Hollywood Babylon
Encyclopedia
Hollywood Babylon is a book by avant-garde
filmmaker Kenneth Anger
which details the sordid scandals of many famous and infamous Hollywood denizens from the 1900s to the 1950s. First published in the US in 1965, it was banned ten days later and would not be republished until 1975. Upon its second release, 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."
(Paris
, France
) as Hollywood Babylone, the first U.S. edition of Hollywood Babylon was published in 1965 by Associated Professional Services of Phoenix, Arizona
. A second U.S. edition was published by Rolling Stone
's Straight Arrow Press
and distributed by Simon and Schuster, released in 1975 after a series of copyright conflicts.
The book details the stories of Hollywood stars from the silent film
era to stars of the 1960s including stories about Lupe Vélez
, Rudolph Valentino
, Olive Thomas
, Thelma Todd
, Frances Farmer
, Juanita Hansen
, Mae Murray
, Alma Rubens
, Barbara La Marr
, and Marilyn Monroe
. Hollywood Babylon also featured chapters on the Fatty Arbuckle
-Virginia Rappe
scandal, the murder of William Desmond Taylor
, the Hollywood Blacklist
, the murder of Sharon Tate
, and the Confidential
magazine lawsuits.
has repeatedly criticized the book, citing Anger as saying his research method was, "Mental telepathy, mostly."
Many of Anger's claims have been called into question and debated since the book's initial publication. The book also featured graphic images, such as the scene of the traffic accident which killed Jayne Mansfield
, and a shot of Lewis Stone
lying dead in his driveway right after he had his fatal heart attack.
The book has been responsible for several urban legend
s, mostly about the silent film stars it covered. The book is responsible for the rumor that Clara Bow
had slept with the entire USC football team which has been debunked countless times. Bow's sons considered suing Anger at the time of the second release.
Hollywood Babylon has also been the source of the rumor about a sexual relationship between Ramon Novarro
and Rudolph Valentino
. Although Novarro was gay, there has never been any proof that Novarro and Valentino were anything more than acquaintances. In a 1962 interview, Novarro stated that he met Valentino "only once". Anger also wrote that Novarro had died with an Art Deco
dildo
, an alleged gift from Valentino, shoved down his throat. No such gift existed, and no such object was found at the crime scene.
Anger stated for years he intended to write a Hollywood Babylon III. In 2008 a third book, titled Hollywood Babylon: It's Back!, was written by Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince and had no participation or association with Anger. Anger was reportedly so upset he placed a curse on the authors (Anger is a self proclaimed magician of the school of Thelema
).
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
filmmaker Kenneth Anger
Kenneth Anger
Kenneth Anger is an American underground experimental filmmaker, occasional actor and author...
which details the sordid scandals of many famous and infamous Hollywood denizens from the 1900s to the 1950s. First published in the US in 1965, it was banned ten days later and would not be republished until 1975. Upon its second release, 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."
Origin
Originally published in French in 1959 by J.J. PauvertJean-Jacques Pauvert
Jean-Jacques Pauvert is a French publisher, notable for publishing the work of the Marquis de Sade in the early 1950s and as the first publisher of the Story of O and the first edition of Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylone .-External links:...
(Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
) as Hollywood Babylone, the first U.S. edition of Hollywood Babylon was published in 1965 by Associated Professional Services of Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
. A second U.S. edition was published by Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
's Straight Arrow Press
Straight Arrow Press
Straight Arrow Press is a publishing company that publishes the periodicals Us Weekly and Rolling Stone....
and distributed by Simon and Schuster, released in 1975 after a series of copyright conflicts.
The book details the stories of Hollywood stars from the silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
era to stars of the 1960s including stories about Lupe Vélez
Lupe Vélez
Lupe Vélez was a Mexican film actress. Vélez began her career in Mexico as a dancer, before moving to the U.S. where she worked in vaudeville. She was seen by Fanny Brice who promoted her, and Vélez soon entered films, making her first appearance in 1924. By the end of the decade she had...
, Rudolph Valentino
Rudolph Valentino
Rudolph Valentino was an Italian actor, and early pop icon. A sex symbol of the 1920s, Valentino was known as the "Latin Lover". He starred in several well-known silent films including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Sheik, Blood and Sand, The Eagle and Son of the Sheik...
, Olive Thomas
Olive Thomas
Olive Thomas was an American silent film actress and model. She is best remembered for her marriage to Jack Pickford and her death.-Early life:...
, Thelma Todd
Thelma Todd
Thelma Alice Todd was an American actress. Appearing in about 120 pictures between 1926 and 1935, she is best remembered for her comedic roles in films like Marx Brothers' Monkey Business and Horse Feathers, a number of Charley Chase's short comedies, and co-starring with Buster Keaton and Jimmy...
, Frances Farmer
Frances Farmer
Frances Elena Farmer was an American actress of stage and screen. She is perhaps better known for sensationalized and fictional accounts of her life, and especially her involuntary commitment to a mental hospital...
, Juanita Hansen
Juanita Hansen
Juanita C. Hansen was an American silent film actress. Beginning as one of the Sennett Bathing Beauties, she 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...
, Mae Murray
Mae Murray
Mae Murray 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"....
, Alma Rubens
Alma Rubens
Alma Rubens was an American silent film actress and stage performer.-Early life:Born to John B. and Theresa Hayes Rueben in San Francisco, California, she performed since youth and became a star at the age of 19. She was educated at the Sacred Heart Convent in San Francisco...
, Barbara La Marr
Barbara La Marr
Barbara La Marr was an American stage and film actress, cabaret artist and screenwriter.La Marr was known as "The Girl Who Is Too Beautiful", after a Hearst newspaper feature writer, Adela Rogers St...
, and Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
. Hollywood Babylon also featured chapters on the Fatty Arbuckle
Fatty Arbuckle
Roscoe Conkling "Fatty" Arbuckle was an American silent film actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. Starting at the Selig Polyscope Company he eventually moved to Keystone Studios where he worked with Mabel Normand and Harold Lloyd...
-Virginia Rappe
Virginia Rappe
Virginia Rappe was an American model and silent film actress.-Early life and career:Rappe was born to unwed mother Mabel Rapp in New York City. Mabel died when Virginia was 11, and Virginia was then raised by her grandmother in Chicago. At age 14 she began working as a commercial and art model in...
scandal, the murder of William Desmond Taylor
William Desmond Taylor
William Desmond Taylor was an Irish-born American actor, successful film director of silent movies and a popular figure in the growing Hollywood film colony of the 1910s and early 1920s...
, the Hollywood Blacklist
Hollywood blacklist
The Hollywood blacklist—as the broader entertainment industry blacklist is generally known—was the mid-twentieth-century list of screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other U.S. entertainment professionals who were denied employment in the field because of their political beliefs or...
, the murder of Sharon Tate
Sharon Tate
Sharon Marie Tate was an American actress. During the 1960s she played small television roles before appearing in several films. After receiving positive reviews for her comedic performances, she was hailed as one of Hollywood's promising newcomers and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for...
, and the Confidential
Confidential (magazine)
Confidential was a periodical published quarterly from December 1952 to August 1953, and then bi-monthly until 1978. It was founded by Robert Harrison and is considered a pioneer in scandal, gossip, and exposé journalism. Newsweek said it featured "sin and sex with a seasoning of right wing...
magazine lawsuits.
Criticism
Film historian Kevin BrownlowKevin Brownlow
Kevin Brownlow is a filmmaker, film historian, television documentary-maker, author, and Academy Award recipient. Brownlow is best known for his work documenting the history of the silent era. Brownlow became interested in silent film at the age of eleven. This interest grew into a career spent...
has repeatedly criticized the book, citing Anger as saying his research method was, "Mental telepathy, mostly."
Many of Anger's claims have been called into question and debated since the book's initial publication. The book also featured graphic images, such as the scene of the traffic accident which killed Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield was an American actress working both in Hollywood and on the Broadway theatre...
, and a shot of Lewis Stone
Lewis Stone
Lewis Shepard Stone was an American actor.Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, son of Bertrand Stone and Philena Heald Ball. Stone's hair grew gray by the time he was twenty. He fought in the Spanish-American War, then returned to a career as a writer. He soon began acting...
lying dead in his driveway right after he had his fatal heart attack.
The book has been responsible for several urban legend
Urban legend
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
s, mostly about the silent film stars it covered. The book is responsible for the rumor that Clara Bow
Clara Bow
Clara Gordon Bow was an American actress who rose to stardom in the silent film era of the 1920s. It was her appearance as a spunky shopgirl in the film It that brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl." Bow came to personify the roaring twenties and is described as its leading sex...
had slept with the entire USC football team which has been debunked countless times. Bow's sons considered suing Anger at the time of the second release.
Hollywood Babylon has also been the source of the rumor about a sexual relationship between Ramon Novarro
Ramón Novarro
Ramón Novarro was a Mexican leading man actor in Hollywood in the early 20th century. He was the next male "Sex Symbol" after the death of Rudolph Valentino...
and Rudolph Valentino
Rudolph Valentino
Rudolph Valentino was an Italian actor, and early pop icon. A sex symbol of the 1920s, Valentino was known as the "Latin Lover". He starred in several well-known silent films including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Sheik, Blood and Sand, The Eagle and Son of the Sheik...
. Although Novarro was gay, there has never been any proof that Novarro and Valentino were anything more than acquaintances. In a 1962 interview, Novarro stated that he met Valentino "only once". Anger also wrote that Novarro had died with an Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
dildo
Dildo
A dildo is a sex toy, often explicitly phallic in appearance, intended for bodily penetration during masturbation or sex with partners.- Description and uses :...
, an alleged gift from Valentino, shoved down his throat. No such gift existed, and no such object was found at the crime scene.
Sequels
Hollywood Babylon II was published in 1984. It was greatly expanded in format but was not as well received as the first book. It covered stars from the 1920s to the 1970s. Though slightly more accurate, the book still suffers from the same troubles as the first.Anger stated for years he intended to write a Hollywood Babylon III. In 2008 a third book, titled Hollywood Babylon: It's Back!, was written by Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince and had no participation or association with Anger. Anger was reportedly so upset he placed a curse on the authors (Anger is a self proclaimed magician of the school of Thelema
Thelema
Thelema is a religious philosophy that was established, defined and developed by the early 20th century British writer and ceremonial magician, Aleister Crowley. He believed himself to be the prophet of a new age, the Æon of Horus, based upon a religious experience that he had in Egypt in 1904...
).
External links
- "The Cut and Paste Club (on plagiarismPlagiarismPlagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
in a part of Hollywood Babylon II)