The Bad and the Beautiful: Hollywood in the Fifties Hardcover - 2002

From the publisher

The drama and tragedy of Hollywood's most scandalous and dynamic decade, and the legends who have endured. In these stories of momentous events and legendary characters, Sam Kashner and Jennifer MacNair re-create the drama and contradictions of Hollywood's most scandalous and dynamic decade. Colourful and humorous anecdotes of such public icons as Lana Turner, Rock Hudson, Kim Novak, and Mae West profile the celebrities' lives away from the camera, telling of the private moments that were exploited by tabloids such as Confidential and gossip queens Louella Parsons, Hedda Hopper, and Sheilah Graham. Chronicling the unique obsessions of the era, the authors also offer behind-the-scenes commentary on the making of classic films: Hollywood's curious religious revival with The Robe; the film industry's exploitation of the potboiler Peyton Place, even as it rejected the housewife who penned it; and the anarchic director Nick Ray, who, on the set of the enduring classic Rebel without a Cause, taught his teenage stars about much more than acting. The authors reveal a city at a crossroads, attempting to reinvent the magic and mystery of its past glories.