Celebrity Memoirs and Biographies

ChuckW · Post by **ChuckW** » March 17th, 2013, 4:54 pm

I've decided to do Intimate Talks with Movie Stars as a group project. It's in the Launch Pad now, if anyone's interested in volunteering for a chapter or two.

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=45256

ChuckW · Post by **ChuckW** » March 18th, 2013, 8:23 pm

So here's an interesting one...

My Own Story by Marie Dressler

OK, OK, there's little to say aside from the obvious (it's Marie Dressler's autobiography, naturally). It was published in 1934, but both Hathi Trust and the Media History Digital Library both say it's in the public domain. Any Marie Dressler fans out there?

JoFriday21 · Post by **JoFriday21** » March 19th, 2013, 11:27 am

I still really want to read Screen Acting as a solo - but my time is stretched a little thin at the moment. Grr, Librivox!

ChuckW · Post by **ChuckW** » March 19th, 2013, 11:46 am

JoFriday21 wrote:I still really want to read Screen Acting as a solo - but my time is stretched a little thin at the moment. Grr, Librivox!

You'd better let me know, when/if you launch it! I want to be your DPL!

ChuckW · Post by **ChuckW** » June 2nd, 2013, 2:39 pm

So I posted about this book elsewhere, but I thought I'd bring it to everyone's attention here in case someone wanted to adopt this as a solo project. Otherwise, I'll probably wind up putting this together as a group reading. Either way, it simply has to be read. It is absolutely crazypants.

Hollywood Undressed: Observations of Sylvia As Noted by Her Secretary (Sylvia of Hollywood) - This book is crazy. Written by Hollywood's leading fitness guru, this is a scandalous tell-all where Sylvia burns all of her bridges and gives us the juicy details of her formidable client list. Yes, big name stars are actually named... and then taken down a notch. And then we also get to read some of her nutzoid methods for staying fit and maintaining beauty. Seriously. Her beauty tips are truly sadistic. It's... all very bizarre. This would easily be the next book, but since it's written in a female voice I might have trouble attracting as many volunteers. This could also make a really fun solo reading, if anyone's game.

JoFriday21 · Post by **JoFriday21** » June 2nd, 2013, 3:06 pm

ChuckW wrote:So I posted about this book elsewhere, but I thought I'd bring it to everyone's attention here in case someone wanted to adopt this as a solo project. Otherwise, I'll probably wind up putting this together as a group reading. Either way, it simply has to be read. It is absolutely crazypants.

Hollywood Undressed: Observations of Sylvia As Noted by Her Secretary (Sylvia of Hollywood) - This book is crazy. Written by Hollywood's leading fitness guru, this is a scandalous tell-all where Sylvia burns all of her bridges and gives us the juicy details of her formidable client list. Yes, big name stars are actually named... and then taken down a notch. And then we also get to read some of her nutzoid methods for staying fit and maintaining beauty. Seriously. Her beauty tips are truly sadistic. It's... all very bizarre. This would easily be the next book, but since it's written in a female voice I might have trouble attracting as many volunteers. This could also make a really fun solo reading, if anyone's game.

Um, TOTALLY game for a solo. I'm adopting this! Adding it to my list!

Post by **chocoholic** » June 2nd, 2013, 3:49 pm

ChuckW wrote:Hollywood Undressed: Observations of Sylvia As Noted by Her Secretary

The edition you linked was published in 1931, so we would need proof that it is public domain -- ideally sending it to Gutenberg for clearance. The HathiTrust edition states "public domain, Google-digitized," but Google Books has neither a scan of it nor a public domain notice. It only has cover images of 1931 and 2011 editions.

ChuckW · Post by **ChuckW** » June 2nd, 2013, 5:04 pm

chocoholic wrote:
ChuckW wrote:Hollywood Undressed: Observations of Sylvia As Noted by Her Secretary
The edition you linked was published in 1931, so we would need proof that it is public domain -- ideally sending it to Gutenberg for clearance. The HathiTrust edition states "public domain, Google-digitized," but Google Books has neither a scan of it nor a public domain notice. It only has cover images of 1931 and 2011 editions.

As mentioned in another post, I do intended on confirming this text's copyright status. Doing so is really quite easy to confirm. Most of the documents on HathiTrust have been given approval by a university librarian who specializes in copyright, and they're always easy to get in touch with. This book, however, may not even require this. It has been cited as being in the public domain multiple times on the Internet and even has one of those print-to-order Kessinger Publications editions used only for public domain works. But I can still double-check, if you want.

JoFriday21 wrote:Um, TOTALLY game for a solo. I'm adopting this! Adding it to my list!

Rock on, Amanda! That's awesome! Thanks! And that's one less for me to turn into a group project. If you decide to do this one, let me know beforehand as I have the chapter list already written out and ready for you.

JoFriday21 · Post by **JoFriday21** » June 2nd, 2013, 5:35 pm

ChuckW wrote:
JoFriday21 wrote:Um, TOTALLY game for a solo. I'm adopting this! Adding it to my list!
Rock on, Amanda! That's awesome! Thanks! And that's one less for me to turn into a group project. If you decide to do this one, let me know beforehand as I have the chapter list already written out and ready for you.

I'll totally be doing it if all is well in copyright world.

And I'm still holding you to being DPL for Screen Acting LOL

Post by **icequeen** » June 2nd, 2013, 5:53 pm

Chuck, are you ready for Souls for Sale? I'm going to post it soon.

ChuckW · Post by **ChuckW** » June 2nd, 2013, 7:03 pm

icequeen wrote:Chuck, are you ready for Souls for Sale? I'm going to post it soon.

Oh, definitely! And I owe you a plot summary!

Feel free to launch the project. I'll have the plot summary written in the jiffy.

JoFriday21 · Post by **JoFriday21** » June 3rd, 2013, 10:55 am

ChuckW wrote:
chocoholic wrote:
ChuckW wrote:Hollywood Undressed: Observations of Sylvia As Noted by Her Secretary
The edition you linked was published in 1931, so we would need proof that it is public domain -- ideally sending it to Gutenberg for clearance. The HathiTrust edition states "public domain, Google-digitized," but Google Books has neither a scan of it nor a public domain notice. It only has cover images of 1931 and 2011 editions.
As mentioned in another post, I do intended on confirming this text's copyright status. Doing so is really quite easy to confirm. Most of the documents on HathiTrust have been given approval by a university librarian who specializes in copyright, and they're always easy to get in touch with. This book, however, may not even require this. It has been cited as being in the public domain multiple times on the Internet and even has one of those print-to-order Kessinger Publications editions used only for public domain works. But I can still double-check, if you want.

Are you able to double check on this? I have no clue where to even start to ensure copyright is A-OK.

ChuckW · Post by **ChuckW** » June 3rd, 2013, 11:16 am

JoFriday21 wrote: Are you able to double check on this? I have no clue where to even start to ensure copyright is A-OK.

I can ask the original institution that scanned the document and send in a request with Project Gutenberg, if you guys want? It shouldn't be hard.

I'm hopeful for a positive outcome. I've seen this floating around everyone on the internet as a public domain text. Someone even posted the entire book on his blog.