You Must Remember This - Life and Style in Hollywood's Golden Age is a natural follow up to Robert Wagner's memoir Pieces Of My Heart. Written with Scott Eyman, it seems he had so much to reminisce about Hollywood, that it flowed into this second book.
While there are anecdotes about his film career, this centres more on the city itself - the magnificent homes, luxury hotels, nightclubs and restaurants, and Hollywood parties. If you are interested in Hollywood from the 1930's to the 1950's, and remember who stars like Norma Shearer were, this is an entertaining read.
Chapters like The Land, Houses and Hotels, Style, and Nightlife describe different facets of the city. Imagine Los Angeles with an involved and inexpensive streetcar network, with so little pollution, you could see straight out to Catalina. Many local ranches and estates are now shopping malls and freeways, and he gives us a good picture of how things were then.
As a teen he tended horses at stables located where the Bel Air Hotel is now - the fountain where he watered his horses remains on a patio. Beverly Hills was undeveloped backwater brush where people fox hunted, until a developer planned the community - restricted to keep undesirables like actors out, of course (drops down the property value), and stars like Douglas Fairbanks were run out by the neighbours.
He also ventures out to Palm Springs - then a dusty town with no streetlights that looked like a dude ranch - where stars like William Powell and Frank Sinatra would weekend.
There are nightclub stories at the Trocadero, and Mocambo (the paparazzi had not yet been born, it was just 'the Press', who worked within the studio system for the most part and left the actors to socialize), the fabulous parties at Pickfair, and the mansion William Randolph Hearst built for Marion Davies. If these names mean anything to you, you'll enjoy this love letter to a city.
I love old Hollywood, so this was a good read. My only complaint was it's a little dry, he sometimes went into too much city planning, a little too much architectural detail. If you don't care about lunching with George Raft at the Brown Derby or who was at Clifton Webb's parties, there may be too many references you don't care about. If you are a movie buff, it's packed with stories of the golden age, and I'd recommend it.
2014 / Hardcover / 262 pages
Comments