About this Event
The Drama Book Shop presents, in association with Jay Michaels Global Communications,
Frank Capra with Sam Wasson - A Talkback, signing and live podcast recording.
About the Book
From the author of the beloved Fifth Avenue, Five A.M. and The Big Goodbye comes the definitive account of one of the quintessential American artists, Frank Capra, visionary behind the iconic and timeless It’s a Wonderful Life.
Frank Capra, the director of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, It Happened One Night, and, supremely, It’s a Wonderful Life remains one of the great chroniclers of the American heart, how we love, lead, dream, hope, and fight for our individuality. But Frank Capra was a more complex artist than is usually reckoned and a more complicated man than anyone knows. As his most famous collaborator Jimmy Stewart put it, “the best Frank Capra story is the story of his own life. It’s got more highs and lows than a roller coaster. It’s heartwarming. It’s kind of hard to believe, really. And it could only happen in America.”
Like many great American stories, this story begins in Ellis Island where a penniless family of Sicilian immigrants arrives in 1903. Frank Capra’s life goes on to take in the explosive growth of Southern California and the film industry, the depths of the Depression, the enormity of the Second World War, and America’s uneasy post-war as an empire riven by a loss of unity. It is a life as shot through with both “moonbeams” and melancholy as that of his greatest creation, George Bailey. Capra is both the exemplar of American ideals, as in his truly vital work for Roosevelt’s war effort, and of American failings, as in his informing during the McCarthy period.
This extraordinary book, making full use for the first time of Capra’s own archives, including deeply personal writings from his later years, has brought this seminal artist into urgent life. At the same time, in its epic richness, it offers a dazzling portrait of both a lost America and an enduring one.
About the Author
Sam Wasson is the author of eight books, including The New York Times bestsellers Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and the Dawn of the Modern American Woman; The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood; and The Path To Paradise: A Francis Ford Coppola Story. He is also the coauthor of Hollywood: The Oral History. I hope you will consider coverage of this extraordinary book.
About the event
This Eventbrite ticket is your reservation for the event.
Please note that the purchase of Frank Capra is required for entrance.
Upon arrival, our team will direct you to the register to obtain your copy and complete your admission.
The store will begin welcoming guests at 7:15 pm.
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Event venue & nearby stays
The Drama Book Shop, 266 West 39th Street, New York, United States
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