What Makes Sammy Run?

This book is a real experience. Even though it was written decades ago, it is timeless because its characters are timeless. Everybody has known a "Sammy" in his lifetime. A real beautifully written classic.

I highly recommend "What Makes Sammy Run" for anyone who is an aspiring actor or filmmaker. This novel is an interesting look at the early entertainment business. Reading about Sammy Glick as he pursues success in show business is a real eye-opener. And things have not changed all that much these days. The movers and the shakers in the biz still behave in a similar manner. This is an interesting book to learn about what really makes the Entertainment Industry tick. Even though this novel takes place in the 1930s, it is still a great learning tool for today. And it is also a great look into history. This book is a great Hollywood classic.

THE BEST BOOK OF ALL TIME ! Powerful, Gripping, a tale of the Psychotic Workaholic against the backdrop of Hollywood in the 40's can easily relate to The Street of the 80's and Silicon Valley of the 90's. If you read only one book for the rest of your life....This Is It !

A lot of the buzz on this book seems to be because of the backstage Hollywood setting, but Sammy Glick would have been a predator in any environment he was loosened upon. Schulbergs portrayal of the New York newspaper trade as well as the early tinsletown where Sammy prowls is insightful and witty, but the great force of the book is always What Makes Sammy Run? After reading this you will begin to recognize the Sammy Glicks in the world around you, and the question may haunt you sixty years after it was first asked.

And sixty years later, Hollywood functions exactly the same! Awful, suspiciously familiar movies unleashed from the offices of the Mediocre! Set in the 1930's, Schulberg's book helps us imagine the original Shangri-la of Material Dreams -- wonderful, cosmopolitan L.A. and Southern California before the cataclysm.