Aljean Meltsir Harmetz (born December 30, 1929)[citation needed] is an American journalist and film historian.
Born Aljean Meltsir Levin, Harmetz grew up in Southern California, near the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) studios.
[1][2] As a teenager, Harmetz held a summer job at MGM working in the fan mail department.
It was an earn-as-you-learn equivalent of the Black Mask (pop mystery) magazines of the '30s for Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett.
These include: Mickey Rooney, Lena Horne, Shirley Temple, Billy Wilder, Jack Lemmon, Doris Day, Dina Merrill, and Paul Newman, and Tab Hunter.
She interviewed over fifty surviving cast and crew members from the film, including Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, producer Mervyn LeRoy, writer Noel Langley, songwriter Yip Harburg, and Wicked Witch actress Margaret Hamilton, who became a personal friend.
The documentary included filmed interviews with Bolger, Haley, LeRoy, and Margaret Hamilton, and was shown three times nationally on PBS.
[11] The Sunday New York Daily News called the book "a sizzling summertime thriller" and added, "Harmetz spins her tale with taut, wiry prose, and her pages are filled with insight and intrigue.
"[12] Publishers Weekly called the book "engrossing," a "tightly controlled, intelligently told, acutely creepy debut thriller."