by Karie Bible and Mary Mallory
From the Goodreads Synopsis: Marvelously illustrated with more than 200 rare images from the silent era through the 1970s, this joyous treasure trove features film and television's most famous actors and actresses celebrating the holidays, big and small, in lavishly produced photographs. Join the stars for festive fun in celebrating a variety of holidays, from New Year's to Saint Patrick's Day to Christmas and everything in between. Legends such as Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Crawford, Judy Garland, and Audrey Hepburn spread holiday cheer throughout the calendar year in iconic, ironic, and illustrious style. These images, taken by legendary stills photographers, hearken back to the Golden Age of Hollywood, when motion picture studios devised elaborate publicity campaigns to promote their stars and to keep their names and faces in front of the movie-going public all year round.
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My review: The curators of the book were big lovers of vintage film. The majority of the photos in this coffee table style book were too far back for my tastes. I love old movies, Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, etc but a large number of those in the photos I simply knew little about . and were not of much interest to me until it got into later actors/actresses, Audrey Hepburn etc. I'm sure those that like to go way back to say the Mary Pickford era might recognize more actors , especially in the first 5 chapters or so. I did enjoy quite a few but had to go through many pages until I found one here and there I liked. The composition and layout was only ok. The photos themselves were of excellent quality but the book as a whole held little interest. One final note, I would not have put in the captions negative anecdotes about the actors, those who died of drug overdoses etc. In the light of the holidays , no matter which one, the somber subject of death doesn't blend well with the light-heartedness of a holiday. Sorry, only 2 stars on this one.
**I received this Advanced Reader copy from Netgalley.com**
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