Author Loretta Redd will discuss her book “Front Row Rebel” Oct. 26 at Chaucer’s Books.
SANTA BARBARA — Chaucer’s Books, 3321 State St., will host local author Loretta Redd for a book talk and in-store signing of her book “Front Row Rebel” at 6 p.m. Oct. 26.
The story is set against the background of the Jim Crow South during the Depression and two world wars. The protagonist, Walter Wilby, takes on not only taboos of class and race, but the pernicious cartel system of the “Big Five” movie studios. Fairness doesn’t come without a fight, and Mr. Wilby is willing to take on anyone, from Hollywood to Washington D.C. to fulfill his dreams.
Promoting yet complicating his goals are a host of colorful characters including his sassy, unpredictable wife, Alma; their bold and determined daughter, Bailey, and his exuberant business partner, Mike Kinsey.
Along the way, they collide with the likes of Walt Disney, President Franklin D,. Roosevelt and Clark Gable. From the silent “flickers” of the early 1900s to the wide-screen cinema of the 1950s, from “Birth of a Nation” to “Gone with the Wind,” this is a front-row view of how cinema and society shaped each other and grew into the billion-dollar industry we know today.
For more information, go to www,chaucersbooks.com.
— Katherine Zehnder
