Vincente Minnelli
Hollywood's Dark Dreamer
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Vincente Minnelli, Hollywood's Dark Dreamer is the first full-length biography of Vincente Minnelli, one of the most legendary and influential directors in the twentieth century, encompassing his life, his art, and his artistry. Minnelli started out as a set and costume designer in New York, where he first notably applied his aesthetic principles to the Broadway stage design of Scheherazade. He became the first director of New York's Radio City Music Hall, as well as some of the most lavish Broadway musicals, including Ziegfeld Follies, and brought Josephine Baker back from Paris to star in his shows. As a film director, he discovered Lena Horne in a Harlem nightclub and cast her in his first movie, the legendary musical Cabin in the Sky. The winner of the Director Oscar for Gigi, the first film to win in all nine of its Oscar nominations, Minnelli directed such classics as the Oscar-winning An American in Paris, Meet Me in St. Louis, Father of the Bride, The Bad and the Beautiful, and Some Came Running. He was married to Judy Garland, who he met on the set of Meet Me in St. Louis and directed in such landmark films as The Clock; their daughter is actress-singer Liza Minnelli.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Former Variety critic Levy has written nine books on film, including All About Oscar and John Wayne. In the first full-length comprehensive biography of film director Minnelli (1903 1986), Levy unveils a compelling portrait. A "lonely, awkward, painfully shy boy," Minnelli was born into show business because his father and uncle operated a touring theater company. In New York, during the 1930s, Minnelli graduated from costume and set designs to directing. After a decade on Broadway, he was sent by producer Arthur Freed to MGM, where Minnelli's stylish and exuberant lan captivated audiences for the next 25 years. Meet Me in St. Louis became a huge WWII home-front hit, establishing Minnelli as a major Tinseltown talent. Levy delivers an outstanding chapter on the making of that film and how it brought Minnelli and Judy Garland together: "Judy could never separate professional from emotional relationships, and that kind of blend or confusion, if you will was at the very foundation of her marriage to Minnelli." Levy's exhaustive research taps into three key sources: the Special Minnelli Collection at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; letters and documents kept by Minnelli's widow, Lee Anderson Minnelli; and various drafts of Minnelli's 1974 memoir, I Remember It Well. Along with coverage of memorable musical and nonmusical films, the work tells Minnelli's personal life with illuminating insight. Levy captures the color, verve and panache of the director's life and legacy in high-gloss Hollywood.
