The Odeon Online Book Review : INSIDE HOLLYWOOD - 60 Years of Globe Photos.

If you are looking for a cinematic coffee-table compilation of Hollywood history in all its behind-the-scenes glory, then you'll be hard pressed to go further than this 453 page photographic tome that pays tribute to the stars of the silver screen and their lives behind the camera - at home, at work and at play.

Compiled and edited by Richard DeNeut (who joined 'Globe' in the late 50's as a caption writer) this book has been on the shelves for a good few years now, and was given to me a couple of years back. Having read the commentary cover to cover and gazed at the rich black and white and colour photography of movies stars, Directors, Producers and the movers and shakers of Tinsel Town, I occasionally pick this up again and flick through its rich content.

Founded toward the end of the 30's 'Globe Agency' at that time represented only European photographers taking snaps for largely German publications, but, as the war in Europe raged on the focus moved to the United States where photos of the rich and famous were published in some of the Sunday newspapers. The New York Times however, produced a mid-week pictorial magazine which became the early forerunner for the likes of 'Life' and 'Look' magazines - which opened up a whole new era for editorial photography. 'Life' magazine put 'Globe' under contact to provide photographs for its ever increasing readership keen to devour real life images rather than real life text, and as more magazines appeared on the news stands, so the appetite for speciality publications grew.

Immediately following the war Globe opened an office in Hollywood, and with the advent of new camera technologies, faster film and lighter equipment the Agency quickly established itself as the fastest, most efficient and most reliable means for Studios to distribute photos and stories of their Productions, their stars and rising stars, the glamour, the on-set action and latest 'exclusives'. In turn, Globe's pictures featured regularly in many magazines and newspapers across the US - helped by a deal with the Times-Mirror Syndicate which ensured the Agency distribution every week to 178 newspapers in the US alone.

With the momentum of the post-war years and the golden age of cinema, coupled with the advent of Rock 'n' Roll in the 50's, Globe was poised to ride the crest of the wave and capitalise upon a plethora of movie magazines to hit the stands - 'Photoplay', 'Movieland', 'Modern Screen', 'Screenland' and 'Motion Picture' amongst others for which it provided pictorial content on a weekly basis.






As the decades rolled on so magazine content and its readership changed with the times - television took hold in the 60's and has never looked back, but it created a whole new focus; publications aimed squarely at the teen market became popular; weekly TV magazines and then the advent of the Internet as our appetite for instant gratification became insatiable.

Globe has been around for 60+ years and during that time amassed more than fifteen million photographs of Hollywood personalities in candid, at times revealing and often personal circumstances showcasing the good, the bad and at times the ugly of those famous and infamous celebrities of both yesteryear and this year.

'Inside Hollywood - 60 Years of Globe Photos' is an engaging and nostalgic look back at the people, the events, and the movies that made Hollywood and the movie industry what it is today. For followers of cinema, the movies, the film making process and the people who work in it this will bring back memories of the greats from in front and behind the camera, as well as those you will recognise from the current era, the films you may have long forgotten about, and an insight to those lives that is rarely seen. For me it was/is a page turner, it will compliment your coffee table, and is a small investment to have such a historical collection of Hollywood photographic artwork.

Images (from the top) :
* Front cover : Marilyn Monroe - 1960
* Elvis Presley - 1957
* The Beatles in Miami - 1965
* Raquel Welch - 1966
* Yul Brynner - 'The King and I' rehearsals 1977
* Sean Connery - 1968
* Billy Crystal, Robin Williams and Whoopi Goldberg - 1986
* Robert Downey Jnr. - going down! - 1996.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-