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Merton of the Movies

Harry Leon Wilson
Introduction by David Fine

352 pages (5 x 7.5)
Trade paper, ISBN: 1-890771-96-1, $14.95

A California Legacy book

Ever since its debut in the Saturday Evening Post in 1919, Merton of the Movies has delighted book and film lovers alike and is considered one of the first real Hollywood novels. It follows the story of Merton Gill, a small-town Midwestern man immersed in Hollywood dreams.
Filled with lighthearted film parodies, glimpses into a bygone Hollywood era, and a likable main character, it is easy to understand why Merton of the Movies inspired an often revived Broadway play, several films (including one starring Red Skelton), and a brand new radio play. It was included in Lawrence Clark Powell’s famous list of thirty California classics.

Reviews:

“Merton is the work of a craftsman in loving control of his material and its form. Behind the false fronts, the fun and games, and the hyperbole, there is an indictment of Hollywood and the fans who create it that has never been bettered.”
—Lawrence Clark Powell, in California Classics: The Creative Literature of the Golden State

About the Author:

Harry Leon Wilson was a prolific playwright and screenwriter. Wilson’s best-known work, Ruggles of Red Gap, was made and remade as a movie four times from 1918 to 1950, the last version starring Bob Hope and Lucille Ball.