Review by Booklist Review
Frequent Oscar-and Emmy-nominee Wolper wins Golden Globe awards even more frequently. He was once best known for documentaries: The Making of the President 1960 and 1964, Trial at Nuremberg, and The Thin Blue Line; and credit him for Roots and Roots: The Next Generation as well as the theatrical films The Bridge at Remagen and L.A. Confidential. So what is he "really like" ? Well, he felt pretty darn good, apparently, about producing Liberty Weekend, the extravaganza documenting the 1986 Statue of Liberty rededication. Offered that assignment, he "did the usual Wolper thing," turning it into a four-day overkill. It and his other outsize productions are candidly and enthusiastically discussed in this collaboration with veteran ghoster Fisher, whose peppy prose touts Wolper as a doer and a go-getter. The fact that he had "never heard of Etta James" before adding her to his four-hour blowout for the '84 Olympics is amusing, however, and his unforthcomingness about L.A. Confidential rather disappointing. A worthy addition to Hollywood collections, nonetheless. Mike Tribby
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Wolper is one of Hollywood's most successful film and television producers, with over half a century of career highlights that include winning multiple Emmys and an Oscar, and producing cult favorite Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and the opening ceremonies of the 1984 Olympics. He's boastful about his accomplishments, but then, if you had brought the nation to a standstill for an entire week with Roots, would you keep quiet about it? After a quick recounting of his early career, Wolper gets right into the good stuff, beginning with a 1958 television program about the space race that jump-started his career as an independent television documentary producer; later, he introduced Jacques Cousteau to American audiences and created the first Biography series in 1965. He branched out into corporate films, produced work for both Democratic and Republican presidential candidates, and expanded his TV work to include historical recreations, first for documentaries and later for TV movies. Although he recalls most of the behind-the-scenes complications with good humor, Wolper is clearly still frustrated by television critics' questions about fictional distortions in his earliest docudramas and vigorously defends his commitment to accuracy, even going out of his way to mention that Oliver Stone's JFK "outraged" him. As the shows start piling up, Wolper's chronology occasionally blurs, but the overwhelming array of celebrity anecdotes will easily distract readers from his occasional missteps. Photos. Agent, Andy Stuart. (Mar. 11) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
One of the earliest and most respected of Hollywood's independent television producers, Wolper (b. 1928) is forever linked to the miniseries Roots, based on Alex Haley's book. The epic not only established the miniseries as a prestigious medium and garnered big ratings but also proved a landmark in the history of American civil rights. With a refreshing lack of pretension and justifiable pride, Wolper relates how he and television matured together. Always a "hands-on" producer, he scorns today's Hollywood scene in which "getting a producing credit is only slightly more difficult than getting a library card." He recalls an early trial-and-error approach to producing documentaries, as well as the challenges, setbacks, and outright embarrassments (he admits to selling out when he made a thing called Do Blondes Have More Fun?). Anecdotes reveal famous people he has met along the way, including Jacques Cousteau and First Lady Betty Ford, and there are occasional moments of real-life drama when his producing duties put him in the center of world events, like the 1972 Munich Olympic Games massacre. Throughout, Wolper maintains a conversational and candid tone. This portrait of a vanishing breed in Hollywood is recommended for large public and academic film and TV history collections.-Stephen Rees, Levittown Regional Lib., PA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Prolific film, TV, and entertainment producer Wolper tours his life, helped by veteran coauthor Fisher (Hard Evidence, 1995, etc.). In the late 1940s, Wolper quit college to join buddy Jimmy Harris in forming Flamingo Films, a distribution company that sold product to all the new television stations opening around the country and clamoring for time fillers. There were no networks yet, and Hollywood, fearing TV's takeover, would sell the stations no movies. However, Wolper and Harris did manage to buy the TV rights to an independently made film, The Adventures of Martin Eden starring Glen Ford and Evelyn Keyes, which they sold to countless stations; it became the first feature film ever broadcast on TV. Lack of product soon forced Flamingo to create original programming. In 1951, the company signed a $30-million, 31-year deal with National Comics for the TV rights to Superman, filmed 104 episodes at $20,000 each with George Reeves as the wrinkly-costumed Man of Steel, got Kellogg's cereals to sponsor and sell the show everywhere outside the majors. Superman is still running. Older readers will have a nostalgia feast as Flamingo buys the rights from Universal for the Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, and Don Winslow serials. Wolper's interests grew, and he moved into producing, buying some rare Russian space footage for his first documentary, The Race for Space. Yet he always remained the visionary entrepreneur who has the ideas and assembles the talents but is himself not an artist. Among his colossal successes: Roots and The Thorn Birds on TV, staging the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the films Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and L.A. Confidential, and the creation of the template for what would became A&E's Biography series. Even so, declares Wolper, art collecting brings him his greatest rewards. Fascinating for entertainment industry buffs, and nicely revealing of an entrepreneur with a great heart as well as a golden touch. Agent: Andrew Stuart/Literary Group International
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Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
