Running Time

By Gavin Lambert

Book Overview

In 1919, a young widow from Chicago arrives in Hollywood with almost no money but unlimited ambition. She?s determined to make her seven year-old daughter the greatest movie star of them all. From child starlet to screen goddess, this is the story of the meteoric rise of Baby Jewel. Propelled through the star system by her glamorous, calculating mother Elva, Baby?s life unrolls in spools of celluloid. Running Time blends fictional characters with a historical cast of thousands, including DW Griffith, Theda Bara, Louis B Mayer, Bugsy Siegel, Howard Hughes, Errol Flynn, Hedda Hopper, WR Hearst and Marion Davies.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1852424435
• ISBN13: 9781852424435
• Release Date: March 2001
• Publisher: Serpent's Tail Limited
• Length: 524 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 1.3" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

Hollywood through the eyes of a child star -- and her mom

Elva Kay may just be the greatest stage mother of all time. Like Gertrude Temple, mother of the amazing Shirley, she starts exposing her daughter to art while she's still in the womb: "I carried it around the Art Institute, on a Votes for Women float where I paraded in costume as the Liberty Belle, took it to a concert by Caruso, a matinee of the classic motion picture 'Quo Vadis?' and an exhibition of magic by Houdini under which he escaped from a sealed chest underwater." It pays off. Baby Jewel arrives in Hollywood in the year 1919 and almost immediately takes the town by storm with her series of shorts. Lambert, who also wrote the definitive child-star novel "Inside Daisy Clover", takes Baby and her mother from 1919-1982, and includes such characters as Theda Bara, William Desmond Taylor (with a new take on THAT mystery), Lillian Gish, D.W. Griffith, Howard Hughes, Louis B. Mayer and more. Elva and Jewel have an intense relationship, truly love each other, and keep secrets from each other like mad. It's a realistic, engaging, maddening relationship that rings true. Kanin is, of course, extremely knowledgable about Hollywood history, and this book is an insider's look at the rise of the film industry in L.A. as well as simply a fun, fast-moving, character-driven story. If you love movies, Hollywood, and strong female characters, get yourself a copy of this book and prepare to enjoy yourself.