Biographer Struck Gold on Goldwyn

At the start of the 9 years he spent researching and writing about the life of legendary Hollywood mogul Samuel Goldwyn, biographer A. Scott Berg was given access to an old storage vault in the heart of Hollywood.

For a biographer, Berg told his audience at a book and author luncheon in Costa Mesa on Wednesday, opening the door to 60 years’ worth of Goldwyn’s papers and memorabilia was like an archeologist stumbling upon King Tut’s tomb.

“As I walked into this tomb, this musty fur vault, I saw nothing but wonderful things,” he said.

Heaped upon dozens of steel file cabinets were reels and reels of old films and hundreds of thousands of photographs from Goldywn’s films and personal albums, which Berg mined for his book, “Goldwyn: A Biography.”

Opening file drawers, Berg discovered a telegram from writer Lillian Hellman during the blacklist days, thanking Goldwyn for his “very strong position in standing up to the rest of the people in town.” There were gin rummy IOUs from Harpo Marx and a letter from Ronald Coleman shortly after the advent of talking pictures, in which the golden-throated actor pleaded: “Please, Mr. Goldwyn, don’t put me into any talking pictures--not with my voice.”

There was even a menu book kept by Mrs. Goldwyn, in which, after each Hollywood party she hosted, she logged what Gary Cooper and other stars ate and drank.

“This,” said Berg, “is a biographer’s dream, to find this kind of day-to-day stuff, the real minutiae that made their lives different from our lives.”

Speaking to a sold-out crowd of 740 gathered in the ballroom of the Red Lion Inn for The Times Orange County Edition’s second annual Book and Author Luncheon, Berg, who spent 2 years sifting through the Goldwyn vault, proved to be as gifted a storyteller in person as he is on the printed page. (He was joined on the speakers’ dais by novelist Amy Tan, whose first novel, “The Joy Luck Club,” is a national best seller, and Maureen Reagan, who discussed her memoir, “First Father, First Daughter.”)

In describing the near decade it took him to write his Goldwyn biography, Berg said that early on he remembered an important bit of advice he received at Princeton from Hemingway biographer Carlos Baker: “People die, papers don’t.”

Berg, who won a National Book Award for his biography of editor Maxwell Perkins a decade ago, said that upon seeing the wealth of Goldwyn documents available in the vault, “I remembered these papers are not going to go anywhere. If I really want to do this book I should start getting to people who knew Mr. Goldwyn himself.”

He acted none too soon.

One of his first calls was made to Goldwyn star Merle Oberon, who told him to call her after the Christmas holidays. She died on Thanksgiving day.

Not to be ghoulish, Berg said, but he made a list of all the people he wanted to interview, and he put them in the order of age--and health.

“I’m very sad to say about 60 of the 250 people I interviewed for my book are now dead,” he said. “But I’m very happy to say, there they are: I talked to them. I got their stories. They are in my book.

“I’ve been most reminded of it this week with the passing of Lucille Ball, who became a great friend of this book primarily because her first job in Hollywood was as a Goldwyn Girl. And how lucky I was to be able to sit down with this Goldwyn Girl and have her tell me what it was like getting on the train in 1932 (and coming to Hollywood). . . . Great stories for me to take down.”

Berg said he spent about 2 years conducting interviews for the book.

In so doing, he learned much about Sam Goldwyn, including the fact that when Goldwyn, a former glove maker, “jumped into the movie business,” the first person he went to talk to was Thomas Edison.

And the last phone call Sam Goldwyn received, according to his papers, was from Warren Beatty.

“I thought, that is the history of the movies right there,” said Berg. “My God! It’s all in one place; it’s in one life. And I can tell that story.”

And, yes, Berg said, he discovered that Samuel Goldwyn really did say “Goldwynisms,” those “famous fracturings of the English language.”

“He did say, I’m happy to report, ‘Include me out,’ ” said Berg, adding that he also discovered that half of the so-called Goldwynisms were actually the work of Hollywood wags.

“But sure enough,” Berg said, “he did say to Danny Kaye, ‘Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist should have his head examined.’ ”

BOOK SIGNINGS: Children’s book author and illustrator Bill Peet will sign “Bill Peet: An Autobiography” from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Children’s Bookshoppe, 1831 Westcliff Drive, Newport Beach. . . . Alicia Appleman-Jurman will sign copies of her Holocaust memoir, “Alicia: My Story,” from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday at Brentano’s in South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa. . . . Gordon McAlpine will read and sign copies of his new novel, “Joy In Mudville,” and David Peck will sign “Novels of Initiation: A Guidebook for Teaching Literature to Adolescents” from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday at Upchurch-Brown Booksellers, 384 Forest Ave., Laguna Beach.

ROMANCE WRITERS: Lou Kaku will discuss manuscript preparation at the pre-meeting workshop of the Orange County chapter of Romance Writers of America beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Fullerton Public Library, 353 W. Commonwealth Ave.

CELEBRITY AUTOGRAPHS: More than 70 celebrities--ranging from Burt Reynolds and Oprah Winfrey to Hulk Hogan and Mister Rogers--have donated autographed copies of their favorite books to the “For the Love of Reading Celebrity Book Auction” to be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Huntington Beach Central Library, 7111 Talbert Ave., Huntington Beach. An auction preview will begin at 1 p.m. Cost is $20 per person. For reservations, call Literacy Volunteers of America--Hunttington Valley, (714) 841-3773.

JEWISH AUTHORS: The works of novelist Philip Roth will be discussed in the first of a series of discussions of Jewish authors at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Jewish Community Center of South Orange County, 298 Broadway, Laguna Beach. Book reviewer Marilyn K. Wallace will lead discussions. Cost is $2.50 for members, $5 for non-members. For reservations, call (714) 497-2070.

HILLERMAN TALK: Award-winning author Tony Hillerman, known for his best-selling mysteries involving Navajo Tribal Police, will discuss writing and Indian culture at 8 p.m. May 12 at South Coast Community Church, 5120 Bonita Canyon Drive, Irvine. Hillerman’s lecture, which will be followed by a book signing, is sponsored by UC Irvine’s Office of Arts and Lectures. General admission tickets are available for $7 at the Bren Center Box office and Ticketron, or by calling (714) 856-5000.

Preceding his talk, Hillerman will appear at a “whodunit” dinner sponsored by the Museum of Natural History and Science in Newport Beach from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the museum. Tickets for the Southwestern-style dinner, which will include a reserved seat at the lecture, are $45 general and $40 for museum members. Proceeds will benefit educational programs at the museum. For tickets, call (714) 640-7120.