Julie Crawford's conservative parents in Fort Wayne, Indiana expect her to come home and get married as soon as she graduates from Smith College. Instead Julie takes off for Hollywood, hoping to become a screen writer. Julie gets a room in a boarding house and lands a 'gofer' job at Selznick International Pictures, the studio where producer David O. Selznick is making 'Gone With the Wind' (GWTW) - one of the most famous movies of all time.
While working at the film studio Julie meets Selznick's assistant producer Andy Weinstein, who introduces her to the famous screwball comedy actress Carole Lombard. Julie is soon dating Andy and working as Carole's personal assistant. From this vantage point Julie is a witness to the romance between Carole Lombard and Clark Cable. She's also an occasional observer on the set of GWTW, in which Clark is playing Rhett Butler.
Carole Lombard and Clark Gable
All this might be ideal except that Clark is having trouble wrangling a divorce from his estranged wife; the Nazis are waging war in Europe, and Andy - who's Jewish - is worried about his grandparents in Berlin; and Julie's parents would be appalled by her dating a Jew.
The story is largely about Julie's thorny relationship with Andy and the formidable challenges of making GWTW.
In the beginning Julie is immature and insecure, wanting to know more about Andy's past than he's willing to share. Julie's huffiness about Andy's reticence - and an incident involving anti-Semitic drunks - puts a crimp in the romance....but they carry on.
Working in Hollywood gives Julie the opportunity to meet Frances Marion, a screenwriter who's willing to give other women a leg up. Encouraged by both Frances and Carole, Julie starts writing a movie script. This leads to some job opportunities.....as well as a run-in with the 'casting couch' mentality of a powerful man in the industry.
Meanwhile, the studio is in a constant uproar about GWTW. Selznick is always firing and hiring people; Vivian Leigh - who plays Scarlet O'Hara - is tetchy about her breasts being taped together to give her 'cleavage'; there's disagreement about the movie's ending; and so on.
Vivian Leigh as Scarlet O'Hara
Even worse, racism towards the black actors results in Clark threatening to quit....and the film's black stars are not welcome at the premiere in Atlanta.
As all this is going on the Nazis are storming across Europe, forcing Jews from their homes and putting them in concentration camps.
Nevertheless, Hollywood bigwigs - who distribute movies in Germany - willfully 'see no evil' and refuse to criticize the Führer or the war. This theme runs through the book and drives the behavior of some of the characters.
I liked the relationship between Carole and Clarke, who call each other 'Ma' and 'Pa' and share an irreverent attitude to life. When they move to a ranch Carole decides she needs 50 horses, a tractor, and lots of animals.....though she has no idea what to do with any of them.
As for Julie and Andy, I don't feel like they're a credible couple. Aside from the lust that accompanies new love affairs they don't seem to be on the same wavelength. (I may be completely alone in this opinion. 😎)
Overall I enjoyed the book and thought it made good points about 'old' Hollywood's treatment of black people and its profit at all costs attitude.
I'd recommend the book to readers who like romances and/or historic fiction about the movie industry.
Wonderful review Barb. This sounds like a very enjoyable and interesting story. Thanks for sharing this one.
ReplyDeleteThank you Carla. I read that this author often writes books with fictional characters in 'real' settings. 😊🍓🍂
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