Book Review: Hollywood Migraine

Book Review: Hollywood Migraine
The Inside Story of a Decade in Film
by Sable Jak

I have a favorite book: Ernie's America. It is a compilation of famed journalist Ernie Pyle's travels across Depression Era America. Open any page, read, and be transported back in time to a place you thought you might have known, but didn't know at all until you saw it through Ernie's eyes.

Now, imagine you know everything about Hollywood. We all think we do, whether we live in L.A. or in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. We read about Hollywood in all the magazines, newspapers and tabloids. In short, there isn't anything, information-wise, that the majority of us haven't seen regarding the city of gilt.

Yeah sure. Pick up a copy of Ray Greene's Hollywood Migraine and take another look. Like Ernie's travels across the nation, this is a compilation gleaned from Greene's ten years (the nineties) of travels across the four corners of Hollywood and all that bubbles beneath it. Open any page of this book and, like with Ernie's book, you'll find yourself reading a whole new description of something you thought you knew.

In the Author's Preface Green states that the text for this book comes from two very different publications: Boxoffice Magazine (yeah, something your average citizen/movie fan in Fargo reads) and L.A.'s Village View (an alternative paper no longer in existence.)

Each article begins with a current commentary from Greene. I particularly liked his commentary on the Village View article of July 8, 1994 regarding Forrest Gump. Ah, nothing like hindsight.

I started reading this book a week ago. I'd pick it up, put it down, pick it up again and before I knew it I was almost at the end. But, something about it makes me go through the ritual again and again, especially Chapters V (The Fame Factory) and VII (Strange Bedfellows.

If you're a writer, or a casual observer to all things Hollywood, this book should appeal to you. Greene's picked some extremely interesting, and candid essays, calculated to educate and titillate. Before you protest that you're not much of an essay reader, there are plenty of interviews with everyone from Tom Cruise to Martin Scorsese (and it's always interesting to see what they said back then, and what they say now.)

My advice? Pick up a copy; it's a great read. Or, with the holidays coming up, here's the perfect stocking stuffer for anyone on your list with an interest in the movies. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go back and check out Chapter X. Trends: Weird Science.

About This Author:
Sable Jak is an ex-actress and dancer and has, like so many other writers been writing ever since she can remember. She's a columnist with Absolute Write and has radio mysteries running on Virtually American. She's also a charter member of The Screenplayers (http:/www.screenplayers.net).

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