Hearst Over Hollywood

Hearst Over Hollywood
by Louis Pizzitola

Hearst Over Hollywood
List Price: $45.00
Our Price: $9.95
You Save: $35.05 (78%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.41 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Louis Pizzitola
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-02-15
ISBN: 0231116462
Number of pages: 540
Publisher: Columbia University Press

Book Reviews of Hearst Over Hollywood

Book Review: Insanely great!
Summary: 5 Stars

The author describes himself as a visual artist and amateur film maker. I've got news for him: he's a first rate scholar too. I cannot remember the last time I've read a book on history that was so well presented and so amply documented. If you want to understand how the US came to become a "wag the dog" TV-ocracy and how CNN could morph into a televised version of the National Enquirer, check out this masterpiece. The source of our present day media sewer can all be traced back to Hearst's turn-of-the-century and-beyond media 'experiments.' This book belongs on the bookshelf - in a featured location - of anyone who is interested in 20th century American history. It's an absolutely stunning work of scholarship, packed with well documented detail, and completely approachable.

Summary of Hearst Over Hollywood

Hollywood -- crossroads of filmmaking, mythmaking, and politics -- was dominated by one man more than any other for most of its history. It was William Randolph Hearst who understood how to use cinema to exploit the public's desire for entertainment and to create film propaganda to further his own desire for power. From the start, Hearst saw his future and the future of Hollywood as one and the same. He pioneered and capitalized on the synergistic relationship between yellow journalism and advertising and motion pictures. He sent movie cameramen to the inauguration of William McKinley and the front lines of the Spanish-American War. He played a prominent role in organizing film propaganda for both sides fighting World War I. By the 1910s, Hearst was producing his own pictures -- he ran one of the first animation studios and made many popular and controversial movie serials, including The Perils of Pauline (creating both the scenario and the catchphrase title) and Patria. As a feature film producer, Hearst was responsible for some of the most talked-about movies of the 1920s and 1930s. Behind the scenes in Hollywood, Hearst had few equals -- he was a much-feared power broker from the Silent Era to the Blacklisting Era.

Hearst Over Hollywood draws on hundreds of previously unpublished letters and memos, FBI Freedom of Information files, and personal interviews to document the scope of Hearst's power in Hollywood. Louis Pizzitola tells the hidden story of Hearst's shaping influence on both film publicity and film censorship -- getting the word out and keeping it in check -- as well as the growth of the "talkies," and the studio system. He details Hearst's anti-Semitism and anti-Communism, used to retaliate for Citizen Kane and to maintain dominance in the film industry, and exposes his secret film deal with Germany on the eve of World War II.

The author also presents new insights into Hearst's relationships with Marion Davies, Will Hays, Louis B. Mayer, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Mussolini, Hitler, and the Kennedys. Hearst Over Hollywood is a tour de force of biography, cultural study, and film history that reveals as never before the brilliance and darkness of Hearst's prophetic connection with Hollywood.

Performing Arts Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Performing Arts Books
The Film Director: Updated for Today's Filmmaker, the Classic, Practical Reference to Motion Picture and Television Techniques ImageThe Film Director: Updated for Today's Filmmaker, the Classic, Practical Reference to Motion Picture and Television Techniques
by Richard L. Bare
Wiley; Published: 2000-05-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.75
Price in other shops: $19.95
How Movies Work ImageHow Movies Work
by Bruce F. Kawin
Allyn & Bacon; Published: 1987-03-13; Hardcover; Book
The Sun Soap Quiz Book: 2,000 Questions on Your Favourite TV Soap Operas ImageThe Sun Soap Quiz Book: 2,000 Questions on Your Favourite TV Soap Operas
by Chris Bradshaw
HarperCollins UK; Published: 2008-05-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.99
Price in other shops: $11.95
Make Your Own Adult Video: The Couple's Guide to Making Sensual Home Movies ImageMake Your Own Adult Video: The Couple's Guide to Making Sensual Home Movies
by Petra Joy
Collins; Published: 2007-01-03; Paperback; Book
Blessings in Disguise ImageBlessings in Disguise
by Alec Guinness
Fontana; Published: 1986; Paperback; Book
Irish Dancing (Collins Pocket Reference) ImageIrish Dancing (Collins Pocket Reference)
by Tom Quinn
Harpercollins Pub Ltd; Published: 1998-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $534.56
Harmony ImageHarmony
by Heinrich Schenker
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 1980-10-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.90
Price in other shops: $37.50
A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting, Second Edition ImageA Practical Guide to Stage Lighting, Second Edition
by Steven Louis Shelley
Focal Press; Published: 2009-10-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $38.82
Price in other shops: $51.95
The Theater Experience ImageThe Theater Experience
by Edwin Wilson
Mcgraw-Hill College; Published: 1994-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.94
Price in other shops: $51.80
Bill Hicks ImageBill Hicks
by Kevin Booth
Harpercollins Entertainment; Published: 2005-03-21; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $40.00
Similar Books and other products
RKO 281 - The Battle Over Citizen Kane ImageRKO 281 - The Battle Over Citizen Kane
HBO Home Video; Release date: 2000-04-25; DVD
Best price: $2.16
Price in other shops: $9.97
Captured on Film - The True Story of Marion Davies ImageCaptured on Film - The True Story of Marion Davies
Image Entertainment; Release date: 2002-12-03; DVD
Best price: $89.94
The Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City & Sparked the Tabloid Wars ImageThe Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City & Sparked the Tabloid Wars
by Paul Collins
Crown; Published: 2011-06-14; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.81
Price in other shops: $26.00
Citizen Kane (Two-Disc Special Edition) ImageCitizen Kane (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Citizen; Release date: 2001-09-25; DVD
Best price: $10.00
Price in other shops: $26.98
William Randolph Hearst: The Later Years, 1911-1951 ImageWilliam Randolph Hearst: The Later Years, 1911-1951
by Ben Procter
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2007-04-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.35
Price in other shops: $30.00
William Randolph Hearst: The Later Years, 1911-1951 ImageWilliam Randolph Hearst: The Later Years, 1911-1951
by Ben Procter
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2007-04-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops: $30.00
William Randolph Hearst: The Early Years, 1863-1910 ImageWilliam Randolph Hearst: The Early Years, 1863-1910
by Ben Procter
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1998-04-16; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $19.90
Price in other shops: $60.00
The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst ImageThe Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst
by David Nasaw
Mariner Books; Published: 2001-09-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.28
Price in other shops: $16.95
The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst ImageThe Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst
by Kenneth Whyte
Counterpoint; Published: 2009-12-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.60
Price in other shops: $17.95
The Times We Had : Life with William Randolph Hearst ImageThe Times We Had : Life with William Randolph Hearst
by Marion Davies
Ballantine Books; Published: 1977-03-12; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.16
Price in other shops: $7.99
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories