You Must Remember This

You Must Remember This by Robert J Wagner.

Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Viking Adult;(March 11, 2014)
ISBN-10: 0670026093

From Booklist

Wagner and Eyman, who coauthored Wagner’s 2008 autobiography, Pieces of My Heart, this time tell the story of a place and a time: Hollywood from the 1930s through the ’60s. Divided into topical chapters, including “Houses and Hotels,” “Style,” and “Nightlife,” the book follows Hollywood from its early days—until Cecil B. DeMille arrived in 1913, Hollywood was just another place outside Los Angeles—through its heady decades as the trendsetter in style and popular culture, and ending with the collapse of the studio system, when profits were in steep decline and many of the Golden Age stars were dying or aging out of the spotlight. You can tell that Wagner, whose acting career started when the Golden Age was its most golden, truly misses that time and place; his fondness for it and his distaste for the modern way of moviemaking come through on almost every page. For Wagner, the emblems of Hollywood at its grandest—the mansions, the stars, the parties, the watering holes—evoke a better world, and his account of how it was then just may leave nostalgic readers similarly affected. --David Pitt

I can’t say I am a “die-hard” fan of Robert Wagner's, though I  have enjoyed parts of his career .  But the write up on this book sounded like something I would enjoy.  I do like reading things about early Hollywood, and this was actually pretty interesting.

It was nothing like a Biography although his comparisons  could only be from “what he heard it was like” and when he was finally in Hollywood himself.

For a small book he did pack a lot of info, along with a lot of namedropping, which in this case was more informative then an ego boost.  Re: who bought what property when and for how much and how quickly prices went up to make someone even richer then they were.   Also information on the old “hangouts” for celebrities such as Restaurants and places to maybe gamble. (many before Wagner’s time).

It also included old Hotels and Houses and the people who were stars back then.

All in all I did enjoy this book.  I always enjoy learning about old Hollywood..not sure why but I do.  Just like I still enjoy the old stars and their black and white movies.   I guess it’s because I’m old … but I won’t stop enjoying it all!