first edition Hardcover
(c.1975) · New York
by Shavelson, Melville
New York: Arbor House. Near Fine in Near Fine dj. (c.1975). First Edition. Hardcover. [nice clean copy, with just the teensiest bit of shelfwear; the jacket is similarly nice, with only some minimal wear along the top edge, light surface-scratching to the rear panel]. A Hollywood novel, of sorts (set in both Rome and California), about the love affair between a beautiful Italian film star and a "somewhat balding" middle-aged Jewish American screenwriter. This was the first of just two novels by Shavelson, himself a noted screenwriter/director who served three non-consecutive terms as president of the Writers Guild of America-west. Among his films as a director were two starring Sophia Loren -- HOUSEBOAT (1958) and IT STARTED IN NAPLES (1960) -- and it seems conceivable that the novel's titular character may have been somewhat modeled on or inspired by Loren. . (Inventory #: 26842)