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Title: Bringing Up Oscar

Subtitle: The Story of the Men and Women Who Founded the Academy

Author: Debra Ann Pawlak

Narrator: Dawn Harvey

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins

Language: English

Release date: 04-01-13

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

The untold story of the innovative pioneers who helped make movies the preeminent art form of the 20th century by founding the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The founders of the now infamous Academy were a motley crew as individuals, but when they first converged in Hollywood, then just a small town with dirt roads, sparks flew and fueled a common dream: to bring artistic validity to their beloved new medium. Today, movies are so ingrained in our culture it is hard to imagine a time when former cowpunchers, prospectors, vaudevillians, even junk dealers made up the rules as they went along. Prohibition and the Great Depression were keeping everyone on edge, and the business was rife with murders and drug scandals. Something had to happen. And so on January 11th, 1927, 36 members of Hollywood's elite and not-so-elite came together at the behest of MGM chief Louis B. Mayer. From Cecil B. DeMille toMary Pickford, Harry M. Warner, who owned a bike shop before launching the revolutionary talkie The Jazz Singer, even Joseph M. Schenck, freed from jail just in time to discover Marilyn Monroe - each guest was more colorful than the last. Although they didnt know it yet, these 36 achievers and dreamers gave birth to a golden child. Who were these movers and shakers who would change movies forever? And what about Oscar, their famous son? He is fast approaching his 100th birthday, and is still the undisputed king of Hollywood. Yet with such dynamic parents, what else could we expect?

Members Reviews:

Slow going

Since Iâm a movie freak and have read many, many accounts of Hollywood and its beginnings, when I saw Debra Ann Pawlakâs Bringing Up Oscar: The Story of the Men and Women Who Founded the Academy, I thought, âWow! Iâve never read an in-depth look at the Motion Picture Academy, formally known as The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. I expected to find out just what this institution does in addition to giving out those shiny little men. But since I can read the title, I knew the book would focus more on the people who had the idea for the academy. And ohâit does. The first half of the book details each of the producers, writers, actors, actresses, techies, and one theater owner who thought up this institution. I can save you time: almost each and every one of them were dirt poor, hard-scrabble immigrants who decided working in the fledgling industry would be a good thing, started in the east, and eventually migrated west because it was warmer, sunnier, and free of the restrictions placed upon the new industry by its inventor Thomas Edison. And not only is this story repeated in slight variations, but you will find out the birth dates and birth places of each, including any siblings they may have had. Then suddenly, towards the middle, they meet and have this idea. The academy comes to fruition. Then the book becomes less tedious, as each one of them is dealt with again, this time describing their deaths (mostly heart attacks.) What career facts are told in this section are, for the most part, repeats of myriad facts told in the first section. Get the idea? This is a very repetitious book. Great for high schoolers doing research on the film industry; not so great for those of us who just want to enjoy reading about early Hollywood.