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THE DREAM MERCHANTS by Harold Robbins Kirkus Star

THE DREAM MERCHANTS

By

Pub Date: Oct. 17th, 1949
ISBN: 145204547X
Publisher: Knopf

A second novel (Never Love A Stranger-1948) which softens up as it shifts from organized city gambling to the motion picture industry, and does a high, wide, and human job on that bouncing baby of a business. Here, in the story of Johnny Edge who had the ideas, the initiative, the enthusiasm, and Peter Kessler- who backed him, is the history of a now you see it, now you don't enterprise- from the first promise of the nickelodeons in Rochester, to the making of shorts in New York City, the combine they bucked when they turned to six reelers, the forced exodus to California, the marriage of production and exhibition as they took over the theatres, the displacement with the talkies, and eventually the muscling in of Wall Street. And there's the story of Johnny himself, his love for Doris- Peter's daughter- which he closed off when he lost a leg in the war; his marriage to Dulcie-who could be found in anybody's bed; his attempts to cover for Mark- Peter's son- which almost broke the friendship; and finally Peter's death which returned him to Doris... A long book, which never loses its hold on the rollercoaster momentum of this business, the energy, the excitement, the lure of the fast buck, the sometimes smart- sometimes sucker practises, and some of the good guys that went along with it.