Preston Sturges [Hardcover]

Preston Sturges (Author), Sandy Sturges (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1990

Preston Sturges was the great writer and director of Hollywood screwball comedies of the thirties and forties. Sullivan's Travels, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, and The Great McGinty have become film classics, demonstrating brilliant, inventive writing and directing. At the height of his career, Sturges had not only won an Academy Award but was also one of the most highly paid executives in the country.

The only account of his life in his own words, Preston Sturges by Preston Sturges unveils the source of his extraordinary creativity: a life that was every bit as antic and unconventional as his movies. From growing up in Europe with a mother whose best friend was Isadora Duncan to making his way among the beau monde of New York -- including a marriage to Barbara Hutton's cousin Eleanor -- Sturges drew on a wealth of madcap experiences to create films of unprecedented comic originality. Working with her husband's wonderfully descriptive journals, Sandy Sturges has woven a captivating narrative that reveals a man of remarkable intellect, energy, and warmth.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

It can be argued that the films Preston Sturges wrote and directed from 1940 through 1944 (including Sullivan's Travels and The Miracle of Morgan's Creek ) constitute the best comedies in the history of film; certainly they are the best of the 1940s. Sturges died largely forgotten and in greatly reduced circumstances in 1959. His unfinished autobiography and other private papers have been adapted and edited by his widow for this book. Parts of the material have previously appeared in other biographies, and film fans will be initially disappointed to find that the movies are mentioned only in rather cursory fashion in the last quarter of this work. More than a film biography, however, this is valuable as an account of life among the rich bohemian set in the early part of this century. As in Sturges's films, the tone here is simultaneously cynical and warm. The same talent that made most of his films brilliant makes this an excellent book.
-John Smothers, Monmouth Cty. Lib., Manalapan, N.J.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First edition (September 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671679295
• ISBN-13: 978-0671679293
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #731,287 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Learn about the man, not about the work, December 17, 2002

By 

Glen Engel Cox (Columbus, Ohio) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Preston Sturges by Preston Sturges: His Life in His Words (Paperback)

The strange title and author attribution of this (auto)biography of movie writer/director Sturges is revealed in the last paragraph, and I won't give it away here. Trust me to say that this is a fascinating look into Preston Sturges' life as it is revealed by the man himself. Revealing? For example, the time spent by Sturges working on his six Hollywood classics (starting with "The Great McGinty" and ending with "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek") are briefly covered in approximately 50 pages. Instead of concentrating his life into the three years that made him famous, Sturges spreads his story out equally to all years of his life, spending an equal amount of time on his toddlership. Fortunately, Sturges' life is interesting and by the time you arrive with him in Hollywood, you may agree with him that it's not necessarily as high a pinnacle as it may seem.

What you discover here is that Sturges, while a gifted writer and director, was something of a strange chap. His early life, while providing him many of the anecdotes that he would later incorporate into his movies, weren't necessarily guiding him to the silver screen. By tricks of simple fate, Sturges avoided a career as a perfumer, a broker, and an inventor. And, before Hollywood, there was a chance that he would have stayed a playwright on Broadway. For a man with the drive for success and money, though, no place but Hollywood in those years had quite the means to deliver the goods.

There's a few pictures to round out the book and a nice bibliography. As a starting point to discovering more about Sturges' work, this is a great book. About that work, though, one must look elsewhere.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent companion volume to Curtis's bio, November 21, 2002

By 

George Matusek (St Louis, MO United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Preston Sturges by Preston Sturges: His Life in His Words (Paperback)

The best biography (to date) of Preston Sturges is "Between Flops" by James Curtis, but this well-edited edition of Preston's own unfinished autobiography makes a wonderful companion volume to that vivid bio.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sleeping Beauty, September 14, 2001

By 

James Rox (Chattanooga, TN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Preston Sturges by Preston Sturges: His Life in His Words (Paperback)

A great autobiography that anyone who is a Sturges fan will love. He writes extremely well, and the life he tells about is a fascinating one. Why this book is not more widely known and discussed is a mystery. Had Sturges never made a movie (and he devotes little space to that aspect of his life), or if anyone reading the book would happen to not know who Sturges is, the book would hold up just as well. His wife Sandy did an excellent job of editing Sturges' journals and writings to come up with what will one day become known as literary classic that will stand alongside his film masterpieces.