Audiobook8 hours
The American Way: A True Story of Nazi Escape, Superman, and Marilyn Monroe
Written by Helene Stapinski and Bonnie Siegler
Narrated by Bonnie Siegler
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
()
About this audiobook
In this “necessary and beautifully told story of struggle, compassion and serendipity” (Forbes), the publisher of DC Comics comes to the rescue of a family trying to flee Nazi Berlin, their lives linking up with a dazzling cast of 20th-century icons, all eagerly pursuing the American Dream.
Family lore had it that Bonnie Siegler’s grandfather crossed paths in Midtown Manhattan late one night in 1954 with Marilyn Monroe, her white dress flying up around her as she filmed a scene for The Seven Year Itch. An amateur filmmaker, Jules Schulback had his home movie camera with him, capturing what would become the only surviving footage of that legendary night. Bonnie wasn’t sure she quite believed her grandfather’s story…until, cleaning out his apartment, she found the film reel. The discovery would prompt her to investigate all of her grandfather’s seemingly tall tales—and lead her in pursuit of a remarkable piece of forgotten history that reads like fiction but is all true.
A “fast-moving American epic with a cast of refugees and starlets, publishers and bootleggers, comic-book creators and sports legends” (The Washington Post), The American Way follows two very different men—Jules Schulback and his unlikely benefactor, DC Comics publisher (and sometimes pornographer) Harry Donenfeld—on an exuberant true-life adventure linking glamorous old Hollywood, the birth of the comic book, and one family’s experiences during the Holocaust. It’s an “amazing” story told “with grace, verve, and compassion” (The Jerusalem Post) of two strivers living through an extraordinary moment in American history, their lives intersecting with a glittering array of stars in a “colorful” and “punchy” (The New York Times Book Review) tale of hope and reinvention, of daring escapes and fake identities, of big dreams and the magic of movies, and what it means to be a real-life Superman.
Family lore had it that Bonnie Siegler’s grandfather crossed paths in Midtown Manhattan late one night in 1954 with Marilyn Monroe, her white dress flying up around her as she filmed a scene for The Seven Year Itch. An amateur filmmaker, Jules Schulback had his home movie camera with him, capturing what would become the only surviving footage of that legendary night. Bonnie wasn’t sure she quite believed her grandfather’s story…until, cleaning out his apartment, she found the film reel. The discovery would prompt her to investigate all of her grandfather’s seemingly tall tales—and lead her in pursuit of a remarkable piece of forgotten history that reads like fiction but is all true.
A “fast-moving American epic with a cast of refugees and starlets, publishers and bootleggers, comic-book creators and sports legends” (The Washington Post), The American Way follows two very different men—Jules Schulback and his unlikely benefactor, DC Comics publisher (and sometimes pornographer) Harry Donenfeld—on an exuberant true-life adventure linking glamorous old Hollywood, the birth of the comic book, and one family’s experiences during the Holocaust. It’s an “amazing” story told “with grace, verve, and compassion” (The Jerusalem Post) of two strivers living through an extraordinary moment in American history, their lives intersecting with a glittering array of stars in a “colorful” and “punchy” (The New York Times Book Review) tale of hope and reinvention, of daring escapes and fake identities, of big dreams and the magic of movies, and what it means to be a real-life Superman.
Author
Helene Stapinski
Helene Stapinski is the nationally bestselling author of three memoirs: Five-Finger Discount, Murder in Matera, and Baby Plays Around. She writes regularly for The New York Times; her work has also appeared in The Washington Post, New York magazine, Travel & Leisure, and dozens of other publications. She teaches at New York University and lives in Brooklyn.
Related to The American Way
Related audiobooks
Barnum: An American Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We'll Always Have Casablanca: The Life, Legend, and Afterlife of Hollywood's Most Beloved Movie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5City of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940's Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Indecent Exposure: A True Story of Hollywood and Wall Street Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Outlaws: The Desperate Final Days of the Dalton Gang Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Water to the Angels: William Mulholland, His Monumental Aqueduct, and the Rise of Los Angeles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pandora's Box: How Guts, Guile, and Greed Upended TV Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Muppets in Moscow: The Unexpected Crazy True Story of Making Sesame Street in Russia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Surely You Can't Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures: A True Tale of Obsession, Murder, and the Movies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The White House Plumbers: The Seven Weeks That Led to Watergate and Doomed Nixon's Presidency Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions: My Fortysomething Years in Hollywood Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sleeper Agent: The Atomic Spy in America Who Got Away Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Ball, a Dog, and a Monkey: 1957---The Space Race Begins Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The World That Wasn't: Henry Wallace and the Fate of the American Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dean: The Best Seat in the House Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe King's Shadow: Obsession, Betrayal, and the Deadly Quest for the Lost City of Alexandria Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Charlie Chaplin vs. America: When Art, Sex, and Politics Collided Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hollywood: The Oral History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mussolini's Daughter: The Most Dangerous Woman in Europe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Elizabeth Taylor: An Icon Remembered, Vol. 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhat This Comedian Said Will Shock You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Disney Revolt: The Great Labor War of Animation's Golden Age Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Watchdog: How the Truman Committee Battled Corruption and Helped Win World War Two Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhat's Left Unsaid: My Life at the Center of Power, Politics & Crisis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEverywhere An Oink Oink: An Embittered, Dyspeptic, and Accurate Report of Forty Years In Hollywood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Under This Roof: The White House and the Presidency--21 Presidents, 21 Rooms, 21 Inside Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Entertainers and the Rich & Famous For You
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Recovery: Freedom from Our Addictions Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I'm Glad My Mom Died Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pretty Boys Are Poisonous: Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Paris: The Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Down the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Down the Drain Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Pageboy: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inside Out: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Yes Please Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scrappy Little Nobody Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love, Pamela: A Memoir of Prose, Poetry, and Truth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Black Unicorn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Being Henry: The Fonz . . . and Beyond Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Woman in Me Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Counting the Cost Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Is this Anything? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If You Would Have Told Me: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Making It So: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Whiskey in a Teacup Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Open Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tell Me Everything: A Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Happy People Are Annoying Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hello, Molly!: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We're Going to Need More Wine: Stories That Are Funny, Complicated, and True Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Not That Fancy: Simple Lessons on Living, Loving, Eating, and Dusting Off Your Boots Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Here We Go Again: My Life In Television Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The American Way
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
0 ratings0 reviews