This Was Hollywood

Forgotten Stars and Stories

By: Carla Valderrama

Narrated by: Carla Valderrama

In this one-of-a-kind Hollywood history, the creator of Instagram's celebrated @ThisWasHollywood reveals the forgotten past of the film world in a dazzling visual package modeled on the classic fan magazines of yesteryear.From former screen legends who have faded into obscurity to new revelations about the biggest movie stars, Valderrama unearths the most fascinating little-known tales from the birth of Hollywood through its Golden Age.
The shocking fate of the world's first movie star. Clark Gable's secret love child. The film that nearly ended Paul Newman's career. A former child star who, at ninety-three, reveals her #metoo story for the first time. Valderrama unfolds these stories, and many more, in a volume that is by turns riveting, maddening, hilarious, and shocking.
Drawing on new interviews, archival research, and an exhaustive library of photographs, This Was Hollywood is a compelling and visually stunning catalogue of the lost history of the movies.

Critic reviews

"Carla Valderrama genuinely loves Hollywood history, as you can tell from every page of this book. Her enthusiasm is matched only by her determination to back up her stories with good, old-fashioned research. I learned a lot from This Was Hollywood and you will, too."—Leonard Maltin, film critic and historian

Written in an Entertaining Way

“This Was Hollywood: Forgotten Stars and Stories” by Carla Valderrama (and published by Turner Classic Movies) is written in an entertaining way, it contains an interesting and broad selection of stories that will intrigue you no matter how big a fan of classic Hollywood you are. Beautifully edited and laid out like a “Photoplay” magazine.
You will read about early silent film stars, forgotten heart throbs, power couples, animal movie stars, successful women behind the camera, the first Academy Awards show, saving the 'Hollywood' sign, child stars, musicals, and spotlights on various film stars like Paul Newman and Rita Hayworth.
Valderrama draws on new interviews, archival research, and a huge library of photographs. “This Was Hollywood“ is a compelling and visually stunning catalogue of the nearly lost history of the movies. It’s a thorough examination of Hollywood during the golden age of cinema, this is a good read if you’re a movie buff – if not you might be bored. But then why would you pick up this book if you are not interested in old Hollywood?! For me it brought up warm memories of some of my favorite actors as well as the history of the studios and (my favorite part) the cogs in the wheels.

Good writing, good listen, good narrator

How refreshing it was to listen to the author narrating her book and my enjoying the subject matter. I wish she had more to tell. Of course this could be that I'm old enough to have watched a lot of these stars in their heyday. It was an entertaining read and worth the credit.

thank you for collecting all of these stories

heartfelt thank you to the author for collecting all of these stories together. it was very interesting and as a script writer truly inspired me. a million thank yous to you!

Interesting

The information was interesting enough, but the narrator was extremely irritating and repeatedly mispronounced words.

Very interesting & beautiful

Love learning about history but I have a hard time with reading books about history. I’m a very auditory person. Listening to this book was such a treat. Being able to get a glimpse of how Hollywood was started and little tidbits through the years. Always a pleasure listening to an author reading their own book. Well done!