Moving Pictures: Memories of a Hollywood Prince [Paperback]

Budd Schulberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 21, 2003

Raised in the Hollywood of the 1920s as the privileged son of a pioneer studio mogul, Budd Schulberg went on to win fame as a distinguished novelist, short story writer, playwright, Oscar-winning screenwriter, and boxing historian. Moving Pictures is his fascinating remembrance of growing up amidst the glamour, swank, courage, triumphs, defeats, cabals, and double-crosses of an industry in the making. His utterly candid account includes unsparing portraits of outsized characters in all their power, venality, charm, pettiness, and vindictiveness. As a book on the early days of the movies in Hollywood, this one is hard to beat. Abundantly illustrated with black-and-white photographs.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Budd Schulberg has written his greatest book. (Frank Capra )

Although Moving Pictures reads like a novel, I found myself saying, 'Yes, this is exactly how it was. . . . Now I know it from the inside!' (Elia Kazan )

Although Moving Pictures reads like a novel, I found myself saying, 'Yes, this is exactly how it was. . . . Now I know it from the inside!' (Elia Kazan )

A fascinating and significant contribution to American social history. (Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. )

In Moving Pictures, Budd Schulberg relates the saga he was born to write, and he does it with brilliance, knowledge, feeling, wit, and some of the old love. Four cheers. (Garson Kanin )

In Moving Pictures, Budd Schulberg relates the saga he was born to write, and he does it with brilliance, knowledge, feeling, wit, and some of the old love. Four cheers. (Garson Kanin )

For readers interested in Hollywood history, this Budd's for you. (Michael Rogers Library Journal )

A fascinating account of a fascinating part of our recent history, a book full of memorable anecdotes. (Irwin Shaw )

Budd Schulberg is uniquely qualified to tell about Hollywood. . . . Moving Pictures is fascinating. (John Huston )

Budd Schulberg is uniquely qualified to tell about Hollywood. . . . Moving Pictures is fascinating. (John Huston )

Filled with characters who ring absolutely true. (Melvyn Douglas )

Unquestionably the authentic history of the creators of the motion picture—a fascinating book. (Myrna Loy )

Moving Pictures entranced me…. The book is full of delicious vingettes… (Scott Eyman Palm Beach Post )

Moving Pictures entranced me…. The book is full of delicious vingettes… (Scott Eyman Palm Beach Post )

From the Publisher

Mr. Schulberg was raised in the Hollywood of the 1920s as the privileged son of a pioneer studio mogul. As a book on the early days of the movies in Hollywood--their triumphs and fiascos, their scoundrels and heroes--his candid memoir is hard to beat. "A fascinating and significant contribution to American social history."--Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Ivan R Dee (July 21, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566635268
• ISBN-13: 978-1566635264
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #970,421 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Stop Now!, March 29, 2000

By 

K. Johnston "swedeinoz" (California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Moving Pictures (Paperback)

To gain a true feeling of what it was like to be in on the ground floor of the motion picture industry, you must read this book. Mr. Schulberg, a gifted writer, is the son of B.P., who was with such notables as Adolph Zukor and L.B. Mayer as they created the dream factories. As the reader, you are given access to the back lots and inner sanctums of Paramount and MGM as Budd and his friend Maurice Rapf (Harry's son) play on the sets on the backlot, and you are also priviliged to join Budd's family at the dinner table for a more personal view. This book is excellent reading for the serious film student/buff as well as an entertaining read for anyone, since Mr. Schulberg uses a light narrative style and has a well developed sense of humor. The only complaint I can offer is that the book ends when Mr. Schulberg is around 20, and his own best work is yet to come! The reader is so involved that it is jolting to come back to this time. A 'must have'.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars He Couldn't Go Wrong, February 9, 2007

By 

Stephanie DePue (Carolina Beach, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Moving Pictures: Memories of a Hollywood Prince (Paperback)

"Follow your Dad!" Adolphe Menjou, well-known movie star of the 1930s and 40s instructed young Budd Schulberg, as he gave the boy his autograph. And it wasn't a bad idea: Dad was B.P. Schulberg, $11,000 a week -- way back then -- head of Paramount, Hollywood's second biggest dream factory. The kid's Dad was Menjou's boss. Dad was, in fact, the boss of Clara Bow, Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, and a cast of thousands. But young Budd already knew his destiny lay elsewhere: he was going to write. And write he did: "What Makes Sammy Run?" and "The Harder They Fall" are only two of the titles on his crowded shelves. "Moving Pictures: Memories of a Hollywood Prince," Schulberg's account of his earliest years, joined them years ago.

Successful, powerful, sensitive, intelligent father: determined-to-succeed, sensitive, intelligent son. Father began his career as a writer; son was bound to write. It's got to be a tale of some conflict and drama, even if you ignore eminent psychiatrist Sigmund Freud's famous Oedipal theory: son must, at least psychologically, kill father if he's to succeed. And who would dare ignore Freud, when Mom, Ad Schulberg, third point of the Oedipal triangle, was one of that psychiatrist's earliest, most powerful, and most insistent popularizers?

So Schulberg has a good story to tell. And he has some of the world's most glamorous stars, a cast of thousands, the notoriously nasty doings of Hollywood's early tycoons with which to flesh out the oldest story of father/son/love/hate. He sometimes goes on a little too long, but how could he go wrong?

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A 'must' for any film buff, September 10, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Moving Pictures: Memories of a Hollywood Prince (Paperback)

The author was raised in the 1920s as the privileged son of a pioneer studio mogul in Hollywood but earned fame in his own right as a distinguished novelist and playwright. His autobiography is not only about his life and achievements: it traces changes he's observed in the Hollywood industry over the decades, comments on characters and ironies beyond the Hollywood stage, and includes plenty of rare photos to top off his presentation. A 'must' for any film buff.