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Merton of the Movies

Harry Leon Wilson

Book Overview: 

Merton of the Movies is a comedy that centers around Merton Gill, an aspiring dramatic artist from Simsbury, Illinois who makes his way to Hollywood to become a serious actor. How could Merton fail in attaining his dreams after finishing a correspondence course from the General Film Production Company of Stebbinsville, Arkansas, certifying him to be a competent screen actor?

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Book Excerpt: 
. . .n air of fine leisure, and their manner of careless but elegant dress would be keenly noted by Merton. Then there were directors. These were often less scrupulously attired and seemed always to be solving knotty problems. They passed hurriedly on, brows drawn in perplexity. They were very busy persons. Those on the bench regarded them with deep respect and stiffened to attention as they passed, but they were never observed by these great ones.

The waiting ones were of all ages; mostly women, with but a sprinkling of men. Many of the women were young or youngish, and of rare beauty, so Merton Gill thought. Others were elderly or old, and a few would be accompanied by children, often so young that they must be held on laps. They, too, waited with round eyes and in perfect decorum for a chance to act. Sometimes the little window would be pushed open and a woman beckoned from the bench. Some of them greeted the casting director as an old friend and were still gay . . . Read More

Community Reviews

The first Hollywood novel...? Pretty darn funny and a lens into the backlots and "painted shadows"of the early studios.

a california classic! p sure it was the first comedy to be written about hollywood. so good! he has to sleep on the studio lot between jobs and like ?? the dream kinda

Astoundingly funny and in no way hindered by its age. Wilson’s deadpan writing is Very Much My Shit™ and clearly the inspiration for many a humorist to succeed him. It’s also the reason, in my opinion, why every past and future attempt at a screen adaptation can’t help but flop. So much is lost.

"True, in those nether regions of the mind so lately discovered and now being so expertly probed by Science, in the mind's dark basement, so to say, a certain unlovely fronted dragon of reality would issue from the gloom where it seemed to have been lurking and force itself upon his notice" (146-147

Deliriously funny. I can see why Gertrude Stein lost her shit over this book.

I found this is be a sometimes amusing farce, other times a realistic depiction of the hard life of a Hollywood extra, and at still other times a touching light dramatic story. It's all told in compelling fashion, and one gets the feeling that the author had first hand knowledge of his subject.

Simsbury, Illinois might just be a wide spot in the road, but twice a week, the Bijou Palace shows movies made in far-off Hollywood. Perhaps the most fanatical attendee of these showings is young Merton Gill, assistant shopkeeper at Gashwiler’s Emporium (general store.) Merton has studied these film

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