I think I first came across this book at the Dawn Treader Book Shop, way in the back where they shelve their Hollywood Film History books, among other popular sections like Science Fiction and Mysteries, like a pharmacy putting their most popular drugs in the back of the store so you have to walk past all their other products to get to what you came there for in the first place. And this is that kind of book - it’s like a drug, addictive, pleasurable, you can’t put it down. I have heard that it suffers from a surfeit of factual inaccuracies, and I can confirm that a cursory googling of almost any chapter of this book will turn up errors. For example, Peg Entwistle didn’t jump off the ‘D’ of the Hollywood sign, she jumped off the ‘H’. Barbara La Marr didn’t have 6 husbands, she had 4. And Thelma Todd’s body wasn’t discovered in a Packard, it was discovered in a Haverhill brown 1932 Lincoln KB Dual Cowl Phaeton. But getting bogged down over whether a starlet was discovered dead in a Packard or a Lincoln misses the point of this book. It is a salacious, well-illustrated, tabloidy counter-history of Hollywood. It’s a crime-scene photo-illustrated, sex and drugs scandal chronicle of the birth and adolescence of Hollywood, beginning in the unstable silent film era and progressing into the studio era when emergencies involving movie stars meant calling the movie studio brass at Paramount or Warner Bros. before calling the police.
The style of the book is unique among Hollywood histories. Anger uses a tone and language that is taken from scandal sheets and tabloids and his ample illustrations indicate that he is aiming for an audience that likes to look at pictures as much as or more than they like to read. The sex, drugs, and crime in the text enter into a dialogue with the pictures of naked and dead stars mixed in with a few glossy public relations portraits. The result is a salaciously entertaining book which is a pure joy to read but also fun just to flip through. Every chapter has either some well-known star or some overlooked character from Hollywood’s past, often both, and the stories range from well-known scandals like Fatty Arbuckle to crimes and deaths among obscure Hollywood hangers-on who wouldn’t be out of place in Nathaniel West’s “Day of the Locust”.
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Reviews with images
Better than expected
Having heard about this book since the mid 80s,Thanks to the Misfits,I have always wanted to read it. In the days before the internet I could never find a copy in the library or any bookstore. I forgot about it until about a month ago I was listening to the Misfits song inspired by the book. Made a note to look for a copy.WOW this was a great read. Even when Kenneth Anger was talking about celebs I had never heard of I didn't want to stop reading. Had a few nights where I would think "OK just read one more chapter. Then goto sleep" and I would get so engrossed in what I was reading I would read 4 chapters and end up not getting enough sleep.If you have any interest at all in the early days of Hollywood this is a good book to read. Now I have read that supposedly lots of the stories in the book are made up. Doesn't matter it is written so well you stop caring if what you are reading is fact or fiction.All the modern celebrity gossip sites,shows and whatever have their origins in this book.
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2023
Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2024
Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2023
Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2023
Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2021
Having heard about this book since the mid 80s,Thanks to the Misfits,I have always wanted to read it. In the days before the internet I could never find a copy in the library or any bookstore. I forgot about it until about a month ago I was listening to the Misfits song inspired by the book. Made a note to look for a copy.
WOW this was a great read. Even when Kenneth Anger was talking about celebs I had never heard of I didn't want to stop reading. Had a few nights where I would think "OK just read one more chapter. Then goto sleep" and I would get so engrossed in what I was reading I would read 4 chapters and end up not getting enough sleep.
If you have any interest at all in the early days of Hollywood this is a good book to read. Now I have read that supposedly lots of the stories in the book are made up. Doesn't matter it is written so well you stop caring if what you are reading is fact or fiction.
All the modern celebrity gossip sites,shows and whatever have their origins in this book.
WOW this was a great read. Even when Kenneth Anger was talking about celebs I had never heard of I didn't want to stop reading. Had a few nights where I would think "OK just read one more chapter. Then goto sleep" and I would get so engrossed in what I was reading I would read 4 chapters and end up not getting enough sleep.
If you have any interest at all in the early days of Hollywood this is a good book to read. Now I have read that supposedly lots of the stories in the book are made up. Doesn't matter it is written so well you stop caring if what you are reading is fact or fiction.
All the modern celebrity gossip sites,shows and whatever have their origins in this book.
Images in this review
Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2023
Top reviews from other countries
Amazon Customer
Great historical stories about Hollywood and the actors involved
Reviewed in Canada on August 29, 2023
