City of Dreams: The Making and Remaking of Universal Pictures

Author:   Bernard F. Dick
Publisher:   The University Press of Kentucky
ISBN:  

9780813153445


Pages:   328
Publication Date:   09 November 2021
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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City of Dreams: The Making and Remaking of Universal Pictures


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Overview

Horror films. Deanna Durbin musicals. Francis, the talking mule. Ma and Pa Kettle. Ross Hunter weepies. Theme parks. E.T. (1982). Apollo 13 (1995). These are only a few of the many faces of Universal Pictures. In February 1906, Carl Laemmle, German immigrant and former clothing store manager, opened his first nickelodeon in Chicago, where he quickly moved from exhibition to distribution and then to film production. A master of publicity and promotions, within ten years ""Uncle Carl"" had moved his entire operation to southern California, founded a city, and established Universal Pictures as one of the major Hollywood studios. In City of Dreams, Bernard F. Dick traces the history of Universal Pictures from its humble early origins to the modern day and analyzes the studio's films, from horror flicks featuring Karloff and Lugosi to comedies starring Abbott and Costello and W. C. Fields. Dick details how the Laemmle family was eventually forced out of the Universal empire, replaced by a string of studio heads who entered and exited one after another -- the beginning of the age of corporate Hollywood, which transformed Universal Pictures into NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Dick explains how the Universal-International merger in 1946, Decca's stock takeover in the early 1950s, and MCA's buyout in 1962 all presaged today's Hollywood, where the art of the deal often eclipses the art of making movies. Ultimately, although stars and executives have come and gone, shaping and reshaping the studio's image, Universal's revolving globe logo has lit up screens around the world through it all. AUTHOR: Bernard F. Dick is professor emeritus of communications and English at Fairleigh Dickinson University (Teaneck campus). He holds a doctorate in classics from Fordham University and is the author of numerous film books including Anatomy of Film, Hal Wallis, and That Was Entertainment. 78 b/w photographs

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Author:   Bernard F. Dick
Publisher:   The University Press of Kentucky
Imprint:   The University Press of Kentucky
ISBN:  

9780813153445


ISBN 10:   0813153441
Pages:   328
Publication Date:   09 November 2021
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Introduction The Woman's Director and Women's Friendships Collaboration and Chastisement Tone, Genre, and the Actor's Director Masculinity and the Man Who Drinks Edelkayt The Theatricality of Gender and Drag Performance Queer Musical Excess Race, Nation, and Gendered Noir Anxiety Ethnic Assimilation and 1950s Hollywood Conclusion

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Author Information

Bernard F. Dick, professor of communications and English at Fairleigh Dickinson University, is the author of numerous books on film history, including Engulfed: the Death of Paramount Pictures and the Birth of Corporate Hollywood and Hal Wallis: Producer to the Stars.

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