Hollywood Babylon: The Legendary Underground Classic of Hollywood's Darkest and Best Kept Secrets

Like any newspaper article, events are turned into "stories." These "stories", like any silver screen biography, tells the dramatic tale of a life in turmoil. Kenneth Anger's book, "Hollywood Babylon" takes the angle of a tabloid and digs up some old dirt of famous celebrity lives and puts it into a full collection of grime, grease and oil. This collection takes a chronological look at Hollywood's finest at the time beginning in the early twenties with such big names as Fatty Arbuckle whose drinking problem got out of hand at one of his big parties after signing a lucrative deal. Moving through time to the 30's, 40's, right up to the Sharon Tate murder, which Anger recognized it was no longer "Old Hollywood."
The book reads like a gossip column mixed with sleazy tabloid journalism, yet with the wit and humor of a prankster. It's an exploitation of exploited lives. To mimic tabloids further, the pages appear with large and sometimes disturbing photos of stars at their most inopportune moments.
While much of the material has already had its heyday in newspapers of the times, it has a new life today where many of these actors and actresses are virtually unheard of by the general public and rekindled new interest in their films. Just as watching and old O. J. Simpson football game may have the same appeal as watching Lana Turner in her debut "They Won't Forget."
The title to me is entirely fitting, as Hollywood is the "Babylon" of our society, one in which everyone has all their wants at their disposal. A place where hedonism is the religion and tragedy is only the end of a scene, for we know by the end of the movie everything will be all right. My only disappointment in the book is its cursory glance at such stars as Marylyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield and many other stars that became almost a tally only to be put under a heading of how they died. "Hollywood Babylon" still fits the bill, however, as an enticing and racy read of the darker seedy side of that strange and secret society.

Reading this book probably wasn't the best way to learn of Hollywood's sordid trash, when I bought this ages ago, but I didn't have a movie encyclopedia at the time, which would have been useful, and I would've learned of the many tragedies that befell certain Hollywood stars in a more scholarly way. However, I didn't know that Peg Enwistle was the one who started a trend by diving off the LAND of the HOLLYWOODLAND sign, which now reads HOLLYWOOD.
The key scandals of the 1920's through 1950's are played out. The Fatty Arbuckle scandal of 1921, involving his alleged part in the death of starlet Virginia Rappe, was the O.J. Simpson of the 1920's is given a separate chapter. It took three trials to acquit him, but his career was finished. As Anger snidily writes, "The Prince of Whales had been harpooned." The others include Errol Flynn being accused of having sex with two underage girls, Mary Astor's diary, and the stabbing death of Lana Turner's lover John Stompanato by Cheryl Crane. Frances Farmer's nervous breakdown and collapse has some of snidiness in there, although he makes it clear that he does sympathize with her plight years before Nirvana did a song on her on their In Utero album.
Two mysterious and to this day still unsolved are probed, that of Thelma Todd, the Ice Cream Blonde, who may have been murdered by the mob instead of committing suicide, and the murder of director William Desmond Taylor, and those aren't as treated sensationally as other material.
Suicides are written with some embellishment in this book, i.e. Paul Bern, Jean Harlow's second husband, Marie Prevost, whose starving dog ate parts of her body, Lupe Velez, a.k.a. the Mexican Spitfire, and Carole Landis. Separate sections are written for Velez and Landis.
However, not all events and people get Angers' chops and slices. The Red Scare that ruined the lives of actors such as Gale Sondergaard and John Garfield, and the Hollywood Ten is presented as the travesty it was: "What it did do was ruin many lives and careers and tarnish the glamor of Tinsel Town." And the blackmailing practices of the snoopy, Confidential magazine, forcing performers to cough up to prevent them from revealing sordid things about performers. Thankfully, this terror was stopped when the founder of the magazine committed suicide after being named as a communist by Joe McCarthy. He's also contemptuous of the two gossip columnist Gorgons, Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons.
Towards the end, the decline of Hollywood in the 1960's is portrayed as one sordid death after another, ranging from La Monroe, Judy Garland, Ramon Novarro, and George Sanders. Somehow, I did not need to know that Garland died sitting on the toilet in her London flat.
Not a scholarly history of Hollywood's seamy side by any means. Rather, Kenneth Anger drags out Hollywood's dirty laundry and lays it out in a shamelessly sensationalistic and exploitational format, with catty sentences to boot, even including a few nude photos of starlets. Find a film encyclopedia instead. After reading this, I shudder to think what the movie was like.

Ah, Hollywood Babylon. The name alone makes classic film star fans cringe for one reason and one reason alone - it is the best example of mass misinformation in book form in publishing history. I don't think any other book is responsible for creating so many myths about so many celebrities than Hollywood Babylon. Tabloids can't even boast that kind of accomplishment.

I first read Hollywood Babylon when I was a teenager. At the time, I was just getting interested in classic films and actors and was looking to find out all I could. As there was no internet back then (yes, there was a time when the internet wasn't around), I relied on books for information. One day, I spied a dusty old copy of Hollywood Babylon at the public library. I flipped through it and decided it was right up my alley. I had never heard of the book so I had no expectations about it. I'll admit that when I was younger, I was fairly gullible and basically accepted most things I read as fact. After all, how can something that isn't true be printed in an honest to goodness book? Yes, I really was that naive. In spite of my youthful naivety, even I knew most of what was written in Hollywood Babylon was hogwash. Poorly written hogwash at that. I'm obviously not the first person to draw that conclusion.

A few months ago, I found a copy of Hollywood Babylon at a second hand bookstore for $2. I snatched it up figuring it wasn't as bad as I remembered. Needless to say, my opinion of the book hasn't changed and I'm also $2 poorer. It's actually painful to read the book because it is so silly and far fetched. While the pictures are good, the prose is terrible. Random words and phrases are inexplicably underlined (if there is some rhyme or reason to the underlining, I can't figure it out) and there are bad puns littered throughout. I could probably deal with the bad writing (I did read [[ASIN:034580404X The Fifty Shades Trilogy]] after all) if Anger had written something that resembled the truth. If Anger did any research at all, I think it consisted of thumbing through back issues of Confidential magazine or old newspapers that specialized in yellow journalism. He did manage to get a few things right which is fairly astonishing but my guess is that was either accidental or Anger knew he had to throw some truth in the book for it to be taken seriously.

There are so many inaccuracies in the book that it would be impossible to address each and every one of them here without ending up with a four page review. Unfortunately, many of those inaccuracies (or "Angerisms" if you will) have ended up being accepted as fact. Most, if not all, have been debunked by biographers, film historians or websites like snopes.com. Decades after this book was released, there are still some people who think Lupe Velez drowned in a toilet and Jayne Mansfield was decapitated.

Money was supposedly the motivating factor for Anger to write this book. I can't say I'm very surprised by that. The odd thing about Anger's choice to spin yarns about celebrities is that it was unnecessary. There were scandals a-plenty in Hollywood dating back to the early days of film. A few pretty high profile scandals, like the death of Olive Thomas, the murder of William Desmond Taylor and the trial of Fatty Arbuckle, are already filled to the brim with drama, mystery, sex, alleged drug use, drunken debauchery, and death. Truth is often stranger than fiction.

I honestly can't say I'd recommend this book to anyone. Some reviewers are of the opinion that Hollywood Babylon is a decent read because it's trashy and fun, but I really don't see it that way. I love trashy books about celebrities, but there has to be an element in truth in there for me to enjoy it. If I want to be entertained by lies, I can save my money and simply make them up myself.

One reviewer mentioned it reads like a bound National Enquirer. Absolutely correct. The book is a good overview of some of the strange things in Hollywood but there is no depth and no follow-up. Also, there are lots of falsehoods. The author appears to have done little research and just repeated what was on the Internet. Some of “facts” were proven false decades ago.

If you are new to the history or you want a fast read in a doctor’s office (where I read it), it is OK. If you want a serious book, then skip it.

Hollywood Babylon is like the movie, "Alive," in that it was great, but so sickening, you're not sure whether or not you want to recommend it to anyone. If you're of the faint of heart and want to hold onto cherished memories of the Golden Age of Hollywood, don't read it at all; you will be grossed out completely and may even lose your mind from the depravity. If you're of a stronger constitution, you may like it, but be prepared for grisly photos of dead people, revolting scandals and disgusting incidents. But if you're just a sick puppy, this book's for you! I, for one, am not one, so I gave it three stars. I would've given it four, but I had to deduct a point for the Tackyness Factor (c'mon--did we really need to see a picture of Jayne Mansfield's mangled dead dog after her fatal car crash? Yeeesh!). At any rate, buy this book if you like, but remember--you've been warned!

The book was so interesting that I cannot understand why it is not made into an Amazon original series. I saw the author on YouTube touring Hollywood via hearse while intermittenly narrating short stories that reveal the dark side of Hollywood's idols. It was more interesting than the book! With more work it could even be better. Hope he finds a backer. If only I were rich.

A long, long time ago I arrived in Hollywood, anxious to be an actor in television. It turned out I wasn't very good, I went into the Navy and moved on with my life. But I bought this rather scandalous tome because, quite honestly, I kept seeing it in people's homes and I wanted my own copy. Gas was cheap back in the 70s and we would drive around checking out addresses if we could find them.
Even in those days I knew there were some errors in the book but I referred to it, nonetheless, as my Bible of TRUE Hollywood scandal.
After my stint for Uncle Sam I began a much tamer career and developed a penchant for history and TRUTH. It was then I discovered this book is a giant fraud. It contains almost no truth whatsoever. It is merely a collection of old myths, most debunked before Kenneth Anger ever heard them.
Then I began to wonder: why would a man write such obvious crap? I think I gradually learned the answer over the years. Kenneth Anger claims he was a child actor yet Hollywood historians refute this claim. The only films Anger was ever in were the short subject films he created, none of which was ever held in high regard. In other words, he was a rejected actor, too. I believe I can understand his frustration at being turned away. It can be hard on one's ego to try & try and get nothing in return. But I knew going in I wasn't that good so rejection wasn't a huge deal. But I think it may have been for Kenneth.
After years of rejection little Kenneth Anger found a way to get even with them all - he'd write trash stories as if they were really factual and sell them. Sell they did, this book has been around for umpteen years through printing after printing and little Kenneth is still getting his Hollywood payday.
Please don't believe this book. Nowadays Wickipedia allows us to check "facts" too easily. Don't be fooled by this trash posing as the "inside story".
Kenneth Anger was never an insider and these stories are demonstrably false.

Having heard about this book since the mid 80s,Thanks to the Misfits,I have always wanted to read it. In the days before the internet I could never find a copy in the library or any bookstore. I forgot about it until about a month ago I was listening to the Misfits song inspired by the book. Made a note to look for a copy.

WOW this was a great read. Even when Kenneth Anger was talking about celebs I had never heard of I didn't want to stop reading. Had a few nights where I would think "OK just read one more chapter. Then goto sleep" and I would get so engrossed in what I was reading I would read 4 chapters and end up not getting enough sleep.

If you have any interest at all in the early days of Hollywood this is a good book to read. Now I have read that supposedly lots of the stories in the book are made up. Doesn't matter it is written so well you stop caring if what you are reading is fact or fiction.

All the modern celebrity gossip sites,shows and whatever have their origins in this book.

Hollywood is a cesspool of the worst of humanity. Ego, greed, narcissim, hedonism, all of it strains into Hollywood the way lint ends up in the lint trap of a dryer. People have a notion that society today is more corrupt than it was in days gone by but that is a myth. People were simply better at keeping it hidden in times past. Hollywood Babylon was a sensation when it came out for just that reason. It drug out into the light of day what society had known all along - that Hollywood is society's septic tank. And it's so damn fun to read about it.

Even though this book is extremely dated and hashes out stories long ago brought out to the light of day, it still can be enjoyed from an almost historical perspective. It will also put into perspective the notion that the society of today is more celebrity obsesses than it ever has been. Even in its earliest days, Hollywood inspired fascination for the world. There were plenty of gossip and scandal rags willing to dish the dirt in those days and there was plenty for them to dish.

This book is a great guilty pleasure. It's fun to read of decadance, murder, sexual picadellos, greed and wretched excess. Hollywood dines on its own young and this book bears that out in spades.

From some of the reviews I have read, it is either you'll love this book for its contents or hate it for its contents.
Well, infinitely sarcastic and tsk tsking in tone, Kenneth Anger compiled a fascinating, if not nauseating tome of Hollywood gossip, mysteries and scandals; accompanied by a generous helping of equally fascinating and nauseating photos.
Just when you think that people are so moral back in the good ole days...well, surprise surprised!!!! Here comes Hollywood, the "cemetery of virtue".
Hollywood Babylon "documented", with frenzied glee, the various scandals that rocked the film industry, and in turn the world. First we are introduced to the death of Olive Thomas, then the now infamous Fatty Arbuckle trial. These two stories basically set the tone for the rest of the book....rapes, sexual indiscretions, drug overdoses, nervous breakdowns, orgies, murders, creative suicides and so on and so forth.
The photos themselves are not for the faint of heart.... featuring death photos of extinguished luminaries such as Thelma Todd, Marie Prevost,Bugsy Siegel, Jayne Mansfield (and her dog!).
Overall, if you like gossip and scandal and loves laughing at the misfortunes of others and have a taste for the morbid, this book is a delight...a delectable "box of poisoned bon bons" through which you can choose and pick at your leisure...with every juicy morsel is as good as the next.
Otherwise....this book will probably make you nauseous.
A sequel, Hollywood Babylon II is not as good as THIS one. But the zinger in that tome is photos of the infamous Black Dahlia murder. But that is another poisoned bonbon for another day.