Marvelously illustrated with more than 200 rare images from the silent era through the 1970s, this joyous treasure trove features film and television’s most famous actors and actresses celebrating the holidays, big and small, in lavishly produced photographs. Join the stars for festive fun in celebrating a variety of holidays, from New Year’s to Saint Patrick’s Day to Christmas and everything in between. Legends such as Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Crawford, Judy Garland, and Audrey Hepburn spread holiday cheer throughout the calendar year in iconic, ironic, and illustrious style. These images, taken by legendary stills photographers, hearken back to the Golden Age of Hollywood, when motion picture studios devised elaborate publicity campaigns to promote their stars and to keep their names and faces in front of the movie-going public all year round.
Film historian and photo archivist Mary Mallory is the author of Hollywoodland and the eBook Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found. She writes on Los Angeles and film history for the blog The Daily Mirror and serves on the board of Hollywood Heritage. Karie Bible is the official tour guide at Hollywood Forever Cemetery and co-author of Location Filming in Los Angeles. She has lectured at numerous venues, including the RMS Queen Mary and the Homestead Museum, and has appeared on Turner Classic Movies.
Mary Mallory's love for vintage film began when she was a child watching classic movies on television. While earning her undergraduate and master's degrees from the University of Texas at Austin, she processed film collections at the Harry Ransom Center, conducted research for several important film biographies, and assisted in selecting photographs for the documentary Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind. After moving to Los Angeles, Mallory worked in film studios and photo archives while conducting freelance writing and research. She is the author of Hollywoodland and the eBook Hollywoodland: Tales Lost and Found. Mary blogs for The Daily Mirror, gives presentations, and consults on documentaries and books.
Kultguys Keep website featured an extensive review of this title in February 2016. "A nostalgic treasure trove from cinemas Golden Age... The books authors, Mary Mallory and Karie Bible, have given each picture a lively caption that evokes the advertorial style that was commonplace in vintage magazines like Photoplay and Modern Screen. Its makes for a fun read, while the short bios provide some valuable trivia that movie buffs will lap up."
Each page of the book is crammed with glossy black and white and colour photographs with more stars than in the heavens as the old MGM adage goes, each page celebrating holidays beginning with New Year through to Christmas and everything in between including St. Patricks Day and 4th July, each represented by a separate chapter. What is clear is how twisted, bizarre and surreal some of these images are such as the smiling but sadistic Thanksgiving images silent star Mary Philbin sharpening her blade in front of a giant turkey. Few of these pictures, no matter how beautifully composed or shot are anything short of disturbed and at the very least kitsch. Rich in imagery but less in text this perfect coffee table is a nice soak to the brain. - Chris Hick Filmwerk.co.uk March 2016
