MIDNIGHT IN BABYLON

Kenneth Anger explores Hollywood's darkest recesses in his landmark tell-all.

Kenneth Anger’s Hollywood Babylon is the grandaddy of all Tinseltown exposés. It was published in 1965, banned ten days later, and shelved until 1975. It’s exactly as advertised, outing everybody that was anybody for everything. Entire chunks are devoted to Charlie Chaplain, Lana Turner, Errol Flynn, Fatty Arbuckle and other cinematic luminaries. Some of its claims have been proved false—for instance the assertion that Lupe Velez died with her head in a toilet, and that Clara Bow screwed the USC football team (we doubt anyone really believed that one, even back then). But other tales are basically true, including accounts of various legal run-ins and feuds.

Anger’s writing is uneven, but at its most effective mirrors the type of pure tabloid style that influenced the likes of James Ellroy and others. Besides the salacious gossip the book has a ton of rare celeb photos, and those are of real worth. We’ve uploaded a bunch below. They came from a digital edition because our little paperback was too fragile to get on a scanner. By the way, don’t feel as if we’re working overtime on our website this Christmas morning—we uploaded everything in advance and are actually nowhere near a computer today. We’re glad you took a minute to drop by. Copious vintage Hollywood below.

Confidential tries a new look on the outside, sticks with the tried and true inside.

Here’s an unusual black Confidential from April 1958, which offers a mere trio of cover teasers. But the streamlined look outside doesn’t change the interior formula, which means you get the usual selection of dubious journalism, including a piece on black voter turnout designed to get white people seriously worried, and a story on CIO president Walter Reuther that emphasizes the possibility that he was shot by communists. But the most interesting story—to us, at least—concerns oilman/billionaire J. Paul Getty and gossip columnist/society hostess Elsa Maxwell, because the two well-known figures present an instructive lesson in contrasts.
 
Getty came from a wealthy family; Maxwell’s humble background made her an intruder in high society. Getty was as vicious as a mongoose, but his wealth prevented what would have been a well-deserved fall from grace; Maxwell used pure charm and intelligence to rise to a position as the most celebrated society hostess in the world. The worst Maxwell probably ever did was dish on society types in her gossip column; Getty once allowed kidnappers to cut off his grandson’s ear rather than part with a ransom, and once extended to Alfried Krupp von Bohlen—a German munitions baron who had given lavishly to the Nazi Party, used Jewish slaves in his industries during WWII, and allowed his factory yards to be used for executing POWs—an invitation to his house warming party. Advantage, Maxwell. One other thing in her favor—she’s the person the phrase “the hostess with the mostest” was popularized about. We’d take that as a legacy any day.
 
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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

1924—Dion O'Banion Gunned Down

Dion O’Banion, leader of Chicago’s North Side Gang is assassinated in his flower shop by members of rival Johnny Torrio’s gang, sparking the bloody five-year war between the North Side Gang and the Chicago Outfit that culminates in the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.

1940—Walt Disney Becomes Informer

Walt Disney begins serving as an informer for the Los Angeles office of the FBI, with instructions to report on Hollywood subversives. He eventually testifies before HUAC, where he fingers several people as Communist agitators. He also accuses the Screen Actors Guild of being a Communist front.

1921—Einstein Wins Nobel

German theoretical physicist Albert Einstein is awarded the Nobel Prize for his work with the photoelectric effect, a phenomenon in which electrons are emitted from matter as a consequence of their absorption of energy from electromagnetic radiation. In practical terms, the phenomenon makes possible such devices as electroscopes, solar cells, and night vision goggles.

1938—Kristallnacht Begins

Nazi Germany’s first large scale act of anti-Jewish violence begins after the assassination of German diplomat Ernst vom Rath by Herschel Grynszpan. The event becomes known as Kristallnacht, and in total the violent rampage destroys more than 250 synagogues, causes the deaths of nearly a hundred Jews, and results in 25,000 to 30,000 more being arrested and sent to concentration camps.

1923—Hitler Stages Revolt

In Munich, Germany, Adolf Hitler leads the Nazis in the Beer Hall Putsch, an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German government. Also known as the Hitlerputsch or the Hitler-Ludendorff-Putsch, the attempted coup was inspired by Benito Mussolini’s successful takeover of the Italian government.

1932—Roosevelt Unveils CWA

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt unveils the Civil Works Administration, an organization designed to create temporary winter jobs for more than 4 million of the unemployed.

A collection of red paperback covers from Dutch publisher De Vrije Pers.
Uncredited art for Hans Lugar's Line-Up! for Scion American publishing.
Uncredited cover art for Lesbian Gym by Peggy Swenson, who was in reality Richard Geis.

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