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Billy Wilder on Assignment: Dispatches from Weimar Berlin and Interwar Vienna
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About Billy Wilder On Assignment: Dispatches From Weimar
Product Description "A revelation."―Marc Weingarten, Washington PostAcclaimed film director Billy Wilder’s early writings―brilliantly translated into English for the first timeBefore Billy Wilder became the screenwriter and director of iconic films like Sunset Boulevard and Some Like It Hot, he worked as a freelance reporter, first in Vienna and then in Weimar Berlin. Billy Wilder on Assignment brings together more than fifty articles, translated into English for the first time, that Wilder (then known as "Billie") published in magazines and newspapers between September 1925 and November 1930. From a humorous account of Wilder's stint as a hired dancing companion in a posh Berlin hotel and his dispatches from the international film scene, to his astute profiles of writers, performers, and political figures, the collection offers fresh insights into the creative mind of one of Hollywood’s most revered writer-directors.Wilder’s early writings―a heady mix of cultural essays, interviews, and reviews―contain the same sparkling wit and intelligence as his later Hollywood screenplays, while also casting light into the dark corners of Vienna and Berlin between the wars. Wilder covered everything: big-city sensations, jazz performances, film and theater openings, dance, photography, and all manner of mass entertainment. And he wrote about the most colorful figures of the day, including Charlie Chaplin, Cornelius Vanderbilt, the Prince of Wales, actor Adolphe Menjou, director Erich von Stroheim, and the Tiller Girls dance troupe. Film historian Noah Isenberg's introduction and commentary place Wilder’s pieces―brilliantly translated by Shelley Frisch―in historical and biographical context, and rare photos capture Wilder and his circle during these formative years.Filled with rich reportage and personal musings, Billy Wilder on Assignment showcases the burgeoning voice of a young journalist who would go on to become a great auteur. Review "Long before he became the celebrated filmmaker of 'Sunset Boulevard,' 'Some Like It Hot' and 'The Apartment,' a young Billy Wilder worked briefly as a dancer for hire in the ballroom of a fashionable Berlin hotel. As he described the endeavor...for a German newspaper in 1927, 'This is no easy way to earn your daily bread, nor is it the kind that sentimental, softhearted types can stomach. But others can live from it.' Wilder’s observations on his experience―from one of his many delightfully acerbic pieces of journalism anthologized in Billy Wilder on Assignment . . . get to the heart of our enduring obsessions with show business and the performing arts." ---Dave Itzkoff, New York Times "[An] adept translation. . . . Foreshadowing abounds in [ Billy Wilder on Assignment] . . . but the book’s main appeal is independent of what came after. The brightest moments here let you watch a little more of the human comedy through Billy Wilder’s eyes." ---Jeremy McCarter, Wall Street Journal "[ Billy Wilder on Assignment is] a revelation, a trove of snappy pieces that give the reader tantalizing glimpses of the mature film satirist who would win six Oscars for his work." ---Marc Weingarten, Washington Post "Readers who come to Billy Wilder on Assignment to find the seeds of the films for which he is famous―nearly all of them, one assumes―will not be disappointed.―Ryan Ruby, Bookforum" " Billy Wilder on Assignment is full of glorious turns of phrase, entertaining narratives, and quirky characters. Shelley Frisch [is a] . . . superb translator. . . . Thumbing through Wilder’s essays from the 1920s will make you feel as if you are enjoying yourself at a German coffeehouse, catching up on popular culture, and planning your next weekend adventure in the Weimar Republic. Isenberg and Frisch have done a great service for film historians and fans of classic Hollywood." ---Chris Yogerst, Los Angeles Review of Books " Billy Wilder on Assignment [is] a delightful and illuminating collection of Wilder’s tyro reportin
