Twentieth Century's fox : Darryl F. Zanuck and the culture of Hollywood / George F. Custen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Custen, George Frederick.

Contributor:

Gotham Book Mart Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Zanuck, Darryl Francis, 1902-1979.

Zanuck, Darryl Francis.

Motion picture producers and directors--United States--Biography.

Motion picture producers and directors.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Penn Provenance:

Gotham Book Mart (former owner) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copy)

Physical Description:

xii, 376 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

Uncorrected proof.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : BasicBooks, [1997]

Summary:

In this major new biography, George F. Custen illuminates Zanuck's evolution into one of the most influential producers in American film. He explains what set him apart from rivals Irving Thalberg and David O. Selznick, how he developed the gritty realism that came to redefine motion pictures, and how he brilliantly predicted and capitalized on changing public tastes.

Twentieth Century's Fox tells the whole story - from Zanuck's boyhood to his tumultuous years with the feuding Warners, his battles with the censors and with his own actors, and the legendary acting-out of scenes during story conferences in his famous green office. Along the way, Custen treats us to inside stories about actors such as Edward G. Robinson, Gregory Peck, and Marilyn Monroe. In never-before-published story conference notes, telegrams, and surprisingly candid anecdotes, he reveals how - more than any producer before or since - this diminutive, enigmatic fellow from Wahoo, Nebraska, changed the way we look at film.

Contents:

The mark of Zanuck

Part One. Foundations. Excavating Zanuck

Zanuck the writer

"The hardest-working little guy" : Zanuck at Warner Brothers

"The talking thing" : The safe entertainment of The Jazz Singer

Part Two. Innovations : Dreaming of the actual world : Transforming Warner Brothers' style

A criminal talent

1933 : Struggles, artistic and fiscal

Twentieth Century-and after

Part Three. The age of Zanuck : "The smiling face of a baby" : Shirley Temple, movies and memory

"The only way I know how to produce"

Seeing red and getting religion. . .in CinemaScope

Epilogue.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 337-376).

OCLC:

908638912