By Jeff Burns
My
wife and I have been enjoying the series Feud: Bette and Joan, about Hollywood
legends Bette Davis and Joan Crawford and their epic clashes in and around the
filming of the movie Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? I always enjoy stories of the glamour and the
grime of the early days of Hollywood. Actors seemed to be just so much more
interesting then. Dig a little below the glitz and glam, and you’ll find
stories of murder and deception that the greatest Hollywood screenwriters
couldn’t imagine. Here are some books about Hollywood history.
The Fixers: Eddie Mannix, Howard
Strickling and the MGM Publicity Machine by E.J. Fleming tells the story of
Eddie Mannix, the general manager of MGM from the 1930s to the 1960s. His job was to “fix” scandals that tarnish
the reputations and careers of MGM stars before they went public. The recent movie “Hail, Caesar!” is loosely
based on his life. The book details scandals from unwanted pregnancies to
murders that involved such stars as Jean Harlow, Lana Turner, Spencer Tracy,
and Marlene Dietrich, and many others.
William
Mann’s book, Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of
Hollywood, demonstrates that scandal rocked the movie industry from its
very infancy. Set in the very early
1920s, it revolves around the murder of a leading director, William Desmond
Taylor. Taylor’s murder has long been one of Hollywood’s greatest unsolved
mysteries, with one dark secret after another coming to light. Mann investigates thoroughly and also details
the infighting among the rising Hollywood moguls, battling for movie supremacy,
and the mounting public crusade against the indecency of the industry. If you like Erik Larson books, especially Devil
in the White City, you will like this book.
WARNING: ADULT THEMES. If you’re looking
for real dirt, and you can handle graphic language and situations, you might
consider Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives
of the Stars by Scotty Bowers. Bowers writes about his life in Hollywood,
beginning as in 1946. Fresh out of the
Marines, he finds himself with a unique talent. He basically becomes
Hollywood’s pimp, providing male and female sex partners for the biggest stars
of the day. He holds nothing back.
