Living in the shadow of a famous parent can have powerful effects, from professional opportunities to pressure so great it leads to suicide. Some children of stars are proud of their roots while others live in secrecy. This is a rare look into the private lives of the children (and, in a few cases, grandchildren) of these classic Hollywood icons, revealing the stresses and inspirations of living with great performers who may or may not have been great parents. Some movie stars protected their offspring, but others used them as publicity props or even made them into rivals. Despite their unusual upbringing, some of the children succeeded in the movies or elsewhere, but many never lived up to the public expectations. Many lost their parents, whether to the extremes of the celebrity lifestyle, to divorce, or to their careers. From the beautiful bedtime stories Harpo Marx and his wife told their four adopted children to explain where they'd come from, to the studded belt Bing Crosby used to punish his sons for not obeying the strict family rules, this work tells the best and worst of growing up in a celebrity home. Families covered include those of W.C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, Eddie Cantor, Mario Lanza, Ruth Hussey, Jerry Lewis, Douglas Fairbanks and Boris Karloff. Research is drawn from interviews with celebrity offspring, who also provided never-before-published snapshots of Hollywood legends at home.

Diana Serra Cary's well-wrought, empathetic narrative presents the underside of the glittering stage and screen world: frightened children, merchants who buy and sell childhood as a commodity, rapacious stage mothers and fathers whose ambition and avarice make them willing to sacrifice their children to fulfill their own dreams. The first part of the book mines a lode of new information, recounting stories of the precursors to Hollywood's child stars (and their ambitious parents) - the spectacular 1853 stage debut of four-year-old Cordelia Howard, the rise of red-haired Lotta Crabtree in California's Gold Rush camps, and the travails and triumphs of the hoydenish Elsie Janis as she ad-libbed her way to stardom. Cary - as "Baby Peggy", Hollywood's pioneer child star, the youngest in theatrical history - has lived her subject, surviving a childhood filled with an enormous workload, some real physical danger, and emotional trauma. She weaves her own story of being her family's chief breadwinner with similar tales involving famous movie children she knew and worked with - Jackie Coogan, Shirley Temple, Mickey Rooney, and Judy Garland, among many others.

This collection of interviews, all conducted by the author, focuses on the children of Hollywood legends. Each child (and, in one case, grandchild) talks about the joys and difficulties of growing up in the shadow of the Hollywood spotlight. While some were significantly influenced by their famous parents and chose a career in entertainment, others felt no attraction toward the glamour of Tinseltown fame. Among the interviewees are the offspring of such major stars as Errol Flynn, Gary Cooper, Ingrid Bergman, Jimmy Stewart and Rosalind Russell, as well as such prominent supporting players as Jack Elam, Gene Lockhart, Billy Barty and Jesse White. The collection also includes a list of books and/or websites published by the children of the actors featured.

Long before Shirley Temple's curls bounced their way into America's heart, Baby Peggy lit up marques here and abroad. This story of the shared infancy of a child and the film industry reveals the incredible life and awesome burdens of a child super-star.

From Carrie and Rosemary's Baby to Us, Hereditary, and Run, the image of the mentally ill mom as villain looms large in the horror genre. What do these movies communicate about mothers living with mental illness, and how do these depictions affect them? Portraying mentally ill moms as problems to be overcome, often by their own children, perpetuates harmful stereotypes with potential real-world consequences, such as the belief that these women are unfit to bear or raise children. More compassionate representations are needed to lessen the social stigma associated with the mentally ill. Fortunately, some of the contemporary horror films are attempting to achieve that task with critical success. Using case studies from a broad range of films--including the classic, campy, slasher, or prestige--and placing them within their historical context, this work extends conversations about horror and mental illness, such as post-partum depression, bulimia, Munchausen by proxy syndrome, and others. Highlighting the trope of the mentally ill mother as a pervasive image within the genre furthers examination of how these films challenge or reflect existing stereotypes and illustrates how horror can be both a site of oppression and a source for positive transformation.

A guide to child stars and the movies that made them famous traces the lives, careers, and changing fortunes of child actors, including Mary Pickford, Judy Garland, James Dean, and Tatum O'Neal

LIFE Magazine is the treasured photographic magazine that chronicled the 20th Century. It now lives on at LIFE.com, the largest, most amazing collection of professional photography on the internet. Users can browse, search and view photos of today’s people and events. They have free access to share, print and post images for personal use.

Fully revised, updated, and extended, the fifth edition of Hollywood’s America provides an important compilation of interpretive essays and primary documents that allows students to read films as cultural artifacts within the contexts of actual past events. A new edition of this classic textbook, which ties movies into the broader narrative of US and film history This fifth edition contains nine new chapters, with a greater overall emphasis on recent film history, and new primary source documents which are unavailable online Entries range from the first experiments with motion pictures all the way to the present day Well-organized within a chronological framework with thematic treatments to provide a valuable resource for students of the history of American film

In this one-of-a-kind Hollywood history, the creator of Instagram's celebrated @ThisWasHollywood reveals the forgotten past of the film world in a dazzling visual package modeled on the classic fan magazines of yesteryear. From former screen legends who have faded into obscurity to new revelations about the biggest movie stars, Valderrama unearths the most fascinating little-known tales from the birth of Hollywood through its Golden Age. The shocking fate of the world's first movie star. Clark Gable's secret love child. The film that nearly ended Paul Newman's career. A former child star who, at ninety-three, reveals her #metoo story for the first time. Valderrama unfolds these stories, and many more, in a volume that is by turns riveting, maddening, hilarious, and shocking. Drawing on new interviews, archival research, and an exhaustive library of photographs, This Was Hollywood is a compelling and visually stunning catalogue of the lost history of the movies.