Vincent Sherman

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As a young Jewish boy growing up in Vienna, Georgia, Abe Orovitz could never have predicted the twists and turns his life would take. Many years later, as retired film director with more than thirty movies to his credit, Vincent Sherman is no less surprised when he looks back on that life.

In Studio Affairs he retraces his life with candor and enthusiasm. Sherman discusses the details of his three-year relationship with Joan Crawford, his inadvertent connection with the death of Bette Davis’s second husband, and his poignant romantic involvement with Rita Hayworth. Providing counterpoint to these liaisons is the love and devotion of Sherman’s wife, Hedda, who accepted her husband’s occasional infidelities as part and parcel of his career.

Studio Affairs provides an inside look at the motion picture industry during the heyday of the studio system by one who worked his way from nearly starving actor and playwright to respected director. In effect, the book serves as a primer on the art of film directing. Sherman quickly developed a reputation of being a consummate rewrite artist, able to take whatever assignment given him and turn it into a first rate motion picture. His skill at reworked scripts led him to bigger and bigger projects, even as the salary set by his long-term contract with Warner Brothers remained below that of most of his colleagues. Though not originally signed to direct, when asked to do so he drew on his experience putting together productions at summer camps across the “borscht circuit” in upstate New York.

Like so many talented individuals in Hollywood during the 1950s, Sherman was targeted by the House Un-American Activities Committee, owing in part to his active support of the WPA Theatre project in New York two decades previous. Time spent on the lesser known gray list kept him out of work for several years. Eventually, he again enjoyed some critical success, but after the demise of the studio system life was never quite the same. The quintessential “studio director” ended his career directing for television. Vincent Sherman’s path from Georgia to southern California is compelling, and his legendary talent for good storytelling makes the book impossible to put down.

"A very entertaining and exciting book, bull of fascinating details, not only about the Hollywood movie art and business, but about the New York theatre as well. Deeply interesting material about the 'red scare,' all with an absence of bitterness. A real picture of how studio directors worked—the freedom of creation and the collaboration."—Bertrand Tavernier, New York Film Critics Award-winning director

"Offers intelligent discourses on writing and directing, taking the reader through the filmmaking process from 1939 through 1966. . . . With its revealing stories of the stars and its enlightening personal perspective on directing, Studio Affairs is recommended for both movie fans and movie makers."—Curio

"Many of the stories Sherman tells are quite amusing and give insight into the lives of revered silver-screen idols such as Bette Davis and Joan Crawford."—Journal of the West

"Those seeking a portrait of Hollywood’s seedy underbelly won’t find it here. What Sherman has written is far more unusual: a frank, detailed, eminently clear record of the exhausting, exhilarating business of making films."—Kirkus Reviews

"One of the great craftsmen from the old studio system, Vincent Sherman writes straight from the heart. . . . Many colorful insights into Bette Davis and Joan Crawford and the other stars he directed."—Oliver Stone

"A workmanlike job from an admirably hard worker."—Publishers Weekly

Publication Date

1996

Publisher

The University Press of Kentucky

Place of Publication

Lexington, KY

ISBN

9780813119755

eISBN

9780813157399

Keywords

Vincent Sherman, Warner Brothers, Film history, Movie history, House Un-American Activities Committee

Disciplines

American Film Studies

Studio Affairs: My Life as a Film Director
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