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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Woody Allen on Woody Allen

Over the course of his long directing career, Woody Allen has portrayed contemporary American life with an unmistakable mixture of irony, neurotic obsession, and humor. Woody Allen on Woody Allen is a unique self-portrait of this uncompromising filmmaker that offers a revealing account of his life and work. In a series of rare, in-depth interviews, Allen brings us onto the sets and behind the scenes of all his films. Since its original publication, Woody Allen on Woody Allen has been the primary source of Allen's own thoughts on his work, childhood, favorite films, and inspirations. Now updated with one hundred pages of new material that brings us up to his Hollywood Ending, Woody Allen on Woody Allen is a required addition to any cinephile's library.

Each chapter is a conversation between Allen and filmmaker Stig Bjorkman about a particular film. Much like what Trufault did with Hitchcock. This is the kind of book you consult before and/or after watching a Woody Allen film, so you can get an understanding about the decisions behind casting, cinematography, producing, directing a particular scene, etc. from Annie Hall, Take the Money and Run, Manhattan, Manhattan Murder Mystery, they are all here. Published by Grove Press Books and with a price tag of $12, you cannot go wrong with this one.

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Doc Savage and The Monsters

Doc Savage battles genetically-engineered giants in "The Monsters," the classic pulp thriller that inspired the Hugo Strange story in Batman #1. Why did I point this out? Because this pulp reprint contains two original essays written by historian Will Murray, about the four color comics and the connection between those and the novels in this reprint. A nice way of pairing the stories together. 

Then, the Man of Bronze and his Iron Crew discover that a metabolism-accelerating elixir is creating an army of superpowered criminals in "The Whisker of Hercules." 

This classic pulp reprint also features the original color pulp covers by Walter Baumhofer and Modest Stein, and interior illustrations by Paul Orban.

I would like to point out that these reprints from Nostalgia Ventures are a welcome addition to my bookshelf, are graphically pleasing to the eye and the reprinting of the original illustrations are a nice touch. Most pulp reprints don't include the illustrations from the pulps. As a result, they read like today's novels and stories were are printed on the cheap because the publishers don't want to spend money on an illustrator. I believe Girosol was the first publishing company to do this with pulp reprints and Nostalgia Ventures followed their lead.

The essays by Will Murray are also welcome, but can be too in-depth at times for the casual reader. But since those are extras on top of the two novels you are buying, it's not a bad thing. My only gripe is that many of these Doc Savage novels were reprinted in the 1970s in trade paperbacks and you can buy them for as low as $5 a piece. So the $12.95 cover price isn't too bad for the product but shop around and buy them for $8 or $9 bucks a piece and you'll do fine.

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Doc Savage and the Brand of the Werewolf

Review of Nostalgia Ventures pulp reprint #13. Doc Savage teams up with his beautiful cousin in the Lester Dent novels that introduced the character of Patricia Savage. First, the Man of Bronze and his Iron Crew investigate the murder of Doc's uncle. The only clues, a strange ivory cube and the mysterious "Brand of the Werewolf," set them on the trail of an ancient mystery. This pulp reprint includes a fascinating essay by historian Will Murray about the origins of Patricia Savage, but I really wish Murray would stop offering theories in between facts and giving readers the false impressions that such theories are facts. He's a gifted writer but the way he words his sentences you have to seek the underlying meanings. I suspect this is not as much the fault of Murray as it is with editor Anthony Tollin, who has repeatedly done this in other pulp reprints and magazine articles.

The second story gives you the impression that George Lucas wanted to reprise the hoard of man-eating ants sequence in "Fear Cay" for his recent movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls. After a failed kidnapping attempt, Doc and Pat Savage travel to the West Indies and encounter flesh-eating ants and a 130-year-old man on the strange island called "Fear Cay."

This collector's item pulp reprint features the classic color pulp covers by Walter Baumhofer, interior illustrations by Paul Orban, and historical articles by Will Murray. A biography in the back about Lester Dent looks familiar and I keep thinking it was reprinted from another pulp reprint in the series.

By the way, these early volume numbers are available for low prices. Don't spend the full $12.95 cover price or subscribe to the series like a magazine, which the publishing company offers. Seriously, if you shop around you can get them for about $8 or $9. If there was only one pulp reprint, I would say buy it at any price. But when there are more than fifty Doc Savage reprints available, every little bit helps.

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The Shadow: Judge Lawless and The Living Joss

Sanctum Books, formerly Nostalgia Ventures, continues to reprint old Shadow pulp novels from the 1930s and 1940s, especially the ones that have not been reprinted in paperback during the 1970s. The quality of the pulp reprints is on cheap, thin paper which allows the text on the back side of the paper to bleed through. Most pulp reprints from other companies (such as Girasol Collectables) have thicker paper to prevent this issue.

The reprinting of the original interior pulp illustrations by Tom Lovell and Paul Orban is a nice touch, also being done by Girasol Collectables. I wish more people inserted the art among the text like Girasol and Sanctum.

In the first novel, The Shadow goes undercover in Chinatown to battle a legendary oriental demi-god in "The Living Joss." It's not one of the better Shadow novels, but the editor, Anthony Tollin, romantically talks it up as if it was one of the better novels. But then again, he's read all 200 plus issues so he can compare this novel to all the others and be a better judge. In the second novel, the more action-packed story, we discover what can prevent "Judge Lawless" from making a mockery of the law. The Shadow investigates and smashes this crooked operation. In the back of the book there is a reprint of an old-time radio script for a "lost" Orson Welles thriller that does not exist in recorded form, "Djaruti, Goddess of Death." For old-time radio fans this script is a must-read.

The historical commentary by Anthony Tollin leaves me with secondary thoughts. Much of the information in his essay about the early Shadow radio program appears to be a reprint of material from a book I recently read, The Shadow: The History and Mystery of the Radio Program by Martin Grams. When Grams branched into obscure trivia such as Frank Readick being the star of two radio programs, Tollin's essay does the same. Coincidence? Might be when you're talking about history but I could cite half a dozen other coincidences which makes me wonder if Anthony Tollin wrote The Shadow book under the pen name of Martin Grams, or if he's lifting material from the Grams book. I don't want to open a can of worms so I'll leave it as "shades of suspicion." I never would have caught this had I not recently read Grams' book, but this isn't the first time I've seen repetition from one book to another on other subjects.

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