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Hollywood Babylon
''Hollywood Babylon'' is a book by avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger which details the purported scandals of famous Hollywood denizens from the 1900s to the 1950s. The book was banned shortly after it was first published in the U.S. in 1965, and remained unavailable until reprinted ten years later. Upon its second release in 1975, ''The New York Times'' said of it, "If a book such as this can be said to have charm, it lies in the fact that here is a book without one single redeeming merit." ''The Daily Beast'' described Anger's book as "essentially a work of fiction. There is no doubt that many—if not all—of the stories Anger shares in his slim bible have no merit." Film historian Kevin Brownlow repeatedly criticized the book, citing Anger as saying his research method was "mental telepathy, mostly". Contents Originally published in French in 1959 by J.J. Pauvert (Paris) as ''Hollywood Babylone'', the first U.S. edition of ''Hollywood Babylon'' was published in 1965 by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenneth Anger
Kenneth Anger (born Kenneth Wilbur Anglemyer, February 3, 1927) is an American underground experimental filmmaker, actor, and author. Working exclusively in short films, he has produced almost 40 works since 1937, nine of which have been grouped together as the "Magick Lantern Cycle". His films variously merge surrealism with homoeroticism and the occult, and have been described as containing "elements of erotica, documentary, psychodrama, and spectacle".The Kinsey Institute''Spotlight on the Collections: Filmmaker Kenneth Anger'' 2004. Retrieved June 1, 2010. Anger has been called "one of America's first openly gay filmmakers, and certainly the first whose work addressed homosexuality in an undisguised, self-implicating manner", and his "role in rendering gay culture visible within American cinema, commercial or otherwise ..impossible to overestimate", with several films released before the legalization of homosexual acts between consenting adults in the United States. He focuse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Nolan
Mary Nolan (born Mariam Imogene Robertson; December 18, 1902 – October 31, 1948) was an American stage and film actress, singer and dancer. She began her career as a Ziegfeld girl in the 1920s performing under the stage name Imogene "Bubbles" Wilson. She was fired from the ''Ziegfeld Follies'' in 1924 for her involvement in a tumultuous, highly publicized affair with comedian Frank Tinney. She left the United States shortly thereafter and began making films in Germany. She appeared in seventeen German films from 1925 to 1927 using the stage name Imogene Robertson. Upon returning to the United States in 1927, she attempted to break from her previous scandal-ridden past and adopted the stage name Mary Nolan. She was signed to Universal Pictures in 1928 where she found some success in films. By the 1930s, her acting career began to decline due to her drug abuse and reputation for being temperamental. After being bought out of contract with Universal, she was unable to secure fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Gilbert (actor)
John Gilbert (born John Cecil Pringle; July 10, 1897 – January 9, 1936) was an American actor, screenwriter and director. He rose to fame during the silent film era and became a popular leading man known as "The Great Lover". His breakthrough came in 1925 with his starring roles in ''The Merry Widow'' and ''The Big Parade''. At the height of his career, Gilbert rivaled Rudolph Valentino as a box office draw. Gilbert's career declined precipitously when silent pictures gave way to talkies. Though Gilbert was often cited as one of the high-profile examples of an actor who was unsuccessful in making the transition to sound films, his decline as a star had far more to do with studio politics and money than with the sound of his screen voice, which was rich and distinctive. Early life and stage work Born John Cecil Pringle in Logan, Utah, to stock-company actor parents, John George Pringle (1865–1929) and Ida Adair Apperly Gilbert (1877–1913), he struggled through a childhoo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alma Rubens
Alma Rubens (born Alma Genevieve Reubens; February 19, 1897 – January 21, 1931) was an American film actress and stage performer. Rubens began her career in the mid 1910s. She quickly rose to stardom in 1916 after appearing opposite Douglas Fairbanks in ''The Half-Breed''. For the remainder of the decade, she appeared in supporting roles in comedies and drama. In the 1920s, Rubens developed a drug addiction which eventually ended her career. She died of lobar pneumonia and bronchitis shortly after being arrested for cocaine possession in January 1931. Early life Alma Genevieve Reubens was born on February 19, 1897, to John B. and Theresa (née Hayes) Reubens in San Francisco, California. Her father, John Reubens, born in 1857 in Germany, was Jewish, and emigrated to the United States in 1890. Alma vehemently denied any Jewish heritage throughout her lifetime however. Her mother was of Irish Catholic descent. She and her elder sister, Hazel (born 1893) were raised in their mot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mae Murray
Mae Murray (born Marie Adrienne Koenig; May 10, 1885 – March 23, 1965) was an American actress, dancer, film producer, and screenwriter. Murray rose to fame during the silent film era and was known as "The Girl with the Bee-Stung Lips" and "The Gardenia of the Screen". Early life Murray was born in New York City, the second-oldest child of Joseph and Mary (née Miller) Koenig. Her maternal grandparents had emigrated from France while her paternal grandparents had emigrated from Germany. She had two brothers, William Robert (born November 1889) and Howard Joseph (born January 1884). The family eventually moved to an apartment in the Lower East Side. In May 1896, Joseph Koenig, Murray's father, died from acute gastritis due to his alcoholism. To support the family, Mary Koenig took a job as a housekeeper for Harry Payne Whitney. Career Stage Murray began acting on the Broadway stage in 1906 with dancer Vernon Castle. In 1908, she joined the chorus line of the Ziegfeld Follies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Juanita Hansen
Juanita Hansen (born Juanita Cecilia Hanson; March 3, 1895 – September 26, 1961) was an American actress who performed in silent films. She became one of the Sennett Bathing Beauties and appeared in a variety of serials through the late 1910s. She was well known for her troubled personal life and struggle with addiction to cocaine and morphine. In 1934, she became clean and traveled lecturing on the dangers of drugs. She wrote a book about addiction and started her own charity to help raise awareness about drug abuse. Early life Juanita Cecilia Hanson was born in Thor, Iowa to Henry George Hanson, who was originally from Wisconsin, and Johanna Sophia Peterson (or Pederson) on March 3, 1895 or March 5, 1895 (sources differ). Alternatively, her birthplace has been given as Des Moines and her birth year as 1897. The family moved to California when Juanita was a young girl, and she attended Los Angeles High School, where she dropped out after completing 9th grade. She began ac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frances Farmer
Frances Elena Farmer (September 19, 1913August 1, 1970) was an American actress and television hostess. She appeared in over a dozen feature films over the course of her career, though she garnered notoriety for sensationalized accounts of her life, especially her involuntary commitment to psychiatric hospitals and subsequent mental health struggles. A native of Seattle, Washington, Farmer began acting in stage productions while a student at the University of Washington. After graduating, she began performing in stock theater before signing a film contract with Paramount Pictures on her 22nd birthday in September 1935. She made her film debut in the B film ''Too Many Parents'' (1936), followed by another B picture, ''Border Flight'', before being given the lead role opposite Bing Crosby in the musical Western ''Rhythm on the Range'' (1936). Unhappy with the opportunities the studio gave her, Farmer returned to stock theater in 1937 before being cast in the original Broadway p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959) was an Australian-American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Olivia de Havilland, and reputation for his womanising and hedonistic personal life. His most notable roles include the eponymous hero in ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' (1938), which was later named by the American Film Institute as the 18th greatest hero in American film history, the lead role in ''Captain Blood'' (1935), Major Geoffrey Vickers in ''The Charge of the Light Brigade'' (1936), and the hero in a number of Westerns such as ''Dodge City'' (1939), ''Santa Fe Trail'' (1940), and ''San Antonio'' (1945). Early life Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn was born on 20 June 1909 in Battery Point, Tasmania. His father, Theodore Thomson Flynn, was a lecturer (1909) and later professor (1911) of biology at the University of Tasmania. His mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thelma Todd
Thelma Alice Todd (July 29, 1906 – December 16, 1935) was an American actress and businesswoman who carried the nicknames "The Ice Cream Blonde" and "Hot Toddy". Appearing in about 120 feature films and shorts between 1926 and 1935, she is remembered for her comedic roles opposite ZaSu Pitts, and in films such as Marx Brothers' '' Monkey Business'' and ''Horse Feathers'' and a number of Charley Chase's short comedies. She co-starred with Buster Keaton and Jimmy Durante in ''Speak Easily''. She also had roles in several Wheeler and Woolsey and Laurel and Hardy films, the last of which (''The Bohemian Girl'') featured her in a part that was cut short by her sudden death in 1935 at the age of 29. Early life Todd was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, to John Shaw Todd, an upholsterer from Ireland, 1910 United States Federal Census later, a superintendent of streets, an alderman, and Lawrence's commissioner of health and charities in 1912 and Alice Elizabeth Edwards, an imm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeanne Eagels
Jeanne Eagels (born Eugenia Eagles; June 26, 1890 – October 3, 1929) was an American stage and film actress. A former Ziegfeld Girl, Eagels went on to greater fame on Broadway and in the emerging medium of sound films. She was posthumously nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her 1929 role in '' The Letter'' after dying suddenly that year at the age of 39. Early life Eugenia Eagles was the second of six children born to Edward, of German and French Huguenot descent, and his wife Julia Eagles (née Sullivan), who was of Irish descent. Her birth year – depending on the source – is given as 1888, 1890 (official bio year), 1891, 1892, 1893 (death certificate), or 1894. Jeanne, who later changed the spelling of her surname to "Eagels", would later claim that her father was a Spanish architect and she was born in Boston. In reality, she was born in Kansas City, Missouri and her father was a carpenter. Eagels attended St. Joseph's Catholic School and Mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Olive Thomas
Olive Thomas (born Oliva R. Duffy; October 20, 1894 – September 10, 1920) was an American silent-film actress, art model, and photo model. Thomas began her career as an illustrator's model in 1914, and moved on to the ''Ziegfeld Follies'' the following year. During her time as a Ziegfeld girl, she also appeared in the more risqué show ''The Midnight Frolic''. In 1916, she began a successful career in silent films and would appear in more than 20 features over the course of her four-year film career. That year she also married actor Jack Pickford, the younger brother of fellow silent-film star Mary Pickford. On September 10, 1920, Thomas died in Paris five days after ingesting her husband's syphilis medication, mercury dichloride, that brought on acute nephritis. Although her death was ruled accidental, news of her hospitalization and subsequent death were the subject of speculation in the press. Thomas' death is considered one of the first major Hollywood scandals. Early li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wallace Reid
William Wallace Halleck Reid (April 15, 1891 – January 18, 1923) was an American actor in silent film, referred to as "the screen's most perfect lover". He also had a brief career as a racing driver. Early life Reid was born in St. Louis, Missouri, into a showbusiness family. His mother, Bertha Westbrook, was an actress, and his father, James Halleck "Hal" Reid, worked successfully in a variety of theatrical jobs, mainly as playwright and actor, traveling the country. As a boy Wallace Reid was performing on stage at an early age, but acting was put on hold while he obtained an education at Freehold Military School in Freehold Township, New Jersey. He later graduated from Perkiomen Seminary in Pennsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1909. A gifted all-around athlete, Reid participated in a number of sports while also following an interest in music, learning to play the piano, banjo, drums, and violin. As a teenager, he spent time in Wyoming, where he learned to be an outdoorsman. Ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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