Research Catalog

Title

The RKO gals / Editor: T. Allan Taylor. Research associates: John Robert Cocchi [and] Florence Solomon.

Author

Parish, James Robert

Publication

New Rochelle, N.Y. : Arlington House, [1974]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

896 pages : illustrations; 25 cm

Summary

"Movie buff question: what do these 14 actresses have in common: Ann Harding, Constance Bennett, Irene Dunne, Ginger Rogers, Katharine Hepburn, Anne Shirley, Lucille Ball, Joan Fontaine, Wendy Barrie, Lupe Velez, Maureen O'Hara, lane Russell, Jane Greer, Barbara Hale? Answer: they all graced the soundstages of RKO Radio Pictures, Inc., giving that Hollywood studio its special aura of chic. Focussing on the lives and movies of these 14 RKO Gals, cinema historian James Robert Parish also recalls such epic productions as The Outlaw and Suspicion and the very different styles of such titans as Goldwyn, Selznick, Disney and Howard Hughes. Spiced with hundreds of keen-eyed assessments of such movies as How Green Was My Valley, The Fallen Sparrow, The Quiet Man, The Women, Rebecca, The Constant Nymph, Jane Eyre, Letter from an Unknown Woman, Man of a Thousand Faces, Back Street, Roberta, The Awful Truth, I Remember Mama, The Window, Top Hat, and Kitty Foyle ... chockful of behind-the-camera wheeling and dealing intrigues, The RKO Gals is a Cracker-Jack box of Hollywood goodies--and, incidentally, the finest reference book on RKO films. Formed by RCA on Joseph Kennedy's recommendation, RKO thought its talkie patents could monopolize the field ("Radio [RCA] is too big to enter the motion picture field without dominating it"). Things didn't quite work out that way. But thanks in part to the tensely brittle Hepburn with her Main Line drawl and angular beauty, Rogers and Astaire and their classic musicals, sexy Lupe Velez with her chile-con-carne accent, and bog-and-brogue Maureen O'Hara, RKO was one of the Big Five for over 30 years. This lavishly illustrated study (over 250 photos) reveals 14 beautiful reasons why."--Jacket.

Subject

• RKO Radio Pictures
• Motion picture actors and actresses > United States > Biography
• Actresses > United States > Biography
• Actresses
• Motion picture actors and actresses
• United States

Genre/Form

Biographies.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references.

Contents

Ann Harding -- Constance Bennett -- Irene Dunne -- Ginger Rogers -- Katharine Hepburn -- Anne Shirley -- Lucille Ball -- Joan Fontaine -- Wendy Barrie -- Lupe Velez -- Maureen O'Hara -- Jane Russell -- Barbara Hale -- Jane Greer -- Appendix A : a capsule history of RKO Radio Pictures -- Appendix B : the RKO executives.

Call Number

MWER 74-2062

ISBN

• 0870002465
• 9780870002465

LCCN

74008346

OCLC

901123

Author

Parish, James Robert, author.

Title

The RKO gals / Editor: T. Allan Taylor. Research associates: John Robert Cocchi [and] Florence Solomon.

Imprint

New Rochelle, N.Y. : Arlington House, [1974]

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references.

Other Form:

Online version: Parish, James Robert. RKO gals. New Rochelle, N.Y., Arlington House [1974] (OCoLC)644966474

Research Call Number

MWER 74-2062