Bear Manor Media recently sent me a huge box of books to review and I spent the good part of the last month reading a few. I have a mantra not to review books that I feel could have been done better, so the brief book reviews below are not only superb for the subjects they extensively cover, but are highly recommended if you are seeking something to read when you get cozy in your lazy-boy in the coming winter months.

John Huston’s ‘eastern Western’ signaled the end of the careers of three major Hollywood figures. It was Marilyn Monroe’s last completed film. Clark Gable died a fortnight after shooting ended. Montgomery Clift rumbled on for a few years but without doing much of note.

It also signaled the end of Monroe’s marriage to Arthur Miller. Miller wrote the screenplay as a ‘gift’ to his troubled wife, but their marriage was already on the rocks by the time the cameras started rolling. Matters deteriorated further on the set, culminating in Monroe suffering a nervous breakdown in mid-shoot which led to the set being temporarily closed while she recuperated.

Aubrey Malone’s book chronicles the background production of this iconic film which changed the way people saw the old West. It also chronicles the on-set tensions, the squabbling and feuds and divided loyalties. Huston tried to hold everything together as he struggled with a gambling addiction that was too great a temptation to resist in the casinos of Reno. The dramas that took place behind the scenes were arguably as engrossing as anything that appeared in the film itself. Sample both sets of scenarios in this detailed study of a valentine to a bygone era.

This is a superb behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of the movie and I can think of a large number of movies that I wish would receive this same kind of treatment.

I first saw her on a couple of those MGM movies on Turner Classic Movies and knew there had to be a story behind her appearance. It was August and the station decided to devote an entire day to movies she played a role in. Yet, her screen career was short-lived.

Virginia O’Brien was one of the more unique talents under contract to Metro Goldwyn Mayer. The California native was discovered by MGM’s mogul, Louis B. Mayer when he attended a performance of the musical revue Meet the People. It was here that Virginia stopped the show with the deadpan delivery of her solo number. Her appearances in more than a dozen of MGM’s musicals were always a highlight. While one can’t “stop” a film, Virginia’s singular performances are etched in the memory of the fans of MGM’s lavish musicals. This is the story of the comedic actress-singer who was fondly known as “Miss Frozen Face.”

Author Robert Strom was able to track down O’Brien’s family and assemble a book documenting her personal life and screen career, as most people should do when assembling a biography – go directly to the family. Thank you, Mr. Strom.

Before Sam Worthington, Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Mel Gibson, there was Rod Taylor. For over twenty years, Taylor was the biggest Australian movie name in Hollywood, starring in such films as The Time Machine, Hitchcock’s The Birds, and The Vips. Best known for his action roles, he was equally adept at romantic comedies and dramas, working with top stars, such as Doris Day, John Wayne, Elizabeth Taylor, Jane Fonda, and with major directors, such as Alfred Hitchcock, Walt Disney, and Michelangelo Antonioni.

At a time when Australians could rarely see or hear themselves on screen, Rod Taylor helped keep his country in the public eye, and he paved the way for the "Aussie" actors that followed him.

Rod Taylor: An Aussie in Hollywood is his full-length biography, a thrilling story of a working-class Sydney boy, who went to Hollywood, took on the Americans at their own game on their own turf in one of the toughest industries there is, and won. It's also the story of a talented actor, who was almost brought down by the demons of alcohol and ego, but who ultimately overcame them to triumph. Best of all are the numerous quotes from Taylor himself about his career including the short-lived cult classic, Hong Kong. This is a must for all Rod Taylor fans.

James Sheldon directed many of the radio and television shows that shaped the American consciousness. He directed the original radio version of We, The People when it became the first commercial CBS network program to telecast nationally on June 1, 1948. Since then, he experienced technological changes from live to electronic tape to film, from black and white to color, and from a few hundred thousand to multi-millions of television sets that in use today.

His early live credits include dramatic series, such as Robert Montgomery Presents and Studio One; comedies, such as Mister Peepers; musicals, such as Don Ameche's Holiday Hotel. He was also part of the move from New York to Los Angeles as television production shifted west in the mid-1950s, directing The Johnny Carson Show, West Point Story, Harbor Command, and Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater.

Sheldon helped many actors begin their careers, including James Dean, Paul Newman, Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman, Carroll O'Connor, Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds, Lee Remick, Tony Randall, and Tyne Daly.

In the 1960s, he directed episodes of Naked City, Route 66, The Millionaire, My Three Sons, and The Twilight Zone. In the 1970s, he directed episodes of M*A*S*H, The Virginian, Sanford & Son, and Raymond Burr's Ironside. In the 1980s, he directed episodes of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Cagney & Lacey, and The Equalizer. Thanks to author James Rosin, I was put in touch with Sheldon to chat about his work on The Twilight Zone for my book about the television series, so naturally I wanted to read Sheldon’s book. I was not disappointed. Rarely do we get a chance to read the memoirs of someone who was so instrumental.

In the horror movie heyday of Universal Pictures, he made the studio back lot his own personal preyground: Rondo Hatton, star of the company’s “Creeper” series. The victim of a disfiguring disease, Hatton needed no makeup to play the Creeper, a night-prowling vertebreaker, in The Pearl of Death (1944), House of Horrors (1946) and The Brute Man (1946).

A lot of misery and physical pain were packed into Rondo Hatton’s 51 years on Earth and he met his challenges with courage. This book (co-authored by four extremely knowledgeable and awesome historians) tells Hatton’s full story and pays tribute with a full biography, the production histories of his five horror movies, artist George Chastain’s tribute to other “Brute Men” of the movies, artwork (and an afterword) by celebrated pop culture cartoonist Drew Friedman and more. Also: Rondo’s miraculous 21st-century “rebirth” as a coveted award for the finest in Monster Kid achievement. Hatton received his due with this one.

Numerous magazine articles and books have been written on the subject but none can be truly as extensive or accurate than John Gosling's book titled Waging the War of the Worlds: A History of the 1938 Radio Broadcast and Resulting Panic. From the facts behind the week's rehearsal and re-writes, smoke and mirrors, the obvious bloopers that can be heard during the broadcast that should have tipped off the listeners, to a reprint of the radio script... it is all here. Gosling even covers similar incidents of panic resulting from similar radio broadcasts in Latin America, Brazil, Portugal and other countries.

The book also includes scans and reprints of historic documents and archival photographs from various libraries.

If you wanted to read up on the history of the 1938 War of the Worlds panic broadcast, this is the one book you want to grab this Halloween.