One of Hollywood's towering figures for almost half a century, Darryl F. Zanuck presided over Twentieth Century-Fox during its most glorious era, from 1935 to 1956. These were the golden days when stars like Marilyn Monroe, Henry Fonda, Betty Grable, Shirley Temple, Don Ameche, Gregory Peck, Tyrone Power, Carmen Miranda, and even Bette Davis roamed the lot; when such giants as John Ford, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Elia Kazan, Nunnally Johnson, and Otto Preminger ruled the sets; and when such blockbusters as The Grapes of Wrath, All About Eve, The King and I, Miracle on 34th Street, The Day the Earth Stood Still, How Green Was My Valley, Laura, Twelve O'Clock High, and Viva Zapata! filled the screen. Rudy Behlmer, whose now-classic Memo from David O. Selznick was called "the most revealing, penetrating book on filmmaking I know" by director King Vidor, performs the same service for Zanuck in this first-time-ever collection of his personal correspondence to the directors, writers, actors, technicians, and studio executives who made the period magical. Here is a from-the-top, at-the-moment, insider's look at the myriad elements that went into the production of a feature film during the colorful days of the old studio system, from the man who pulled it all together. And, like all important histories, Memo from Darryl F. Zanuck is equally revealing about the way things work today. A treasure trove of legend and lore, insights and nostalgia, Memo From Darryl F. Zanuck is as entertaining as it is informative, and full of secrets and surprises. Illustrated with photographs as intimate and candid as the correspondence itself, it offers a chronicle of Hollywood's most glamorous age and rich testimony to the taste, showmanship, and vision of its most resilient, efficient, and entertaining producer.

This collection of interviews traces the career of filmmaker Henry Hathaway from his beginnings as a child actor for the American Film Company in 1911 through his directorial triumphs How the West Was Won (1962) and True Grit (1969). Begun as a special project for the American Film Institute, this oral history has now been edited and is being released for the first time in book form. Polly Platt, production designer, screenwriter, and producer of such films as Broadcast News, Pretty Baby, and The War of the Roses conducted the interviews and intended to edit them herself, but her busy career prevented her from completing the project. Now edited for release, this collection contains Hathaway's fascinating reflections about the studio system and working with such Hollywood luminaries as John Wayne, Marilyn Monroe, Jimmy Stewart, and Shirley Temple. A must for any Hollywood history buff.

Ridgeway (Reggie) Callow began his film career in the early 1930s and for four decades worked as an assistant director on some of the most memorable films in Hollywood history. In the early 1970s, over a period of several months, film historian Rudy Behlmer conducted interviews with Callow, and the result is this edited version of many hours of relatively informal conversations recorded between the two men. In these extracts, Callow recounts what it was like to work on such celebrated films as Gone with the Wind, Rebecca, Mutiny on the Bounty, and The Sound of Music, recalling the work of filmmakers Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hughes, David O. Selznick, Michael Curtiz, John Huston, Carol Reed, Lewis Milestone, and Robert Wise. Callow also provides first-hand knowledge and inside information about stars of the period, including Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart, Spencer Tracy, Grace Kelly, James Cagney, Elizabeth Taylor, Bette Davis, Marlon Brando, Julie Andrews, and others. Callow does not romanticize the glamour of Hollywood or echo carefully nurtured myths of legendary pioneer creative figures but rather recounts the workaday world of film business with revelations about major productions and personalities.