Author: Karina Longworth
Publisher: Custom House
How obtained: through the publisher
What it's about: In this riveting popular history, the creator of You Must Remember This probes the inner workings of Hollywood’s glamorous golden age through the stories of some of the dozens of actresses pursued by Howard Hughes, to reveal how the millionaire mogul’s obsessions with sex, power and publicity trapped, abused, or benefitted women who dreamt of screen stardom.
My thoughts: It's been awhile since I've blogged for which I apologize. 2018 has been a difficult year in many ways for me, as well as a busy one. I started a new job which has been time-consuming as well as working on the Historical Novel Society conference which takes place this coming June in National Harbor, MD. I've also been traveling a great deal which has meant that blogging has fallen to the wayside. Reading, which has normally been one of life's pleasures for me, has become more of a chore at times.
What becomes clear in the book is how Hughes used his money and power to sexually harass and coerce women, objectifying and sexualizing them on screen in ways that audiences hadn't seen before. In the beginning Hughes gravitated towards smart, talented, career women such as Katherine Hepburn and Ginger Rogers, actresses who had careers before and after Hughes. But eventually Hughes decided that he wanted to find women that he could mold. Hughes comes across not only as a smart man but also one who grew increasingly paranoid as time went on, hiring private investigators, security personnel and informers to rat on the women in his life. He went through a form of marriage ceremony with Terry Moore before eventually legally marrying actress Jean Peters.
Longworth gives the reader a good idea of what life was like for women living in Hollywood from the 1920's through the 1950's and what sacrifices some women had to make it order to make it. It might be hard for contemporary readers to understand exactly why some of these women stayed with Hughes, especially after his promises to make them a star didn't pan out. Longworth does a good job of illustrating how charming Hughes could be when he wanted, and how he controlled women through money and the promise of fame. Also, many of these women were drawn to Hughes because he seemed like a lost lamb. He'd lost his parents at an early age, become a millionaire before he was barely out of his teens and suffered several, horrific accidents.
The other thing that is fascinating is that Hughes eventually ended up running RKO, the studio that he bought, basically into the ground. He had no real instinct for film-making, although it fascinated him greatly. Longworth also explodes the myth that Hughes was a publicity-shy man who loathed being famous. Hughes comes into sharp focus in this book.
One of the most fascinating chapters in the book involve Ida Lupino who was one of the few actress/directors working in Hollywood during the so-called Golden Age. I knew of Lupino as an actress but not as a director. Lupino's dealings in Hollywood when she was working not only as a director but also as an independent filmmaker should be required reading for any film student.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interesting in a well-researched book on the Golden Age of Hollywood and one of it's most intriguing and least understood movie moguls.
No comments:
Post a Comment