John Powers

You find that in The Golden Hour, a story of family and power in Hollywood, a new book by Matthew Spector, a child of the movies who happens to be a really terrific writer. Spanning more than half a century and speckled with the caviar of famous names, this isn't a tell-all, pity party, or diatribe.

Mixing things up with the brio of an expert bartender, Spector serves an invigorating cocktail of family saga, cultural criticism, fictionalized biography, Hollywood history, and lament for a vanishing world. The main action begins in the mid-1960s when his parents meet. His father, Fred Spector, is a low-level agent, eager to make it, but devoted to his clients.

Mixing things up with the brio of an expert bartender, Spector serves an invigorating cocktail of family saga, cultural criticism, fictionalized biography, Hollywood history, and lament for a vanishing world. The main action begins in the mid-1960s when his parents meet. His father, Fred Spector, is a low-level agent, eager to make it, but devoted to his clients.

Mixing things up with the brio of an expert bartender, Spector serves an invigorating cocktail of family saga, cultural criticism, fictionalized biography, Hollywood history, and lament for a vanishing world. The main action begins in the mid-1960s when his parents meet. His father, Fred Spector, is a low-level agent, eager to make it, but devoted to his clients.

His mother, Catherine McGaffey, is one of those beautiful L.A. women who might have been a successful actress or model. But she's short on drive. What she has is high literary taste. When she and Fred meet, a book by James Joyce spills from her purse. Obviously mismatched, the two could be a metaphor for Hollywood's collision between commerce and art.

His mother, Catherine McGaffey, is one of those beautiful L.A. women who might have been a successful actress or model. But she's short on drive. What she has is high literary taste. When she and Fred meet, a book by James Joyce spills from her purse. Obviously mismatched, the two could be a metaphor for Hollywood's collision between commerce and art.

His mother, Catherine McGaffey, is one of those beautiful L.A. women who might have been a successful actress or model. But she's short on drive. What she has is high literary taste. When she and Fred meet, a book by James Joyce spills from her purse. Obviously mismatched, the two could be a metaphor for Hollywood's collision between commerce and art.

But like so many others, they get carried away by the intoxications of the movie biz and a 60s culture that's cracking the industry wide open. Early in his career, Hollywood was so square that Fred can't find work for even Jack Nicholson. Too weird, casting directors thought.

But like so many others, they get carried away by the intoxications of the movie biz and a 60s culture that's cracking the industry wide open. Early in his career, Hollywood was so square that Fred can't find work for even Jack Nicholson. Too weird, casting directors thought.

But like so many others, they get carried away by the intoxications of the movie biz and a 60s culture that's cracking the industry wide open. Early in his career, Hollywood was so square that Fred can't find work for even Jack Nicholson. Too weird, casting directors thought.

But after the groundbreaking success of Bonnie and Clyde, the industry suddenly wants the off-center actors that Fred champions. His career takes off. Matthew is born. Catherine thinks of doing screenplays. The golden future shimmers before them. And yet, it's an insidious thing, this industry of theirs, Spector writes. Its illusions are too quick to become one's own.

But after the groundbreaking success of Bonnie and Clyde, the industry suddenly wants the off-center actors that Fred champions. His career takes off. Matthew is born. Catherine thinks of doing screenplays. The golden future shimmers before them. And yet, it's an insidious thing, this industry of theirs, Spector writes. Its illusions are too quick to become one's own.

But after the groundbreaking success of Bonnie and Clyde, the industry suddenly wants the off-center actors that Fred champions. His career takes off. Matthew is born. Catherine thinks of doing screenplays. The golden future shimmers before them. And yet, it's an insidious thing, this industry of theirs, Spector writes. Its illusions are too quick to become one's own.

Fred's last girlfriend was Stella Stevens, who'd co-starred with Elvis. Once you've watched your partner kiss the king on screen and then come home to kiss you, it changes things, redraws the boundaries of your reality. It deforms you and renders you vulnerable to boredom, makes you impatient with a life that is merely human-sized. As Fred rides the crest of 70s movies, the family flounders.

Fred's last girlfriend was Stella Stevens, who'd co-starred with Elvis. Once you've watched your partner kiss the king on screen and then come home to kiss you, it changes things, redraws the boundaries of your reality. It deforms you and renders you vulnerable to boredom, makes you impatient with a life that is merely human-sized. As Fred rides the crest of 70s movies, the family flounders.

Fred's last girlfriend was Stella Stevens, who'd co-starred with Elvis. Once you've watched your partner kiss the king on screen and then come home to kiss you, it changes things, redraws the boundaries of your reality. It deforms you and renders you vulnerable to boredom, makes you impatient with a life that is merely human-sized. As Fred rides the crest of 70s movies, the family flounders.

Catherine is a lost soul, struggling with her identity and sliding under the bottle. Fred, predictably enough, finds a new woman and moves out. As for Matthew, he has long periods of estrangement from a father whose shallowness he can never quite grasp, and from the alcoholic mother whose sensibility he shares, but finds himself forced to look after.

Catherine is a lost soul, struggling with her identity and sliding under the bottle. Fred, predictably enough, finds a new woman and moves out. As for Matthew, he has long periods of estrangement from a father whose shallowness he can never quite grasp, and from the alcoholic mother whose sensibility he shares, but finds himself forced to look after.

Catherine is a lost soul, struggling with her identity and sliding under the bottle. Fred, predictably enough, finds a new woman and moves out. As for Matthew, he has long periods of estrangement from a father whose shallowness he can never quite grasp, and from the alcoholic mother whose sensibility he shares, but finds himself forced to look after.

Eventually he heads east to college, where he takes a writing class from James Baldwin, the book's implicit hero, of whom he writes wonderfully, and he finds work in a corporate-owned movie business that's a far cry from the one that launched his dad.