Peter Bart was working at the New York Times when he left journalism to become the right-hand man of Robert Evans at Paramount Studios. At the time (mid-60s) Paramount was nothing special, but while Bart was there, it produced some of the best-remembered movies of the era: Love Story, The Godfather, Chinatown, and Rosemary's Baby, to name only four. Bart's memoir tells about his time at the studio, and it delivers everything the title promises. It's a breezy anecdotal account, and it's full of insider stories about Hollywood. You may have heard some of them before, but it's always fun to hear them again when they're recounted in such an engaging way. My only problem with the book is that it's not linear. Bart jumps around from year to year and back again with little indication of when he's writing about. I got lost a time or two. Maybe he did, too. At any rate, it's a quick entertaining trip through a time when movies mattered. Check it out.
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