In 1939, fifty million Americans went to the movies every week,
Louis B. Mayer was the highest-paid man in the country, and
Hollywood produced 530 feature films a year. One decade and five
thousand movies later, the studios were faltering. The 1940s became
the decade of Hollywood's decline: anticommunist hysteria
excommunicated some of its best talent, while a 1948 antitrust
consent decree ended many of the business practices that had made
the studio system so profitable.
In this masterful work of cultural history, the legendary Otto
Friedrich tells the story of Hollywood's heyday and decline in a
vivid narrative featuring an all-star cast of the actors, writers,
musicians, composers, producers, directors, racketeers, labor
leaders, journalists, and politicians who played major parts in the
movie capital during the turbulent decade from World War II to the
Korean War.
Friedrich draws on sources from celebrity biographies to
trade-union history, mingling lively gossip with analysis of
Hollywood's seedier business dealings and telling the stories of
legendary movies such as Citizen Kane, The Maltese Falcon, Double
Indemnity, and All About Eve.
A classic portrait of a special place in a special time, City of
Nets gives us a singular behind-the-scenes glimpse into a bygone
era that still captivates our imaginations.
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