Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Hollywood by Way of Philadelphia -- 2. Writing Movies at Home and at War -- 3. Swell Guys, Brutes, and the Blacklist -- 4. In the Director's Chair at MGM -- 5. Writing and Rocking around the Clock -- 6. Taking Literature from Page to Screen -- 7. Independence and That Old-Time Religion -- 8. Two Hits and One Major Miss -- 9. A Journey into Capote Country -- 10. On Marriage, Larceny, and America's Beauty -- 11. New Directions and Two Wrong Turns -- Conclusion -- Filmography -- Notes on Sources -- Bibliography -- Index.