The Dream Factory

2002, Mira Books.  384 pages.  $22.95

Janet Leigh

 

Leigh’s final work, published just two years before her death, is another fictional exploration of Hollywood.  This time her protagonist is a woman, young Eve Handel (formerly Handelstein), a gifted actress whose family patriarch forbids her to act on stage.  Instead, she finds her way behind the cameras, mentoring inexperienced performers to fame and fortune.  Eve becomes a force in Hollywood, but uses her power almost exclusively for good, even after she is betrayed by a philandering husband.

The central theme is the conflict between work and family, which confronts not just Eve but her immediate family, all of her friends and the majority of the people she coaches.  Finding a balance is difficult yet attainable for some, impossible for others.  Supporting this theme is the notion that people cannot change.  Unlike the characters in her earlier book, House of Destiny, it seems to me that the majority of these characters do not change, even if to do so would greatly benefit them.

I was surprised when, on page 106, an important House of Destiny character is alluded to, and then pleased when later in the story several people from Leigh’s earlier book find their way into this one.  The recognition I felt was akin to watching a movie where a surprise guest star whom I did not expect suddenly makes an appearance.  It helped the novel move past some weaknesses.

One of those weaknesses is its tendency to downplay Hollywood’s bitter realities.  Her characters do experience tragedy, but few hard times.  Virtually every one of Eve’s proteges is exceedingly gifted and becomes successful; there are no failures, or even near misses.  Leigh’s prose is occasionally too dull or too exclamatory, or both at once, as evidenced by this description of public relations executive Harvey Hill.  “Harvey was forty-three, ten years older than Ruth, with salt-and-pepper hair and glasses.  He stood five feet eleven inches and weighed 170 pounds.  And he was very bright!”

Leigh also has a tendency to strain credulity with coincidence.  One important plot point is telegraphed early in the story, then revealed in overly grand style at the climax.  It wasn’t a surprise at all.  Finally, I came to believe that this book surpasses her earlier one in that it almost is a sunny, rose-colored view of glamourous Tinseltown.  It just doesn’t seem convincingly realistic.  It’s an idealized, romanticized version of Hollywood as it probably never has been.  To be sure, I enjoyed the book, just as I enjoyed House of Destiny.  But The Dream Factory is just that, a manufactured alternate reality where fiction trumps fact, where fantasy is more palatable than harsh reality.  Rating:  Fair.

This review was originally written for and published in Filmbobbery, Volume 10, Issue 2 in 2008.