MY HIT LIST: HOLLYWOOD BABYLON
Keneth Anger's legendary books on the dark side of Tinsletown contains stories of suicide, Rape, excess, murder, abortion, necrophilia and incest, and those are just some of the subjects covered. it's scurrilous and shocking, but what it does is take the sheen off the Hollywood myth making machine. It casts a light into the dark corners of golden age Hollywood. A time when stars were rich, famous and lived life's of excess. Debauchery was considered okay and drug use and alcohol were part and parcel of the scene. These untouchables came undone when Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle was chosen as the one to take a fall for all of Hollywood in order to send out the message to 'curb your behaviour'. These books are interesting and entertaining trawls through the underbelly of LA's dream machine. BBC's Arena made a documentary on the subject that is extremely interesting, but not as interesting as these books are for anyone having a passing interest in Golden age Hollywood.
Pre-Hayes Code
Crawford
Velez
Garland
Farmer
part of a documentary on Anger and his books
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