Bound And Gagged in Hollywood: Edward L. Hartmann, Screenwriter And Producer

As a contract screenwriter in the Hollywood of the 1930s, Hartmann did what he was told, and he was told to do plenty. He wrote features and then started producing his own scripts at Universal, working with no less than John Carradine, Hedy Lamarr, Basil Rathbone and Jane Russell. When it finally became clear to the studio bosses that Hartmann had a comedic gift, he wrote comedies for Bob Hope, Lucille Ball and Abbot and Costello, and produced the long-running My Three Sons and Family Affair for television. McCaffrey (English emeritus, U. of North Dakota) also has a gift, and that is for interviewing Hartmann and getting the details on the shows, the politics, and especially on the machinations of the blacklist of the McCarthy era, in which Hartmann had the honor (and the horror) of serving as president of the Writers Guild. Includes period photographs. Annotation c2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Donald W. McCaffrey is Professor Emeritus, English Department, at the University of North Dakota. He is the author of Four Great Comedians: Chaplin, Lloyd, Keaton, and Langdon, The Golden Age of Sound Comedy, Assault on Society: Satirical Literature to Film (Scarecrow, 1992) and The Road to Comedy: The Films of Bob Hope.