It's Alive!

by Julian David Stone

Overview

The only thing harder than raising the dead is making a movie about raising the dead.

In the summer of 1931, life was good for Junior Laemmle. Though only twenty-three years old, he was the head of all movie production for Universal Pictures, and under his reign, the studio flourished. So much so, he was about to be bestowed with the greatest honor a young executive can receive in Hollywood: a promotion to vice president of the entire company. What’s more, Carl Laemmle, his father and founder of the studio, was returning to California for the first time in years to personally present the honor to his son.

Or so Junior thought.

When his father arrives, Junior discovers that instead of being grateful for transforming and catapulting the out-of-date studio into the future, his father is obsessed with Junior’s next production: Frankenstein. Like the year before, Carl is fervently against making another grisly and gothic film, despite Dracula becoming a huge hit—a project which Junior fought for and personally oversaw through production. Also not helping Junior’s cause, though the film is just days away from beginning production, the final choice between Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff to play the role of the Monster, has yet to be made.

It’s Alive! is a thrilling and vibrant portrait of 1930s Hollywood centered around the chaotic and exciting days just before the filming of the beloved cult-classic film, Frankenstein. Woven with hopeful passion, emotional vulnerability, staunch determination, and creative fulfillment, readers will be swept along with breathless cinematic pace through events that will not only change the lives of everyone involved, but Hollywood itself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626349315
Publisher:	Greenleaf Book Group Press
Publication date:	05/17/2022
Pages:	232
Sales rank:	197,497
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Julian David Stone grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, eventually relocating to Los Angeles to study filmmaking and then enter the entertainment business. His previous work include screenplays for Disney, Paramount, Sony, and MGM; the full-length play, The Elvis Test; and several short-form documentaries on Frank Sinatra for Warner Bros. He is also the writer and director of the hit cult comedy feature film, Follow the Bitch, which has played to packed houses all around the country and received numerous awards. Recently he began writing books, with his award-winning debut novel: The Strange Birth, Short life, andSudden Death of Justice Girl, which is about the world of the 1950s live television. It is currently being turned into a TV series. Julian is also the author of the best-selling coffee table book, No Cameras Allowed: My Career As An Outlaw Rock & Roll Photographer, detailing in words and photos his wild adventures photographing rock and roll concerts in the 1980s.

Editorial Reviews

10/03/2022

Stone’s polished nod to old Hollywood whisks readers back in time for a thrilling look at the filmmaking world of 1931, in the unsettled aftermath of the sound revolution. With only three days until production starts on the classic horror film Frankenstein, chaos stirs and threatens to shut down the project. Fiction and truth swirl together as Stone (The Strange Birth, Short Life, and Sudden Death of Justice Girl) digs into the backstage drama between Junior Laemmle, head of movie production at Universal Studios, and his father, Carl Laemmle, Sr., the studio's founder. As tension between these moguls grows, casting for Frankenstein’s monster hits a snag, leaving Junior scrambling to find a leading man while assuaging his father’s growing doubts about the film’s viability.

Stone’s crisp writing highlights the compelling turmoil between Junior and his father. Junior desperately wants to shift Universal Pictures into the future with compelling new films, while Carl seems rooted in the past and struggles to grasp his son’s vision. While this dynamic plays out in briskly paced scenes powered by crack dialogue, Stone also explores the lives and ambitions of a pair of creature-feature greats: Bela Lugosi’s ego as an established actor is skillfully contrasted with Boris Karloff’s struggles as an up-and-coming star. The fascinating glimpse into these actors’ lives highlights a delightful narrative for film buffs.

As in his previous novel, Stone demonstrates a clear dedication to and knowledge of cinema and Los Angeles itself, and his love and expertise for the milieu—and for the minds of actors and producers and studio heads—radiates from the pages. Stars like Mae Clarke and Clara Bow make cameos, while movies like The Jazz Singer and Murders in the Rue Morgue get special shoutouts, the details piecing together to form a dynamic tapestry of the movie business in an era of tumult. Classic Hollywood film buffs and historical fiction fans will enjoy this fascinating tale revolving around the passions and persistence it took to bring life to one of the movies’ greatest monsters.

Takeaway: A compelling novel of old Hollywood, Universal Pictures, and the 1931 Frankenstein film.

Great for fans of: Stewart O'Nan’s West of Sunset, Adriana Trigiani’s All the Stars in the Heavens.

Production grades Cover: B+ Design and typography: A Illustrations: N/A Editing: A Marketing copy: A

BookLife Reviews