Something New From Leonard Maltin

Hooked On Hollywood Is A Rich Chest Of Vintage Treasure

Leonard Maltin has always represented the gold standard of film writing. His TV Movie Guide, first published while I was still in high school, saw no homework done that week, so enraptured was I by this un-stuck-up survey of films that could be watched at home (remember how snide mainstream critics were toward genre favorites?). A four star rating for Bride Of Frankenstein? Unheard of till then. Finally there was credit bestowed on shows we knew were classic, even if an older generation chose not to. Maltin also had a fan mag called Film Fan Monthly, published in Teaneck, New Jersey. Being not worldly or well-traveled, I wasn't sure what a "Teaneck, New Jersey" might amount to, though it seemed all of movie writers and historians came from at least near there. After all, wasn't Calvin Beck's own "GothicCastle" located in North Bergen, New Jersey? Leonard Maltin wrote many books from which I'd learn much --- one on comedy teams, another about animated cartoons, then definitive coverage of Disney's legacy, a prolific output over nearly half a century. His newest, Hooked On Hollywood: Discoveries from a Lifetime Of Film Fandom (from Paladin Communications), isout today (July 2). I have read it, as in every word, as in reading nothing else till it was finished, as in being sorry when it was finished. I could as much have enjoyed 400 more pages of Hooked On Hollywood's delve into sagas of past film all new to me, indeed unknown to anyone before Maltin dug his customary deep to find lost lore re movies we all love. To this is added rich illustrations, many interviews he conducted with Classic Era survivors, one after a hundred factoids you'd find in no reference because this data just wasn't to be had before Maltin searched it out.

Hooked On Hollywood offers much of what Leonard Maltin flushed out of studio records and memos no one else had consulted. Did they not care as much about "All the Music in Casablanca"? (the opening chapter title) We do, as this is mesmerizing stuff to anyone who's spent a lifetime repeat-viewing the 1942 Warners classic (I watched again after reading, and got fresher-than-ever appreciation for Casablanca). There is also "Remembering Forgotten Men," as in Joan Blondell performing the Busby Berkeley number for Gold Diggers Of 1933, this preceding an interview Maltin conducted with Blondell herself. Bulk of the book is, in fact, the interviews, wherein he asks the very questions I would have given similar opportunity, but would I have had late 60's and 70's foresight to hunt down and speak with Anita Loos, Robert Youngson, Mitchell Leisen, George O' Brien, John Cromwell? --- the list goes on and is extensive. Maltin adds perspective to his lifelong pursuit with intros where he recalls what it was like to interact with screen immortals in their autumn days, LM himself but a lad on many of these occasions. Hooked On Hollywood has 386 pages and they are chock-filled with revelation. No book by Leonard Maltin needs me or anyone to endorse its quality or usefulness. That all goes without saying just for his name on the cover. If you've read past Maltin output --- and how are you at Greenbriar if you haven't? --- just know that Hooked On Hollywood is the author scoring large again, and prepare for joyous time absorbing what's between these covers.