Reviews for William Fox, Sol M. Wurtzel and the Early Fox Film Corporation: Letters, 1917-1923

The average rating for William Fox, Sol M. Wurtzel and the Early Fox Film Corporation: Letters, 1917-1923 based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-03-13 00:00:00 Andrew Maricle This book covers a lesser known chapter in the career of famed baseball executive Branch Rickey. Rickey spent five years running the Pittsburgh Pirates in the early to mid-1950's. The Pirates were in last place most of that time, so this period in Rickey's career is mostly ignored. The book is well documented. It is supported by newspaper and magazine stories of the time, letters from the Branch Rickey library and interviews with people that knew Rickey. The book helps explain much of what was wrong with the team and why it suffered in the standings. The book explores the team's money troubles, the contract negotiations and the controversies involving star Ralph Kiner. The book covers some of the issues that baseball dealt with at that time, including relations with the Pacific Coast League, the early days of television and foreshadowing of the expansion and westward movement that were only a few years away. The book hints at the development of the team that eventually won the 1960 World Series. Some of the players from that series played for the Pirates or in their minor league system during Rickey's tenure. Some of those players are discussed in Rickey's scouting summaries from that time. But the book does not focus on those players nearly enough. The reader is often confused as to who is actually on the team or part of the Pirates' system at various parts of the story. The book ends when Rickey's contract expires in 1955 and is not renewed. There is no explanation or summary of how many of the 1960 Pirates Rickey had recruited or developed. The author is to be credited for avoiding the temptation to drift too much into a discussion of other matters such as the 1960 World Series, but this book is too divorced from that series. A discussion of how much of that 1960 team Rickey was responsible for would have provided important context. If you know nothing of the 1960 Pirates, you will miss completely any connection between Rickey's Pirates and the 1960 team. In many ways, the book reads like a simple compilation of newspaper articles and letters. The author was not able to place Rickey's tenure in the proper context of Pirates' history. While the author discusses Rickey's role in the recruitment and use of Jackie Robinson, the author seems to believe that Rickey did not do enough to advance race relations in baseball, as he did not integrate the Pirates fast enough or forcefully enough. This portion detracts from the overall story.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-09-26 00:00:00 Young-deok Roh Hershel Gordon lewis, the maestro of 60's and 70's exploitation film. You have to love schlock to love his movies, same with this book.