Hollywood: The Oral History

The real story of Hollywood as told by such luminaries as Steven Spielberg, Frank Capra, Katharine Hepburn, Meryl Streep, Harold Lloyd, and nearly four hundred others, assembled from the American Film Institute’s treasure trove of interviews, reveals a fresh oral history of the American movie industry from its beginnings to today.

From the archives of the American Film Institute comes a unique, behind-the-scenes picture of what it was like to work in Hollywood, from the silent era to its present day. Gleaned from nearly three thousand interviews, involving four hundred voices from the industry, Hollywood: The Oral History, lets a reader “listen in” on candid remarks from the biggest names in front of the camera—Bette Davis, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Harold Lloyd—to the biggest behind it—Frank Capra, Steven Spielberg, Alfred Hitchcock, Jordan Peele, as well as the lesser known individuals that shaped what was heard and seen on screen: musicians, costumers, art directors, cinematographers, writers, sound men, editors, make-up artists, and even script timers, messengers, and publicists. The result is like a conversation among the gods and goddesses of film: lively, funny, insightful, historically accurate and, for the first time, authentically honest in its portrait of classic Hollywood. It’s the insider’s story.

Legendary film scholar Jeanine Basinger and New York Times bestselling author Sam Wasson, both acclaimed storytellers in their own right, have undertaken the monumental task of digesting these tens of thousands of hours of talk and weaving it into a definitive portrait of workaday Hollywood.

What was it really like to build Hollywood from the ground up?

• The Golden Age of Hollywood: Discover the real stories behind legendary films and stars, as told by the people who were there—from Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn to Alfred Hitchcock and Frank Capra.
• The Studio System: Go behind the gates of MGM, Paramount, and Warner Bros. to understand how the Hollywood machine really worked, from the moguls in the executive suite to the artisans on the backlot.
• Legendary Filmmakers: Go beyond the myths with candid, funny, and insightful stories from hundreds of industry luminaries, including Steven Spielberg, Katharine Hepburn, and Alfred Hitchcock.
• The Crafts of Filmmaking: Discover the secrets of the costumers, art directors, editors, and cinematographers who shaped what was seen on screen and gave classic films their iconic look.