Synopsis: The early days of Hollywood were full of glamour and a newfound decadence. The stars in these films were instantly catapulted to fame and fortune and the spotlight of the public eye. The real people behind the glamour were far different than the characters that audiences grew to know and love and much like Hollywood today, the lives of the stars were often full of scandal and debauchery.
This book examines the forgotten scandals of yesterday, featuring silent and silver screen stars like Jean Harlow, Mae West, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin and Errol Flynn. Don't let the romanticized black and white world of yesterday fool you, their stories are rife with sex, drugs and murder.
Not quite in the salacious and gossipy tone of Hollywood Babylon, these thirteen vignettes take us back to the early days of Hollywood and to a few of the earliest scandals. From failed marriages and numerous liaisons, drug and alcohol addiction, abusive childhoods and relationships, murder, blackmail, gangsters, sex tapes and everything else in between, this makes for remarkable reading.
Many of the names may already be familiar to those who harken back to the era of vaudeville, silent films, and the "talkies" - Chaplin, Arbuckle, Normand, Taylor, Flynn, Crawford, Turner & West. All are presented with a look to their earlier life, career, personal life, and legacy. Not all received their star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame - and one wonders if of those who did, whether they actually deserved them.
An afternoon's escapism.
No comments:
Post a Comment