Mr. Bernds Goes to Hollywood [Hardcover]

Edward Bernds (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0810836025 | ISBN-13: 978-0810836020 | Publication Date: April 29, 1999

Edward Bernds came to Hollywood in 1928 to help United Artists make the transition to sound. He worked with some of the most notable directors in Hollywood including Frank Capra, Leo McCarey, and Howard Hawks. Though Bernds loved sound work, he had higher aspirations, and hoped to become a writer and director. His first breakthrough came during the mid-1940s on Columbia shorts starring the Three Stooges. Bernds worked with Moe, Larry, Curly, Shemp, and company for over twenty years as the Stooges' favorite director. A second breakthrough came when he wrote and directed feature length films, among them the science fiction classics: World Without End, Return of the Fly, Spacemaster X7, and Zsa-zsa Gabor's Queen of Outer Space. Edward Bernds witnessed all of the profound changes that Hollywood underwent from the advent of sound to the start of the Easy Rider era. Fortunately for students and fans of film, he tells his story in this fascinating and vivid account of his life in Hollywood.

Editorial Reviews

Review

I love the detail...it makes me feel as if I'm there, watching it happen, and that's an exciting feeling. (Leonard Maltin )

Bernds pictures of major figures are insightful and will be quoted, but just as important are his thumbnail sketches of crew members... you get a good idea what Hollywood was like, both in and out of the studios. It certainly stands on its own as a unique memoir... (Movie Collector's World )

That clear-eyed quality that you have, with no padding and no waffle, gives one the most vivid idea of what it was like to be there. (Brownlow, Kevin )

About the Author

Edward Bernds still lives outside of Hollywood, California. He no longer makes movies, but writes about them. He has written several published articles on American film. On February 9, 1998, Bernds was honored by the National Board of Review with its Lifetime Achievement Award for Film Technology.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Scarecrow Press (April 29, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810836025
• ISBN-13: 978-0810836020
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,436,729 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Golden Age of Hollywood from an Insider, December 12, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Glendale, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mr. Bernds Goes to Hollywood (Hardcover)

When Hollywood first started to shine golden, Ed Bernds was there. He knew and worked with the stars, the directors and the writers, and contributed no little himself to Hollywood's Golden Age. In "Mr. Bernds Goes To Hollywood," Ed tells -- with near total recall -- of his journey to the movie capital in the earliest days of sound (which was his speciality) and of his career at Columbia Studios, the King of "Poverty Row," with the likes of Frank Capra, Clark Gable and the feared studio head Harry Cohn. In telling his story, Bernds invokes a bygone era of Hollywood glamor with an inside knowledge that few today possess. Necessary books on Hollywood are few and far between, but "Mr. Bernds Goes To Hollywood" fills the bill.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Story of Early Hollywood, May 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Mr. Bernds Goes to Hollywood (Hardcover)

Have you ever dreamed you could make it big in Hollywood? Countless dreams have been shattered in this town, but one young man made it, and this is his story. Rarely will one encounter a more modest telling of a life's story. Yet Ed's tale rings so true and so right that you can't help but be drawn in. From making a crystal radio set as a teen, to snaring the top sound position with Frank Capra, Mr. Bernds entertains, informs, and delights us in the telling.

One of the reasons why this book is so fresh is that its author works not just from memory, but from detailed diaries. The tale of his trip west to Hollywood in a broken down jalopy fairly crackles. Genuinely good story telling accents this lively account of the early talkie era. Recommended to anyone who would enjoy a stroll through the inside of Hollywood, spoken by a real movie sound pioneer.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Behind-the-scenes Hollywood talent SHINES!, September 3, 1999

By 

William B. Seguine (Flanders, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mr. Bernds Goes to Hollywood (Hardcover)

Edward Bernd's autobiography is a wonderful insight into the life and career of a Hollywood talent whose career lay behind the camera.

The book only covers the first half of his life, from his childhood in Chicago to his career as a top sound engineer at Columbia Studios. Bernds' engineering career encompassed the films of Frank Capra (Capra always requested Ed for his team), the many classics of Moe, Larry and Curly, and many major Columbia feature productions through 1945.

The reader is left wanting more, particularly the details of Bernds' new post-1945 career of writer and director for the Three Stooges, the Blondie series, the Bowery Boys and Elvis Presley. But, that's another book. Right, Ed?