For this week’s Sunday Funday post, we are highlighting Anne Helen Petersen’s book Scandals of Classic Hollywood: Sex, Deviance, and Drama from the Golden Age of American Cinema.
Suzanne Vega once sang that “when heroes go down, they go down fast,” a sentiment that is especially true when it comes to the rich and famous. Whether you call it karma or schadenfreude, there’s something that is fascinating about how the human condition so quickly turns on those who we once elevated to superhuman status. In Scandals of Classic Hollywood, culture writer Anne Helen Petersen explores some of the biggest falls from grace ever to get the world talking. Here’s a description of what readers can expect from this page-turner, which would make for perfect beach or vacation reading:
Gossip meets history—a compulsively readable collection of Hollywood’s most notorious clashes and controversies in the spirit of Hollywood Babylon. Believe it or not, America’s fascination with celebrity culture was thriving well before the days of TMZ, Perez Hilton, Charlie Sheen’s breakdown and allegations against Woody Allen. And the stars of yesteryear? They weren’t always the saints that we make them out to be. BuzzFeed columnist Anne Helen Petersen is here to set the record straight with Scandals of Classic Hollywood. Pulling little-known gems from the archives of film history, Petersen reveals eyebrow-raising information, including: The smear campaign against the original It Girl, Clara Bow, started by her best friend, the heartbreaking story of Montgomery Clift’s rapid rise to fame, the car accident that destroyed his face, and the “long suicide” that followed, Fatty Arbuckle’s descent from Hollywood royalty, fueled by allegations of a boozy orgy turned violent assault, why Mae West was arrested and jailed for “indecency charges” & much more. Part biography, part cultural history, these stories cover the stuff that films are made of: love, sex, drugs, illegitimate children, illicit affairs, and botched cover-ups. But it’s not all just tawdry gossip in the pages of this book. The stories are all contextualized within the boundaries of film, cultural, political, and gender history, making for a read that will inform as it entertains. Based on Petersen’s popular column on the Hairpin, but featuring 100% new content, Scandals of Classic Hollywood is sensationalism made smart.
Sounds like a juicy read for anyone who ever enjoyed hearing or dishing gossip. This one is sure to leave you feeling scandalized in the best way!
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