls over how "A catalog/of catastrophic events/shaped our lives. Falling James, LA WEEKLY

Hollywood and the End of the Cold War

Hollywood and the End of the Cold War PDF Author: Bryn Upton
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442237945
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 209

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Book Description
From the late 1940s until the early 1990s, the Cold War was perhaps the most critical and defining aspect of American culture, influencing television, music, and movies, among other forms of popular entertainment. Films in particular were at the center of the battle for the hearts and minds of the American public. Throughout this period, the Cold War influenced what movies got produced, how such movies were made, and how audiences understood the films they watched. In the post–Cold War era, some genres of film suffered from the shift in our national narratives, while others were quickly reimagined for an audience with different political and social fears. In Hollywood and the End of the Cold War: Signs of Cinematic Change, Bryn Upton compares films from the late Cold War era with movies of similar themes from the post–Cold War era. In this volume, Upton pays particular attention to shifts in narrative that reflect changes in American culture, attitudes, and ideas. In exploring how the absence of the Cold War has changed the way we understand and interpret film, this volume seeks to answer several key questions such as: Has the end of the Cold War altered how we tell our stories? Has it changed how we perceive ourselves? In what ways has our popular culture been affected by the absence of this once dominant presence? With its focus on themes that are central to the concerns of many historians—including civil religion, social fracture, and the culture wars—Hollywood and the End of the Cold War will serve as a useful tool for those seeking to integrate film into the classroom, as well as for film scholars exploring representations of sociopolitical change on screen.

Hollywoodland

Hollywoodland PDF Author: Mary Mallory
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 9780738574783
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
Established by real estate developers Tracy E. Shoults and S. H. Woodruff in 1923, Hollywoodland was one of the first hillside developments built in Hollywood. Touting its class and sophistication, the neighborhood promoted a European influence, featuring such unique elements as stone retaining walls and stairways, along with elegant Spanish, Mediterranean, French Normandy, and English Tudor-styled homes thoughtfully placed onto the hillsides. The community contains one of the world's most recognizable landmarks, the Hollywood sign, originally constructed as a giant billboard for the development and reading "Hollywoodland." The book illustrates the development of the upper section of Beachwood Canyon known as Hollywoodland with historical photographs from Hollywood Heritage's S. H. Woodruff Collection as well as from other archives, institutions, and individuals.

The Gentle Art of Wandering

The Gentle Art of Wandering PDF Author: David Ryan
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780977696819
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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The Art of the Hollywood Backdrop

The Art of the Hollywood Backdrop PDF Author: Richard M. Isackes
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 194139308X
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
"Once a guarded cinematic secret, this definitive history reveals for the first time the art and craft of Hollywood's hand painted-backdrops, and pays homage to the scenic artists who brought them to the big screen." -- Slipcase.

Signs of Life in the U.S.A.

Signs of Life in the U.S.A. PDF Author: Sonia Maasik
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 9780312136314
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 824

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Book Description


Early Hollywood

Early Hollywood PDF Author: Marc Wanamaker
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 9780738525198
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description