FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

by Hollis Alpert ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 1963

Hollis Alpert should be given his due credit. It isn't easy -- when writing about movie making and movie people -- to avoid the cliches we all of us know so well, specially since verisimilitude can, in this case, be the worst banality of all. Nonetheless, For Immediate Release is a basically unsatisfying piece of fiction writing. Mike Roche, the ex-writer turned publicist, is a barely realized, quite faceless leading character. Adele Gray, the actress whom Mike once loved and for whom he now sacrifices the opportunity to have his own screen play produced, is equally distant. The flesh peddler of the piece, producer Abner Golt, stands quite alone in the third imension, so he has nobody to talk to most of the time. Since Mr. Alpert knows the inside of the business, there are many knowledgeable tidbits concerning the amazing processes of publicity, the haplessness of success and failure on celluloid, and the cross exaggerations vis-a-vis the mental health of aging actresses which become self-fulfilling prophecies. This is not enough, however, to sustain a novel.

Pub Date: June 21, 1963

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1963

Categories: FICTION