Customer Reviews

The Hollywood Book of Extravagance: The Totally Infamous, Mostly Disastrous, and Always Compelling Excesses of America's Film and TV Idols

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Prolific Hollywood author and biographer, James Robert Parish, has just published a fascinating gallery of sketches of the great and near-great Hollywood celebrities from the past 70 years through today in his latest book, THE HOLLYWOOD BOOK OF EXTRAVAGANCE. Let's be honest: there were many great stars of Hollywood's Golden Age who were quite sensible and level-headed (Rosalind Russell, Irene Dunne, Ray Milland and Fred MacMurray easily come to mind) but really, who wants to read about THEM? Far more entertaining are the celebs whose lives and careers flared brightly and often briefly though fate, but more often through mismanagement and by their own personal demons. Such circumstances may have ultimately made for a hellish life to live, but these are the stuff of the biographer's dream - and the reader's delight.

Parish reviews the familiar names such as Marilyn Monroe, Richard Burton, Frank Sinatra, and Joan Crawford, but for the true film aficionado are the cautionary tales of Veronica Lake, Betty Hutton, Oscar Levant, Macaulay Culkin, Burt Reynolds, and many other celebs - some quite forgotten today but celebrated (or notorious) in their own day. A highly recommended book that will make the actors you see on Turner Classic Movies become three dimensional for their follies and foibles.

This is a fun-to-read book. Cleverly and clearly written, it includes fascinating details about Hollywood celebrities; their antics are guaranteed to make you feel like maybe you're not such a nut job after all. Not only does it include profiles on better known stars like Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Clara Bow, Mary Pickford, Elizabeth Taylor, Mel Gibson, Errol Flynn, and Warren Beatty, but it also has sections on near-forgotten celebs like Oscar Levant, Gale Storm, Veronica Lake, Betty Hutton, Jean Arthur, and Al Jolson.

James Robert Parish, one of filmdom's leading historians, offers a thoroughly engaging account, star by star, of the excesses, larger-than-life personalities, and pecadilloes of these Hollywood greats of the past and present. From Clara Bow, Charlie Chaplin, and Buster Keaton to Warren Beatty, Julia Roberts, and Drew Barrymore, Parish provides biographical overviews connecting the accomplishments and personal lives of each star to the addictions, tribulations, and indulgences that marked, and in many cases, marred their lives. Parish is unfailingly knowledgeable on all aspects of Hollywood (and television) history and his prose is lively, funny, and wisely reasoned in positing the psychological drives that fed the stars' behaviors. The text is well-illustrated and includes a useful bibliography, but film lovers will devour this chronicle of Hollywood's most compelling excesses. This is a must read!

I opened up the book and then realized what a mistake it was to buy this. I felt as if I was cheated. All of this stuff can be found in so many other places and probably free on the internet. Basically, the majority of people it covered were contemporaries and most of this stuff we all know. At one point, I thought there were little more than resumes of their careers, for which we all know too well. I cannot recommend this book.

While we are bombarded daily with stories of young Hollywood out of control, this fascinating book will show that they are part of a long tradition going back to the beginnings. This very readable, lively book is divided into sections such as So Much Partying (John Barrymore to Robert Downey Jr.), So Much Romancing ( Charlie Chaplin to Jude Law), So Much Rich Living (Zsa Zsa Gabor to Paris Hilton). Each chapter has a brief background on the person and detailed account of their extravagances and the consequences of it all. This makes for very enjoyable reading.

Parish has long been the go-to guy for Hollywood related lore. But what makes the Book of Extravagance so special is that it is not just about drug and alcohol usage and sexual partners but power, neurosis, the things that often go unexamined in Hollywood. A tremendous and insightful book on what we love and deplore about Hollywood.

The best thing about James Robert Parish's books is that they treat potentially sensational(istic) subject matters in a manner that is straightforward and factual. Most writers would simply exploit the excesses of the rich and famous, but Parish goes much beyond that, providing a context for the actions of his subjects. Another good thing about the "Hollywood Book of Extravagance" is that it covers both new and old personalities -- in fact, the book goes back all the way to beginning of the 20th century. Don't let the "extravagant" title scare you. This book has much more to offer.

James Parish always comes up with interesting subjects and writes in a readable, fun way. EXTRAVAGANCES is just that: colorful and flashy, but only in the best sense. Of course, it is entertaining to read about contemporary celebrities "acting out," but Parish is even better with stars of the past--who knew about Gale Storm or Sonja Henie? No one gets a pass here--not even America's first "Sweetheart," Mary Pickford. If the book can be faulted for anything, it is for not going into more depth with each story (even if it meant ditching a few entries, it would have been worth it). But, otherwise, THE HOLLYWOOD BOOK OF EXTRAVAGANCE covers its subject much better than all that TMZ stuff churned out today.

Parish's subtitle - The Totalling Infamous, Mostly Disastrous, and Always Compelling Excesses of America's Film and TV Idols - says it all. It is compelling reading about all these wonderful and appalling excesses. Only Hollywood can create tales like this. And they're all true! His book is a great, fun read. It's perfect for keeping around, reading a section, and then reading another later. Like returning to sample another delicacy from a luscious box of bon-bons. He's included some great examples - the tabloid twins naturally - with unexpected, forgotten surprises like Sonja Henie, Fernando Lamas, Peter Sellers. Most of what Parish documents so well would be horrifying, if it weren't so sadly true.

James Robert Parish's THE HOLLYWOOD BOOK OF EXTRAVAGANCE is well worth the investment. More than 80 two-to-four page biographies of show biz icons provide always interesting information about a wide variety of personalities, from actors to industry moguls, which can be read one or two at a time or in a non-stop trip through the book's 250+ pages. You can always depend on Parish for a good time--he knows his business, show business, that is!