The Sun and Her Stars: Salka Viertel and Hitler's Exiles in the Golden Age of Hollywood Donna Rifkind

The Sun and Her Stars: Salka Viertel and Hitler's Exiles in the Golden Age of Hollywood

Author: Donna Rifkind
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Book Title
The Sun and Her Stars: Salka Viertel and Hitler's Exiles in the Golden Age of Hollywood
Author
Donna Rifkind
ISBN
9781590517215
The little-known story of screenwriter Salka Viertel, whose salons in 1930s and 40s Hollywood created a refuge for a multitude of famous figures who had escaped the horrors of World War ll. Hollywood was created by its "others"; that is, by women, Jews, and immigrants. Salka Viertel was all three and so much more. She was the screenwriter for five of Greta Garbo's movies and also her most intimate friend. At one point during the Irving Thalberg years, Viertel was the highest-paid writer on the MGM lot. Meanwhile, at her house in Santa Monica she opened her door on Sunday afternoons to scores of European migr s who had fled from Hitler--such as Thomas Mann, Bertolt Brecht, and Arnold Schoenberg--along with every kind of Hollywood star, from Charlie Chaplin to Shelley Winters. In Viertel's living room (the only one in town with comfortable armchairs, said one Hollywood insider), countless cinematic, theatrical, and musical partnerships were born. Viertel combined a modern-before-her-time sensibility with the Old-World advantages of a classical European education and fluency in eight languages. She combined great worldliness with great warmth. She was a true bohemian with a complicated erotic life, and at the same time a universal mother figure. A vital presence in the golden age of Hollywood, Salka Viertel is long overdue for her own moment in the spotlight.Binding Type: HardcoverAuthor: Donna RifkindPublisher: Other Press (NY)Published: 01/28/2020ISBN: 9781590517215Pages: 560Weight: 1.76lbsSize: 9.10h x 5.90w x 1.50dReview Citations: Library Journal 11/01/2019 pg. 88Kirkus Reviews 11/01/2019Publishers Weekly 11/18/2019Booklist 01/01/2020 pg. 32Shelf Awareness 01/28/2020
The little-known story of screenwriter Salka Viertel, whose salons in 1930s and 40s Hollywood created a refuge for a multitude of famous figures who had escaped the horrors of World War ll.

Hollywood was created by its "others"; that is, by women, Jews, and immigrants. Salka Viertel was all three and so much more. She was the screenwriter for five of Greta Garbo's movies and also her most intimate friend. At one point during the Irving Thalberg years, Viertel was the highest-paid writer on the MGM lot. Meanwhile, at her house in Santa Monica she opened her door on Sunday afternoons to scores of European migr s who had fled from Hitler--such as Thomas Mann, Bertolt Brecht, and Arnold Schoenberg--along with every kind of Hollywood star, from Charlie Chaplin to Shelley Winters. In Viertel's living room (the only one in town with comfortable armchairs, said one Hollywood insider), countless cinematic, theatrical, and musical partnerships were born.

Viertel combined a modern-before-her-time sensibility with the Old-World advantages of a classical European education and fluency in eight languages. She combined great worldliness with great warmth. She was a true bohemian with a complicated erotic life, and at the same time a universal mother figure. A vital presence in the golden age of Hollywood, Salka Viertel is long overdue for her own moment in the spotlight.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Author: Donna Rifkind
Publisher: Other Press (NY)
Published: 01/28/2020
ISBN: 9781590517215
Pages: 560
Weight: 1.76lbs
Size: 9.10h x 5.90w x 1.50d

Review Citations: Library Journal 11/01/2019 pg. 88
Kirkus Reviews 11/01/2019
Publishers Weekly 11/18/2019
Booklist 01/01/2020 pg. 32
Shelf Awareness 01/28/2020
The little-known story of screenwriter Salka Viertel, whose salons in 1930s and 40s Hollywood created a refuge for a multitude of famous figures who had escaped the horrors of World War ll.

Hollywood was created by its "others"; that is, by women, Jews, and immigrants. Salka Viertel was all three and so much more. She was the screenwriter for five of Greta Garbo's movies and also her most intimate friend. At one point during the Irving Thalberg years, Viertel was the highest-paid writer on the MGM lot. Meanwhile, at her house in Santa Monica she opened her door on Sunday afternoons to scores of European migr s who had fled from Hitler--such as Thomas Mann, Bertolt Brecht, and Arnold Schoenberg--along with every kind of Hollywood star, from Charlie Chaplin to Shelley Winters. In Viertel's living room (the only one in town with comfortable armchairs, said one Hollywood insider), countless cinematic, theatrical, and musical partnerships were born.

Viertel combined a modern-before-her-time sensibility with the Old-World advantages of a classical European education and fluency in eight languages. She combined great worldliness with great warmth. She was a true bohemian with a complicated erotic life, and at the same time a universal mother figure. A vital presence in the golden age of Hollywood, Salka Viertel is long overdue for her own moment in the spotlight.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Author: Donna Rifkind
Publisher: Other Press (NY)
Published: 01/28/2020
ISBN: 9781590517215
Pages: 560
Weight: 1.76lbs
Size: 9.10h x 5.90w x 1.50d

Review Citations: Library Journal 11/01/2019 pg. 88
Kirkus Reviews 11/01/2019
Publishers Weekly 11/18/2019
Booklist 01/01/2020 pg. 32
Shelf Awareness 01/28/2020