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Actors are our spectral friends. They are figures who loom in our lives as large as or maybe even larger than our actual acquaintances, but with an important difference: they don’t know who we are.

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Eclectic culture-vulture Sante (author of the deliciously seedy Lowlife) teams with Pierson in this compilation of essays about Hollywood actors from the great years of the 20th century. There are some real gems here: John Updike on “Suzie Creamcheese” (Doris Day), Berkeley’s own Griel Marcus on the eternally squalid J.T. Walsh, Siri Hustvedt on Franklin Pangborn, and–my favorite–Sante on “Warner Brothers Fat Men” (e.g. Eugene Palette, Sidney Greenstreet et. al.). An agreeable and engaging dossier for devoted movie buffs and definitely an argument in favor of a William Demarest Lifetime Achievement Award at the Oscars: given naturally, to our underappreciated character actors.

Check the BPL catalog for this title: OK You Mugs