

What does Carole Lombard have in common with the cat seen just below? Both appeared in the 1928 Mack Sennett comedy short "Run, Girl, Run." The feline, named Puzzums, was a very popular film performer in the day -- we profiled it in a February 2019 entry, https://carole-and-co.livejournal.com/979753.html -- and now, its story and many others are part of a new book written by my Facebook friend Carla Valderrama. (In fact, it even made the cover.)

Valderrama is skilled at comedy -- her resume includes work with the Upright Citizens Brigade troupe (see a Christmas skit below) -- but like me, she also loves film history.

"This Was Hollywood" examines various elements of movies dating back to Hollywood's infancy as a cinema production center. Examine the table of contents:

Even better, here are intros to several of the articles:






My endorsement isn't enough? How about one from Leonard Maltin?

The book is 240 pages, full of wonderful photographs, and will be released Nov. 17. The hardcover version sells for $25.49, the Kindle version for $14.99. Order or learn more by visiting https://www.amazon.com/This-Was-Hollywood-Forgotten-Stories/dp/0762495863.
And while many of us worry about the future of the industry, Carla is confident Hollywood will live:
