Hollywood and Levine by Andrew Bergman. New York. 1975. Holt Rinehart Winston. 0030138167. 216 pages. hardcover. Jacket design by Stan Zagorski.
DESCRIPTION - It is February, 1947. In a shabby office building on Omar Avenue in Los Angeles, Congressman Richard M. Nixon (B., Cal.) is addressing Jack LeVine, New York's wisecracking, wily private eye. ‘America is facing the greatest national security crisis in her history. You have your right to disagree and that's what makes America great. What I am saying is that your right to disagree will be endangered if the Soviet program for world domination progresses any further.' ‘Thanks for the tip,' says LeVine. Jack LeVine, in Hollywood to help a troubled screenwriter pal, discovers that the movie capital is rife with fear and mistrust. As Humphrey Bogart tells LeVine during a heartstopping chase up the Pacific Coast Highway: ‘They'll nail anyone who ever scratched his ass during the National Anthem.' LeVine, it seems, has stumbled upon the very dawn of the blacklist, as well as a couple of murders, and a disturbing romance with a beautiful, enigmatic widow. Nixon, Bogart, John Garfield, Lauren Bacall, the FBI, Ava Gardner, Sacco and Vanzetti, and the House Committee on Un-American Activities are but a few of the forces LeVine must face in solving a case-comical, tragical, political - that begins and ends where fantasy and reality collide, a Hollywood movie lot. . Andrew Bergman introduced Jack LeVine in his first NOVEL THE BIG KISS-OFF OF 1944. and wrote the original story and co-authored the screenplay of Blazing Saddles.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY - Andrew Bergman (born February 20, 1945) is an American screenwriter, film director, and novelist. New York magazine in 1985 dubbed him "The Unknown King of Comedy". His best known films include Blazing Saddles, The In-Laws, and The Freshman. Born to a Jewish family, Bergman graduated from Binghamton University and earned a Ph.D. in American history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His dissertation, a study of Depression-era Hollywood films, was published in 1971 by NYU Press under the title We're in the Money: Depression America and Its Films. He wrote James Cagney: The Pictorial Treasury of Film Stars. Bergman broke into the film industry by writing the original screenplay (titled Tex X) that served as the basis for Mel Brooks's classic Blazing Saddles (1974), and was among the co-writers who adapted it into its final state. He wrote a gangster film Rhapsody in Crime that was never made. Warner Bros approached him to write a sequel to Freebie and the Bean with Peter Falk and Alan Arkin. Instead Bergman came up with The In-Laws (1979). The In Laws was a success so Bergman could direct his next script, So Fine (1981) starring Ryan O'Neal. It was a box office disappointment. Bergman wrote Oh, God! You Devil (1984) and Fletch (1985) starring Chevy Chase. The latter was a big hit. Less successful was Big Trouble (1986). He wrote and directed The Freshman (1990) starring Marlon Brando and Matthew Broderick and did a rewrite on Soapdish (1991). He executive produced a number of movies including Chances Are (1989), White Fang (1991), Undercover Blues (1993) and Little Big League (1994). Bergman wrote and directed Honeymoon in Vegas (1992) starring Nicolas Cage, James Caan and Sarah Jessica Parker ; and It Could Happen To You (1994) starring Nicolas Cage and Bridget Fonda. He wrote The Scout although he says the resulting film is different from his version. Bergman wrote and directed Striptease (1996) starring Demi Moore; and directed the Jacqueline Susann biopic Isn't She Great (2000) starring Bette Midler and Nathan Lane. He has written four novels: The Big Kiss-Off of 1944, Hollywood and LeVine, Tender Is LeVine, and Sleepless Nights. He also wrote the Broadway comedy, Social Security, and Working Title. The Andrew Bergman History Writing Prize is awarded by the University of Wisconsin. In 2007, Bergman received the Ian McLellan Hunter Award for Lifetime Achievement in Writing from the Writers Guild of America.
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