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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
This was a really good book about the reality of various historical Hollywood scandals versus the tabloid version of events. There is plenty of discussion about the WHY of how the tabloids dealt with each scandal in its own unique way. Very interesting, indeed. The author's field of study was the history of the gossip industry, and this output represents that background. The worst thing I can say about the book is that she trul dealt, for the most part, with a narrow section of the lives of her subjects. I was constantly pulling up Wikipedia for a quick catch up on the big picture. Since that's the fun of reading anyway--launching into a whole new area of discovery--that's hardly a condemnation. The book starts with earliest Hollywood and progresses through the fifties, after which the studio system was all but extinct. If old time Hollywood is your thing, I'd be sure and grab this book for illumination on some stars who got embroiled in notorious scandals.
I spent an entire evening awhile ago devouring all of Anne Peterson's Scandals of Classic Hollywood blog posts, so when I saw she had a book I was super psyched. She's written it in the same approachable, non-academic yet intelligent manner as the original posts, which made for a great read. The chapters are brief, making it easy to read a chapter or two on a lunch break. I was obsessed with Classic Hollywood as a teen, but Peterson frames her narrative in a way that makes the subject matter easy to understand even if you've never seen a film in Technicolor. I also learned lots! Recommended.
Not sure I learned anything new, but very enjoyable to read.
I wish it had gone into slightly more depth in each essay, but I really enjoyed it.
I enjoyed the book because it was an easy and fast read, but I feel like I knew most of what was written about most of these celebrities to begin with. Easy read though, the prose was good and to the point!
Scandals of Classic Hollywood is a fascinating collection of stories of the behind-the-scenes power the movie studios had over their stars in the early-to-mid twentieth century. The studios, knowing that they had to please the conservative public, had actors sign contract which often had morality clauses and directives on how soon they could marry after divorcing. It's almost unbelievable how much the studios got away with, but that was the price these actors and actresses would pay for fame.
About half of the stories included here were already shared on the blog The Hairpin by author Anne Helen Petersen. As someone who read and enjoyed that column I realized that they had been significantly edited in this book, and some of the stars and stories that weren't included were a little juicier. Petersen links each volume of her book with a common theme ("Broken by the System," "The Blonde Menace") and has a lot of well-researched information but I often felt like I wanted more minute details and more information on what exactly happened.
The Dorothy Dandridge story was one that was vastly edited down from the blog. Not only did the column have a ton of pictures, which helped to get the point across (i.e., Dandridge on the cover of Life, wearing her Carmen Jones costume) and also helped the reader associate with the subject, since most of these actors aren't as well-known as actors today, and their photos are not as widely shared. Several times, I recalled something from the blog that would have added to the story, made it more devastating. In Dandridge's case, I remembered that her final husband ran her into the ground financially, and on the blog post Petersen goes into exactly what he did in detail. It is brushed over in one sentence in the book version of the story.
The end of each stars' story was also glossed over, and I truly felt like they were rushed. How, exactly, did Montgomery Clift unravel into alcoholic despair? It is told, not shown, in the book. His accident is summed up in one paragraph, with no info about his recovery beyond "he recovered."
There is a disconnect between the brilliancy of the blog posts and the book. Maybe an editor wanted it to be more accessible to more readers than a feminist blog but unfortunately some of the best parts were left on the cutting room floor.
About half of the stories included here were already shared on the blog The Hairpin by author Anne Helen Petersen. As someone who read and enjoyed that column I realized that they had been significantly edited in this book, and some of the stars and stories that weren't included were a little juicier. Petersen links each volume of her book with a common theme ("Broken by the System," "The Blonde Menace") and has a lot of well-researched information but I often felt like I wanted more minute details and more information on what exactly happened.
The Dorothy Dandridge story was one that was vastly edited down from the blog. Not only did the column have a ton of pictures, which helped to get the point across (i.e., Dandridge on the cover of Life, wearing her Carmen Jones costume) and also helped the reader associate with the subject, since most of these actors aren't as well-known as actors today, and their photos are not as widely shared. Several times, I recalled something from the blog that would have added to the story, made it more devastating. In Dandridge's case, I remembered that her final husband ran her into the ground financially, and on the blog post Petersen goes into exactly what he did in detail. It is brushed over in one sentence in the book version of the story.
The end of each stars' story was also glossed over, and I truly felt like they were rushed. How, exactly, did Montgomery Clift unravel into alcoholic despair? It is told, not shown, in the book. His accident is summed up in one paragraph, with no info about his recovery beyond "he recovered."
There is a disconnect between the brilliancy of the blog posts and the book. Maybe an editor wanted it to be more accessible to more readers than a feminist blog but unfortunately some of the best parts were left on the cutting room floor.
Eager to lend out my copy of this book so I can discuss all the modern-day echoes with everyone I know!
I guess it's a good primer on celebrity. I think I would've enjoyed more info on the technical aspects of controlling a celebrity's profile. I definitely would've liked to see some lesser-known actors' (Jean Arthur, Virginia Mayo, Sandra Dee, etc.) careers examined to see why some made it to legendary status, some stayed on the margins, and some faded. As it is, this volume covers mostly legends. This is no replacement for the original columns.
A decent primer on some Hollywood scandals from the early days of cinema through the 1950s. So many things that wouldn't be scandals today, and how heavily the studios practiced spin control. My version of the book had more than a few typos, which was irritating.
This book didn't really have an ending? It's just snippets of stories of different celebrities, which is interesting. But the book just ends after James Dean's section. I was expecting something, a little essay? to tie them all together.