# Goddam. Great Book Idea Just Fell Through. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 23, 2003, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddam-great-book-idea-just-fell-through/170659 "2003-04-23T18:55:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LolaCocaCola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7cd45c/32.png) [@LolaCocaCola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaCocaCola)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddam-great-book-idea-just-fell-through/170659/21 "2003-04-24T01:17:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*Yes, if you’re planning to jump off a giant letter, I think “H” is your best bet. \*\* I dunno, “B” wouldn’t be so bad… ---
**Author:** ![LolaCocaCola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7cd45c/32.png) [@LolaCocaCola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaCocaCola)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddam-great-book-idea-just-fell-through/170659/22 "2003-04-24T01:18:53Z")
…If there was one in the Hollywood sign, that is. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddam-great-book-idea-just-fell-through/170659/23 "2003-04-24T01:26:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > … Yes, if you’re planning to jump off a giant letter, I think “H” is your best bet. Trust **Eve** for such words to live (or die) by. ---
**Author:** ![drewbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drewbert/32/15890_2.png) [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddam-great-book-idea-just-fell-through/170659/24 "2003-04-24T01:55:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*Yes, if you’re planning to jump off a giant letter, I think “H” is your best bet. \*\* Strangely, they never mention this sort of thing on “Sesame Street.” ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddam-great-book-idea-just-fell-through/170659/25 "2003-04-24T06:55:33Z")
I’m not going to … Must … resist … Well, I’m going to hell anyway, so here goes: \*\*Give me an “H” A a a a a i i c c h\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddam-great-book-idea-just-fell-through/170659/26 "2003-04-24T06:57:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LolaCocaCola \* > \*\*…If there was one in the Hollywood sign, that is. 😃 \*\* You’re thinking of Bollywood. ---
**Author:** ![LolaCocaCola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7cd45c/32.png) [@LolaCocaCola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaCocaCola)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddam-great-book-idea-just-fell-through/170659/27 "2003-04-24T10:38:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Satisfying Andy Licious \* > \*\*You’re thinking of Bollywood. \*\* _giggle_ ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddam-great-book-idea-just-fell-through/170659/28 "2003-04-24T12:05:32Z")
One of my favorite non-obvious jokes in film was Tomthy Dalton’s line at the end of **The Rocketeer** , where he, playing an Errol Flynn-type, jumps out of the zeppelin with the (unknown to him) defective rocket-pack. “I’ll miss Hollywood!” he says, then jumps. Things go OK for a couple of seconds, then the pack fails and he plummets to earth, hitting the “-LAND” part of the “HOLLYWOODLAND” sign, and changing it to the HOLLYWOOD sign we know today. He certainly did miss HOLLYWOOD–. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddam-great-book-idea-just-fell-through/170659/29 "2003-04-24T13:19:43Z")
. . . Even more frustrating, I e’d my publisher about this, and they said, “You’re right, that _would_ have been an interesting book.” So I would have gotten a contract if there had been sufficient material to get a bio from! _Damn_ that H-jumping Peg and her lack of scrapbook-keeping! What the hell kind of actress doesn’t save her clippings and interviews?! ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddam-great-book-idea-just-fell-through/170659/30 "2003-04-24T13:48:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > and she was certainly potential star material: pretty, great voice, obviously talented. You’ve got me a little curious about this woman, **Eve**. I noticed she was born in **W** ales, raised in **L** ondon, emigrated with her father to **N** ew York, jumped off an ‘H’ in California and her ashes were buried next to her father in **O** hio. Given those options, I’m rather inclined to agree the ‘H’ was her best bet. What accent did she have ? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddam-great-book-idea-just-fell-through/170659/31 "2003-04-24T13:53:30Z")
Not much of an accent at all, she came to the U.S. as a child. “Posh,” maybe, but not really British-sounding. She “screened” well, and there’s no reason she mightn’t have made it in Hollywood eventually—though she got there at least a year too late. Davis, Hepburn, Stanwyck, Colbert, all had a year or two jump on her. ---
**Author:** ![BioHazard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3bc359/32.png) [@BioHazard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BioHazard)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddam-great-book-idea-just-fell-through/170659/32 "2003-04-24T14:45:03Z")
Eve, Why don’t you make it a Historical Fiction or DocuDrama book? Ever dapple in fiction? ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddam-great-book-idea-just-fell-through/170659/33 "2003-04-24T14:54:08Z")
I _haaaaate_ “historical fiction” and “docudrama.” Spawns of Satan. Leakage from the Cooler of Death. ---
**Author:** ![summerbreeze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@summerbreeze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/summerbreeze)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddam-great-book-idea-just-fell-through/170659/34 "2003-04-24T16:23:50Z")
Don’t suppose she kept a diary/journal or wrote a lot of letters? I will read anything Eve writes. She can send me her old grocery lists. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddam-great-book-idea-just-fell-through/170659/35 "2003-04-24T16:31:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*Yes, if you’re planning to jump off a giant letter, I think “H” is your best bet. \*\* May I use this as a sig? I second the motion of doing a chapter on Peg in a larger book. I picked up a book at the library junk shop a few years ago along the same lines. It included chapters on (among others) [Ruth Etting](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Etting,+Ruth) (of whom I became a huge fan as a result), [Ginger Rogers](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Rogers,+Ginger) and [Kay Fwancis](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Francis,+Kay). It concluded with a chapter on [Irene Bentley](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Bentley,+Irene), or more correctly with a fascinating chapter on the author’s inability to track down information on Irene after she vanished from the Hollywood scene. Not that I would _ever_ suggest being derivative, but a chapter on Peg along with a discussion of your attempts to ferret out more details could be a cracking good read. Speaking of becoming a huge fan based on a book, I wanted to take this opportunity to mention again that I became a [Theda Bara](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Bara,+Theda) fan after reading Eve’s biography of her (before I knew that author Eve was our **Eve** ) not to mention becoming a fan of **Eve** herself. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddam-great-book-idea-just-fell-through/170659/36 "2003-04-24T16:46:11Z")
Oh, please do, dear. As for doing a multi-bio book, I already have a collection of my silent-movie star articles in a book, but I can’t get the sequel (the talkie stars, including Peg) published, as those books are such a hard sell. In fact, the silents one has just been remaindered and is heading for the shredder. I remember that book you mention, George Eells’ enjoyable **Ginger, Loretta and Irene Who?** (1976). I have another bio idea on the back burner, now being shifted carefully to a front burner (with my oven mitts on). ---
**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddam-great-book-idea-just-fell-through/170659/37 "2003-04-24T20:52:36Z")
What about a book on the influence of Broadway on early Hollywood? I realize that it would conver a lot of the same ground as the silent film stars one, but would also let you add Peg and the early talkie stars. And it also shifts the focus. Instead of a loose collection of biographies about mostly-forgotten (sorry) stars, you are writing about the development of Hollywood and could include more specifically filmic information. That might be enough of a twist to give you an opening, but I don’t know from squat about the publishing biz. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddam-great-book-idea-just-fell-through/170659/38 "2003-04-24T21:25:55Z")
Wasn’t Peg a chapter in one of Kenneth Anger’s books? And regarding having to have a scrapbook or something to do the book - I am sure you have your reasons, but there have been some damn good biographies of people who basically left nothing behind. Interviews from family members, friends, co-actors, newspaper/magazine clippings, police reports, studio contracts, gossip columns of the day - hell, FOX Network could do a miniseries with less factual material than you could find in her obit. (Not that I am comparing your writing to FOX hacks!) And a paying book contract certainly does seem tantalizing! Gee - maybe they would make a film and then J. Lo or Madonna could star in it! (DMark ducks just in time to miss **Eve** ’s shoe whizzing by his head.) ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2003, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddam-great-book-idea-just-fell-through/170659/39 "2003-04-24T22:39:08Z")
Hell, they can cast Billy Crystal in a wig, if I get some money out of it! I’m more than willing to sell out. It’s very hard to market a multiple-bio book, and publishers shy away from them. There already are books on the early talkie era–good ones–and I’d have nothing more to add. Oh, yes, Kenneth Anger (_poo poo ptui eww_) did mention poor Peg in one of his steaming piles of crap. He also included a nudie shot “of her” that’s no more Peg Entwistle than it is me. I do have two more bio ideas I will start putting into drive now. I’ve already contacted the family and fan club of another star I’d like to write about–not being coy, but I can’t say who till I have a signed contract in hand. ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2003, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddam-great-book-idea-just-fell-through/170659/40 "2003-04-25T10:57:58Z")
Billy Crystal doesn’t already wear a wig ? … **Eve** - While you’re here I’ll just mention this as a possible point of interest for you. I heard about this undergrad course last year – allegedly the first of its kind anywhere – which focuses on the writing of biography. Thought you might like to cast an eye over the idea: [http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/humanities/english/wrliv.html](http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/humanities/english/wrliv.html) - If you ever feel like ensconcing yourself in the ivory tower of academia, you could always propose a version of this to someone … maybe. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddam-great-book-idea-just-fell-through/170659.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goddam-great-book-idea-just-fell-through/170659.md?page=3)