Celeste Holm Syndrome

Thank you Netgallery for letting me read this book. I found this book funny with all the authors insider comments. I don’t normally read essay style books. I find them boring, as this book was slightly for me it did make me laugh. I enjoyed the authors injections.
I would only recommend it to someone who is really into the classic movie and actors for the fun bit of information about them... when in Rome (wink)

David Lazar offers inspired and well-researched writing focused on lesser-known names (but certainly-known faces) in early cinema. Well worth the read for film buffs and those who are interested in reading more about actors and actresses who have paved the way for modern performers.

The author did a great job of creating essays about character actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood. I found these tidbits to be fascinating, but the best part is how he managed to weave their influence and relevance on today that make this book stand out.

I came upon this book thanks to Publishers Weekly making their digital issues available to one and all during the pandemic, something I hate, hate, hate to see end. I thought this would simply be a book pointing out performances of memorable character actors in old movies. It is that and much more. Lazar mentions, for example, that in the days of Hollywood censorship character actors could often slip suggestive comments into a movie that a leading star could not get away with (as with Eve Arden’s many snappy choric characters). His analysis is effective: William Demarest’s character, Constable Kockenlocker, who is a protective father of a pregnant daughter in Preston Sturges’s The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944), has a name that mocks the patriarchy and amazingly eluded the censor. Demarest’s asides inspire Lazar to a series of comparisons about breaking the fourth wall that end with Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Fleabag. Casting is a key to characterization. Lazar explores the preconceptions these supporting players bring to their parts as well as their range. His frankness is bracing; Loretta Young seems cloying and makes him “want to go to an anarchist convention.” Throughout Lazar drops cool esoterica, like his remarks on the “spit take” and “prefulmination” (the comic buildup to anger). Jack Carson, we also learn, fled Hollywood in the 1940s for weeks at a time to perform as a clown with the Clyde Beatty circus, and Celeste Holm, who played character parts mostly deemed unworthy of a trip to the altar with a leading man, died in 2012 at age 95 married to her third husband, who was only 41. I loved this book!

This book was the perfect escape. It was lovely and fun. It was my first book by this author and I will definitely be on the look out for more!!

Really enjoyed this personal-laced second look on the actors who are always just out of the frame of Hollywood history (but as essential to it as they are to the movies they made). Featured in several Instagram stories, posts (pasted links below) as well as December gift book ideas for film lovers.
ALSO delighted to feature it in The Gift of Books lists by theme - specifically, “For Film Buffs” - among Zoomer magazine’s year-end lists. See link for full feature article and text.

I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. This is a must read for fans of Hollywood movies especially golden age ones. Focusing on characters actors this is a great read.

This is a book about the lesser lights of Hollywood. Actors like Celeste Holm, Thelma Ritter, Eric Blore, and Edward Everett Horton. They are not overlooked, but they rarely get the star treatment. Here Lazar gives them the starlet treatment. He offers some interesting perspectives, and fans of Hollywood's Golden Age will enjoy the book.