LOS ANGELES, Nov. 9, 2010 — For decades, Hollywood producer J. Herbert Klein wanted to capture his colorful life on paper – and last year, at age 88, he decided the time had arrived. "Whenever I'd talk about things that had happened to me, listeners were skeptical," he recalled recently. "So I figured if my story came out in print, people might start to believe me."
As executive producer of International Film Arts, a production company based in Southern California, he put out the word he was looking for a co-writer – and selected veteran author Melanie Villines.
In August 2009, the duo began to work on Klein's memoir ROAD TO HOLLYWOOD: An Only-in-America Story of Presidents, Tycoons, Movie Stars, and Aliens. The book, completed in the spring of 2010, tells the story of Klein's experiences as a Hollywood producer, builder, impresario, and inventor – and features Ronald Reagan, Howard Hughes, and Jayne Mansfield in starring roles. ROAD TO HOLLYWOOD also details Klein's business partnership with leading-man-turned-inventor Jon Hall – who claimed to have invented a camera that could photograph things invisible to the naked eye.
Klein was so pleased with the way his memoir turned out that he decided to establish a publishing arm of International Film Arts. "There's some controversial material in ROAD TO HOLLYWOOD," Klein explains. "And I didn't want anything to get watered down – that's why I decided the book would be the flagship for our new company, International FA Publishing."
For his next book, Klein again tapped Villines as co-writer. The subject was a big one: Ronald W. Reagan, Klein's commanding officer in the U.S. Air Force during WWII. Klein and Villines focused on Reagan's Hollywood years and traced how his experiences as an actor set the stage for his political career.
The resulting book – RONALD REAGAN'S ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE: How Hollywood Prepared America's 40th President for the World Stage – will be published in hardcover during early February 2011 to coincide with the centennial of Reagan's birth.
While researching RONALD REAGAN'S ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE, the authors conducted interviews with virtually all available actors who costarred with Ronald Reagan – Rhonda Fleming, Coleen Gray, Clu Gulager, Russell Johnson, and Dorothy Malone, as well as the late Patricia Neal.
The book includes excerpts from Reagan's love letters to wife Nancy, as well as articles Reagan wrote about his Hollywood experiences for the Des Moines Register in 1937. RONALD REAGAN'S ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE also features over 100 photographs from Reagan's life and movies – including many rarely seen images, along with several from the Reagan Family collection.
RONALD REAGAN'S ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE will appear in a standard hardcover format – and NOT as a coffee table book. "We really want the book to be reader-friendly," Klein explains, "something people can read on an airplane or stow in a backpack. We also want to keep the costs down so the book can find a wide audience among current and new Reagan admirers."
Klein would like to dispel the thought that his book is in any way politically motivated. "I have no agenda nor any axes to grind," he reveals. "I just want to tell an engaging, entertaining, inspiring story about a man I respect and admire."
Next on the roster for Klein and Villines is ROAD TO THE FIRST MOTION PICTURE UNIT: An Anecdotal History of the U.S. Air Force Unit that Helped Win WWII – with Movies. For the project, Klein and Villines plan to interview about ten veterans from the unit – those who remain from the original staff of several thousand. The authors will intersperse these men's stories with the history of the First Motion Picture Unit and include an overview of the unit's accomplishments. Doug Cunningham, who recently completed a scholarly work about the unit, is also onboard as a contributor to the book. The authors plan to complete ROAD TO THE FIRST MOTION PICTURE UNIT in the spring of 2011.
Finally, Klein and Villines will develop a biography called INVISIBLE PARTNERS: The Never-Before-Told Story of Howard Hughes, Jon Hall, and the Perpetual Motion Machine, which they plan to complete before Klein's 90th birthday in August 2011.
"While many people my age look backwards," Klein says, "I'm looking to the future. I've been this way my whole life. I've always wanted to know what's around the next bend in the road."
The first of Klein's "Road" books, ROAD TO HOLLYWOOD, is now available on Amazon.com. Link:
http://www.amazon.com/Road-Hollywood-Only-America-Presidents/dp/1453777369/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1282930662&sr=8-4
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Colette Bouchet, public relations, International Film Arts
Email: Email
Phone: 310-894-3773
Website: http://www.internationalfilmarts.com
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