Hollywood Babylon

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hollywood Babylon is a non-fiction book by avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger , which deals in detail with alleged and verifiable scandals from the Hollywood film industry from its existence up to the 1950s. It was first published in France in 1959. In the USA it was published in 1965, banned ten days later and not reissued until 1975, which also contributed to the cult status of the book. Angers Hollywood Babylon was the style for later Hollywood scandal books, although numerous historical errors have been proven since then. In 1984 Anger released the sequel Hollywood Babylon II .

content

In his book, Kenneth Anger addresses the scandals of stars like Charlie Chaplin , Lupe Vélez , Mary Nolan , Rudolph Valentino , Marie Prevost , Mary Astor , Wallace Reid , Olive Thomas , Jeanne Eagels , Thelma Todd , Errol Flynn , Frances Farmer , Juanita Hansen , Mae Murray , Alma Rubens , John Gilbert , Barbara La Marr , Ramón Novarro , Jean Harlow , Carole Landis , Lana Turner , Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe . The mysterious death of the starlet Virginia Rappe , the murder of the filmmaker William Desmond Taylor , the Hollywood blacklist and the scandals themed by Confidential magazine are just some of them. The updated 1975 edition also discussed the deaths of Jayne Mansfield and Sharon Tate . In addition to the texts, there are also numerous, sometimes explicit images, which, according to Anger, are just as important for his book as the writing.

Research methods and proven errors

At the request of the film historian Kevin Brownlow , Kenneth Anger is said to have stated that he had used "mental telepathy" as a research method. In an interview, Anger stated that he grew up close to Hollywood and therefore heard many stories or had them told by other people. He wrote the book after the editors of the French film magazine Cahiers du cinéma had encouraged him to do so. As a result, the book was first published in Paris.

Many of the claims made by Anger are historically unsound, and some have been proven beyond doubt to be flawed. Bow's sons threatened him with lawsuit in 1975 for his false claim that Clara Bow had sex with the entire University of Southern California football team .

reception

Hollywood Babylon was often attacked for incorrect content, and the reprint of images of dead celebrities such as Carole Landis , Lewis Stone and Paul Bern in some editions of the book was criticized. Nonetheless, the book was successful and launched numerous urban legends about Hollywood, and it also influenced the creation of similar “scandal books” about stars in the following decades.

The New York Times wrote that Anger's book was like a "delicious box of poisoned candy". The debate with the work continues to the present, so the magazine WBEZ asked itself in several podcasts in 2018: "Is this cult classic a necessary subversive attack on the false idols of Hollywood or a dangerous work full of fake news ?"

Hollywood Babylon was also widely received in Germany . Der Spiegel saw Anger's work in 1975, when the book was also published in German under the same title, as an accompanying text for the decline of classic Hollywood and wrote: “Meticulously researched, Anger's book is the most complete and radical chronique scandaleuse of Hollywood's heyday that has ever been printed . ”The magazine Cicero wrote on the occasion of a new edition that the almost pitiless chronicler Anger quenched“ every voyeuristic need ”of his readers:“ Everyone who dreams of becoming a star should read the book as a deterrent. ” Kurt Scheel wrote in 2000 for Die Welt , Anger apparently saw himself as a warning and enlightener with his “painful deterrent strategy”. He describes the vices of Hollywood in a "vivid and at the same time frightening way".

filming

In 1992 and 1993, a television series based on Anger's book was produced with Tony Curtis as the host.

Sequels

Kenneth Anger published the sequel Hollywood Babylon II in 1984 , which, however, did not quite reach the success of the predecessor.

In 2010, Anger said in an interview with the Guardian that he had already finished a third part of Hollywood Babylon , but would not publish it for the time being. One reason for this is a chapter about Tom Cruise and the Scientology organization , which he views critically. In addition, most current Hollywood stars are not fascinating enough to gossip about them.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rocco Castoro: The Sordid Secrets of Babylon. In: Vice. April 17, 2012, accessed May 6, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Laura Petersen Balogh: Karl Dane: A Biography and Filmography . McFarland, 2009, ISBN 978-0-7864-5436-5 ( google.de [accessed on May 6, 2020]).
  3. ^ Rocco Castoro: The Sordid Secrets of Babylon. In: Vice. April 17, 2012, accessed May 6, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Internet Archive: Clara Bow . Doubleday, 1988 ( archive.org [accessed May 21, 2020]).
  5. ↑ Sanjiv Bhattacharya: Sanjiv Bhattacharya: Look back at Anger . In: The Observer . August 22, 2004, ISSN  0029-7712 ( theguardian.com [accessed May 6, 2020]).
  6. ^ DW Griffith, the Gish Sisters and the origin of "Hollywood Babylon" (Fake News: Fact Checking Hollywood Babylon Episode 1). July 3, 2018, accessed on May 6, 2020 .
  7. ↑ HOLLYWOOD: Sweet cesspool - DER SPIEGEL 42/1976. Retrieved May 5, 2020 .
  8. ↑ In a nutshell - Kenneth Anger: Hollywood Babylon. Acts first and second. Retrieved May 5, 2020 .
  9. ↑ Kurt Scheel: Hollywood Babylon . In: THE WORLD . July 21, 2000 ( welt.de [accessed May 5, 2020]).
  10. ↑ Hollywood Babylon at the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved May 6, 2020 .
  11. ^ John Gross: Books of the Times; Babylon Revisited . In: The New York Times . November 3, 1984, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed May 6, 2020]).
  12. ↑ Simon Hattenstone: Kenneth Anger: 'No, I am not a Satanist' . In: The Guardian . March 10, 2010, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed May 6, 2020]).