My Father Was a Bit Player

By Joan M. Cunningham

During the Depression, the motion picture industry spun timeless fantasies of romance and adventure through the silvery images of its glamorous stars. The movie theatre was a house of dreams; a place of refuge for a population struggling with economic hardship and emotional despair. We continue to study and adulate the icons of Hollywood's golden era, but what do we know of the lives of the hard-working, middle class people that made Los Angeles a unique and thriving community? My Father was A Bit Player gives us an engaging glimpse into that other, and far more real, Hollywood of the past.In 1933, Joe Cunningham, a struggling Philadelphia journalist, got his shot at realizing the Hollywood dream. Hired as a screenwriter at Fox Studios, he was confident that he had a lucrative and secure future in the movie business when he moved his large family to California. However, when his contract was not renewed, his ambitions were redesigned by necessity. The family's fortunes consequently began to rise and fall as Cunningham strove to carve a professional niche as a character actor, while continuing his freelance writing career. In this way he kept his lively family afloat and on the fringes of the exciting entertainment industry.In My Father Was A Bit Player, Joe Cunningham's daughter, Joan, remembers her extraordinary childhood with a clear eye and a fond heart. She writes with beautiful clarity and graceful humor to relate her recruitment to attend Shirley Temple's fifth birthday party; how she came to witness the legendary back lot burning of Atlanta, and what it was like to cheer her own dad's larger-than-life appearances on the big screen. My Father Was A Bit Player vividly evokesa childhood experience that is uniquely American. Joan Cunningham transports us to a time and place that continues to captivate us, as she tells the compelling life story of a man who was far more intriguing than any character he depicted on film.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1582441456
• ISBN13: 9781582441450
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Cune
• Length: 120 Pages
• Weight: 0.67 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 0.5" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

A Discovery en route

In the airport recently, I picked up the Los Angeles Times and came across a review of this delightful book, which will appeal to movie buffs, history buffs or anyone whose family experienced the Great Depression. I quote from Jonathan Kirsch who wrote the review: "The next time a 1930s gangster flick called 'Kid Galahad' shows up on cable, take a close look at the guy in the spectacles and the fedora standing next to Humphrey Bogart. 'If you are familiar with many B movies of the late '30s or '40s,' writes Joan M. Cunningham, 'you would probably recognize my father's face, if not his name.' Joe Cunningham was one of the character actors who are the unsung heroes of old Hollywood, and his brief but memorable career is detailed in an unabashedly sentimental memoir by his daughter. Joan Cunningham recalls a childhood on the margins of Hollywood." The review goes on to highly recommend this fascinating book about the other side of Hollywood during it's Golden Age. I picked up the book and couldn't put it down.

Hollywood life in the not-so-fast lane of the 30s & 40s

Just returned from a tip to California where I learned about the Hollywood moguls who founded the movie industry. What a joy, when I returned, to discover this little book--the other side of the coin--that told what it was like for families to live and work amoung the famous in Hollywood of the 30s and 40's. The author takes you back with her to walk the streets where Jackie Cooper was her neighbor and little girls adventured out to get a peek at the big studio lots. You feel the highs of dining at Chassens when dad has a bit part and the lows of moving to a smaller house when bits are sparse. A love story from a daughter for her father, forever a featured player in her life.

Back in time

A delightful read. I was transported back in time to an era of "B" movies as seen in the lives of the players, a family that shared love, and tough times with humor and strength.

Inside Hollywood--from a real insider

A revealing, surprising, delightful look at bygone Hollywood by one who was there: the daughter of the "Bit Player" in the title. This personal remembrance is sprinkled with the famous--and not-so-famed--personalities and events that have shaped our impression of Hollywood's "golden age." Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Ginger Rogers...they're all here, but in small roles, supporting the star: Joe Cunningham.Snap this one up for an insider's look at a special time in our nation's cultural history. You'll be rewarded with page after page of anecdotes about life on the edge of the spotlight, and in the middle of how things really were. (Check out the photo of the author at Shirley Temple's birthday party--she's adorable!)I was fascinated by the star-studded stories, and touched by the loving look back at a uniquely American family. I recommend this to all who appreciate good movies, good writing and good reads.