Product Description

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: From the Secret Files of Harry Pennypacker is a revisionist history of Hollywood's Golden Era and the tabloid press that covered it.

Harry Pennypacker was a prolific and revered newspaper columnist; a colleague of Louella Parsons, Walter Winchell, and the other great columnists of the day.

Unfortunately, nobody has ever heard of him because the papers never ran his articles.

They were too hot. Too dangerous. Too likely to tarnish the delicate image of silver screen icons.

The newspaper syndicate couldn't fire him because he had an ironclad contract, so Pennypacker wrote his stories ... and the editors buried them.

Until now.

The secret files of Harry Pennypacker are secret no longer.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #508717 in Books
• Published on: 2008-12-15
• Released on: 2008-12-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 132 pages

Review

"Always full of surprises, Druxman takes us on a wild and zany ride down a yellow brick road of filmdom myth that's fun and amusing; it's a sure bet for plenty of laughs."

-- Steve Kanaly, actor, Dallas

"So, you think you know Hollywood lore? You think you've heard all there is to hear about the stars and their films? Well, forget all you've read, because Michael B. Druxman and Stuart Blumberg have uncovered the real dirt behind the legends. I don't want to give away anything in this blurb, but my mouth was agape as I read the strange and sometimes sordid newly discovered tales in this book. Things I never knew about Clark Gable and John Wayne and The Wizard of Oz and James Dean and more -- I was mesmerized, I was astonished, I was giggling. A book that makes Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon seem like Fun with Dick and Jane. Are these tales true? Is the pope Jewish?"

-- Bruce Kimmel, author of the Benjamin Kritzer trilogy and writer/director of the cult movie favorite The First Nudie Musical

"A diverting humorous satire on Tinseltown."

-- James Robert Parish, author of It's Good to Be the King: The Seriously Funny Life of Mel Brooks

About the Author

Michael B. Druxman is a veteran Hollywood screenwriter whose credits include Cheyenne Warrior with Kelly Preston, Dillinger and Capone starring Martin Sheen and F. Murray Abraham, and The Doorway with Roy Scheider, which he also directed.

He is also a prolific playwright, his one-person play, Jolson, having had numerous productions around the country.

Additionally, he is the author of twelve other published books, including several nonfiction works about Hollywood, its movies, and the people who make them (e.g., Basil Rathbone: His Life and His Films, and Make It Again, Sam: A Survey of Movie Remakes), plus two novels, Nobody Drowns in Mineral Lake and Shadow Watcher.

A native of Seattle, Mr. Druxman currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Sandy.

Customer Reviews

Celluloid Tabloid Factoids
Using the framework of old Hollywood columns that never saw the light of day, Michael B. Druxman has fashioned an unblinking satire of golden age Hollywood reporting and Confidential magazine.

Harry Pennypacker had the lowdown - and I do mean LOW - on several high profile screen personalities. Druxman reports what HP wrote and lets us decide for ourselves what we want to think about it.

No star is safe. From Clark Gable to Marilyn Monroe to James Dean - the angles that Pennypacker had on each of them is unique.

Your jaw will drop. You will think and wonder. And in the end, you will know you have been in the presence of the pen of a man who knows more than you do about Hollywood and its citizens.

Complete with photos - which are as funny as the text - Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a fun quick read. If you are tired of the dry, dusty tomes that purport to give you Hollywood history, then this little book is for you.

As Ripley says - Believe it or not....and I didn't....but I was glad to get the chance to know. Just in case.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
I thought I knew just about every scandalous secret of the lives of the stars in Hollywood's Golden Age - until I came across this gem of an expose. It turns out that a forgotten gossip columnist, Harry Pennypacker, really knew where all the bodies were buried, but his stories were killed because the dirt he dishes on Tinseltown's biggest stars was at that time considered unfit to print. But now the truth can be told, and the story of Pennypacker's sleuthing is as outrageous and funny as his shocking revelations. Michael Druxman's witty "truth is stranger than fiction" tour de force is an irresistible page turner.

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
I'm not from Hollywood and never heard of Harry Pennypacker. But, I found this book to be funny and very interesting too. I am not sure I believe any of the stories Mr. Druxman has shared in this book, but I definitely enjoyed reading them. I would recommend ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD to anyone that wants to get away from their reality for a couple of hours and just have a rollicking good time.