Puss Reboots: Blog: March 2008: Rocky Mountain Moving Picture Association

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Book Reviews:

Bleach Volume 9 by Tite Kubo.
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Marakami.
The Boarder by Alexander Jablokov.
Brighty of the Grand Canyon by Marguerite Henry.
Count to Ten Piggy Wiggy by Christyan and Diane Fox.
Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Man by Tim Allen.
Exit Strategy by K. D. Wentworth
Forgive Me by Amanda Eyre Ward.
The Four Ugly Cats in Apartment 3D by Marilyn Sachs.
Flush by Carl Hiaasen.
Frogs by Martin Schwabacher.
He Rents, She Rents by Richard Roeper and Laura Viera.
Hotel Cat by Esther Averill
Immortal by Traci L. Slatton.
The Ka of Gifford Hillary by Dennis Wheatley.
Last Chance Saloon by Marian Keyes.
Leadership Brand by Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood.
Lorna Doone (Abridged) by R. D. Blackmore
Lost Pilgrim by Gene Wolf.
The Magnificent Mummy Maker by Elvira Woodruff.
Manhattan is Missing by E. W. Hildick.
The Middle Moffat by Eleanor Estes.
Mommy Hugs by Anne Gutman and Georg Hallensleben.
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry.
The Overseer by Albert E. Cowdrey.
Park by Pierre Pratt
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle.
Q & A by Vikas Swarup
The Rocky Mountain Moving Picture Association by Loren D. Estleman
Rumple What? by Nancy Springer
Sea Turtles by Emilie U. Lepthien.
The Second Descent by Richard Paul Russo.
Stanley in Space by Jeff Brown and illustrated by Scott Nash.
Take a Stand, Rosa Parks! by Peter and Connie Roop.
Tall by Jez Alborough.
Trucks and Diggers by DK Publishing.
Women & Self-Esteem by Linda Tschirhart Sanford and Mary Ellen Donovan

Miscellaneous:
Kirby Went to the Beach by Sean Sammis

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Rocky Mountain Moving Picture Association: 03/18/08

The early years of filmmaking, and the move to California is a favorite topic of mine. The days before the film industry in America was known as "Hollywood" was a free for all of mavericks going up against huge monopolies. Tiny fly by night companies popped up as fast as Edison's Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC) could shut them down. The Rocky Mountain Moving Picture Association is a fictional one of these rogue "indies".

The hero of this odd ball historical novel is Dmitri Andreivitch Pulski an ice sales man from northern California who leaves the family business to become a scenario writer under the name Tom Boston. As Tom learns the ropes we learn what it was like to run one of these silent film studios. We also get a glimpse of what Los Angeles was like.

From my own research and experience, I can vouch for Loren D. Estleman's descriptions of things. Take for instance the bungalow that Tom and Yuri rent, these bungalows still exist in Los Angeles county. In fact, Ian and I lived in one from 1997-9. They really are as tiny and noisy as described.

The Rocky Mountain Moving Picture Association isn't a typical novel. Although time passes and the characters do evolve, the chapters are more like the two reel shorts that the studio is making. There are flash forwards to the Depression where Hollywood as we know it had taken firm root in the film industry, thoroughly crushing the old MPPC system.