The Girls: Sappho Goes to Hollywood [Hardcover]

Diana McLellan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2000

McLellan's investigative account of the lives of Hollywood's most glamorous and uninhibited goddesses plunges deep into the rich stew of love, money, and passion that was the dawn of the movie business. The Girls reveals an early marriage to a communist spy that Marlene Dietrich fought all her life to keep secret and unearths an equally shrouded fling between Dietrich and Greta Garbo as starlets in Berlin.

From the complex love life of the elegant Mercedes de Acosta through Isadora Duncan and Tallulah Bankhead to Garbo's lover Salka Viertel, McLellan untangles a passionate skein of connections that stretches from the theater in New York through brazenly bisexual socialites deep into the heart of the film industry.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The debut volume from the new L.A. Weekly imprint at St. Martin's Press, Diana McLellan's witty and penetrating study of the golden age of Hollywood sapphism will delight the armchair detective as well as the lavender movie buff. Thanks to McLellan's obsessive sleuthing, The Girls offers not only the most detailed biography of Mercedes de Acosta, seducer of the stars, but provides tantalizing evidence of an early affair in Germany between Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo, women who in later life claimed never to have met. Much of the book is devoted to Garbo--another sign of the author's good taste--and revelations abound. Sadly, the golden age gave way to McCarthyism. Even the "gayest" of Hollywood lesbians retreated into the closet, or, like de Acosta, left for Europe. McLellan tracks their disappearance in the 1950s and 1960s against the first stirrings of the gay rights movement, providing a satisfying conclusion to a fascinating but not always happy tale. --Regina Marler

From Publishers Weekly

Chill out, Ellen and Anne: flagrant lesbianism has been afoot in Hollywood for decades. This saucily written look at the lives of prominent lesbian and bisexual actresses from the 1920s to the '40s brings together old facts and gossip with new details and a cohesive analysis of the relationships between sexuality, feminism and power in the film industry. Drawing on standard biographiesAsuch as Gavin Lambert's Nazimova, Maria Riva's Dietrich, Brendan Gill's Tallulah and Barry Paris's GarboAas well as interviews, trade and movie magazines and studio publicity, McLellan focuses mainly on the lives of Garbo, Dietrich, Mercedes De Acosta and their circles. While the writing has a tinge of movie magazine breathlessness (e.g., "When Mercedes drove Greta to the studio for the first day's shooting on Conquest, Greta was in tears"), McLellan has an astute eye for psychological detail and a fine sense of industry power plays. Most importantly, this syndicated columnist and editor at Ladies' Home Journal understands that these women's sexuality and their innumerable affairs, flirtations and romances were not exotic, superficial dalliances, but integral to their lives, identities and art. Although basic information about Garbo, Dietrich and De Acosta has been available in the past, McLellan's investigations into such varied topics as Salka Viertel's political interests and Tallulah Bankhead's career and her affair with Hattie McDonald, bring a broader context and new sense of scholarship to the subject. Photos not seen by PW. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 440 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press (October 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312246471
• ISBN-13: 978-0312246471
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #665,042 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

English-born Diana McLellan made her bones as a Washington reporter, feature writer, magazine journalist, columnist, critic and editor. (Penney-Missouri Award, Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild Front Page Awards for humor; Pulitzer nominee.) She spent ten years as a gossip columnist, "The Ear", for the Washington Star, Washington Post, and Washington Times. She is the author of "Ear On Washington," Arbor House, 1982, and :"The Girls: Sappho Goes to Hollywood," St, Martin;s Press, 2000. She spent several years as Washington editor of Washingtonian Magazine, a Washington correspondent for the Ladies Home Journal, and feature writer for magazines of papers like the London Times, the London Telegraph, the Mail on Sunday, etc. She had a longago weekly spot on Maury Povich's innocent old Washington show, Panorama, and appeared regularly on the CBS Morning News with Charles Kuralt. She considers herself a slacker, but occasionally writes a book review. (Washington Post, Wall Street Journal.) She is married to historian Richard X. McLellan.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Hollywood Daisy Chain, January 6, 2002

By 

"the_last_naiad" (Dunedin, New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Girls: Sappho Goes to Hollywood (Paperback)

I've never been a fan of biographies or gossip, biographies often seem too wooden and gossip too unreliable and salacious. But I read this book from cover to cover. Not only has Diana McLellan crafted a credible and well-researched account of the 'intimate' female community in Hollywood during the golden days of cinema, she has the brought the encouragingly entertaining, colourful and often hilarious lives of women such as Tallulah Bankhead so to life that the era has interested me like never before. The author has a wonderful sense of humour, often letting our heroines' own words and situations speak for themselves. She says in the introduction that the book grew not so much from what was right infront of her, as it did from that which was absent. A lie is always told to hide the truth, making it an excellent departure point for investigation. The web of lies that covered the contents of this book is fascinating, and McLellan's talent lies in the way she has managed to weave the public front: the 1930's Hollywood we remember from films and fan magazines; the notorious and infamous underground lesbian culture that was obviously evident if you knew the right people; and the intimately secret, private lives of the world's most famous women, hidden from not only the public, but even their friends and lovers.

I think that this book succeeds, not simply because of the revelatory nature of much of the material: the alleged affair Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo had together in Berlin prior to their Hollywood careers; Dietrich's marriage to Otto Katz, communist and spy during World War II; the other roles Dietrich played during the war besides those of 'morale-builder' and entertainer, but because of the way McLellan has captured the zietgeist of the era. This book is not merely an expose, it is also a social history of lesbianism from 1900-1950, a detailed account of the Hollywood Star System and the advent of talkies. (it certainly made me appreciate 'Singin' in the Rain' all over again!). It also spans far beyond Hollywood, incorporating the bohemian and cultured worlds of Paris and New York and their fascinating figures. It captures the public and private worlds of, literally, a cast of characters in a way that is realistic and endearing. I imagined a film being made from this book as I read it, that's how believable, alive and intimate McLellan's narration is.

I have to admit that the picture McLellan paints of Garbo is really depressing: that of a bitter, indifferent woman who ruined her life by keeping her 'cells' entirely seperate.. a star who was infinitely lonely, her career dying, because she trusted no one. I must also say that while I loved McLellan's wonderful humour, her witty quips, her wonderful sense of brevity... I tired of the ominously leading comments (cue the forboding theme music): 'this event would have a significant effect on upon the rest of her life'... 'a friendship which would, in fact, trigger the end of her career in 10 years time.' 'Marlene, of course, had other things to worry about...' and so on and so forth. I understand that such comments are neccesary, and I admit that they're probably one of the things that kept me reading, but for me they revealed the presense of the person behind the scenes pulling the puppet strings. I just wanted to get lost in the story, absorbed in the lives of these fascinating individuals, not made aware of the subjective nature of the narrative I was reading, and the ways in which my views and reactions could be shaped by the author. That said, it was a wonderful book, 1 part romance, 3 parts mystery, 2 parts tragedy, marvelous fun, wonderful entertainment, enlightening, educational, intelligent... So many beautiful women... and so little time.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Who-was-who-with who, November 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Girls: Sappho Goes to Hollywood (Hardcover)

This book should find a wide, appreciative audience. It captivates with the three beautiful women gracing the jacket, and sweeps the reader along with a stream of gossipy news. Everyone seems to have a mention, from the major players, (The Girls of the title) to fascinating parentheticals (Nancy Reagan). Film buffs will enjoy the exploration of a long suppressed area of Hollywood history, finding endless anecdotes of film-society life, a who-was-who of lesbian Hollywood. Love-matches are made, vows are broken, dirt is dished, Dietrich betrays Garbo's intimate secrets, and we are party to it all. Diana McLellan weaves a fascinating tapestry, that entertains and informs. She does far more, however, by probing the motives of women caught in the gears as American society turned down a prudish path, dragging Hollywood moguls along. If it's hard for lesbian and gay performers to be out in 2000, how must it have been in 1920? McLellan had a difficult task in unearthing deeply buried secrets, but she makes a compelling case that her deductions are correct. Of particular interest is her questioning the claim, made by both Dietrich and Garbo that they had never met, until formally introduced in Hollywood. Stuff and nonsense, says McLellan. Her evidence that the two women not only met, but were lovers, is central to the book's theme. (One would wish the Fatty Arbuckle scandal had been treated with more skepticism, but that's a quibble on my part.) This book is better than a night at most movies!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended for movie buffs., January 4, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Girls: Sappho Goes to Hollywood (Hardcover)

The Girls provides quite a different look at the Hollywood environment of the 1920s to the 1940s as Diana McLellan examines the lives of lesbian and bisexual actresses of the times, analyzing relationships, power plays, and politics alike. The Girls provides a lively, fun chronicle of affairs and scandals and is a recommended pick for any fan of Hollywood intrigue and culture.