Dreaming in the rain how Vancouver became Hollywood North by Northwest

237 Pages·2008·11.599 MB·English

by  Spaner, David

DREAMING IN THE RAIN
DREAMING
How Vancouver Became
IN THE RAIN
Hollywood North by Northwest
David Spaner
ARSENAL
pulp press
vancouver
DREAMING IN THE RAIN
Copyright © 2003 by David Spaner.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form by any means–
graphic, electronic or mechanical – without the prior written permission of the publisher, except
by a reviewer, who may use brief excerpts in a review, or in the case of photocopying in Canada,
a license from Access Copyright.
ARSENAL PULP PRESS
200-341 Water Street
Vancouver, B.C.
Canada v6b 1B8
arsenalpulp.com
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the
British Columbia Arts Council for its publishing program, and the Government of Canada
through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program for its publishing activities.
Design by Solo Corps
Cover photo courtesy Luke Carroll
Back cover photos courtesy Lynne Stopkewich, Mina Shum, Bruce Sweeney,
John Pozer, Jason Weir, Luke Carroll
Title page photo courtesy Luke Carroll
Printed and bound in Canada
Efforts have been made to locate copyright holders of source material wherever possible.
The publisher welcomes hearing from any copyright holders of material used in this book
who have not been contacted.
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF CANADA
CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION DATA:
Spaner, David
Dreaming in the rain : how Vancouver became Hollywood North by Northwest /
David Spaner.
Includes index.
isbn 1-55152-129-6
1.Motion picture industry – British Columbia –
Vancouver Metropolitan Area--History. I. Title.
pn1993.5.c32v35 2003 384’.8’0971133 c2003-910738-8
For Anne Feldman Spaner,
who’s always said the
movies are something to love.

contents
Foreword 11
1 Baby Pictures 15
2 Last Days 27
3 The People Versus Larry Kent 35
4 The Sixties 47
5 The Decline of West Coast Civilization 63
6 The Studio System 73
7 The West Coast Wave 91
8 The Actors 111
9 A Tale of Two Film Cities 129
10 The Sweeney Group 143
11 The Other Hollywood North 165
12 Molly and Lynne 175
13 Clash of the Hollywoods 197
14 Dreaming in the Rain 217
Index 225

“Cloud so swift
the rain falling in,
Going to see a movie
called Gunga Din”
– Bob Dylan