George Hurrell (1904 -- 1992) was the creator of the Hollywood glamour portrait, the maverick artist who captured movie stars of the most exalted era in Hollywood history with bold contrast and seductive poses. This lavishly illustrated book spans Hurrell's entire career, from his beginnings as a society photographer to his finale as the celebrity photographer who was himself a celebrity, and a living legend. From 1929 to 1944 Hurrell was the "Rembrandt of Hollywood," creating portraits of Marlene Dietrich, Norma Shearer, Bette Davis, Carole Lombard, and Joan Crawford that were a blend of the ethereal and the erotic. His photos of Jane Russell sulking in a haystack made the unknown girl a star -- without a film credit to her name. He immortalized leading males stars of the day from the Barrymores to Clark Gable and Gary Cooper. Latter photo shoots magnified the glamour of the likes of Warren Beatty and Sharon Stone. Through newly acquired photos and in-depth research, photographer and historian Mark A. Vieira, author of Hurrell's Hollywood Portraits, offers not only a wealth of new images but a compelling sequel to the story presented in his earlier book on Hurrell. Hurrell was himself a star -- rich, famous, successful. Then, at the height of his career, he suffered a vertiginous fall from grace. George Hurrell's Hollywood recounts, for the first time anywhere, Hurrell's rise from the ashes -- how movie-still collectors and art dealers pulled the elderly artist into a nefarious world of theft and fraud; how his undiminished powers gave him a second career; and how his mercurial nature nearly destroyed it. The photographs that motivate this tale are luminous, powerful, and timeless. This book showcases more than four hundred, most of which have not been published since they were created. George Hurrell's Hollywood is the ultimate work on this trailblazing artist, a fabulous montage of fact and anecdote, light and shadow.

Although he is most remembered for his vast collection of science fiction memorabilia; his influential magazine, Famous Monsters of Filmland; and his frequent sci-fi convention appearances, Forrest J Ackerman (1916-2008) also left a sizeable body of work in print. An introductory biographical section traces Ackerman's early enthusiasm for pulp magazines and film productions of a fantastic nature, his rise to prominence in "fandom," his acquisition of memorabilia, his work as a literary agent, the founding of his landmark magazine in 1958, and his friendship with a number of performers and personnel from genre films. The extensive bibliography includes listings of books, published letters, articles, fiction, verse, speeches, screenplays, comics, discography, liner notes, and periodicals edited and published by Ackerman. A thorough filmography, a selected listing of nationally televised appearances, and rare photographs of Ackerman throughout his lifetime complete this definitive catalog of one of science fiction's most interesting personalities.

From 1937 through 1945, Hollywood produced over 1,000 films relating to the war. This enormous and exhaustive reference work first analyzes the war films as sociopolitical documents. Part one, entitled "The Crisis Abroad, 1937-1941," focuses on movies that reflected America's increasing uneasiness. Part two, "Waging War, 1942-1945," reveals that many movies made from 1942 through 1945 included at least some allusion to World War II.

Short subject films have a long history in American cinemas. These could be anywhere from 2 to 40 minutes long and were used as a "filler" in a picture show that would include a cartoon, a newsreel, possibly a serial and a short before launching into the feature film. Shorts could tackle any topic of interest: an unusual travelogue, a comedy, musical revues, sports, nature or popular vaudeville acts. With the advent of sound-on-film in the mid-to-late 1920s, makers of earlier silent short subjects began experimenting with the short films, using them as a testing ground for the use of sound in feature movies. After the Second World War, and the rising popularity of television, short subject films became far too expensive to produce and they had mostly disappeared from the screens by the late 1950s. This encyclopedia offers comprehensive listings of American short subject films from the 1920s through the 1950s.