The beautiful LIFE: Hollywood collector's box set brings together several hundred photographs taken for the famous American magazine, documenting American cinema over nearly four decades. A must-have.
From 1936 to 1972, LIFE magazine chronicled all of Hollywood's golden ages, from the heyday of the studios to the revolution of New Hollywood. It offered glimpses into the lives of all the great stars in their staged private moments: Bette Davis posing in her Beverly Hills villa; eight-year-old Shirley Temple having breakfast; the elderly Charlie Chaplin with his family at his home in the hills in 1952; and the 1949 New Year's Eve party hosted by producer Sam Spiegel, complete with hot dogs and champagne for 700 celebrities. There are the photos, taken by the magazine's greatest photographers (Gordon Parks, Margaret Bourke-White, Alfred Eisenstaedt…), and the texts, period reports or contemporary commentaries, rich in information and anecdotes about the history of American cinema in its golden years, such as this fascinating article on the filming of The African Queen (1951), the famous John Huston film bringing together Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart.
« To see life, to see the world, to be an eyewitness to great events “‘I am the best of Hollywood’” was the motto of LIFE magazine, according to its founder, Henry R. Luce. From Jean Harlow, the first great Hollywood legend to grace the magazine's cover in 1937, to Jane Fonda, a Hollywood star and icon of the modern world, LIFE has been a witness to both Hollywood and its transformations. But by browsing through behind-the-scenes photographs, intimate features, and accounts from socialites, we also rediscover the story of a long-vanished world.
Rereading the pages dedicated to her, one has the impression of remembering the grand evening of the 1954 Academy Awards, which awarded the young newcomer Audrey Hepburn, 25, the Best Actress prize for her role in William Wyler's Roman Holiday. In the black and white photographs, we see her beaming face, and it's hard not to be moved as she was. It's also moving to see the audience that evening, and the glances directed at the great Ava Gardner, the other favorite for the Best Actress Oscar, whose highly publicized marriage to Frank Sinatra was, as everyone knew at the time, on the rocks. In over 700 pages, dozens of these stories that have become Hollywood legends are recounted, frozen for eternity by the lens of LIFE magazine's photographers. What a happy coincidence that the magazine's golden age coincides with that of Hollywood, making this box set the ultimate collector's item for fans of press photography and film history.
LIFE. HOLLYWOOD – TASCHEN PUBLISHING, 2024
AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH ONLY
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