"The Entertainer: Movies, Magic and My Father's Twentieth Century" (Riverhead), by Margaret Talbot

Part biography and part Hollywood history with a side of Americana, "The Entertainer" might be the most engaging book you're likely to read about a movie star you've never heard of.

Actor Lyle Talbot was indeed a star, in the 1930s, yet it's difficult to pick out a significant film from the two dozen or so he appeared in before he turned mainly to television and the regional stage, performing well into his 80s. Surely, though, he has stories to tell after working with Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Spencer Tracy, Shirley Temple, Barbara Stanwyck and other screen greats.