A few weeks back, I mentioned that the paperback edition of Fay Wray and Robert Riskin: A Hollywood Memoir by my friend Vicki Riskin was just being released. It's a wonderful book about her parents -- the star of King Kong and the Oscar-winning screenwriter of It Happened One Night, along with Meet John Doe, Lost Horizon and You Can't Take It With You. You can find the book here.
What I also noted was that she would be doing a Facebook Live conversation about the book, and it was terrific. Vicki is a smart, accomplished person on her own -- a former president of the Writers Guild of America and former president of Human Rights Watch, as well as a former practicing psychologist...and yes, that's a lot of "formers," but she's got a lot of "currentlys," as well, including that she's on the Board of Directors of Human Rights Watch.-- and one of the most gracious people I know. So the talk was charming and interesting, with a great deal of insight to go along with the interesting tales of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Fortunately, the video of the Facebook Live event is available, and I've posted it below. All the stories aren't just about her parents (though those are fascinating), but is wide-ranging. For instance, happily she tells my favorite story from the book which is not about her parents, but the writer Jo Swirling, one of her father's best friends, who was the book writer of the musical Guys & Dolls. It's a really funny tale about his time at Columbia Studio and a run-in with the reviled studio head Harry Cohn. By the way, if you do watch and stick with it all the way through, I have a sort of hidden guest-appearance. They ask for questions from viewers, and I sent one in very early on. Because they don't get to the questions until much later, I thought they were going to overlook it, especially since I could see they were getting a lot of questions in the interim. But happily, they not only asked my question, but it was the first one. Vicki had talked about her mother's unhappy marriage, but wasn't clear that she was referring to her first marriage, so I asked if she could clarify it. When she got the question, she was so happy for it, thrilled for the chance to explain what she meant. Later, I sent her an email and explained where that question had come from. So, here's the conversation. If you like movies and especially movie history, I highly recommend you give this a look for 15 minutes or so. And you might find yourself sticking around for the whole thing.
1 Comment
Douglass Abramson
3/20/2021 07:16:27 pm
And as I do everytime you post about the book; I'm here to second everything you said, from someone who doesn't know Ms Riskin. For anyone who hasn't seen my endorsements, I managed to snag a Reviewer's Copy and I've been singing it's praises to anyone who I think might be interested. Unfortunately, with my friends and family, that's a small group; so I hope my Goodreads and Amazon reviews did some good. Now, after reading Ms Riskin's book, if anyone wants to know more about the production of Ms Wray's films The Most Dangerous Game and King Kong and the fascinating producer who made them; among a lot of other things, I recommend just as highly:Living Dangerously: The Adventures of Merian C. Cooper, Creator of King Kong. I don't know that author either.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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