Hollywood Babylon
Author | Kenneth Anger |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Subject | Hollywood gossip |
Publisher | J.J. Pauvert (1959) Straight Arrow Press/Simon & Schuster (1975)[1] |
Publication date | 1959 |
Media type | Print (Paperback) |
Followed by | Hollywood Babylon 2 |
Hollywood Babylon is a book by
Contents
Originally published in French in 1959 by J.J. Pauvert (Paris) as Hollywood Babylone,[6] the first U.S. edition of Hollywood Babylon was published in 1965 by Associated Professional Services of Phoenix, Arizona.[7] A second U.S. edition was published by Rolling Stone′s Straight Arrow Press and distributed by Simon & Schuster, released in 1975 after a series of copyright conflicts.[8]
The book details alleged scandals of Hollywood stars from the
Hollywood Babylon also features chapters on the
Criticisms
Exploitation
The book's 1975 edition featured graphic images such as the scene of the traffic accident that killed Jayne Mansfield,[9] a photograph of Carole Landis after her suicide, images of director and screenwriter Paul Bern following his suicide, a photograph of Lewis Stone as he lay dying on a sidewalk, and uncensored images of the Black Dahlia's mutilated corpse.
Falsehoods
Although many of Anger's claims have been denounced as untrue since the book's initial publication,[3][2] it is nonetheless responsible for many oft-quoted urban legends. For example, it claimed that Clara Bow engaged in sex with the entire USC football team, including a young John Wayne, a fallacy which has been debunked several times.[3] Bow's sons considered suing Anger at the time of the book's second release.[10]
The book also claimed that Lupe Vélez was found drowned in her own vomit with her head in a toilet after she committed suicide by swallowing more than 500 sleeping tablets.[11] There was no basis to the story; in 2013, the first publication of a death photo showed Vélez had been found on her bedroom floor.[12]
Other debunked urban legends started by the book include claims that impoverished film star Marie Prevost's body was partially eaten by her dachshund after she died in her Hollywood apartment in 1937, and that Jayne Mansfield was decapitated in her fatal 1967 car accident.[13]
Anger acquired the "lurid, grotesque, and often surreal" images that populate the book from a variety of sources such as Hollywood still gallaries, newspapers, magazines, police archives, or his own photography collection. Both unintentionally and intentionally by taking artistic license, Anger misattributes or miscaptions a number of them.[14] In the chapter covering the Fatty Arbuckle-Virigina Rappe scandal, a woman photographed in a mourning outfit is misidentified as Rappe's friend and witness to the incident Maude Delmont, when she is actually Arbuckle's wife Minta Durfee.[15]
The fallacies, myths, and exaggerations of Hollywood Babylon were the focus of season 10 of Karina Longworth's podcast You Must Remember This: "Fake News: Fact Checking Hollywood Babylon".[14]
Sequels
Hollywood Babylon II was published in 1984.[16] It was greatly expanded in format but was not as well received as the first book. It covered stars from the 1920s to the 1970s.
For years Anger said he intended to write a Hollywood Babylon III,
A television series based upon the books was produced for syndication in 1992–1993. Hosted by Tony Curtis, the series featured dramatic reenactments of stories from Anger's books, augmented by veteran actor Curtis relating Hollywood-based anecdotes of his own.
See also
- Full Service, by Scotty Bowers
- Babylon, a 2022 film by Damien Chazelle depicting a fictionalized 1920s Hollywood that takes inspiration from claims featured in this book.
References
- ISBN 978-0-87932-086-7.
- ^ a b c Smith, Nathan (August 8, 2015). "The Book that Shocked Tinseltown". The Daily Beast. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-385-24125-0.
- ISBN 978-0-8131-2122-2.
- ISBN 978-0-7864-4207-2.
- ISBN 978-0-8223-2889-6.
- ISBN 978-0-415-93764-1.
- ^ a b c Bhattacharya, Sanjiv (August 22, 2004). "Look Back at Anger". The Observer. Retrieved January 8, 2008.
- ^ "Jayne Mansfield". Snopes.com. January 3, 2001. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-385-24125-0.
- ^ Biopic belies the myth of the death of Lupe Velez
- Huffington Post. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
- ISBN 978-0-7864-0834-4.
- ^ a b Longworth, Karina (July 2, 2018). "D.W. Griffith, the Gish Sisters, and the Origin of "Hollywood Babylon". You Must Remember This (Podcast). Retrieved February 15, 2024.
- ISBN 9781613735206.
- ^ Gross, John (November 3, 1984). "Book of the Times; Babylon Revisited". The New York Times. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
- ^ Hattenstone, Simon (March 10, 2010). "Kenneth Anger: 'No, I am not a Satanist'". The Guardian. Retrieved December 27, 2011.
- ^ "Kenneth Anger Angered By New Version of Hollywood Babylon". Cinema Retro. June 9, 2008. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
External links
- The Cut and Paste Club (on plagiarism in a part of Hollywood Babylon II)
- Hollywood Babylon (TV series) at IMDb