The ''Hollywood Star'' was an

idiosyncratic An idiosyncrasy is an unusual feature of a person (though there are also other uses, see below). It can also mean an odd habit. The term is often used to express eccentricity or peculiarity. A synonym may be "quirk". Etymology The term "idiosyncr ...

gossip tabloid published on an erratic schedule in

Hollywood, California Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...

by William Kern, who wrote much of the magazine under the pseudonym "Bill Dakota." Published in a

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...

format (and sold in newsracks), it appeared in 1976, and had stopped publishing by 1981. In 1979, it adopted a smaller magazine format which lasted two issues, as ''Hollywood "Confidential" Star Magazine.'' Inspired by ''

Confidential Confidentiality involves a set of rules or a promise usually executed through confidentiality agreements that limits the access or places restrictions on certain types of information. Legal confidentiality By law, lawyers are often required ...

'' and other

gossip magazines A gossip magazine, also referred to as a tabloid magazine, is a magazine that features scandalous stories about the personal lives of celebrities and other well-known individuals. In North America, this genre of magazine flourished in the 1950s ...

of the 1950s, ''The Hollywood Star'' had a homosexual subtext (Kern's other mid-70s paper was called ''Gayboy'') and printed nude photos and sexually-oriented gossip with a frankness that had rarely if ever been seen in gossip magazines. In addition to naming stars who were gay or bisexual, for example, the magazine published lists of male celebrities based on whether they were

circumcised Circumcision is a procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin is excised. Topic ...

. An unrelated newspaper called the ''Hollywood Star News'' is currently published in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

References

{{reflist Defunct magazines published in the United States Defunct newspapers published in California