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163 reviews for:
Scandals of Classic Hollywood: Sex, Deviance, and Drama from the Golden Age of American Cinema
Anne Helen Petersen
3.53 AVERAGE
163 reviews for:
Scandals of Classic Hollywood: Sex, Deviance, and Drama from the Golden Age of American Cinema
Anne Helen Petersen
3.53 AVERAGE
Maybe this book is more suited for beginner classic Hollywood fans...
medium-paced
I have always been fascinated by stars of classic cinema & their stories, since it's a subject I don't know much about. This book was a really good high level bio of different people I've always wanted to know more about but have never taken the time to research. I did find myself googling some of the people the author wrote about, & some of those she didn't, to get more information about them. Additionally, it's amazing how far we've come in less than 100 years in terms of scandal & how we deal with it. Most of the golden cinema execs would be rolling in their graves if they knew the stories that cover today's 'fan magazine's!! Well written & very interesting. I really enjoyed this read.
Super readable essays summarizing how the publicity machines in the Golden Age of Cinema controlled/handled/directed the narratives of stars whose lives skidded out of acceptable norms. From Mae West to Clark Gable to Judy Garland to Montgomery Clift, each essay was not only interesting to me because I love classic film but also because it's easy to draw lines directly from these stories to celebrity gossip machines today.
very bland and thin, doesn't offer enough information or go deep enough on any one topic to attract much interest, but a quick read nonetheless.
Is it weird that I fantasize about BEING Anne Helen Petersen? All working at Buzzfeed, all getting paid to read Photoplays from 1929, all having a vast network of academic colleagues who care deeply about Fatty Arbuckle?
Anyway, this book is the greatest. Her writing makes these juicy profiles accessible to anybody who loves celebrity gossip, even people who are brand new to the gossip of the past. But the real meat is in her analysis and her ability to draw clear parallels between, say, Wallace Reid and Johnny Knoxville. Also, she provides lots of entry points for further research and pays homage to all her critical predecessors. It would have been nice to have more photos, but I love that this book is at a budget-friendly, young-person friendly price point and format.
Anyway, this book is the greatest. Her writing makes these juicy profiles accessible to anybody who loves celebrity gossip, even people who are brand new to the gossip of the past. But the real meat is in her analysis and her ability to draw clear parallels between, say, Wallace Reid and Johnny Knoxville. Also, she provides lots of entry points for further research and pays homage to all her critical predecessors. It would have been nice to have more photos, but I love that this book is at a budget-friendly, young-person friendly price point and format.
informative
sad
fast-paced
Really enjoyed the book, though I do wish there was a little more details about their lives afterwards (for the ones who didn't die soon after)
informative
fast-paced
