Studio Affairs

By Vincent Sherman

Book Overview

As a young Jewish boy growing up in Vienna, Georgia, Abe Orovitz could never have predicted the twists and turns his life would take. Many years later, as retired film director with more than thirty movies to his credit, Vincent Sherman is no less surprised when he looks back on that life.

In Studio Affairs he retraces his life with candor and enthusiasm. Sherman discusses the details of his three-year relationship with Joan Crawford, his inadvertent connection with the death of Bette Davis's second husband, and his poignant romantic involvement with Rita Hayworth. Providing counterpoint to these liaisons is the love and devotion of Sherman's wife, Hedda, who accepted her husband's occasional infidelities as part and parcel of his career.

Studio Affairs provides an inside look at the motion picture industry during the heyday of the studio system by one who worked his way from nearly starving actor and playwright to respected director. In effect, the book serves as a primer on the art of film directing. Sherman quickly developed a reputation of being a consummate rewrite artist, able to take whatever assignment given him and turn it into a first rate motion picture. His skill at reworked scripts led him to bigger and bigger projects, even as the salary set by his long-term contract with Warner Brothers remained below that of most of his colleagues. Though not originally signed to direct, when asked to do so he drew on his experience putting together productions at summer camps across the "borscht circuit" in upstate New York.

Like so many talented individuals in Hollywood during the 1950s, Sherman was targeted by the House Un-American Activities Committee, owing in part to his active support of the WPA Theatre project in New York two decades previous. Time spent on the lesser known gray list kept him out of work for several years. Eventually, he again enjoyed some critical success, but after the demise of the studio system life was never quite the same. The quintessential "studio director" ended his career directing for television. Vincent Sherman's path from Georgia to southern California is compelling, and his legendary talent for good storytelling makes the book impossible to put down.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813119758
• ISBN13: 9780813119755
• Release Date: September 1996
• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
• Length: 344 Pages
• Weight: 1.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.3"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Among the best Hollywood memoirs

It seems that too few have read this well-written book. Sherman has been working with all the great actors and actresses of the 40's and 50's. He seems to have been quite a ladies' man! He has a lot of good stories about famous film personalities. It has not been easy to be a company man for a person who knows what he wants. This memoir belongs to the best ones written about those golden years of Hollywood.

Magnificent. One of the very best books about moviemaking.

A cineaste may not treat Vincent Sherman with the same regard usually reserved for Welles, Ford, Fellini, or Godard, but a movie buff remembers and appreciates the underrated Sherman's quiet craftsmanship on many popular Hollywood features. Sherman has been an actor, writer, producer, and director -- an all-around "fixer" who could take a bad project and make it saleable, and a promising project and make it successful. He brings the same practicality, insight, and honesty to this fascinating autobiography."Studio Affairs" gives the reader an insider's look at the Hollywood studio system, with its stepping stones and setbacks. Vincent Sherman worked with such luminaries as Jack Warner, Harry Cohn, Bette Davis, Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Rita Hayworth, Claude Rains, even The Dead End Kids. Sherman wore many hats, and he details his varied dealings with actors and colleagues with remarkable candor. His personal life is as compelling as his professional career. "Studio Affairs" is engrossing reading. On more than one occasion this reviewer intended to spend a few minutes with the book, and was hooked for more than an hour at a time. Vincent Sherman deserves a standing ovation for his work, and for this book. Movie fans should enjoy this book very much indeed.