Product Description

For decades, there s been speculation that somebody, somewhere, would produce an updated version of Hollywood Babylon, perhaps even more notorious than the first two volumes compiled a half-century ago by avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger. For pop culture fanatics, his books became an underground legend.

Anger s original version had to be published in Paris, as it was too hot for America at the time. But beliefs about celebrities, sexuality, and morality have changed radically since then. New waves of narcissists, exhibitionists, and looney toons have invaded the entertainment industry. The gossip industry has transformed America into a nation of voyeurs. By today s standards, Anger s spin on Babylon looks downright demure.

With a respectful nod to those long-ago statements by Kenneth Anger, Blood Moon is proud to release another Hollywood Babylon, in this case more shocking and more scandalous than before. Within this first volume, we visit Babylon as well as Sodom and Gomorrah. And we don t deal just with Hollywood s Golden Age we zero in on some present-day brouhahas as well.

Buyer beware: The scandals exposed within this book are not for the faint-of-heart. You might not think of the old pinups in quite the same way after reading this edition. Those offended by male movie stars dropping trou for offscreen cameras should stick to Alice in Wonderland.

It s true: We re not shy about male nudity, or even female nudity. Today, nudity in films is commonplace.

In the past, the porno films made by major movie stars (including Joan Crawford and Sylvester Stallone) were enveloped in a sense of secrecy and, perhaps, shame. Today, what would previously have been defined as pornography regularly makes its way onto the screen.

Within this book, Blood Moon daringly applies the gossipy reportage of today to the tabloid scandals of yesterday think Confidential Magazine on amphetimines with access to the Internet. Breast measurements of Hollywood bombshells are being widely publicized. Even the mainstream press has gotten more graphic. Time Magazine has even published the length (in inches) of Hugh Grant s penis.

Scandal is not limited just to events within America. Within this edition of Hollywood Babylon, it goes global. As such, we visit the Vatican boudoir of a former pope and his male lovers. And we document Sir Winston Churchill s onetime sexual liaison with Britain s most handsome actor.

There's more. Revealed for the first time are stories about James Dean, the child molester; Bette Davis, offscreen murderess; Errol Flynn, the incestuous father; Ava Gardner, the part-time lesbian; and Marilyn Monroe s involvements with Jackie Kennedy and Elvis Presley.

We ll even tell you about what happened to Judy Garland s body before it was finally laid to rest.

Hollywood celebrity biographer Darwin Porter and former New York Times reporter Danforth Prince take you on a roller-coaster ride through the scandals of yesterday and today. An early reviewer referred to this book as A movieland massacre, followed by an autopsy with a scalpel whose cutting edge is coated with Lucretia Borgia s poison. It s about The Good, The Bad, and the Fabulous.

To those who love her, Hollywood was and is a gossipy, mendacious (Big Daddy's word), and whorish place that remains captivating despite the passage of time. In Hollywood Babylon, it s depicted at its sleaziest, most venal, and most deliciously unseemly.

Rock Hudson said it all In Hollywood, you can keep a mistress, or a boyfriend, maybe both. You can go gay, -bi, or pan-sexual. Just don't tell anybody, and don't get caught.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #191102 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 408 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780974811888
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
Dishing with abaondon, the authors spare no one--especially not the dead. Marilyn Monroe had an affair with Ronald Reagan, Marilyn also had a tryst with Joan Crawford but refused to make it an ongoing affair. James Dean showed a disconcerting interest in a 12-year-old boy in the early 1950s. Lucille Ball launched herself into show business as a hooker, and her husband Desi Arnaz had a fling with Cesar Romero. Cary Grant had an incestuous relationship with his stepson, Lance Reventlow. And this, by the way, is only the tip of the iceberg. --Rush & Molloy, The NY Daily News

Many of Hollywood's most outrageous secrets remained hidden. Until now. This book will set the graves of Hollywood's cemeteries spinning. --Daily Express (London)

The American movie industry is always eager for the spotlight if the close-up is flattering and good for business. But Hollywood may get more than it bargained for with HOLLYWOOD BABYLON'S compendium of stories, rumors, and myths. Virtually every page features one kind of train wreck or another, usually accompanied by spectacularly lurid photographs. Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince provide a hair-raising list of compromises and strategically granted sexual favors as proof that some stars will do anything for a part. Not even Grace Kelly and Lucille Ball escaped having to get down and dirty on the proverbial casting couch, according to Porter and Prince. Read these pages to learn what Robert Mitchum is said to have taught Marilyn Monroe on the set of THE RIVER OF NO RETURN that would prove useful during her rumored affair with JFK. Try as you might, you won't be able to stop turning the pages...In revealing so many facts previously under wraps, this book, in fact, raises the question of how much more remains hidden. --Shelf Awareness/ Bookselling News

About the Author
Darwin Porter's previous revelations about Hollywood and the underbelly private lives of its celebrities have appeared within such biographies as Brando Unzipped, The Secret Life of Humphrey Bogart, Howard Hughes: Hell's Angel, Hepburn (Katharine the Great; andJACKO (Michael Jackson), His Rise and Fall.

Four of these comprehensive biographies were serialized within London's Sunday Times or The Mail on Sunday, and each received acclaim from literary critics and in some rare instances, hate mail from readers. Porter, within the past four years, has received seven literary awards for his "salvaging of the oral histories of Hollywood," and been featured in literary reviews throughout the US, Australia, and Britain.

He was assisted in the compilation of Hollywood Babylon-It's Back, by Danforth Prince, a former reporter for the New York Times and president of Blood Moon Productions.

Porter and Prince are the co-authors of about 40 of the current titles within the European and Caribbean series of The Frommer Guides, a trusted name in travel publishing, a series which is produced and updated at annual intervals by John Wiley and Sons.