
Hollywood: The Oral History
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Narrated by:
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Timothy Andrés Pabon
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Marni Penning
The real story of Hollywood as told by such luminaries as Steven Spielberg, Frank Capra, Katharine Hepburn, Meryl Streep, Harold Lloyd, and nearly four hundred others, assembled from the American Film Institute’s treasure trove of interviews, reveals a fresh history of the American movie industry from its beginnings to today.
From the archives of the American Film Institute comes a unique picture of what it was like to work in Hollywood from its beginnings to its present day. Gleaned from nearly three thousand interviews, involving four hundred voices from the industry, Hollywood: The Oral History, lets a listener “listen in” on candid remarks from the biggest names in front of the camera—Bette Davis, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Harold Lloyd—to the biggest behind it—Frank Capra, Steven Spielberg, Alfred Hitchcock, Jordan Peele, as well as the lesser known individuals that shaped what was heard and seen on screen: musicians, costumers, art directors, cinematographers, writers, sound men, editors, make-up artists, and even script timers, messengers, and publicists. The result is like a conversation among the gods and goddesses of film: lively, funny, insightful, historically accurate and, for the first time, authentically honest in its portrait of Hollywood. It’s the insider’s story.
Legendary film scholar Jeanine Basinger and New York Times bestselling author Sam Wasson, both acclaimed storytellers in their own right, have undertaken the monumental task of digesting these tens of thousands of hours of talk and weaving it into a definitive portrait of workaday Hollywood.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2022 Jeanine Basinger and Sam Wasson (P)2022 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...




















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Wow!
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Insider view of the Hollywood film industry; A mini-MBA lesson in corporate thinking
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Good oral history-poor reading
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Transitions
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( not clear why some are so negative about the narrators…. I found them very easy to listen to)
Found this to be incredibly informative and a fascinating listen!
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That’s one example and perhaps the most egregious. Astaire and Rogers are well praised. The same with more contemporary actors. Ultimately, it’s an oral biography of Hollywood focusing more on the titans of the industry and how it evolved dramatically over time. But you will hear from and about many celebrities. I must say, the narration by just one woman and one man was superb. They each adjusted their voices to resemble those from whom the words originally flowed. You get just a flavor of Lucille Ball or Clark Gable—not impersonations but enough of an impression to keep the story sounding like it was indeed a compilation of hundreds of eye witnesses. The two are masterful storytellers: bringing emotional truth to every voice, aware of pacing, tone, and inflection. I hope they have or will narrate many other books. My last point is one often noted in reviews of celebrity biographies and memoirs: the dreaded mispronunciation of names. There was a cavalcade in this case, overwhelmingly by the male narrator. Here are most if not all of them:
David Niven pronounced it like Nigh-ven, rhyming with thrivin’
‘Marleen’ Dietrich not Mar-lay-nah
Warren ‘Beety’
Otto Preminger and John Schlesinger said with hard Gs
Zootrope in two syllables
Mario Pew-zoh rather than pooh-zoh
Cannes in two syllables, rhyming with Alannis
Many of those are common errors and the talents of these narrators made forgiving them very easy. In case it isn’t clear, I highly recommend this book!
The deep dive into Hollywood’s pool of talent
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Excellent reportage, but no point of view.
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10 times more than I expected or hoped for
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Hollywood Insider
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Complete Hollywood Conversation
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