The Rocky Mountain Moving Picture Association

Rating:
Summary: Very Good Book!
Review: I learned so much about Hollywood in the 1900s and I actually cared about the characters. This is a fun quirky story and now I am a fan of Loren Estleman.

Rating:
Summary: A well-written, well-plotted tale of Hollywood's past
Review: The historical implications of why the movies went to L.A., and what the days of silent moving pictures were like, is enough to pick up this book. Plus it's a darn good yarn.

Rating:
Summary: Lights! Fire Bucket! Camera! Watch Crank Speed! Action!
Review: The Rocky Mountain Moving Picture Association is above all a fascinating period piece that takes you into an unfamiliar world before refrigerators, modern film technology, reliable cars, and honest law enforcement. It's a time of silent movies featuring printed cards to help relate the story, and made more exciting by a piano player in the movie theater. And the price of admission is one nickel. Vignettes set at a later date are inserted to give you a sense of what's to come: how the pioneers fared; the rise of the studio system for making stars; and the effect of stars on society.

The basic story line is about the wild and woolly efforts involved in establishing the motion picture industry. Entrepreneurs started filming and worried about the payroll later. The technology was dangerous. Indoor Klieg lights could easily start a fire, and made the actors' eyes very sore so that they could not shoot indoors every day. The film was highly combustible and had a short life if it didn't catch on fire. Thomas Edison led an effort to extract patent royalties on the motion picture technology, and Pinkerton "detectives" used violent tactics much like they did with labor union strikers. The technology was hard to use. You had to hand crank the camera at the right speed (singing She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain When She Comes or Dixie at the proper tempo as you do) or the images convey nonsense. Few have any experience, and you just do your best.

The book opens near Mount Shasta in northern California where people of Russian immigrant parentage operate an ice business by cutting up blocks of a lake in the middle of winter. Dmitri Andreivitch Pulski, the owner's son, dreams of being a writer. He's supposed to be supervising the work teams, but he sneaks off to a shed to write in the quiet solitude. Unexpectedly, the company gets an order for their entire inventory of ice for delivery in two weeks to Los Angeles. Why would anyone need so much ice? Can they pay? Dmitri is sent to find out, taking along all of the family's money. The usually gentle giant, Yuri, a Russian immigrant who has a violent history, accompanies him. Their long drive to Los Angeles will change your view of what driving can be all about, as they constantly repair tires and replace the brake linings.

Once in Los Angeles, they discover the magic of the motion picture business. Instead of focusing on the ice sale, Dmitri renames himself as Tom Boston and gets a job as a scenario writer (even though he's never seen one). Yuri is encouraged to shave his beard and starts appearing in the company's westerns. In the meantime, Dmitri puts off telling his father what's going on. Even though the motion picture company is on the brink of financial ruin, Dmitri tells his father that the bill will be paid in advance.

What happens from there is an excitement-filled cliffhanger that will remind you a lot of the old silent films . . . interspaced with film noire detective stories from the 1930s. It's great fun though, and I highly recommend this book.

I rated the book down one star because the future vignettes, although interesting, don't really integrate with the plot all that well. If the vignettes had fit in better, this would have been a tremendous book. I kept comparing the book in my mind to Ragtime, and found this element to be an important flaw.

After you finish this book, consider where in your life taking action would be more important than necessarily taking the time to find out what you are doing first. Life saving of a small child in a pool might be such an example.

Get moving with your life!