Queer People

New York: Vanguard Press, 1930. Tenth Printing - October 1930. Used and read copy with a little fraying at extremities else very good example of the novel’s original book design in yellow cloth with blue stamping. Queer People is considered one of the true landmarks in the continuous evolution of the Hollywood novel. The novel’s take of the bizarre and seamy side of the life of Hollywood during its golden age is like no other work of fiction. In the 1976 reprint edition, Budd Schulberg wrote “...in Queer People we have if not THE Hollywood novel - at least a truly seminal work on Hollywood in which may be found the seeds of at least three of the longer-lived Hollywood novels, The Day of the Locust, What Makes Sammy Run? and The Last Tycoon.” The book was a scandalous sensation when published and went through numerous printings very quickly. At publication, multimillionaire film producer Howard Hughes bought the film rights to the novel. He hired Leo McCarey to direct and Ben Hecht to write the screenplay. Hughes biggest problem turned out to be that stars were extremely reluctant to appear in a film that attacked the Hollywood studio system. Hughes initially wanted to cast Jack Oakie and William Haines, but Paramount and MGM refused to loan them out. Unable to secure a significant cast, Hughes ended the production after spending over $100,000 of 1930s dollars in its preparation.