NONFICTION - Jan. 28, 1996

LIGHTS! CAMERA! CELEBRATE!: Hollywood Birthdays, Bashes and Blowouts by David Marsh (Angel City Press: $16.95; 64 pp.). Office parties have a special cachet if you happen to be a film star and you report to work on a movie set. Although this collection of 60 photographs from on-location celebrations (courtesy of the Motion Picture Academy’s marvelous Margaret Herrick Library) is an unlikely subject for a picture book, its unapologetic eccentricity adds to its appeal. Plus, even though the photo ops were largely staged, something appealing and human inevitably comes through. Contrast a passionate Joan Crawford with a can’t-be-bothered Bette Davis, watch in horror as Henry Fonda tries to attack a co-star’s offending finger, enjoy Marlon Brando’s lean and hungry look. And agree with author Marsh when he notes, “A movie star wears the costume, but it is a person who inhabits it.” A person with birthday cake in mind.