100 Books Like Show Trial

I always like books that trace the origins of a political movement, because they almost always go farther back than we think.

This one follows the suppression of radical activity in Hollywood from the beginning of the Great Depression of the 1930s, a time that also saw the founding of the Writers’ Guild, a union that gave writers some actual power in an industry that ran on power and often regarded writers as disposable. But even the Writers Guild couldn’t defend those accused of communist sympathies by their government.

It is significant in our current era that no Hollywood Communist, even the real ones, was ever linked to espionage or sabotage, and that evidence of the supposed subversive indoctrination planted in films was nonexistent. 

Oral histories and first-hand accounts bring a past era alive for me in a way that even the best historical narrative can’t.

This book contains the voices of thirty-six victims of the Hollywood Blacklist, including two of the famous/notorious Hollywood Ten, who went to jail for refusing to discuss their personal politics or name their friends before the House Un-American Activities Committee.

We hear from directors, stars, less famous actors, and screenwriters like those jailed by HUAC. We watch their lives unravel, their careers dissolve. Some go to Europe to work, some stick it out in the US, writing anonymously, denied screen credit and decent pay, and some migrate to academia. All provide a chilling account of government persecution for political belief.

As the child of screenwriters, Naming Names felt personal to me.

It was probably the first serious attempt at a comprehensive account of the Hollywood Blacklist, the product of the Red Scare driven by the House Un-American Activities Committee and Sen. Joseph McCarthy that shattered careers and lives.

It examines not only the politics of the hunt for communists in the arts but the lives of the real people affected and the fear generated when colleagues and neighbors were pressured to turn on each other in their testimony.

It is particularly timely just now.

While several books have offered accounts of the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) hearings and the blacklist in the entertainment industry, Alan Casty questions liberal perspectives on the subject, and develops a distinctive perspective. In particular he challenges what he sees as an overly simple moral take on the actions of those who cooperated with HUAC and those who did not. He discusses the role of the Communist Party in Hollywood and the impact of Cold War politics— and the politics of Stalin and the Soviet Union—on the decisions that politicians and witnesses took. There is particularly interesting material here on Robert Rossen’s experience, as someone who ‘resisted’ the Committee but later cooperated with it. This Is the best account of those that challenge the dominant perspectives in the literature. 

The New York Times called this memoir “The Hollywood Chainsaw Massacre!” and it still stands as one of the best. Phillips, who died New Year’s Day 2002, was a self-described “nice Jewish girl from Great Neck,” Long Island who loved the movies, movie stars — and books. She was sharp, unsparing, and became the first female producer to win an Oscar for Best Picture. The closest comp title, I think, is The Kid Stays In The Picture by the late Robert Evans, but Phillips does him better in eviscerating no one so much as herself. And this is someone who describes Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood as “very sweet, but . . . smells terrible,” before asking, “Why don’t the English like to bathe?” An observation that could get one canceled today.

Another fun bit of psychedelic folk horror, combined with a really cool history of the experimental films of Canada.

The narrator is compelling, and the whole time you feel the pull of her obsession to the film she’s looking into, even if it unsettles her and terrifies her at the same time. Love that pull of danger, wanting to look, to see, but knowing that doing so will probably kill you…

It's like horror novel catnip.

This novel follows a famous Hollywood director called Boris Adrian but known as "King B" who is shooting a big-budget arthouse porn film.

The auteur was allegedly based on Kubrick, with whom Southern collaborated on Dr. Strangelove, and the book is dedicated to "the great Stanley K" whom Southern alleges wanted to make such a film. As Southern also had screenwriting credits for Easy Rider and Casino Royale, it offers a first-hand account, albeit fictionalized, of someone who worked with the director but also with others in Hollywood.

Barbra Streisand reads her autobiography out loud for the audiobook. It takes 48 hours and covers her early years, her films, her albums, her politics, and her love life, and when it finished, I was bereft. What a woman! She was prolific and clever and often underestimated or put down, particularly in her early years, because she was a woman.

I said aloud, “Yes, Barbra!” when she triumphed over adversity (or sexism). She’s a phenomenal woman. However, she hates giving presentations and speeches and ties herself in knots at the thought. It’s reassuring that even a global superstar like Barbra has the same fear of presenting as so many of us. But she did something about it–she practiced and got better. And so can we.

As Hollywood’s Golden Age sputtered to a close and the old studio behemoths collapsed, United Artists became the Little Studio That Still Could, thanks largely to the discerning eye and risk-taking appetite of David Picker, its young head of marketing and production. Under his leadership, UA made deals that snagged the James Bond series, the Beatles’ two feature films, and Woody Allen’s best movies. Picker’s formula was simple—sign the most intriguing filmmakers in America and Europe to low-budget, one-movie contracts and then leave them alone to do their finest work. Picker praises his pals and lacerates his foes, including Robert Altman, Otto Preminger, and most especially Bill Cosby, whom he despised long before the sexual assault allegations. Anyone recall Cosby’s woeful Leonard Part 6?

Wasson and Basinger are two other authors where you simply want to read everything they’ve written.

The reason I picked Hollywood: The Oral History for this list is that you have several hundred pages of Hollywood players telling their own stories. What could be better?? We get the scoop from stars, grips, screenwriters, carpenters, producers, directors, publicists, and everything in between.

What was it like to work in Hollywood in 1949? This book has your answer. What was the transition from Old Hollywood to New Hollywood like, this book has the goods.