The Star Machine Summary and Reviews

The Star Machine
by Jeanine Basinger

The Star Machine
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Book Summary Information

Author: Jeanine Basinger
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2007-10-23
ISBN: 1400041309
Number of pages: 608
Publisher: Knopf

Book Reviews of The Star Machine

Book Review: Finally Loretta Young gets her due!
Summary: 5 Stars

The gorgeous cover, Hurrell's glamorous portrait of Loretta Young and Tyrone Power on Basinger's new book is what caught my attention. It is iconic in its presentation of the Golden Age of Hollywood when Young and Ty Power were two of Hollywood's most beautiful and talented stars. Kudos to Basinger for finally placing Young in the pantheon of superstars, where she belongs. No star had as long a career. She started in the silent movies, chosen by Lon Chaney for his movie Laugh Clown Laugh. From then on Young was a star and easily made the transition to the talkies. Basinger's description of James Cagney and Loretta Young staring in the movie Taxie is worth the price of the book. Young is the first actress to receive an Oscar and an Emmy. She was the first major movie star to take TV seriously and plunged into the new medium with great success with her legendary program The Loretta Young Show. Her trademark was her famous entrance through double doors, wearing a fashionable dress or gown. Anyone who has ever seen her entrances will never forget them. In her last photo in Vanity Fair, she still looked gorgeous, surely one of the greatest beauties to appear on the silver screen. And when she was referred to an an actress, she corrected the journalist, "I am a movie star." Yes, that she was, and thanks to Basinger, we now know how she survived the Star Machine and went onto greater things. Too bad people aren't aware of her precode movies, especially Man's Castle, made with her former lover, Spencer Tracy. And of course the classic Taxie with James Cagney. Who would ever think she made a movie with Cagney? Well, she co-starred with every major male star, from Tracy, to Power, to Gable, to Cooper, and even John Wayne. And many others, including Cary Grant, with whom she starred in the Christmas classic The Bishop's Wife, a perennial favorite with most around Christmas, that and Come to the Stable, for which she was nominated for an Oscar. Thank you Miss Basinger for a delightful look into the Hollywood of yesteryear and thank you for your attenton to Miss Young, and for using Hurrell's beautiful portrait of her and Ty Power. They look exquisite together.

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