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Hollywood Exile, or How I Learned to Love the Blacklist (Texas Film and Media Studies Series)
by Bernard GordonThe Hollywood blacklist, which began in the late 1940s and ran well into the 1960s, ended or curtailed the careers of hundreds of people accused of having ties to the Communist Party. Bernard Gordon was one of them. In this highly readable memoir, he tells a engrossing insider’s story of what it was like to be blacklisted and how he and others continued to work uncredited behind the scenes, writing and producing many box office hits of the era. Gordon describes how the blacklist cut short his screenwriting career in Hollywood and forced him to work in Europe. Ironically, though, his is a success story that includes the films El Cid, 55 Days at Peking, The Thin Red Line, Krakatoa East of Java, Day of the Triffids, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, Horror Express, and many others. He recounts the making of many movies for which he was the writer and/or producer, with wonderful anecdotes about stars such as Charlton Heston, David Niven, Sophia Loren, Ava Gardner, and James Mason; directors Nicholas Ray, Frank Capra, and Anthony Mann; and the producer–studio head team of Philip Yordan and Samuel Bronston.
Hollywood Godfather: My Life in the Movies and the Mob
by Gianni RussoThe rollicking adventures of a real-life mobster-turned-actor who helped make The Godfather a reality. Gianni Russo was a handsome 25-year-old mobster with no acting experience when he walked onto the set of The Godfather and entered Hollywood history. He played Carlo Rizzi, the husband of Connie Corleone, who set her brother Sonny?played by James Caan?up for a mob hit, which led to one of the most unforgettable moments in cinema. Russo didn't have to act. He knew the mob inside and out: from his childhood in Little Italy, where Mafia legend Frank Costello took him under his wing, acting as messenger for New Orleans mob boss Carlos Marcello during the Kennedy assassination, to being forced on the lam after shooting a member of the Colombian drug cartel in his Vegas club. Along the way, Russo befriended Frank Sinatra, who became his son's godfather, and Marlon Brando, had passionate affairs with Marilyn Monroe, Liza Minelli and scores of other stars, all the while walking the tightrope of mob life. A no-holds-barred rollercoaster ride of life lived on the edge: shocking, thoroughly entertaining, full of glamour, sex, violence, cheek - and fun.
Hollywood Godfather: My Life in the Movies and the Mob
by Gianni Russo Patrick PicciarelliHollywood Godfather is Gianni Russo's over-the-top memoir of a real-life mobster-turned-actor who helped make The Godfather a reality, and his story of life on the edge between danger and glamour. Gianni Russo was a handsome 25-year-old mobster with no acting experience when he walked onto the set of The Godfather and entered Hollywood history. He played Carlo Rizzi, the husband of Connie Corleone, who set her brother Sonny—played by James Caan—up for a hit. Russo didn't have to act—he knew the mob inside and out: from his childhood in Little Italy, where Mafia legend Frank Costello took him under his wing, to acting as a messenger for New Orleans mob boss Carlos Marcello during the Kennedy assassination, to having to go on the lam after shooting and killing a member of the Colombian drug cartel in his Vegas club. Along the way, Russo befriended Frank Sinatra, who became his son's godfather, and Marlon Brando, who mentored his career as an actor after trying to get Francis Ford Coppola to fire him from The Godfather. Russo had passionate affairs with Marilyn Monroe, Liza Minelli, and scores of other celebrities. He went on to become a producer and starred in The Godfather: Parts I and II, Seabiscuit, Any Given Sunday and Rush Hour 2, among many other films.Hollywood Godfather is a no-holds-barred account of a life filled with violence, glamour, sex—and fun.
Hollywood Godfather: The Life and Crimes of Billy Wilkerson
by W. R. WilkersonThis is the definitive biography of the most powerful man in Hollywood during the 1930s, '40s and '50s, the man who founded the Hollywood Reporter and the most storied nightspots of the Sunset Strip, introduced Clark Gable and Lana Turner to the world, invented Las Vegas, brought the Mafia to Hollywood, engineered the shakedown of Hollywood studios by Willie Bioff and his mob-run unions, was possibly involved in the murder of Bugsy Siegel, started the Hollywood blacklist, and helped destroy the studio system. Perhaps nobody in Hollywood history has ever ruined so many careers and done so much damage to the industry as Billy Wilkerson. Yet there has never been a solid biography of the man. Billy's son, William R. Wilkerson III, has done tremendous research on his father, interviewing over decades everyone who knew him best, and portrays him beautifully (and damningly) in this book.
Hollywood Hellraisers: The Wild Lives and Fast Times of Marlon Brando, Dennis Hopper, Warren Beatty, and Jack Nicholson
by Robert Sellers"I don't know what people expect when they meet me. They seem to be afraid that I'm going to piss in the potted palm and slap them on the ass."-Marlon Brando "I should have been dead ten times over. I believe in miracles. It's an absolute miracle that I'm still around."-Dennis Hopper "You only lie to two people in your life: your girlfriend and the police."-Jack Nicholson "The best time to get married is noon. That way, if things don't work out, you haven't blown the whole day."-Warren Beatty They're the baddest bad-asses Hollywood as ever seen: Marlon Brando, Dennis Hopper, Warren Beatty, and Jack Nicholson. They are men to whom rules did not apply; normal standards of behavior were simply too wearisome to worry about. These are men who brawled, boozed, snorted, and screwed their way into legendhood-but along the way they changed acting and the way movies were made forever. Hollywood Hellraisers is a whistle-stop tour of jaw-dropping sexual activity, misbehavior of an Olympic standard, all-out excess, and genuine madness. It's a wonder Hollywood survived.
Hollywood Hellraisers: The Wild Lives and Fast Times of Marlon Brando, Dennis Hopper, Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson
by Robert Sellers'I don't know what people expect when they meet me. They seem to be afraid that I'm going to piss in the potted palm and slap them on the ass.' Marlon Brando'I should have been dead ten times over. I believe in miracles. It's an absolute miracle that I'm still around.' Dennis Hopper'The best time to get married is noon. That way, if things don't work out, you haven't blown the whole day.' Warren Beatty'You only lie to two people in your life: your girlfriend and the police.' Jack NicholsonThey're the baddest bad asses Hollywood has ever seen: Marlon Brando, Dennis Hopper, Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson. These are men for whom rules did not apply, men for whom normal standards of behaviour were simply too wearisome to worry about. These are men who brawled, boozed, snorted and shagged their way into legend-hood - but along the way they changed acting and the way movies were made forever.Hollywood Hellraisers is a whistle-stop tour of jaw-dropping sexual activity, misbehaviour of an Olympic standard, all-out excess and genuine madness. It's a wonder Hollywood survived.
Hollywood Hulk Hogan (Wwe Ser.)
by Hulk Hogan Michael Jan FriedmanYou think you know Hollywood Hulk Hogan ? Brother, you don't know squat about me. Yeah, I'm the towering red-and-yellow warrior who revolutionized the wrestling business, the larger-than-life superhero who transformed an entire country into a horde of Hulkamaniacs. I'm the guy who spit blood and breathed fire to help create an empire called World Wrestling Entertainment . But it wasn't always like that. Once I was a fat kid named Terry Bollea watching legends like Dusty Rhodes and Superstar Billy Graham, never dreaming I'd be a professional wrestler myself one day. Run with me on the streets of Tampa, where a bass guitar became my salvation. Fight alongside me in the wrestling arenas of Japan, where opponents try to bite your fingers off to make a name for themselves. Slide into the ring with me against 700-pound Andre the Giant, who only became my best friend after he found out he couldn't beat me down. Then cruise L.A. with me and Sylvester Stallone on the heels of Rocky III. Learn why Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura hates my guts. Go head-to-head with Dennis Rodman in a hard-liquor drinking contest, and share a dressing room with Liberace. Find out what makes me cry like a baby, what makes my blood boil, what I think of Jesus Christ, and what scares the living hell out of me. Then tell me you know the man called Hollywood Hulk Hogan. Join the Babe Ruth of wrestling on a gritty, no-holds-barred odyssey from his start in the barbaric wrestling arenas of the seventies through the heartbreak of potentially career-ending surgery to the achievement of his greatest triumph yet. Along the way, lock up with the likes of Cyndi Lauper, Andy Kaufman, Dolly Parton, Mr. T, Ted Turner, George Foreman, Jay Leno, Undertaker, Triple H, The Rock...and of course, Vince McMahon, head of World Wrestling Entertainment . They're all in here, waiting to show you what they've got. Hollywood Hulk Hogan . It's the real deal, brother.
Hollywood in Heels: A Small-Town Girl's Adventures in Tinseltown
by Charity G. FinnestadHollywood in Heels is a sexy, smart, shockingly honest and wickedly hilarious memoir of a young woman finding her way in a city where sex is the primary commodity and illusion the name of the game. Charity Gaye Finnestad is a small-town girl with big dreams: to go to Los Angeles and make it as a writer.With only enough money to survive sixty days, she packs her bags, says goodbye to an unhappy marriage, and hits the road in search of her destiny. Struggling to pay the rent with occasional modeling jobs, Charity suddenly finds herself privy to a high-flying, fast-paced life--sipping champagne at exclusive parties with A-list celebrities in the Hollywood Hills by night, and shopping at the 99-Cent Store by day to stretch her tiny budget. She quickly discovers that in Hollywood, as with anywhere, it's your relationships that matter. Determined to be true to herself, she sets out to make lasting friendships and maybe even discover true love along the way. Fearless and forthright, Charity delivers the dirt on the ups and downs of living in Tinsel Town. A modern day fairy tale in which the heroine rescues herself and then meets her Prince Charming, Hollywood in Heels is a rollicking fun read that teaches some very important lessons about life and love.
Hollywood, Interrupted: Insanity Chic in Babylon -- The Case Against Celebrity
by Mark Ebner Andrew Breitbart"Reading Hollywood Interrupted is like sitting on a stakeout and having a telescopic view into the darkest reaches of the corruption and perversity of today's celebrity culture. From the very first page to the last, Breitbart and Ebner's probing reporting spells out in graphic detail how Hollywood lives by a set of norms the rest of America finds appropriately appalling--and endlessly fascinating. The authors have the unusual courage to take on Scientology. They provide revelations about Michael Jackson's sickness that go beyond even today's headlines. They rip the phony veneer off the political correctness of Rosie O'Donnell and Barbra Streisand. They give readers a behind-the-scenes understanding of how snooping private eyes and ruthless information brokers feed scoops to the tabloids. And, in one riveting chapter, they document how a young woman in the AOL backroom unmasked the bizarre fetishes of some of Tinseltown's top names. Hollywood. Interrupted no channel fluff. It's disturbing stuff. But it's all too real and it's utterly riveting."
Hollywood Jock: 365 Days, Four Screenplays, Three TV Pitches, Two Kids, and One Wife Who's Ready to Pull the Plug
by Rob RyderRob Ryder made that pledge to his wife, and he was determined to stick to it. As technical consultant on blockbuster sports films, he had seen up close how the film business works and what kind of chaos can, and usually does, ensue. And now he was ready to take it on!Hollywood Jock is the suspenseful, dramatic, outrageous, and honest true story of the year when Rob Ryder, screenwriter, laid it all on the line -- and kicked, scratched, wheeled, dealed, and fought like hell to hit the Tinseltown big time. It is a chronicle of schmoozing producers, shopping screenplays, corralling sports legends, and dodging irate actors -- a fascinating perspective on the highs, the very lows, and the behind-the-scenes madness that makes the world of Hollywood so endlessly compelling . . . and infamously brutal.
The Hollywood Kid: The Violent Life and Violent Death of an MS-13 Hitman
by Oscar Martinez Juan MartinezThe compelling story of the life and death of a Salvadoran gangsterAs a boy, Miguel Ángel Tobar’s small town in El Salvador was torn apart by guerrillas and US- backed death squads. Still a preteen, he joined a different kind of death squad—the Hollywood Locos Salvatrucha—a clique of the Mara Salvatruchas, better known as MS-13. This international criminal organization began on the streets of Los Angeles in the 1980s, as Salvadoran children, whose families had fled their country’s civil war, banded together to defend themselves from LA gangs. Denied refugee status, the Salvadorans found themselves pushed into the shadows and besieged by violence, and MS-13 itself mutated into a gang. When large-scale US deportations began, violence was exported from the United States to El Salvador, helping make it one of the world’s deadliest countries and in turn propelling new waves of refugees northward. The Salvadoran journalist Óscar Martinez and his anthropologist brother Juan José Martínez got to know the Hollywood Kid when he informed on MS-13. In his hideaway shack, he recounted a life of killing—a death toll of more than fifty rival gang members—until his own murder ended the story. Vivid and violent, The Hollywood Kid brings a brutal world to life, illustrating the geopolitical forces propelling a country toward ever more vicious extremes.
Hollywood Lawyer: The Jerry Giesler Story
by Jerry Giesler Pete MartinTHE ACCUSED IS ENTITLED TO A DEFENSE.Jerry Giesler believed the accused is entitled to a good defense. What he delivered, consistently, was a brilliant defense. Here are some of the people he defended:Errol Flynn—charged with statutory rape on two counts;Clarence Darrow—charged with attempted bribery of a jury;Lily St. Cyr—charged with indecent exposure;Charles Chaplin—charged with violation of the Mann Act;Robert Mitchum—charged with illegal possession of narcotics.The due processes of law make fascinating reading. When the cases are charged with the legal genius of a Giesler at work, the fascination cannot be denied!
Hollywood Martyr Joan Crawford: Hollywood Martyr
by David BretIn the first fully uncensored biography of Joan Crawford, bestselling author David Bret follows Crawford from working in a Kansas City laundry to collecting an Oscar for Mildred Pierce, including details from her countless love affairs and her devotion toward Christian Science. Bret also divulges how her loathed mother forced her to work as a prostitute and use sex strategically, as well as what really led her to disinherit two of her four children, earning her the moniker "Mommie Dearest. ” Drawing on a wealth of unpublished material and interviews with stars like Marlene Dietrich and Douglas Fairbanks, David Bret presents a fascinating portrait of a single-minded, uncompromising woman.
Hollywood Monster: A Walk Down Elm Street with the Man of Your Dreams
by Robert Englund Alan GoldsherRobert Englund, legendary star of A Nightmare on Elm Street, peels back the Freddy Krueger mask and reveals the stuff of every horror buff&’s dreams.ONE...TWO...FREDDY'S COMING FOR YOU...You've seen him in the A Nightmare on Elm Street series—and in your darkest dreams. The sadistic killer with the flame-charred face. The knife-blade claws. The razor-sharp wit. Freddy...But you've never seen him like this. Unflinching. Uncensored. Unmasked. Meet Robert Englund, the award-winning actor best known for his role as Freddy Krueger—the legendary horror icon featured on the American Film Institute's "100 Greatest Heroes and Villains" roster—a character as unforgettable and enduring as Bela Lugosi's Dracula and Boris Karloff's Frankenstein. Now, for the first time, the man behind the latex mask tells his story in this captivating new memoir, published to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first A Nightmare on Elm Street film. You see, Robert Englund is no monster at all, but a deeply funny, charming Hollywood veteran. Packed with Robert's hilarious stories, playful self-deprecation, and a generous helping of never-before-revealed A Nightmare on Elm Street trivia, Hollywood Monster offers an unparalleled look at the beloved film icon. With insider savvy and gallows humor, Robert recounts his audition for Wes Craven, the inspiration for Freddy's character, the grueling makeup sessions, his soon-to-be-famous costars, the often disastrous on-set blunders, and the wave of popularity that propelled this humble California surfer kid all the way to the top. Of course, fame and fortune as Freddy came years after the young actor shared a trailer with screen legend Henry Fonda, was punched in the face by Richard Gere, took down Burt Reynolds, and muscled his way between Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sally Field, and Jeff Bridges. But soon after his high-profile stint in the groundbreaking TV miniseries V, Robert Englund took on the most celebrated role of his career—the macabre and wisecracking killer who quickly became a household name. From the moment Freddy Krueger dragged his claws across a rusty pipe in the opening dream sequence, a legend had been unleashed—and a star was born. This is his story. "Welcome to prime time, bitch." —Frederick Charles Krueger, bastard son of a hundred maniacs
Hollywood Myths: The Shocking Truths Behind Film's Most Incredible Secrets and Scandals
by Joe WilliamsA film journalist’s insider account of the truth behind some of the movie industry’s biggest legends and scandals—a perfect gift for film buffs.Hollywood exists to create and sell myth. Often, however, the myths created on screen are secondary to the rumors, half-truths, and lies that circulate through studio back lots and the press. Discover the real stories behind Hollywood’s greatest myths, as veteran film critic and Hollywood reporter Joe Williams sorts fact from fiction and examines how these tales came to be and how they persisted. Did Thomas Edison really invent the motion picture? Why has Charlie Chaplin survived as the undisputed king of the silent era? What about Fatty Arbuckle and that ill-fated boys’ weekend in San Francisco? Did Woody Allen really marry his adopted daughter? Was there actually a suicide on the set of The Wizard of Oz (or are any of the other countless rumors about that film true)? The tales featured in Hollywood Myths involve specific films, actors’ private lives, the industry itself, and urban legends that have existed as long as Hollywood has. Throughout, Williams illuminates what it was that made the biggest stars—from Marlon to Marilyn, Bogie to Brad—shine so brightly on the silver screen. In all, 56 enduring myths are examined, in the process revealing the machinations of myth-making in the fast, loose, and out-of-control world of Hollywood.
Hollywood: The Oral History
by Jeanine Basinger Sam WassonThe real story of Hollywood as told by such luminaries as Steven Spielberg, Frank Capra, Katharine Hepburn, Meryl Streep, Harold Lloyd, and nearly four hundred others, assembled from the American Film Institute’s treasure trove of interviews, reveals a fresh history of the American movie industry from its beginnings to today. From the archives of the American Film Institute comes a unique picture of what it was like to work in Hollywood from its beginnings to its present day. Gleaned from nearly three thousand interviews, involving four hundred voices from the industry, Hollywood: The Oral History, lets a reader “listen in” on candid remarks from the biggest names in front of the camera—Bette Davis, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Harold Lloyd—to the biggest behind it—Frank Capra, Steven Spielberg, Alfred Hitchcock, Jordan Peele, as well as the lesser known individuals that shaped what was heard and seen on screen: musicians, costumers, art directors, cinematographers, writers, sound men, editors, make-up artists, and even script timers, messengers, and publicists. The result is like a conversation among the gods and goddesses of film: lively, funny, insightful, historically accurate and, for the first time, authentically honest in its portrait of Hollywood. It’s the insider’s story. Legendary film scholar Jeanine Basinger and New York Times bestselling author Sam Wasson, both acclaimed storytellers in their own right, have undertaken the monumental task of digesting these tens of thousands of hours of talk and weaving it into a definitive portrait of workaday Hollywood.
Hollywood Park: A Memoir
by Mikel JollettPARK is a remarkable memoir of a tumultuous life. Mikel Jollett was born into one of the country’s most infamous cults, and subjected to a childhood filled with poverty, addiction, and emotional abuse. Yet, ultimately, his is a story of fierce love and family loyalty told in a raw, poetic voice that signals the emergence of a uniquely gifted writer. <P><P>We were never young. We were just too afraid of ourselves. No one told us who we were or what we were or where all our parents went. They would arrive like ghosts, visiting us for a morning, an afternoon. They would sit with us or walk around the grounds, to laugh or cry or toss us in the air while we screamed. Then they’d disappear again, for weeks, for months, for years, leaving us alone with our memories and dreams, our questions and confusion. … <P><P>So begins Hollywood Park, Mikel Jollett’s remarkable memoir. His story opens in an experimental commune in California, which later morphed into the Church of Synanon, one of the country’s most infamous and dangerous cults. Per the leader’s mandate, all children, including Jollett and his older brother, were separated from their parents when they were six months old, and handed over to the cult’s “School.” <P><P>After spending years in what was essentially an orphanage, Mikel escaped the cult one morning with his mother and older brother. But in many ways, life outside Synanon was even harder and more erratic.In his raw, poetic and powerful voice, Jollett portrays a childhood filled with abject poverty, trauma, emotional abuse, delinquency and the lure of drugs and alcohol. <P><P>Raised by a clinically depressed mother, tormented by his angry older brother, subjected to the unpredictability of troubled step-fathers and longing for contact with his father, a former heroin addict and ex-con, Jollett slowly, often painfully, builds a life that leads him to Stanford University and, eventually, to finding his voice as a writer and musician.Hollywood Park is told at first through the limited perspective of a child, and then broadens as Jollett begins to understand the world around him. Although Mikel Jollett’s story is filled with heartbreak, it is ultimately an unforgettable portrayal of love at its fiercest and most loyal. <P><P><b>A New York Times Bestseller</b>
Hollywood Park: A Memoir
by Mikel Jollett**THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**'Astonishing... precisely crafted, emotionally-sucker-punching prose.' Daily Telegraph'Dangerous, immediate and lyrical from the jump.' Wall Street JournalHOLLYWOOD PARK is a remarkable memoir of a tumultuous life. Mikel Jollett was born into one of the country's most infamous cults, and subjected to a childhood filled with poverty, addiction, and emotional abuse. Yet, ultimately, his is a story of fierce love and family loyalty told in a raw, poetic voice that signals the emergence of a uniquely gifted writer.Mikel Jollett was born in an experimental commune in California, which later morphed into the Church of Synanon, one of the country's most infamous and dangerous cults. Per the leader's mandate, all children, including Jollett and his older brother, were separated from their parents when they were six months old, and handed over to the cult's 'School'. After spending years in what was essentially an orphanage, Mikel escaped the cult one morning with his mother and older brother. But in many ways, life outside Synanon was even harder and more erratic. In his raw, poetic and powerful voice, Jollett portrays a childhood filled with abject poverty, trauma, emotional abuse, delinquency and the lure of drugs and alcohol. Raised by a clinically depressed mother, tormented by his angry older brother, subjected to the unpredictability of troubled step-fathers and longing for contact with his father, a former heroin addict and ex-con, Jollett slowly, often painfully, builds a life that leads him to Stanford University and, eventually, to finding his voice as a writer and musician, forming the band The Airborne Toxic Event.
Hollywood Park
by Mikel Jollett**THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER**HOLLYWOOD PARK is a remarkable memoir of a tumultuous life. Mikel Jollett was born into one of the country's most infamous cults, and subjected to a childhood filled with poverty, addiction, and emotional abuse. Yet, ultimately, his is a story of fierce love and family loyalty told in a raw, poetic voice that signals the emergence of a uniquely gifted writer.Mikel Jollett was born in an experimental commune in California, which later morphed into the Church of Synanon, one of the country's most infamous and dangerous cults. Per the leader's mandate, all children, including Jollett and his older brother, were separated from their parents when they were six months old, and handed over to the cult's 'School'. After spending years in what was essentially an orphanage, Mikel escaped the cult one morning with his mother and older brother. But in many ways, life outside Synanon was even harder and more erratic. In his raw, poetic and powerful voice, Jollett portrays a childhood filled with abject poverty, trauma, emotional abuse, delinquency and the lure of drugs and alcohol. Raised by a clinically depressed mother, tormented by his angry older brother, subjected to the unpredictability of troubled step-fathers and longing for contact with his father, a former heroin addict and ex-con, Jollett slowly, often painfully, builds a life that leads him to Stanford University and, eventually, to finding his voice as a writer and musician, forming the band The Airborne Toxic Event.(P)2020 Macmillan Audio
Hollywood Rajah: The Life and Times of Louis B. Mayer
by Bosley CrowtherHE DISCOVERED GARBO AND GABLE.FOR NINE YEARS HE WAS THE HIGHEST SALARIED MAN IN THE U.S.HIS LIFE SURPASSED ALL HIS GREATEST FILMS IN LUXURY, NOTORIETY AND TRAGEDY.HE WAS A MAN TO BE FEARED.First published in 1960, Hollywood Rajah: The Life and Times of Louis B. Mayer is the explosive biography of the head of MGM studio; the fabulous behind-the-scenes story of the most powerful of Hollywood’s famed tycoons, it is a story more fantastic than any ever brought to the screen.This is the extravagant life story of Louis B. Mayer, once head of the largest motion picture studio in the world, and the most controversial subject in Hollywood’s notorious history—a man who went everywhere, did everything, and knew everyone worth knowing. A man whose tapeworm ego had to be fed by driving activity, ruthless use of power, and adventures with beautiful women. Louis B. Mayer was a power to be feared, a man who deliberately surrounded and protected himself with myths and legends.Now his true story can be told.
Hollywood Studios (Postcard History Series)
by Tommy DangcilJust after the turn of the 20th century, the motion picture industry moved to the West Coast, and the largest land of make-believe was created in Hollywood, California. From the silent-era beginnings of primitive, open-air stages to the fabled back lots of the studios' heyday, Hollywood Studios presents a bygone era of magical moviemaking in rare postcards. Assembled from the author's private collection, these images from the Chaplin Studios to Metro-Goldwyn Mayer depict an insider's look back at the dream factories known as the Hollywood studios.
Hollywood to the Himalayas
by Sadhvi Bhagawati SaraswatiHollywood to the Himalayas is the enlightening memoir of a reluctant spiritual seeker who finds much more than she bargained for when she travels to India.As a Stanford grad, in the midst of getting a PhD in psychology, Sadhvi Saraswati was comfortable with her life. Despite years of grappling with an eating disorder and trauma from her early childhood, she felt as if she was successfully navigating her way through early adulthood. When she agreed to travel to India to appease her husband—and because she loved the food—Sadhvi would have never imagined that she would be embarking on a journey of healing and awakening. Hollywood to the Himalayas describes Sadhvi&’s odyssey towards divine enlightenment and inspiration through her extraordinary connection with her guru and renewed confidence in the pleasure and joy that life can bring. Now one of the preeminent female spiritual teachers in the world, Sadhvi recounts her journey with wit, honesty, and clarity and, along the way, offers teachings to help us all step onto our own path of awakening and discover the truth of who we really are—embodiments of the Divine. &“Sadhviji models for us, at the deepest level, that in the true teaching of the spiritual traditions, healing and grace are always possible.&” —Prince Ea, in the foreword to Hollywood to the Himalayas &“Vivid and poetic…her journey is a river of love, compelling in its authenticity and unflinching honesty. …a must for anyone who is interested in exploring different paths to fulfilment and to the Creator.&” —Jane Goodall &“Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati is a great teacher of spirituality and consciousness. Her inspiring wisdom illuminates the path to healing, happiness, and inner peace.&” —Deepak Chopra &“For so many of us, the road to the Divine sometimes begins with deep trauma. And, then Grace is bestowed upon us and we blossom in the holiness of love. Hollywood to the Himalayas is filled with wisdom and truth about the powerful revelations that unfold on the path to a deeper relationship to the divine. This is a beautiful book.&” —Rev. Iyanla Vanzant, executive producer, Iyanla, Fix My Life
Hollywood Undressed: Observations Of Sylvia As Noted By Her Secretary
by SylviaIn 1932, Sylvia exposed the foibles of the Hollywood system and her illustrious clientele in the book Hollywood Undressed: Observations of Sylvia as Noted by Her Secretary (1931).It is a playful book, full of gossip and contemporary vernacular, and reveals intimate details of Sylvia’s famous Hollywood clientele, which included Jean Harlow, Marie Dressler, Mae Murray, Alice White, Bebe Daniels, Mary Duncan, Ramón Novarro, Ruth Chatterton, Ann Harding, Norma Talmadge, Grace Moore, Constance Bennett, Gloria Swanson, Nella Webb, F.W. Murnau, Elsie Janis, Ernest Torrence, Lawrence Tibbett, Laura Hope Crews, Ronald Colman, Constance Cummings, Ina Claire, John Gilbert, Carmel Myers, Helen Twelvetrees, Carole Lombard, Ilka Chase, Dorothy Mackaill, Pepi Lederer, Marion Davies, Neil Hamilton, Alan Hale Sr and Vivienne Segal.
Hollywood's Eve: Eve Babitz and the Secret History of L.A.
by Lili AnolikThe goddaughter of Igor Stravinsky and a graduate of Hollywood High, Eve Babitz posed in 1963, at age twenty, playing chess with the French artist Marcel Duchamp. She was naked; he was not. The photograph made her an instant icon of art and sex. Babitz spent the rest of the decade rocking and rolling on the Sunset Strip, honing her notoriety. There were the album covers she designed: for Buffalo Springfield and the Byrds, to name but a few. There were the men she seduced: Jim Morrison, Ed Ruscha, Harrison Ford, to name but a very few. Then, at nearly thirty, her It girl days numbered, Babitz was discovered—as a writer—by Joan Didion. She would go on to produce seven books, usually billed as novels or short story collections, always autobiographies and confessionals. Under-known and under-read during her career, she&’s since experienced a breakthrough. Now in her mid-seventies, she&’s on the cusp of literary stardom and recognition as an essential—as the essential—LA writer. Her prose achieves that American ideal: art that stays loose, maintains its cool, and is so simply enjoyable as to be mistaken for simple entertainment. What Hollywood&’s Eve has going for it on every page is its subject&’s utter refusal to be dull… It sends you racing to read the work of Eve Babitz.&” The New York Times &“Read Lili Anolik&’s book in the same spirit you&’d read a new Eve Babitz, if there was one: for the gossip and for the writing. Both are extraordinary.&” Jonathan Lethem &“There's no better way to look at Hollywood in that magic decade, the 1970s, than through Eve Babitz's eyes. Eve knew everyone, slept with everyone, used, amused, and abused everyone. And then there's Eve herself: a cult figure turned into a legend in Anolik's electrifying book. This is a portrait as mysterious, maddening-and seductive-as its subject.&” —Peter Biskind, author of Easy Riders, Raging Bulls For Babitz, life was slow days, fast company until a freak fire turned her into a recluse, living in a condo in West Hollywood, where author Lili Anolik tracked her down in 2012. Hollywood&’s Eve, equal parts biography and detective story &“brings a ludicrously glamorous scene back to life, adding a few shadows along the way&” (Vogue) and &“sends you racing to read the work of Eve Babitz&” (The New York Times).
Hollywood's Eve: Eve Babitz and the Secret History of L.A.
by Lili AnolikThe quintessential biography of Eve Babitz (1943-2021), the brilliant chronicler of 1960s and 70s Hollywood hedonism and one of the most original American voices of her time. &“I practically snorted this book, stayed up all night with it. Anolik decodes, ruptures, and ultimately intensifies Eve&’s singular irresistible glitz.&” —Jia Tolentino, The New Yorker &“The Eve Babitz book I&’ve been waiting for. What emerges isn&’t just a portrait of a writer, but also of Los Angeles: sprawling, melancholic, and glamorous.&” —Stephanie Danler, author of SweetbitterLos Angeles in the 1960s and 70s was the pop culture capital of the world—a movie factory, a music factory, a dream factory. Eve Babitz was the ultimate factory girl, a pure product of LA. The goddaughter of Igor Stravinsky and a graduate of Hollywood High, Babitz, age twenty, posed for a photograph with French artist Marcel Duchamp in 1963. They were seated at a chess board, deep in a game. She was naked; he was not. The picture, cheesecake with a Dadaist twist, made her an instant icon of art and sex. She spent the rest of the decade on the Sunset Strip, rocking and rolling, and honing her notoriety. There were the album covers she designed: for Buffalo Springfield and the Byrds, to name but a few. There were the men she seduced: Jim Morrison, Ed Ruscha, Harrison Ford, to name but a very few. Then, at nearly thirty, her It girl days numbered, Babitz was discovered—as a writer—by Joan Didion. She would go on to produce seven books, usually billed as novels or short story collections, always autobiographies and confessionals. Her prose achieved that American ideal: art that stayed loose, maintained its cool; art so sheerly enjoyable as to be mistaken for simple entertainment. Yet somehow the world wasn&’t paying attention. Babitz languished. It was almost twenty years after her last book was published, and only a few years before her death in 2021 that Babitz became a literary star, recognized as not just an essential L.A. writer, but the essential. This late-blooming vogue bloomed, in large part, because of a magazine profile by Lili Anolik, who, in 2010, began obsessively pursuing Babitz, a recluse since burning herself up in a fire in the 90s. Anolik&’s elegant and provocative book is equal parts biography and detective story. It is also on dangerously intimate terms with its subject: artist, writer, muse, and one-woman zeitgeist, Eve Babitz. &“A dazzling, gossip-filled biography of the wayward genius who knew everyone in Seventies LA.&” —The Telegraph (UK)