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

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Finally, here was an acknowledgement, a mea culpa , yet simultaneously also a morbid, almost pathetic celebration of what Hollywood once was.

It probably helps to know the broader history of Hollywood to better appreciate some of the references made in this book.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. I heard something different than the sordid tale of Stroheim's monocle blinding ladies on beaches into dropping their bikini tops. She was so sure of his “gayness,” she would strip naked and dress in front of him; he reported that often times she did not wear bras or panties. I believe you judge a tree by its fruits, from the mindwashing destructive propaganda that Hollywood spews out to the many screwed up people that work in the business as performers, some of whom deserve to be scorned, some deserve your pity. Sadly, the tragic "Chords of Fame" have continued to play on for far too many in and out of Hollywood in subsequent years, despite the cautionary tales of their forebears.

There's a difference: the 1965 version is packaged like that of a sleaze-gossip rag in 95 cent paperback form, versus the 1975 edition, which was published again after the ban was lifted, Anger having cleaned up some of his facts, embellished some of the fluidity and structure of the book, and laid out higher quality images into a "coffee table" hardcover format. Hollywood Babylon is a book by avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger, which details the purported scandals of famous Hollywood denizens from the 1900s to the 1950s. Described by The Daily Beast as 'essentially a work of fiction There is no doubt that many-if not all- of the stories Anger shares in his slim bible have no merit". Ed Burns of Cinemabilia hever answered the two requests for info on the distributor of the pirate of Hwd-Babylon. Layout wise this book is a nightmare; unlabelled photos, unsourced quotes and heavy handed underlining that serves no purpose (except possibly to make it look like a dodgy webpage, some feat given this book was originally published in 1975!Book appears moderately to well read with a slight cock to the spine and some wear and chipping at edges. It’s a dark, often unpleasant journey to be sure, but that doesn’t preclude some bitter laughs of schadenfreude along the way.