Wagon Train: The Television Series

The text gives you a basic history of the show with commentary from the remaining series stars - Robert Horton, Denny Miller, Robert Fuller - and assorted guest stars. The exclusive interviews the author was able to compile is extraordinary. Directors, assistants and authors were also interviewed. Jim Rosin then organized the commentary from his interviews to let everyone else tell the story. Kind of a written transcript of a filmed documentary. The book also covers the impact of Ward Bond's death during season four, Robert Horton's departure at the end of season five, and the subsequent three seasons with different leads.

There are a lot of gorgeous photographs inside. The episode is a bit skimmed, and I am ashamed to say you can get the same information plus more on any website including imdb and tv.com. Most books offer more than what you find on the web. There is no index which makes it difficult to find your favorite episode. What was the title of the episode with Michael Rennie? You have to flip through the pages till you find it.

I discovered there are two versions of this book, the second one pictured above. A nice attractive cover. The publishing company, Autumn Road, is apparently an independent that offers a quality product. The pages are thicker than usual books so you can tell money was backed into the quality. If the company ever decided to offer a more expanded edition, with an index, it would be a welcome addition to my collection.

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Francis X. Bushman, actor

Francis X. Bushman had a life like no other. He was the screen's first great romantic idol, a bodybuilder, an artist's model, a Broadway and stock company actor, a husband (four times), a father (six times), a dog breeder, a songwriter, a vaudeville headliner, a radio performer, a television personality, a senior citizens' advocate. He lived an exaggerated life, both as a free-spending multi-millionaire star and a bankrupt has-been. After all the accolades and criticisms, he was that rare kind of man who had no regrets.

Lon Davis has written a number of books about silent cinema and has made a name for himself with preserving a large part of Hollywood history with his tomes. He doesn't speed his books out and he takes his time to do it right. This is one of those books that I wish more people wrote about silent screen heroes.

Some of the photographs are truly rare because I have never seen many of them. I have a collection of Francis X. Bushman photos and sent them to a magazine recently for publication. Bushman's widow wrote the introduction, a joyous surprise. his entire story is told chronologically and each chapter is devoted to a time period. 1911-1915, 1915-1918, etc.

To get an idea of how in-depth Lon Davis got with his book, he even covers Bushman's television and radio credits and did not stay with just the silver screen. With having to write an awful book review the other day it makes me happy to know I can still balance the reviews with books like this. way to go, Lon!

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A Personal Biography of Betty Hutton

This is going to be one of those reviews I hesitate to give. 

At the top she made millions. At the bottom she scrubbed floors in a parish priest house. All the while she was making headlines around the world. What really happened?

There was never a more boisterous or vivacious movie star than Betty Hutton. Remember her as the high-flying trapeze artist in The Greatest Show on Earth? How about the remake version of The Perils of Pauline? She appeared in many big band movies, was the star of an Irving Berlin musical and succeeded in radio and television. From recorded interviews before her passing in 2007, Betty Hutton's own words are expressed through the spectacle, stardom and nostalgia viewpoints.

This is the only book about Betty Hutton to date, which is what makes this book important. However... (here it comes)... there are tons of mistakes and the author did not do his research. The wrong year of release for a movie, the mis-spelling of an actor's name. Horrible. The quality of the photos is horrible but I understand the publisher corrected that with a future printing. There is no index. And the book is only 112 pages thick (or should I say thin?).

This was an entertaining read, however, and perhaps the closest we will ever get to a Betty Hutton autobiography. The only thing I say say is if you love Betty Hutton, this is a book for you. If you are a casual fan, I recommend you wait until someone produces a 300 or 400 page tome. My only hope is that a future reference will be as entertaining as this book and not in the form of an encyclopedia.

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The Definitive Green Hornet

Reprinting the notes on the back cover: "A complete history of the radio series from the creation to conception sketches, reprints from production files to the untold adventures, biographic details of the cast and the characters they played (including Mike Axford, Kato, Gunnigan, Lenore Case, Linda Travis, Ed Lowry, Clicker Binney, Commissioner Higgins, etc.) and background information is all provided under one cover. Also included are details of the two cliffhanger serials produced by Universal in the early forties, the unaired 1952 television pilot, the long-running popularity of the comic books and the William Dozier television series (1966-67) starring Van Williams and Bruce Lee. A complete episode guide documents every adventure including unproduced scripts and plot ideas. Whether you are a casual fan or a serious enthusiast of the series, here is everything you want to know about The Green Hornet!" That last sentence sums up my entire review.

To wit, this book reads much like an encyclopedia, which requires the reader to digest the book page by page, day by day. It took me four months to go through it and while I couldn't even remember half of what I read, this book is certainly the final word on the subject. Terry Salomonson and Martin Grams did a hell of a job and it makes my brain twist and turn when the question comes to mind: where did the authors find all of this material? I mean, 'cmon, they reprinted a telegram from Trendle authorizing The Green Hornet and Kato to cross over into a Batman television production, plots from radio scripts that were never produced...... I am no fan of The Green Hornet so if there is an error or two in this book, I certainly could not find them. But even if there was, the book weighs almost 800 pages and for that I can forgive them. I paid $29.95 for the book, which appears to be an independent publication, authorized by The Green Hornet Inc. and God bless 'em for that. What makes me puzzled is why I recently paid $69.95 for a 240 page book from a University Press that had so many errors I felt like returning it. Salomonson and Grams must be losing money on the deal but their respect as authorities on the subject will go undisputed.

Serial Film Stars: A Biographical Dictionary, 1912-1956

Pearl White, William Duncan, William Desmond, Ben Wilson, Walter Miller, Francis Ford, Charles Hutchinson, Jack Dougherty, and Eddie Polo are just a few of the stars to start up a whirlwind of enthusiasm among serial devotees. They took the movies by storm offering a thrills-a-minute world of ridiculous plots, weird disguises, hair-raising escapes, hidden treasures, diabolic scientific devices, wild animals, depraved men, runaway trains, and endless procession of knock-down, drag-out fights. Who could resist? 

This comprehensive reference work highlights 446 serial performers who thrilled generations. Each entry includes the performer’s birth and death dates, details of life before and after the movies, as well as covering the major films.

Someone once told me that the cliffhanger serial is a lost art form, but it certainly inspired hundreds if not thousands of movies that are made today. This really an encyclopedia of actors who appeared in cliffhanger serials, with brief biographies and then a list of the serials they appeared in. Those lists are a bit detailed, but contains only the essentials and sadly, get reprinted page after page. I think it would have been better to have included an appendix in the back of the book listing all the serials in the same details (if not more) and after each actor list the serials by name and year. It probably would have saved the publisher (not joking) 100 pages of the 850 pages it took to fill this book. The price is $95 and could have been less if they applied this method. If you are a serial fan this book might not be of amusement because it is nothing more than an encyclopedia. It's not a reference guide you're going to find yourself turning to.

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