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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The 1950s are often dismissed as a peaceful interval between the war-ravaged '40s and the socially stormy '60s. Not so, according to journalists Kashner and MacNair, who offer a juicy, gossip-gorged expos‚ of '50s Hollywood. They begin, appropriately, with the story of Confidential magazine, a publication that outed gays and revealed interracial romances, prison records and extramarital affairs. The chapter "The Lavender Closet" concentrates on homosexual scandals involving tennis great Bill Tilden, actress Lizabeth Scott and writer/actor/director No‰l Coward. Kashner and MacNair comprehensively cover anticommunist hysteria, along with powerful studies of blacklisted screenwriter Alvah Bessie and actor Lee J. Cobb. The book's most striking subject is Nicholas Ray, director of Rebel Without a Cause. Inevitably, the authors emphasize the film's sexual backstory (Ray and Rebel cast member Dennis Hopper were both having affairs with Natalie Wood), but Ray's genius, his battles against the studio system and contribution to the fiery James Dean legend enhance the director's stature as a neglected immortal. Kashner and MacNair deal amusingly with Hollywood's religious period, ranging from Billy Graham's low-budget Mr. Texas to Twentieth Century Fox's Cinemascope circus, The Robe. Well-known anecdotes about Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Lana Turner are outshone by gritty profiles of legendary screenwriter Ernest Lehman (The Sweet Smell of Success), self-destructive novelist Grace Metalious (Peyton Place), anorexic actress Sandra Dee (Imitation of Life), suicidal playwright William Inge (Picnic) and cutthroat columnists Louella Parsons, Hedda Hopper and Sheilah Graham. These accounts, often dipped in acid, will keep readers flipping pages and highlight Kashner and MacNair's intention to write "a prismatic rather than an academic view of 1950s Hollywood." Photos.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
While Fifties Hollywood meant Disney films, the Legion of Decency, and pious epics like The Ten Commandments, it was also the era of Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard, the blacklist, the scandal sheet Confidential, and the "lavender closet" as the authors note, homosexuality was considered "a kind of sexual equivalent of Communism." This popular, subjective history is a series of vignettes capturing a Hollywood in transition, pressured by television, the studio system's decline, and the postwar emerging permissiveness. Topics include the influence of the short-lived but much-feared Confidential; the clout of aging gossip queens Louella Parsons, Hedda Hopper, and Sheila Graham; and the uproar over an interracial romance between Sammy Davis and Kim Novak. Journalist Kashner and MacNair, a writer for The Jim Lehrer Newshour, write most perceptively on the era's classics (Sweet Smell of Success), and the best chapter describes how director Nicholas Ray forged his timeless portrait of teen-age angst in Rebel Without a Cause. The book is a brisk read but not the last word on Fifties Hollywood (though other, better books on the subject are out of print). The chapter on the misdeeds of the children of Hollywood stars could apply to any era, and chapters on Oscar Levant, Mae West, and Grace Metalious seem of dubious relevance. Despite its flaws, this book is recommended for public library collections. Stephen Rees, Levittown Regional Lib., PA
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews
The 1950s are often dismissed as a peaceful interval between the war-ravaged '40s and the socially stormy '60s. Not so, according to journalists Kashner and MacNair, who offer a juicy, gossip-gorged expos‚ of '50s Hollywood. They begin, appropriately, with the story of Confidential magazine, a publication that outed gays and revealed interracial romances, prison records and extramarital affairs. The chapter "The Lavender Closet" concentrates on homosexual scandals involving tennis great Bill Tilden, actress Lizabeth Scott and writer/actor/director No‰l Coward. Kashner and MacNair comprehensively cover anticommunist hysteria, along with powerful studies of blacklisted screenwriter Alvah Bessie and actor Lee J. Cobb. The book's most striking subject is Nicholas Ray, director of Rebel Without a Cause. Inevitably, the authors emphasize the film's sexual backstory (Ray and Rebel cast member Dennis Hopper were both having affairs with Natalie Wood), but Ray's genius, his battles against the studio system and contribution to the fiery James Dean legend enhance the director's stature as a neglected immortal. Kashner and MacNair deal amusingly with Hollywood's religious period, ranging from Billy Graham's low-budget Mr. Texas to Twentieth Century Fox's Cinemascope circus, The Robe. Well-known anecdotes about Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Lana Turner are outshone by gritty profiles of legendary screenwriter Ernest Lehman (The Sweet Smell of Success), self-destructive novelist Grace Metalious (Peyton Place), anorexic actress Sandra Dee (Imitation of Life), suicidal playwright William Inge (Picnic) and cutthroat columnists Louella Parsons, Hedda Hopper and Sheilah Graham. These accounts, often dipped in acid, will keep readers flipping pages and highlight Kashner and MacNair's intention to write "a prismatic rather than an academic view of 1950s Hollywood." Photos.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
While Fifties Hollywood meant Disney films, the Legion of Decency, and pious epics like The Ten Commandments, it was also the era of Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard, the blacklist, the scandal sheet Confidential, and the "lavender closet" as the authors note, homosexuality was considered "a kind of sexual equivalent of Communism." This popular, subjective history is a series of vignettes capturing a Hollywood in transition, pressured by television, the studio system's decline, and the postwar emerging permissiveness. Topics include the influence of the short-lived but much-feared Confidential; the clout of aging gossip queens Louella Parsons, Hedda Hopper, and Sheila Graham; and the uproar over an interracial romance between Sammy Davis and Kim Novak. Journalist Kashner and MacNair, a writer for The Jim Lehrer Newshour, write most perceptively on the era's classics (Sweet Smell of Success), and the best chapter describes how director Nicholas Ray forged his timeless portrait of teen-age angst in Rebel Without a Cause. The book is a brisk read but not the last word on Fifties Hollywood (though other, better books on the subject are out of print). The chapter on the misdeeds of the children of Hollywood stars could apply to any era, and chapters on Oscar Levant, Mae West, and Grace Metalious seem of dubious relevance. Despite its flaws, this book is recommended for public library collections. Stephen Rees, Levittown Regional Lib., PA
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews
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