Just a brief post today, dear NoRMMAs, to flag up the recent publication of Lasting Screen Stars: Images that Fade and Personas that Endure, edited by Lucy Bolton and Julie Lobalzo Wright, for Palgrave Macmillan.
More information can be found here:
http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9781137407320
The book promises to examine “the issue of stardom and longevity and investigates the many reasons for the persistence or disappearance of different star personas. Through a selection of chapters that look at issues such as inappropriate ageing, national identity and physical characteristics, this book will be the first volume to consider in depth and breadth the factors that affect the longevity of film stardom.”
The book boasts a number of really excellent chapters on a variety of stars, from the studio era (such as Rudolph Valentino, Norma Shearer, Robert Taylor) to the modern day (such as Angelina Jolie, Melanie Griffith, Ice Cube) – but it is particularly of interest to NoRMMA because of the use made in many chapters (such as the Shearer, Taylor and Valentino chapters, but also those on more recent stars) of fan magazines, movie magazines and similar ephemera. It looks to be a really interesting addition to the field – and the NoRMMA blogkeeper promises she does not just say that because she contributed the Norma Shearer chapter…