An Evening with Motion Picture Arts Gallery Founder Ira M. Resnick

***Please note: This event will take place at the Books & Books in Coral Gables at 265 Aragon Ave. Tickets are FREE and books will be available for purchase at the event. Want your copy early or can't make it in-person?

A celebration of the fearless, fabulous actresses of Hollywood’s Golden Age—illustrated with stunning photographs from a world-class collection.

Lauren Bacall, Louise Brooks, Claudette Colbert, Bette Davis, Marlene Dietrich, Kay Francis, Lillian Gish, Gloria Grahame, Katharine Hepburn, Veronica Lake, Carole Lombard, Myrna Loy, Ida Lupino, Barbara Stanwyck, Anna May Wong—and more!
To make it in Hollywood, it takes more than beauty, brains, and talent—it takes moxie. This was especially true for women in the heyday of the studio system, a period from the 1920s to the 1950s when a small number of companies dominated the production and distribution of films in America. It was an industry controlled by male studio executives, in which directors and producers called the shots and contract players had little say in which roles they would play. Still, a trailblazing group of actresses forged successful careers out of sheer conviction, perseverance, and professional know-how. These spirited women captivated audiences, shaped the film industry, and remain enduring icons of classic cinema.
This gorgeous volume profiles some fifteen leading ladies who had moxie to spare. It is illustrated with more than two hundred film stills, publicity photos, and lobby cards from the collection of Ira M. Resnick—many published here for the first time. Together these captivating images reveal how the stars of the Golden Age used pose and performance, fashion and glamour to shape their images both onscreen and off. Moxie will dazzle and seduce all devotees of classic Hollywood.

Ira M. Resnick started his impressive collection of movie posters and lobby cards while studying at New York University Film School, after which he embarked on a decade-long career as a professional photographer. He is the founder of the Motion Picture Arts Gallery, the first gallery devoted exclusively to the art of the movies, and the author of Starstruck: Vintage Movie Posters from Classic Hollywood and The Seventies: A Photographic Journey (both Abbeville). He is a trustee of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and former chairman of the board. He is also a trustee of City Center in New York City and the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Resnick resides in New York with his wife, Paula, and two children.

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