LIFE. Hollywood | Celebrate a Vivacious, Ephemeral Past

TASCHEN's VIP Pass to the Visuals of Old Hollywood

Written by

Selena Perez

Photographed by

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From 1936-1972, Los Angeles was glittering. Talent, notoriety, aestheticism—all hallmarks of a frustratingly ephemeral (yet conveniently well documented) Golden Age of film. In the following decades, there have been nearly endless endeavors to revive the peculiar vivacity of those moments. Flashbacks, remakes, memorials, the like, all hope to relive the thrill of bygone ecstasies. Though little can be done to bring these moments back, much can be done to honor those who facilitated these moments.

BRIGITTE BARDOT. Ralph Crane, Mexico, 1965.
TI Gotham, Inc. © Life Picture Collection, Meredith Operations Corporation.

DARRYL F. ZANUCK As the macho décor in his office might indicate, Zanuck ran Fox like a decisive general marshalling his army. Previously a prolific screenwriter and head of production for various studios before he became head of Fox, his writing background shone through in hsi focus on stories and scripts, which he personally edited thoroughly. Jerry Cooke, Twentieth Century Fox Studios, 1944.
© Getty Images: Photo by Jerry Cooke.

Such is done, and done thoroughly, in TASCHEN’s latest book release, LIFE. Hollywood. The project, a two-volume series, pulls from more than 600 archival photos from LIFE Magazine and celebrates the nostalgia of celebrity photojournalism during the revered Golden Age. Exclusive photos of Grace Kelly and Steve McQueen capture the Hollywood scene through location shoots, and images of the backstages of iconic sets including those of The Godfather and Guys and Dolls are imbued with a haunting nostalgia. On one page, a raucous VIP section of an Oscar party. On the next, a soundstage of a cult classic in the making. From red carpet shots to candid gems, this book meticulously paints the colorful, storied world of the burgeoning Los Angeles of the 20th century.

SAMMY DAVIS, JR. Producer Samuel Goldwyn initially wanted bandleader Cab Calloway to reprise his acclaimed stage performance as drug dealer Sportin' Life in Porgy and Bess. Davis campaigned hard for the role and eventually won it, ultimately giving one of the film's more vibrant, memorable performances. Gjon Mili, Samuel Goldwyn Studios, 1959.
TI Gotham, Inc. © Life Picture Collection, Meredith Operations Corporation.

MARLENE DIETRICH In a delicious bit of irony, Dietrich, a German èmigré, was one of the most beloved entertainers of American soldiers during World War II. Her daughter, Maria Riva, explained in her later book on her mother "the reason for her great following" among servicemen: They knew that she was not phony, that she was really there for them in the mud." George Silk, Germany, 1945.
TI Gotham, Inc. © Life Picture Collection Meredith Operations Corporation.

MELVIN VAN PEEBLES wrote, directed, edited, scored, and starred in Sweet Sweetback's Baadassss Song, a major independent hit and a coup for Black filmmakers. Bloody and sexually explicit, the Motion Picture Association of America gave the film an X rating, which inpsired its tagline: "Rated C by an All-White Jury." Van Peebles realized the profound transformation he was making in the film industry. "I've proved that a Black man can make it in this business with no help from Whitey," he told Life. "In the next couple years, a lot of Black directors gonna do the same thing." John Shearer, New York City, 1971.
TI Gotham, Inc. © Life Picture Collection, Meredith Operations Corporation.

LIFE. Hollywood also gives way to previously unreleased material with unpublished photography, as well as exclusive essays by acclaimed author and critic, Lucy Sante. Through Sante’s discerning eye, the reader experiences oscillations in the life of studio systems, their creative voyage turbulent yet revolutionizing.

This visual collection, tailored from the vault of the world’s most noteworthy weekly photography magazine, examines the parties and glamour and nostalgia closely, smelting the glory with the gruesome guts to honor and celebrate the Old Hollywood vanguard.

HEDY LAMARR "Any girl can be glamourous," Lamarr wryly remarked to The Hollywood Reporter. "All you have to do is stand still and look stupid." Her extraordinary beauty aside, Lamarr was a brilliant inventor who developed technology during World War II that laid the groundwork for GPS and Wi-Fi. Eliot Elisofon, Hollywood, 1942.
© Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin.

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TASCHEN, LIFE.Hollywood, art, Selena Perez