What determines who a woman will become? Jane Hall was an orphan at fifteen and a "literary prodigy" according to the press. How did this spirited young girl from an Arizona mining town become a Depression-era debutante, a successful author of magazine fiction, and a screenwriter at Hollywood's most glamorous studio? At Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Jane wrote the story and the script for the "best social comedy of 1939," These Glamour Girls, and established a lively camaraderie with F. Scott Fitzgerald, who worked in the office next door to hers. But Jane's ambition conflicted with the expectations of her family, her friends, and the era in which she lived. Drawing on her mother's diaries and scores of letters, historian Robin Cutler takes us on an unforgettable journey through 1930s Manhattan and Hollywood as Jane wrestles with who she was meant to be. Such Mad Fun is a coming-of-age story set in a decade that has surprising parallels with American life today. For much more: www.robinrcutler.com. Jane Hall's story mirrors those of many female professionals even today, who face immense pressures to maintain a certain look. Hall's brushes with Hollywood and literary celebrities make great reading . . . This portrait of a more literary mass-market America offers much food for reflection on modern culture. A valuable, absorbing contribution to the history of women, golden-age Hollywood, Sand America's magazine culture of the 1930s and '40s. - KIRKUS STARRED REVIEW [Jane Hall's] time in Tinseltown is lovingly reconstructed in Such Mad Fun, a cultural history by producer and public historian Robin Cutler-- who also happens to be Jane's daughter. - VANITY FAIR vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/09/wizard-of-oz-such-mad-fun-excerpt Such Mad Fun is . . a seamless story of twentieth century life narrated with style and verve and empathy. - SCOTT EYMAN , New York Times bestselling author of " John Wayne: The Life and Legend " . . . an always fascinating tribute to a complex woman torn between home and career. Diary entries provide a window into the mixed emotions of a gallant woman trying to live an independent life, but shaped by the expectations of her class and time. Also revealing are the synopses of Jane's short stories and screenplays, which illuminate the kinds of stories women were writing and reading -- and watching -- in that era of glossy surfaces and incipient rebellion. - MOLLY HASKELL , author of "From Reverence to Rap:: The Treatment of Women in the Movies". . . . provides a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the studio system during its heyday . . .Cutler ably brings to life the milieus, both social and professional, Jane Hall inhabited during a fascinating life. - RICHARD A. FINE , author of "West of Eden: Hollywood and the Profession of Authorship." A beautifully written page-turner of Hollywood's Golden Age and the role of the woman wunderkind writer who was the author's mother. In the end, you'll understand better your twentieth-century matriarchs, and most likely yourself. - BETTY BOOKER , long-time reporter Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch and Boomer Magazine Cutler is pitch-perfect in her description of the glittering social worlds of 1930's New York and Hollywood. . . Working from her mother's writings and diaries, and written with the momentum of a page-turning novel, this excellent new book is a must read. - LINDSAY C. GIBSON, PSY.D .author of "Who You Were Meant to Be: A Guide to Finding or Recovering Your Life's Purpose. " Robin Cutler has spent most of her career as a public historian both at the National Endowment for the Humanities and as president of two nonprofit organizations. She was the producer/writer of the award-winning PBS documentary Indian America: A Gift from the Past, and co-producer of ROANOAK, an Emmy-nominated dramatic series for PBS. Her first book, A Soul on Trial, was named a "notable naval book of 2007." She has a PhD in history from Columbia University and taught for eleven years in universities in New York City.  Robin divides her time between New York, Florida, and her daughters' homes in California. In addition to reading, writing, and mentoring students, she loves animals, trees, salted caramel, baseball, the Golden State Warriors, PBS, and Turner Classic Movies.  For reviews, galleries, movie trailers, and her Journeys through History blog check out RobinRCutler.com. Enjoy!