Hollywood Moments [Hardcover]

Murray Garrett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2002

Frank Sinatra at a recording session, Marilyn Monroe giggling with Betty Grable, Clark Gable making an entrance at a premiere: showbiz photographer Murray Garrett had a knack for catching movie idols in unguarded moments. He has been a fly on the wall at many private Hollywood parties over the years. The photographs he took of Hollywood's heyday, including shots of Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Ava Gardner, Gregory Peck and Bogey and Bacall, are intimate and sometimes irreverent. The personal reminiscences that accompany the photographs in this collection offer the reader an insight into the private lives of the stars.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The pathos of Old Hollywood emerges in this dazzling collection of black-and-white photos from the 40s, 50s and 60s. Celebrity photojournalist Garrett captured his subjects at nightclubs, industry soirées and parties-an in-between world where stars tried to enjoy their private lives while still very much on public display. Garrett maintained a studied reserve toward the celebrities (he made a point of never addressing them by their first names) and his photos have a appealing mixture of intimacy and detachment as the celebrities drink, laugh and carouse while tricked out in formal wear and immaculate hair-dos. He is especially fascinated with Hollywood divas like Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Leslie Caron and Ava Gardner; his photos show the warmth of these vibrant personalities while hinting at the strain they suffered in maintaining their glamorous facades. The photos are accompanied by piquant reminiscences: of the wise-cracking Zsa-zsa Gabor shoving her way into every picture frame, the lovable Jimmy Durante shoving his way into oncoming traffic, and the thuggish Milton Berle shoving hapless underlings out of his dressing room. In one tense picture worth a thousand words, a vampy Lauren Bacall embraces Van Heflin while her husband, Humphrey Bogart, looks on ("I heard Bogey say, in a chilled tone, 'Van, that's close enough'"). In these lively, unlacquered but sympathetic portraits, celebrities emerge as flawed, human and never entirely free of self-consciousness. 145 duotone photographs.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Old Hollywood emerges in this dazzling collection of black-and-white photos from the 40s, 50s and 60s." -- Publishers Weekly

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams; First edition (October 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810932423
• ISBN-13: 978-0810932425
• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 9.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,834,102 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great book of Murray Garrett's real-world classic Hollywood pix, November 2, 2008

By 

Joseph A. Admire (Manassas, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hollywood Moments (Hardcover)

_Hollywood Moments_ is the followup to lensman Murray Garrett's first collection of pictures, _Hollywood Candid_. During his 27-year career, Garrett specialized in photographing the celebrities of classic Hollywood, not in the somewhat sterile environment of portrait studios, but in their daily activities - on the set, on the town, at home, with their children, or just fooling around. This large, beautifully formatted book, as does the first one, presents many more of his best photographs, as before chiefly drawn from the late 1940's through the early 1960's. Many of the black-and-white photographs printed here are in full-page format, and most photos are accompanied by anecdotes about the circumstances of their taking. Great gift idea for any fan of classic movies!