When New Yorker staff writer Lillian Ross heard that John Huston was planning to make a film of Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage, she decided she would follow the movie's progress "in order to learn whatever I might learn about the American motion-picture industry." In the spring of 1950, Huston visited New York and called the young writer to say that progress was not smooth: "Come on over, kid, and I'll tell you all about the hassle." "the funniest tragedy that I have ever read."   William Shawn, then managing editor of The New Yorker, described Picture for the jacket of the first hardcover edition, writing: "On the surface, Miss Ross has written a precise, marvelously detailed account of how one motion-picture, The Red Badge of Courage, was made. Beyond that, exuberant, she has presented everything any sane person should want to know about how a big film studio functions. And beyond that, she has written what must be called, for lack of a more appropriate word, the definitive book on the Hollywood community--its language, its manners, its preoccupations, its ideas. Last, she has told a dramatic story about some extraordinary people, and, in a triumph of interlineation, has written a treatise on human nature."   Lillian Ross's marvelous description of John Huston's work and the film's subsequent fate at the hands of its studio bosses was first published as a serial in The New Yorker and was released in book form as Picture in 1952. It remains the best account of the inner workings of Hollywood. Picture received tremendous praise not only for the sheer quality of the writing but also for its technical innovation--the presentation of reporting as a novel. Picture received plaudits from the worlds of film and literature in equal measure. Charles Chaplin acclaimed it as "a brilliant and sagacious bit of reporting," and S. N. Behrman deemed it

Picture

Humor & Entertainment

Ross, Lillian

Movies

Andre Deutsch Ltd.

In the spring of 1950, when New Yorker staff writer Lillian Ross heard that John Huston was planning to make a film of Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage, she decided she would follow the movie's progress "in order to learn whatever I might learn about the American motion-picture industry." What resulted was Picture, which Newsweek has called "the best book on Hollywood ever published." Picture received raves from the worlds of film and literature in equal measure for its unforgettable portrait of the language, the ways, and the preoccupations of Hollywood: Charlie Chaplin called Picture "brilliant and sagacious" and legendary editor William Shawn termed it "the definitive book on the Hollywood community." Little wonder, then, that when the Top 100 Works of U.S. Journalism of the Twentieth Century were chosen by the New York University Department of Journalism and a distinguished panel that included David Brinkley, Pete Hamill, Jeff Greenfield, Mary McGrory, and Morley Safer, Picture had an honored place on that list.

Business & Money

Huston, Anjelica

Industries

Da Capo Press

The Player A Profile Of An Art

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Ross, Helen

History

Franklin Classics

In this fascinating and beautiful memoir, the renowned New Yorker writer Lillian Ross tells a remarkable love story of the passionate life she shared for forty years with William Shawn, The New Yorker's famous editor. "All enduring love between two people, however startling or unconventional, feels unalterable, predestined, compelling, and intrinsically normal to the couple immersed in it, so I would have to say that I had an intrinsically normal life for over four decades with William Shawn. . . . I have a lasting sense of the normalcy of it all. It was a normalcy that Bill Shawn was able to create for himself and for me against all normal odds." Shawn was married, yet Ross and Shawn created a home together a dozen blocks south of the Shawns' apartment, raised a child, and lived with discretion. Their lives intertwined from the 1950s until Shawn's death, in 1992. Ross describes how they met and the intense connection between them; how Shawn worked with some of the best writers of the period; how, to escape their developing liaison, Ross moved to Hollywood, and there wrote the famous pieces that became Picture, the classic story of the making of a movie--John Huston's The Red Badge of Courage--only to return to New York and to the relationship. The love of Shawn and Ross for each other made it impossible for them ever to part. ---- This book is a gem, an exquisitely told real-life story more potent than fiction.

Here But Not Here: A Love Story

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

Random House]

On May 13, 1950, Lillian Ross's first portrait of Ernest Hemingway was published in The New Yorker. It was an account of two days Hemingway spent in New York in 1949 on his way from Havana to Europe. This candid and affectionate profile was tremendously controversial at the time, to the great surprise of its author. Booklist said, "The piece immediately conveys to the reader the kind of man Hemingway was--hard-hitting, warm, and exuberantly alive." It remains the classic eyewitness account of the legendary writer, and it is reproduced here with the preface Lillian Ross prepared for an edition of Portrait in 1961. Ernest Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899, and to celebrate the centenary of this event, Ms. Ross has written a second portrait of Hemingway for The New Yorker, detailing the friendship the two struck up after the completion of the first piece. It is included here in an amended form. Together, these two works establish the definitive sketch of one of America's greatest writers.

Portrait of Hemingway

Modern Library

Anchor

Long before he made "The Gold Rush," "City Lights," and his other remarkable feature-length movies, Charlie Chaplin, on the strength of his one-reel and two-reel silent comedies, became the most famous person on earth. No statesman, president, king, general, athlete, or other artist was known to as many of the world's people as Chaplin. Not only his fame but also his popularity was without precedent and beyond comparison. Yet it was not really Chaplin who was known, it was the character he created and played, and into whom he poured everything he was, including his comic genius: the vagabond with the big shoes, the baggy pants, the short, pinched coat, the cane, the derby, the little moustache, the funny, flat-footed walk. This person, in fact, became the most widely-known imaginary character in all history. The Chaplin character had such overwhelming reality for us that it was difficult to think of him as having originated in another man's mind, as having been called forth by a man who, except in his art, was a man like other men: the "real" Charlie Chaplin, who had a wife and children, who was to spend his last twenty-five years living peacefully in an elegant old villa in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland, who took pleasure in family occasions and in quiet times with friends. The private Chaplin was unknown to the public. In a sense, he wasn't believed to exist. The character he created had no name of his own, but he had an identity so vivid and powerful that he was able to take his creator's name and become, to the world, Charlie Chaplin. It's the real Chaplin whom Lillian Ross knew. With her uncanny ability to bring people to life on the printed page, she has fashioned a delicate, charming, illuminating, unforgettable portrait of Charlie Chaplin unlike anything else that has been written about this great and beloved man.

Moments with Chaplin

Dodd, Mead

Short stories. First printing stated. Orange and yellow covers rubbed, corners and spine ends bumped. Dust jacket rubbed, with several tears and small chips, considerable edge wear. Owner's name on the first endpaper, otherwise the interior is clean and tight.

Reporting

Reference

Writing, Research & Publishing Guides

SIMON AND SCHUSTER

In this fascinating and beautiful memoir, the renowned New Yorker writer Lillian Ross tells a remarkable love story of the passionate life she shared for forty years with William Shawn, The New Yorker's famous editor."All enduring love between two people, however startling or unconventional, feels unalterable, predestined, compelling, and intrinsically normal to the couple immersed in it, so I would have to say that I had an intrinsically normal life for over four decades with William Shawn. . . . I have a lasting sense of the normalcy of it all.  It was a normalcy that Bill Shawn was able to create for himself and for me against all normal odds." Shawn was married, yet Ross and Shawn created a home together a dozen blocks south of the Shawns' apartment, raised a child, and lived with discretion. Their lives intertwined from the 1950s until Shawn's death, in 1992. Ross describes how they met and the intense connection between them; how Shawn worked with some of the best writers of the period; how, to escape their developing liaison, Ross moved to Hollywood, and there wrote the famous pieces that became Picture, the classic story of the making of a movie--John Huston's The Red Badge of Courage--only to return to New York and to the relationship. The love of Shawn and Ross for each other made it impossible for them ever to part.  ----This book is a gem, an exquisitely told real-life story more potent than fiction.

Here But Not Here

Random House Value Publishing

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Ross, Lillian. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Ross, Lillian

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Ross, Lillian. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Picture

Picture

The Player A Profile Of An Art

Here But Not Here: A Love Story

Portrait of Hemingway

Picture

Moments with Chaplin

Reporting

Reporting

Here But Not Here