Fade Out - The Calamitous Final Days of MGM

Bart, Peter

ISBN 10: 0671710605 / ISBN 13: 9780671710606

Published by Simon and Schuster, London, 1990

About this Item

A Fine unmarked copy with VG+ dustjacket which is price clipped. First UK edition. It took Kirk Kerkorian nearly 20 years to wheel and deal to the point wher all that remained of MGM was the faint meow of Leo the Lion. But the descent of that once regal movie powerhouse was occasioned by no small amount of glamour, humour and greed. In the book we are treated to the big picture of a world-class studio over the past 20 years: a time of mergers and junk bond offerings, corporate musical chairs (with Kerkorian the only constant), the selling off of the film library (twice) and the company back lot. Even the historic sets and wardrobes for many of the MGM classics went on the block. Meanwhile MGM produced a succssion of movies: some of them successful, some sleazy, too many of them flops. This is not only a bizarre drama of colourful characters propelled across an Alice-in-Wonderland landscape littered with dashed hopes and bitter betrayals, but also a powerful story of corporate demolition in the 1980's. 2 Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

Seller Inventory # 008056

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Fade Out - The Calamitous Final Days of MGM
• Publisher: Simon and Schuster, London
• Publication Date: 1990
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0671710605
• ISBN 13: 9780671710606
• Binding: Hard Cover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Theatre / Acting / Cinema / Plays

About this title

Synopsis

A behind-the-scenes account of the decline and fall of a once great studio, tracing MGMs corporate convulsions from 20 years ago, when Kirk Kerkorian bought control to the present, the financial disasters of "Yentl", "Mrs Soffel" and "2010" and the final "take over" by Pathe. In 1983 MGM\UA was in the midst of a comeback. Under the new management of Frank Yablans the company had secured assurances of financial backing from CEO-financier Kirk Kerkorian and a series of dazzling new movies was in development. Top stars like Jack Nicholson, Barbara Streisand and Mel Gibson were on the programme, a sequel to the cult classic "2001" was planned and "Wargames" was in release. What nobody anticipated was that Kerkorian, ever the smart Las Vegas game-player, had evolved his own scheme to harness Hollywood's myth making machinery to his own personal ends. The end result was that Kerkorian emerged a billionaire and his companies emerged a shambles. The films anticipated to be immense successes - "Yentl", "Mrs Soffel" and "2010" - turned out to be financial disasters of immense proportions. The Nicholson movie never even got made and the success of "Wargames" couldn't compensate for the extent of the disaster.