Variety History of Show Business

By Variety and Peter Bart

For almost a century Variety has been the single most authoritative and influential publication devoted to the entertainment industry. Here Variety's editors go into the past and cover the great... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: Spanish
• ISBN: 0600576388
• ISBN13: 9780600576389
• Release Date: October 1993
• Publisher: Reed Mitchel Beazley

Customer Reviews

A picture book with lots of talk

From the earliest days of Hollywood to the rise of cable TV and the retirement of Johnny Carson, the editors of "Variety" cover the main events and keep the narrative lively with insider anecdotes. On the set of "Grand Hotel," stars Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford never met; when the musical Pal Joey got a lousy review lyricist Lorenz Hart burst into tears at his cast party. All the stars are here from Mary Pickford to Elvis Presley, from Broadway to MTV. But, however handsomely illustrated in black and white, this isn't a picture book. There's more text than photos and an effort has been made --with one glaring exception -- to cover the major shifts and trends from talkies to the Hays Code to the influence of TV on presidential elections. The exception? The profound effect Joe McCarthy and his House Unamerican Activities Committee had on Hollywood, an effect that reverberates to the present day.