Customer Reviews

Hollywood Heat: Untold Stories of 1950s Hollywood

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The author was a minor 50s celebrity. There is very little interesting here although photos of him with a few 50s movie stars break up the monotony. Much better option, although with fewer photos, is "Dishing Hollywood" by Laurie Jacobson (although Jacobson's book in not exclusively devoted to the 50s).

I enjoyed this book a lot, for many reasons. True, it's not a tell-all, with juicy gossip on every page, and he is incredibly kind when he probably shouldn't have been at times, but as a pictorial essay on fifties and sixties Hollywood, it held my interest throughout. I often wondered what happened to Rowland, and in many ways, I still do, since this book doesn't scratch the surface of his life story. I can only wish he would write a true memoir, start-to-finish, as I learned almost nothing about his later life, beyond the early sixties. Apparently, he was married for a time, but to whom, and for how long? Does he have any children? Without a doubt, he has a wealth of knowledge about the industry, but it remains untold. There's little doubt that most of us would have loved living the kind of life he (and his friend Budd Albright) lived. They certainly had a great time, and I wish they would write more about it. Rowland thinks he failed to become a big star due to the fact that he was too short, but that won't wash. Many actors who did make it were 5' 8" tall, or shorter (Cagney, Cruise, Hoffman, Dean, to name just a few). My personal opinion is that he and Albright were just too busy having fun to dedicate themselves to an acting career. That said, both guys come across as good guys you come to like by the end of the book. Recommended reading.

You can watch the movies or see the documentaries. But "Hollywood Heat" is the story of a young, virile struggling actor who was actually there. You jump into his roadster and ride the not so mean streets of Hollywood with him -looking for girls and gigs, meeting friends such as Elvis, Marlon Brando and Robert Wagner, dating starlets like Natalie Wood. You'll hang out in the clubs and go to the exclusive parties. But this isn't just the memoir of an old man looking back with a nostalgic tear in his eye. Rowland was also a columnist and the writing is in the poetic hipster lingo of the times - filled with drama and self-deprecating humor. To anyone entranced by the glamour and culture of the Fifties this is Hollywood from the inside - a book to delight and treasure.