Mary Mallory, left, and Karie Bible spent years tracking down photos for their project.
We stopped off at Larry Edmunds Bookshop on Hollywood Boulevard on Saturday afternoon for the authors’ presentation and book signing of “Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays,” by Karie Bible and Mary Mallory.
“Hollywood Celebrates” is a handsomely produced, glossy paper book with beautifully reproduced images accompanied by their original captions from the studios, some of which are literate and others no so much.
Mary gave some background on the history of movie stills and publicity shots while Karie talked about the treasure hunt of finding vintage pictures. They noted that Greta Garbo hated doing publicity shots and that finding anything of her was extremely challenging (alas, a Garbo valentine was the closest they could get).
The seasonal images include Thelma Todd (New Year’s), Jack Mulhall (St. Patrick’s Day), Gail Russell (Easter), Lizabeth Scott (the Fourth of July), Clara Bow and Veronica Lake (Halloween) and Gloria Swanson (Christmas).
Karie and Mary gave effusive praise to author and photographer Mark Veiera for working wonders with the old and sometimes battered prints to make them pristine. Mark is one of those rare people who is a scholar, writer, artist and technician and he does gorgeous work, which is on display throughout the book.
“Hollywood Celebrates” is available from Amazon for $28.34. In addition to Larry Edmunds, the book is available for $29.99 at Book Soup, Skylight Books and Vroman’s.
If you missed the appearance at Larry Edmunds, you still have a chance for another signing:
Nov. 8 at 2:30 p.m. at the Orange County Public Library in Cypress, 5331 Orange Ave.
Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. at Book Soup, 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood.
Dec. 5 from noon to 4 p.m. at Hollywood Heritage Museum, 2100 Highland Ave, Los Angeles.
Also on Dec. 5, Karie Bible will be signing books between films at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, 429 Castro St., San Francisco.
Dec. 12 at 1 p.m. Mary Mallory will speak at the Will and Ariel Durant Branch of the Los Angeles Public Library, 7140 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles.
Feb. 11 at the Art Deco Society of California, with cocktails at 6:30 p.m. and a talk by Karie Bible at 7:30 p.m., Hotel Rex, 562 Sutter St., San Francisco.
Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m., at a silent film screening and book signing, Niles Film Museum, 37417 Niles Blvd., Fremont, Calif.
