Hollywood Babylon

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