Barefoot on barbed wire : an autobiography of a forty-year Hollywood balancing act / Jimmy Starr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Starr, Jimmy.

Series:

Filmmakers series ; no. 83.

Filmmakers series ; 83

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Starr, Jimmy.

Starr, James, 1904-1990.

Gossip columnists--United States--Biography.

Gossip columnists.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Autobiographies.

Physical Description:

xix, 275 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press, 2001.

Summary:

Jimmy Starr was a Hollywood screenwriter, publicist, press agent, and most notably, gossip columnist. In this autobiography Starr recalls his forty-year career that began as an office boy at Metro Studios in 1919. In an age where the written word wielded great influence over public perception of the film industry, Starr was a recognizable figure, writing columns for the Los Angeles Herald-Express and the New York Daily Mirror and Sunday Daily Mirror.

In this volume Starr provides vivid portraits of early screen stars, studio executives, and fellow writers. This autobiography by a noted Hollywood insider is a major contribution to the Scarecrow Filmmakers Series and to the history of Hollywood's golden era.

Contents:

2. A Brush with the Big Time 3

3. I Crash a Studio 8

4. When Lady Luck Smiles 12

5. The Valentino Friendship Begins 13

6. Out of the Frying Pan ... And into the Fire 15

7. Ten Cents a Joke 19

8. My Blackface Imitation Didn't Worry Jolson 24

9. The Mathis Mystery 26

10. The First Big Studio Loan-Out 28

11. My Biggest Hollywood Gesture 30

12. I Am Supposed to Stop a Murder 35

13. Almost a Monkey Wrench to Romance 38

14. My Great Night 41

15. Bighearted Boss 48

16. Big-time Bootlegger, or Booze and Blondes 49

17. Phony Pooch Publicity 51

18. The Reel Racket 54

19. Setting the Social Scene 55

20. A Famed Movie Elephant Must Die 58

21. The Wampas 60

22. Sid, the Wild Joker 67

23. Hollywood's First Cheapskate Press Agent 74

24. Breaking into the Big Times 78

25. New, Young Press Agent Makes Good 80

26. A Goal Is Achieved: I Am at Mack Sennett's 83

27. A Sudden Bit of Stark Tragedy 90

28. The Man Who Kept His Promise 91

29. The Great Talking Dog Hoax 95

30. A Chinaman's Chance 100

31. He Screwed Himself to Death 103

32. Bogart Flivvered by Ford 105

33. A Lotta Lovin's Lottie 107

34. The Fastest Scripter in the West! 109

35. Cooking Up Hollywood's Biggest Social Blaze 113

36. The Truth about Gable 118

37. How Hollywood History Is Made 120

38. Quick Change Artist 123

39. Just about as Fay as Fay 130

40. A Rare Day in Hollywood History 133

41. Stage Struck? Never! Just Scared to Death 137

42. Just a Night in Hollywood 141

43. Marshall Neilan 145

44. The Whiz-Bang Kid 146

45. A City Revisited ... with Memories 149

46. Hepburn and Rogers 156

47. When the Ham Starts to Sizzle 161

48. The Lay of the Land 167

49. What Did He Have to Tell Me? 172

50. Battle of the Big Ballyhoos 175

51. Hometown Incident 183

52. It's Such a Small World 185

53. As the Shannon Flows, So Bubbles a Mystery 197

54. The Executive Who Stole Toilet Paper 201

55. The Spoiled Brat 203

56. Fame Does Funny Things 207

57. The Cruze ... From Rags to Riches and Back Again 209

58. The Ham What I Am 212

59. The Lady Doesn't Lay and Tell 215

60. A Selected Few Are Europe Bound 217

61. The Last Supper

Hollywood Style 219

62. Death of a Delightful Drunk 225

63. Flynn, the Fabulous 227

64. The Hollywood Praise Agents 231

65. My Last Big Assignment 233

66. Gone with the Gail 239

67. Tallulah's Tangent Tongue 242

68. Fame Has No Rating on a Slab 245

69. The Colossal (?) Cinema Columnists 248

70. Reflective Recollections 252

71. And So There Will Be a Happy Ending 258.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

0810839415

OCLC:

44876847