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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
It's amazing what a woman's perspective can bring. Mar 17, 2008
Pretty much today when we think of Hollywood we think of scandal, egos, and wealth. How did it get that way? Was it always that way? Where did it come from? While this book doesn't answer these questions it does give you an insight as to where Hollywood came from, and in an indirect way may provide some hints for the other questions.
Gaelyn Whitley Keith, the great-granddaughter of H.J. Whitley (the Father of Hollywood) has put together a book chronicling the discovery, development and creation of Hollywood through the life of Her great-grandfather as told by his wife (her great-grandmother) "Gigi". The stories are gathered through Gigi's many writings.
H.J.'s story is an extremely interesting one in that he was not only in the right place at the right time but he had the intelligence, foresight, and human understanding to create from a few hills in Southern California into what has become the movie star capitol of the world, Hollywood. In this book the reader is transported through U.S. post-civil war rebuilding, in which Whitley makes his name, through the land rush of Oklahoma and on into creating a beautiful California countryside into the movie capitol of the world.. He develops many cities towns in his lifetime (over 140) but none as grand or troublesome as Hollywood.
This book also offers some great trivia type moments that are fun, such as, where the name Hollywood comes from. The origin of the name is quite humorous, but I'll let you find that, I wouldn't want to ruin the moment.
The evolution of Hollywood and H. J. Whitley is told through his wife Gigi. Gigi, a self admitted spoiled rich brat, falls in love with H.J. and tells his story, their story together and the story of Hollywood. There are many times that I found it hard to understand why they did things as they did but realized it was in the family upbringing and experiences of their different lives mixing together. H.J. in today's terms would be a workaholic, taking no time out for family and realizing what he missed only after it's too late. Gigi being young when she married could not be close to her children and as a result they developed problems of their own. But the family did seem in a dysfunctional way seem to hold on to one another when times called for it.
This book was a roller coaster of emotions and events, and when told through Gigi provides that turn of the century upper class woman's view of how the U.S. was developed.
For more information you can check out the website at [...]
 The Father of Hollywood Feb 24, 2008
The Father of Hollywood, written by Gaelyn Whitley Keith, is an ambitious work that details the life and times of the author's great-grandparents, Hobart Johnstone "H.J." Whitley and Margaret Virginia Ross "Gigi" Whitley. The book is written largely from the first-person perspective of Gigi herself and contains actual excerpts from Gigi's personal diaries.
The Father of Hollywood begins by telling the story of HJ's tragic early years when he experienced the loss of both parents and most of his siblings, his whirlwind romance of Gigi, and their fairy-tale marriage. While they were on their honeymoon in California, H.J. and Gigi found and agreed to purchase the land which was later to become Hollywood. After the honeymoon, Gigi accompanied H.J. back to the Dakotas where they began their lives as man and wife. It was here that Gigi gave birth to their son, Ross. Over the next four years HJ, Gigi, and Ross traveled through the Oklahoma territory as HJ developed towns all along the rail lines for the Rock Island Railroad.
They finally ended up back in California where they opened a successful jewelry business. H.J. started work on his vision of Hollywood. From Sunset Blvd to the Hollywood sign, H.J. patiently sculpted his perfect town on the rolling California hills and managed to draw the fledging movie industry to his town. During this time Gigi gave birth to their daughter, Grace. What follows next was a happy portrait of what life was like for the wealthy and privileged in a rapidly growing Hollywood at the turn of the last century - houses with all the latest luxuries, extravagant parties, trips around the world.
However not everything was as it appeared for the Whitley family. Keith also shows us the other side of the fairy-tale - H.J.'s ceaseless drive and work-ethic that repeatedly drew him away from his wife and children, Gigi's struggle with her resultant loneliness, and their children's struggle to obtain the attention of their frequently absent father. The book follows H.J. and his family up until his death in 1931.
During his lifetime HJ Whitley was credited with developing over 140 towns across the Western United States. Hollywood was his crown jewel.
22 of 24 found the following review helpful:
 H. J. Whitley was the Donald Trump of his day! Jan 21, 2008
Hobart J. Whitley was undoubtedly a visionary; a man ahead of the times. He not only developed 140 cities during his lifetime, he is the man who foresaw a lovely city near Los Angeles that he used his considerable resources to develop and nurture. He named his city Hollywood because ... Well, it's a funny story, so I'll let the author tell it in her own words; one of the few humorous lines in this book.
The author is the great-granddaughter of HJ, and she wrote this book from journals of her great-grandmother, Gigi Whitley, and personal letters from them both.
Undoubtedly, Mr. Whitley's story is fascinating, and we learn a lot about him since the author narrates the story through the eyes of Gigi. The couple married when Gigi was eighteen and he was around forty. One of the strong points of this story is their great, undying love for one another. It was obvious that Gigi knew her husband was destined for great things, so did her best to accommodate him at the risk of her own happiness.
Gigi was an independent spirit and unhappy with women's roles in those days, and HJ felt that "women belonged in the home." Gigi finally won him over to a small degree. He "allowed" her to join women's clubs, so she at last had some freedom for which she had always yearned. Gigi loved HJ so much that she worked with him on their differences; it seemed to work for them.
But another big problem in their marriage was that as soon as one town was developed to his satisfaction, HJ would be off to another. Gigi wanted him to spend more time at home with her and the children, but she tried to understand that building was his destiny, with Hollywood being his crowning jewel. HJ was obsessed by his work and in today's terminology was a "workaholic."
Another strong point is that we learn about Hollywood's growing pains and how HJ almost single-handedly fought for schools and other amenities that enabled the town to grow.
Having mentioned the strong points,I must say that Gigi comes off shallow in many ways; she rambles on too often with long, glowing passages about flowers, parties, and her clothing. This slowed the story down for me and I found myself skipping many of those pages. Also, not enough was said about how the movies were developed and about the stars of those days. Since the lovely cover was a glamorous photo of Actress Jean Harlow, I expected more "spice" to be woven into the plot.
For those reason--and because the author's pacing was off and she could have benefited from a good editor--I can only give this book three stars. That's too bad because author Gaelyn Whitley Keith had access to a wealth of personal information about an amazing man that could have developed into a page-turner, but it only turned out to be mildly entertaining.
However, it was worth the read to learn about HJ Whitley and this "missing piece" of Hollywood history. He was a visionary and deserves the credit!
Reviewed by: Betty Dravis, 2008
1106 Grand Boulevard
6 of 8 found the following review helpful:
A fascinating TRUE story of the settling of the west and of early Hollywood Dec 11, 2007
While this book was an easy read, it wasn't a simple book for me. It is a very personal book and one that tells a family story from a period of American history in our West that is seldom talked about realistically anymore. Our whole image of the West and its settlement comes from movies, TV shows, and novels. The problem with all of these is that they want to tell a sensationalistic story rather than tell the truth. If you are a fan of movies, you also know that nearly all of them put the dialogue and the relationship between men and women largely in terms of their own time. That is, women are almost always more emancipated on the screen than they were in the decades portrayed. Nowadays, for example, it is a cliché to see the 90-pound woman with a sword or bare hands defeat dozens of big armored men with guns. It is silly, but something we seem to want to "believe".
This matters to this book for two seemingly contradictory reasons. First, this book is above all a family memoir. Gaelyn Whitley Keith has put together this story from the journals, letters, and recollections of her family. Principally the words are drawn from her great-grandmother Gigi. It makes sense that the author lets Gigi tell us the story. She tries to let Gigi speak in the voice of her letters and journals and largely succeeds. There are a few modernisms in there, but that is to be expected and accepted. If the voice given Gigi sounds too much like a little girl, well, so be it. That is the way she spoke and the way many well-to-do women who lived largely sheltered lives spoke in the second half of the 19th Century. To capture this authentic voice for us, I think the author should be congratulated, all the more because that voice sounds so foreign to us.
Second, because it is a family story there are going to be some stories in it that may be more of legend than of verifiable fact. The family story of how HJ and Gigi named Hollywood may be fact, it may be one of those wouldn't-it-be-nice family stories. However, it doesn't matter. It is what Gigi believed and many of her descendants believe to this day.
There are many wonderful stories of the settling of the west in the Dakotas, in Oklahoma, and in California. HJ Whitely was one of those bigger than life entrepreneurs who helped build town after town along the railroads. He made himself a fortune and made it possible for thousands upon thousands of people to settle and prosper in brand new settlements in the West. We get to learn of Whitley's friendship with Teddy Roosevelt, a close call with some folks who wanted to settle differences with HJ by violence, and a great deal about Hollywood before the motion picture industry was born. The last quarter of the book spends its time on the way the arrival and explosion of motion pictures changed the lives of the locals and later the nation.
There were several times I thought the author got something wrong. For example, Gigi speaks of a large party in 1906 where they orchestra played Broadway songs from Flordora, A Chinese Honeymoon, and The Wizard of Oz. The Wizard of Oz! That was 1939 and a movie, right? Well, it turns out that the book was made into a Broadway musical that had little to do with Baum's book except in the broadest sweep of the story. It turns out that Baum was also a neighbor of the Whitleys.
Yes, Gigi does come across as being very self-centered and flighty even as she congratulates herself on living for her children and husband. She loved material things, luxuries, and travel. She had an amazing amount of everything. Except that her two children, Ross and Grace, turned out to have very difficult lives emotionally and in their marriages. We shouldn't judge Gigi and HJ too harshly because they didn't focus on their children as we are admonished to do today. This was more than a century ago and children were treated very differently back then.
If you are interested in learning about the life of an amazing man who helped settle the west and made a big contribution to building early Hollywood you should enjoy this book. If you want to hear the voice of a woman who was raised before the suffragettes, but who in her way supported women's independence and freedom, this is a good book for you. I enjoyed it.
Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI
3 of 6 found the following review helpful:
 Really worth a read.... Nov 07, 2007
I often wonder how many people who live in the Whitley Heights area in Hollywood know who the area is named after and how Hobart Johnstone Whitley is to Hollywood what Bill Hewlett and my late mentor David Packard were or are to Silicon Valley. We are talking big business here and not some fairly tale cotton candy land story. Hard work, risk taking.
My favorite chapter was Chapter Sixteen San Fernando Valley since so many people think of the sprawling valley full of the various well known name communities when they think of L A. Imagine what the area looked like in his time compared to 2007. Wow.
Much of the book will appeal to those who will like reading about the well know actors, actresses of early Hollywood. But we are talking big business and the big risk folks like Whitley took, much like those in the 1980's took re. Apple, Microsoft etc. No one was sure movies would even last. Many considered them a passing fad that would be replaced with something new.
On page 297 the author writes 'In his life, he applied the values that sustained his generation. He loved his family, his community, and his nation. HJ never forgot a favor, nor did he fail to note a kindness. His prime directives were to always do what he felt was right and to keep his word. He was willing and able to help others'. This is something every person in business should learn.
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