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Acknowledgments
- Rutgers University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, thanks are owed to Murray Pomerance and Adrienne McLean, the editors of the Star Decades series, who approached me back in 2007 with the invitation to edit this volume. Since then, they have provided invaluable help and guidance, as individual pieces were conceived and reconceived (I still think a chapter on Bugs Bunny would have been ideal for this volume, but there you go!), as potential contributors came and went, and as deadlines approached and sailed past. I appreciate their patience, advice and—in the case of McLean—specific written contribution to this tome. I also express my debt to all the authors who have lent their expertise and enthusiasm to this endeavor. I also want to state my gratitude and admiration to a number of people at Southern Methodist University. The Division of Cinema-Television has been of enormous support to me throughout the process. I am privileged to be teaching among so many nationally esteemed colleagues, many of whom are represented in this tome. Whether specifically contributing or not, the SMU community has never ceased to offer inordinate encouragement , advice, and friendship. Much of the work herein is also indebted to two invaluable research resources: the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and the Constance McCormack Collection of star scrapbooks housed at the Cinema-Television Library at the University of Southern California. Both contain a veritable treasure trove of clippings from trade papers, movie fan magazines, and studio press releases, primary sources that were vital for such a project as this series. I am certain everyone involved herein extends a thank you to the staff at both these institutions. I have always thought the 1940s to be an undervalued decade in American film history, and so was very pleased when I was invited to be involved in this project. I wanted to try to evoke the uniqueness of the moment as personified by the stars who are specifically identified with the era. A number of them have of course received their own chapters in this collection. Many others did not—Danny Kaye, Jennifer Jones, Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Lena Horne, Carmen Miranda, Sabu, Van Johnson, Margaret O’Brien, Esther Williams, Jeanne Crain, Dana Andrews. I hope the ambience of the period that they helped shape still emerges. So, to quote a hit song from the period, praise the Lord and pass the ammunition . . . ix ★★★★★★★★★★ ✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩ What Dreams Were Made Of ...