Hollywood Babylone is a book by filmmaker Kenneth Anger published in an embryonic version in 1959 by Parisian publisher Jean-Jacques Pauvert 1 . The book was published in its final version in 1975 the United States was surrounded by scandal, the book was quickly banned 2 . It reveals the dark sideof Hollywood celebrities . The full version of 1975 is published in French for the first time in 2013 by Tristram Publishing House 3 , 4 .
Stories recounted
The first volume, in its current version, discusses the following topics:
- The mercury ingestion death of actress Olive Thomas and the ensuing scandal around her husband Jack Pickford ;
- the drug addictions of Juanita Hansen , Alma Rubens and Barbara La Marr ;
- the supposed sexual masochism of Mary Nolan ;
- the charges of rape and the subsequent trial of Errol Flynn ;
- the mysterious death of producer Thomas Ince aboard William Randolph Hearst’s yacht ;
- the adulterous affair of Mary Astor with author George S. Kaufman as she related it in her diary;
- the decline of the careers of Mae Murray , Pola Negri , Louise Brooks , Marie Prevost and John Gilbert ;
- the connections of Rudolph Valentino ;
- the lesbianism of Alla Nazimova ;
- the filming difficulties of Erich von Stroheim ;
- the liaison between William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies ;
- the scandal Roscoe Arbuckle – Virginia Rappe ;
- the drug-related deaths of Wallace Reid , Judy Garland , and (supposedly) Carl “Alfalfa” Switzer ;
- the forced marriage of Charlie Chaplin with Mildred Harris and Lita Gray plus the paternity scandal Joan Barry ;
- the murder of William Desmond Taylor and the consequences on the careers of Mabel Normand and Mary Miles Minter ;
- the suicides of Lupe Vélez , Carole Landis , Entwistle Peg , Gwili Andre , Albert Dekker , Lou Tellegen , Bobby Harron , Max Linder , George Sanders , and Clara Blandick ;
- Mae West and the censors;
- Clara Bow’s accusations of excitement and mental instability ;
- the glory and decay of Frances Farmer and her journey to psychiatric hospitals;
- the homosexuality of Ramon Novarro and his murder by prostitutes;
- the mysterious deaths of Thelma Todd and Marilyn Monroe ;
- the murder of gangster Bugsy Siegel by his friend Virginia Hill and Lucky Luciano , and the death of Lana Turner’s lover , Johnny Stompanato stabbed by his then teenage daughter Cheryl Crane ;
- the decline and death of Jayne Mansfield ;
- Lewis Stone’s death from a heart attack after pursuing boys throwing stones at his house;
- the suicide of Jean Harlow’s second husband , Paul Bern (illustrated with photos of the nude actress, before her celebrity);
- the black list of Hollywood Ten ;
- the murder of Sharon Tate by Charles Manson ;
- legal proceedings against the scandal magazine Confidential (en) .
Related Articles
- Case Roscoe Arbuckle (1921)
- Harvey Weinstein Case (2017)
References
- ↑ “Hollywood Babylon”: the lair of madness , Didier Jacob, Le Nouvel Observateur , April 27, 2013. [ archive ]
- ↑ Criticism of Hollywood Babylon by Kenneth Anger , Laurent Rigoulet, Télérama , n o 3298, March 30, 2013. [ archive ]
- ↑ Hollywood, hell side , Samuel Blumenfeld Le Monde , April 18, 2013. [ archive ]
- ↑ Theophilus Pillault, “The archival photos of the decadent Hollywood 1950” , Vice , November 15, 2016. [ archive ]