 First edition | |
| Author | Josef von Sternberg |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Autobiography |
| Publisher | Macmillan Publishers (1965), Mercury House (1988) |
Publication date | 1965, 1988 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback and paperback) |
| Pages | 348 (hdb.), 356 (pbk.) |
| ISBN | 0916515370 (1988 pbk.) |
| OCLC | 891405552 (1965 first edition, hardback) |
Fun in a Chinese Laundry is an autobiography by Austrian-American filmmaker Josef von Sternberg first published in 1965 by Macmillan Publishers. The book was reissued in 1988 by Mercury House with a foreword by Gary Cooper.[1]
Von Sternberg provides details from his childhood in Vienna and youth in America, as well every stage of his film career. The memoir provides numerous character sketches and critiques of film personnel, especially the actors he worked with, among them Marlene Dietrich.[2][3]
The eponymous title of the autobiography is a reference to a 1894 Kinetoscope film by American inventor and film pioneer Thomas Edison[4][5]
- ^ Sternberg, 1988, opposite frontpiece
- ^ Chaillet, 2020: “For many cinephiles, their names are forever linked.”
- ^ McCann 2021: “...it is the topic of actors and acting which garners the heftiest share of the word count.”
- ^ Sternberg, 1988 p. 9: Sternberg does not provide a date for the film, but implies it was made when he was a child, circa 1895.
- ^ Chaillet, 2020: Chaillet reports the film was made, or was released, in 1901.