Hollywood Be Thy Name: The Warner Brothers Story

Rating:
Summary: More Than a "Rags to Riches" Story of Hollywood's Beginnings
Review: I read "Hollywood Be Thy Name" with great interest and curiosity. Author, Ms. Cass Warner Sperling has kept her unspoken "promise" made to Grandpa Harry (patriarch of the Warner brothers) at his deathbed when she was a ten year old girl, to convey to others his deep beliefs and ideals.

I rate it 5 stars because the story and writing style paints an incredible picture of not just another "rags to riches" story but one of tragedy and great sacrifice leading to an enduring legend of the motion picture industry directly because of the "can do and make it go right" attitudes of the Warners.

From the family gold watch (later to be hocked in order to secure payment for the brothers first projector) placed in 1883 into the secret pocket of Benjamin Warner for his immigration to America into New York and the arrival of wife Pearl and children less than a year later, to a realization of a movie empire that had as its motto "Educate, entertain, and enlighten" which is a Hollywood legacy.

A must read for movie buffs and those interested in the beginnings of Hollywood. This is a book that has "all the right stuff" for the making of a fascinating mini-series as told by granddaughter Cass and others.

Shelley Abate, movie buff and avid reader.

Rating:
Summary: Too many inaccuracies
Review: If the authors of this book spent so much time researching (11 years according to the Kirkus Review above) then one wonders why their historical contextualization is as sloppy and superficial as it is. Let me cite one egregious example. On page 274, the authors explain that Elia Kazan's naming names fed Joe McCarthy's ambition which resulted in the blacklisting of the Hollywood 10. In fact, McCarthy had absolutely nothing to do with the Hollywood 10 (who were blacklisted in 1947--McCarthy didn't rise to fame until 1950), and Elia Kazan wasn't brought before HUAC until years later. Any high school history textbook will be clear about this. Also, the melodramatic quality of this book, especially in its fictionalized dialogues, leads the reader to question whether the authors had any intention of writing a factual book, or whether they wanted to invent a history that was dramatic and would sell a lot of copies.

Rating:
Summary: Passion and Persistence: Ingredients for Success
Review: Not simply a biography, Hollywood Be Thy Name is a moving and motivational series of lessons in persistence in the face of great challenges.

The reader is left with no doubt that while the Warner Brothers, Harry, Jack, Albert and Sam, made astute business decisions in building their company from its austere begginings in 1907, to the empire that became known as Warner Brothers Studios, the growth and succcess was fueled by an unmistakeable passion for moviemaking.

The book is well written by Cass Warner Sperling, grandaughter of Harry Warner and Cork Milner.

Hollywood by Thy Name also serves as a moving documentary-a history of early Hollywood. (Thirty two page photo insert).

Students of Hollywood history will find the book illuminating. Movie buffs will find it entertaining and those interested in the business side of this business we call "show business" will find it educational.

Interviews with Jack Warner Jr. and Ronald Reagan are highlighted but the real stars of "Hollywood Be Thy Name" are the brothers themselves, truly the earliest of the rags to riches stories and whose legend lives on through this book.