Book Description
The death of a celebrity is often as fascinating as--and sometimes more fascinating than--a star's actual life. From the grisly end of Sharon Tate at the hands of the Manson family and the mysterious demise of Bob Crane to the peaceful passings of Lucille Ball and George Burns, The Hollywood Book of Death is a captivating and appealingly packaged volume of more than 125 television and movie stars' final curtain calls.
Arranged in an encyclopedic approach by manner of death, these well-researched accounts include details of celebrities' colorful lives and unusual deaths, their funerals, and the intriguing aftermath. With more than 100 rare photographs and a special "necrology" index of more than 6,000 stars and directors, along with a section revealing where Hollywood personalities are resting in eternal sleep, this enthralling reference promises to be on every film and television buff's "Top 10" gift list.
Customer Reviews:
Great Book.......2007-08-24
This is a great book. Anyone interested in the seedy history of Hollywood stars will definitely enjoy this book.
Excellent book.......2007-01-12
Very Good book, well written.
I for some reason have a morbid fascination into hollywood deaths and this book definately satisfies my curiosity.
Highly recommend
How did they really die.......2006-10-05
The title of the book says it all. The book details the deaths and often the lives of some of Hollywoods favorite players. It is broken up into sections depending on the type of death. Some of the catagories and people in them are:
1. Mysterious:
a. Natalie Wood
b.Sal Mineo
c. Bruce and Brandon Lee
and many more
2.in obserity-these people had not been in the limelight in a while
a. Lucille Ball
b. Joan Crawford
c. Mary Pickford
as well as many more
3. suicide
a. Freddy Prinz
b. Lupe Velez
as well as others
4. Drugs/alcohol
a. Judy Garland
b. Chris Farley
c. John Barrymore
and many more
This book is full of interesting tidpits that any person who loves old Hollywood will definitly injoy
Bizarre Read.......2006-03-16
This had all the bizarre,and perverse stories I have read in a long time. I have read accounts of some of these deaths but they weren't quite as sordid as these.
Not all that impressive.......2006-02-05
I like this book, but felt it left out so many interesting cases.
Most of the entries were not sordid or bizarre as the cover states but simply sad.
Average customer rating:
- Worth the read
- Hollywood Kryptonite
- Hollywood Kryptonite, George Reeves
- Man of Steel, Stolen Forever
- Great Hollywood-Noir
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Hollywood Kryptonite, The Bulldog, the Lady, and the Death of Superman
Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger
Manufacturer: BookSurge Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Contemporary
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The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul, and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles
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Hollywoodland (Widescreen Edition)
ASIN: 1419651358
Release Date: 2006-08-22 |
Customer Reviews:
Worth the read.......2007-05-05
As many books of this type I buy it because I want to find out more about the case or the person's life, like most people who buy the book. I found it interesting and intreaging. I learned a lot about George Reeves through this book and how people controled him in this book. I learned a lot about the case.
The only thing is that the very end of the book was a little slow. But don't let that stop you from buying the book. To find out about what happened in his life then buy it. To find out what happened in the case then...
Hollywood Kryptonite.......2007-03-22
I found Hollywood Kryptonite to be a fantastic book. The photo section in itself was a thrill since I am a huge fan of the series. I had a difficult time putting the book down once I started reading it. I had been searching for this book to complete my Superman collection. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who may be a true George Reeves fan. He was and always will be THE SUPERMAN.
Hollywood Kryptonite, George Reeves.......2007-03-18
I have not read the book yet, but I'm looking forward to reading about what happened to George Reeves. I thought the first book that I bought was going to be about what happened and it turned out to be a book on Hollywood in general.
Man of Steel, Stolen Forever.......2007-03-13
This is an attempt to explain the events leading up to and surrounding the death of George Reeves, Superman. Several facts are given artist liberty to reach a targeted conclusion.....It's woth the read, however, don't expect any obvious conclusions. The Man of Steel's untimely death still remains one of Hollywood's ultimate mysteries never to be solved.
Great Hollywood-Noir.......2007-01-06
If you liked LA Confidential, you'll find this book quite an enjoyable ride! Some reviews elsewhere bagged on the Noir-ish, hyped up language, but this subsides after the first few chapters. As a child, I had been told by my grandmother that George Reeves had shot himself and this placed a bit of a stigma on this hero of my youth. This book does a great job of showing George's behind-the-scenes life and provides a great back story to the big mystery . . . did he or didn't he? I had a pretty strong opinion prior to reading this but I found myself flip-flopping a few times during the course of the book. I have passed this one around to my wife and relatives and all have enjoyed it. Its an intersting look at Hollywood and the birth of TV and the subject matter is interesting enough to make this a great "beach book". Even Hollywood history is great escapism. The only disappointment is not being able to hold out hope for a different ending for my hero.
Average customer rating:
- Comprehensive and fun read
- Overall worthwhile, but with glaring omissions
- You'll get hours of great reading out of this book!
- HOLLYWOOD
- Totally addictive
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Cut!: Hollywood Murders, Accidents, and Other Tragedies
Denise Imwold ,
Andrew Brettell ,
Heather von Rohr , and
Warren Hsu Leonard
Manufacturer: Barron''s Educational Series
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Entertainers
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Where Are They Buried? How Did They Die? Fitting Ends and Final Resting Places of the Famous, Infamous, and Noteworthy
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ASIN: 0764158589 |
Book Description
Rebel Without a Cause was one of the most talked-about movies of the 1950s. It might also have been the most jinxed. Among its stars, James Dean was soon killed in a car crash, Sal Mineo died several years later, murdered by an unknown assailant, and the beautiful Natalie Wood died mysteriously when she fell from a docked pleasure boat and drowned. This heavily illustrated book recounts these and many other tragic events that have haunted the Hollywood movie community from its early-twentieth-century beginnings to the present day. Here are accounts of the sudden, premature deaths of stars like Rudolph Valentino, Montgomery Clift, and Peter Sellers. Here too are stories about celebrities who died young because of alcohol or drug-related problems—John Belushi and Elvis Presley among many others—and of the tragic 1998 murder of comedian Phil Hartman. Car wrecks, plane crashes, and other deadly accidents sent Jayne Mansfield, Grace Kelly, and Carole Lombard, to untimely deaths, and accidents occurring during film production have taken several lives, perhaps the most dramatic being the helicopter crash that killed Vic Morrow in 1983. The tragic stories of many Hollywood personalities are told in Cut!, the definitive volume on the fleeting lives of movie celebrities, some of whom became more famous in death than they had been in life. Hundreds of photos, many in color.
Customer Reviews:
Comprehensive and fun read.......2007-08-06
I discovered this book at a book store chain but found - of course - a much better price here on Amazon. This book is loaded with succinct but thorough write-ups of every Hollywood celebrity you can imagine who met an untimely death. Macabre but fascinating, it is also loaded to the hilt with photos.
Overall worthwhile, but with glaring omissions.......2007-06-25
Cut! is a densely illustrated compendium of Hollywood's luminaries whose lives have been touched by tragedy, either in their career or in real life. The subtitle indicates "Hollywood murders, accidents, and other tragedies." The expected appear (Sharon Tate, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, William Desmond Taylor, Thelma Todd, Irving Thalberg) but there are a number of obvious stories missing. There is no Peg Entwhistle, the actress who in 1932 famously flung herself to her death from the "H" in the Hollywoodland sign. No Bob Crane, bludgeoned to death in his bed in Phoenix, Arizona, by persons unknown. No Paul Bern, shot to death in Jean Harlow's closet, perhaps by himself, perhaps by an abandoned ex-lover. As someone else pointed out, Olive Thomas, dead from ingesting bichloride of mercury in Paris, is missing; she exists only as a sentence in a page on husband Jack Pickford. Louise Brooks, whose exit from Tinseltown was of her own volition, and who died at a relatively advanced age in Rochester, NY, probably should have been included, rather than some of the little-known players who make an appearance (Ormer Locklear, for example, who died in an airplane stunt in 1920). Jon-Erik Hexum, who accidentally shot himself on the set of his TV series in the 1980s, is missing, arguably more remembered than Gloria Dickson or Dorothy Dell.
More than half the book is made up of people who died relatively young of diseases after having a Hollywood career (Lee Remick, John Garfield, Montgomery Clift), not what I would term a typical Hollywood tragedy conjured up by the title. There is a wealth of information on most celebrities, with very little I saw in the way of errors. One mistake appears twice: in two photo captions from the movie "Poltergeist," the boy in the movie (Oliver Robbins) is miscredited as Heather O'Rourke. Vic Morrow's accidental death along with two children by helicopter blade is relegated to a back section on movie-set tragedies. I am also uncertain as to why Linda Darnell, a B-movie actress, and Richard Farnsworth, a stuntman who came to acting late in life, rate two pages, while more major stars and award-winners like Betty Grable, Judy Holliday, Frank Morgan, Dick Powell, are summed up in one page. Perhaps it is due to the amount of "tragedy" in the subject's life: poor asylum inmate Frances Farmer gets two pages as well.
Also included are quite a number of obscurities, which may be is due to the book's main compilers being film professors and librarians. Who remembers Lya De Putti? Gilda Gray? Rita Johnson? Charles Ray? Mitzi Green? The average film fan has no idea who these long-lost people are, and the extent of their contribution to filmland seems slight.
The print is also exceedingly small, probably in an effort to keep the book from being encyclopedia-sized. Although, I could just be aging...
However, all that being said, it's still a nice reference book for people who love film and celebrities, keeping in mind some of it's more obvious exclusions.
You'll get hours of great reading out of this book!.......2007-04-16
I've been a movie buff since the early 70's, and by now, I thought I pretty much knew it all. This book offers readable, accurate and oftentime surprising biographies of so many people. Reading it, I was blown away by how much (of what I thought to be) obscure information was packed into each page. This book is worth every penny.
HOLLYWOOD.......2007-02-24
I was very impressed by how fast I received my book after ordering it. It didn't take long at all, in fact, I received it at least 2 days sooner than promised. The book was in excellent condition when I received it and I carry it with me to read whenever I know I'll have extra time.
I'm looking forward to my next purchase.
Totally addictive.......2006-09-16
Think of it as "Hollywood Babylon" but with more style and credibility. This book about Hollywood celebrities who met untimely deaths is filled with great photos, a nice layout and fascinating lore. The major section of the book is called "The Big Sleep" and is an A-Z profile of film stars who died young from various causes. A chapter titled "Predator" profiles those whose causes of death remain questionable to this day (Marilyn Monroe, William Desmond Taylor, Natalie Wood, etc.) "Dial M For Murder" profiles murder victims such as Sal Mineo, Phil Hartman, Elizabeth Short and Sharon Tate. "Drugstore Cowboy" profiles drug-related deaths (Dorothy Dandridge, Judy Garland, Chris Farley, Elvis Presley, etc.) "Dangerous Liaisons" covers great Hollywood scandals like the Fatty Arbuckle trial, as well as suicides (Charles Boyer, Richard Farnsworth, Capucine). "The Accidental Tourist" includes celebrities who died by accidents (i.e. car wrecks and house fires) and Aaliyah, Linda Darnell, Grace Kelly and Butterfly McQueen. "Lights Camera Death" includes a section of films that are somewhat connected with bizarre death incidents ("The Conquerer," "The Crow," "Our Gang," etc.) The profiles vary from the classic era (Jean Harlow, Roman Navarro, Judy Holliday) to the present (Robert Pastorelli, Divine, John Ritter).
One odd sidenote about the book is that there doesn't seem to be spaces between sentences but somehow it doesn't detract from reading.
Product Description
For a decade Wallace Reid was the most recognized face in Hollywood, the most universally beloved actor in silent film. Today all that is widely remembered of "Wally" Reid is that he died in a padded sanitarium cell, the victim of a fatal morphine addiction. Of all the actors who have enjoyed great fame only to vanish from the public eye, Reid perhaps fell the fastest and hardest. This first full biography recounts Reid's complicated childhood, his disrupted family history and his rise to film stardom despite these restricting factors. It documents his myriad talents and accomplishments, most notably his gift for brilliant onscreen acting. The text explores in depth how the modern studio, however unconsciously, turned the popular star, a well-adjusted man with a loving family, into a drug-dependent mental patient within three years. His death rocked the foundations of Hollywood, and the huge new industry that he helped build nearly died with "Dashing Wally Reid."
Customer Reviews:
superb.......2007-08-23
Surprisingly, exhaustively detailed. Amazing job of research; it couldn't have been easy. Comprehensive. Definitive. Bravo.
Wallace Reid and E.J. Fleming Both Stars.......2007-05-14
E.J. hits the ball out of the ballpark yet again. All of his works are sensational, well researched and well written. But this book is one of the best books in the last decade by any author. McFarland did a great job designing the cover and it was eclipsed by the content. The Author is sensational in his description of Reid and the era in whihc he was in Hollywood. This is a must read for Historians of Tinseltown. Reid only gets better with each book.
I'm crying too..........2007-05-02
McFarland has just released E.J. Fleming's "Wallace Reid,The Life and Death of a Hollywood Idol". Wallace Reid(April 15,1891-January 18,1923) was an actor in silent films referred to by Motion Picture Magazine as the screen's No. 1 lover. Today, in 2007, Wallace Reid is almost unknown. William Wallace Reid was born in St. Louis, Missouri into a show business family. Reid performed on stage at an early age. An all-around athlete, Reid engaged in sports, and also maintained an interest in music, the piano, banjo, drums, and the violin. Reid was drawn to the burgeoning motion picture industry by his father. In 1910, 19-year-old Reid appeared in his first motion picture, "The Phoenix", filmed at Selig Polyscope Studios in Chicago. Reid approached Vitagraph Studios hoping to be given a chance to direct. He did, and also worked as a writer and a cameraman. Comfortable behind the camera, he was never really at ease in front of it. But he was soon acting, his natural good-looks perceived by early film mogul, Allan Dwan. He was featured in "Birth of a Nation(1915)" and "Intolerance(1916)", both directed by D.W. Griffith, becoming one of Hollywood's major stars. Involved in more than a hundred one-reelers, Reid was signed by producer Jesse Lasky and then acted in another sixty films for Lasky's Famous Players film company, later known as Paramount Pictures. In 1914, Jesse Lasky's first film, "The Squaw Man", became a great hit. It was the first epic western; it's success helped make Hollywood a center for film-making. Then Lasky merged with Adolph Zukor to form Famous-Players, a major silent-era studio. Lasky was instrumental in molding Reid into a matinee idol. Sadly, Reid's movie image and celebrity lifestyle intersected. Flush with success, Reid hosted numerous parties at his mansion; liquor flowed freely. In 1915, while speeding up the Pacific Coast Highway near the beach, Reid slammed into a small car carrying a family of five. Both cars were demolished. Somehow, Reid walked away with cuts and bruises. In the other car, the driver was dead, and his wife and son injured. Reid was arrested and booked into Santa Monica jail for manslaughter. D.W. Griffith arranged for his bail and he was released the following Monday. But things got worse. In 1919, while working on location in Oregon on "Valley of the Giants", Reid was injured in a train wreck. In order to keep working, studio doctors gave him morphine for his pain. The powerful drug led to addiction. Reid kept working at a frantic pace in films that were growing more physically demanding. Help for addiction was non-existent at this time. Ignoring Reid's illness, and intent on selling tickets, Lasky pushed Reid into role-after-role. In 1922, his health had deteriorated badly, and after contracting the flu, he fell into a coma from which he never recovered. We don't know for sure, but his last days were spent in a padded room. Wallace Reid died at age thirty-one. Though a bit dry, Fleming's "The Life and Death of a Hollywood Idol" is certainly interesting. It features an excellent, detailed history of the shooting of Griffith's 1915 "Birth of a Nation". The book provides extensive histories of noted and unknown silent stars. However, the detailed biographies of obscure players(many in footnotes) will bore many readers; though I found it fascinating. Fleming invests many pages dredging-up the Fatty Arbuckle scandal of 1921. His long trial and final acquittal is old news; any cinema buff has read this all before. Also, Fleming spices up the book with liberal excerpts from Kenneth Anger's "Hollywood Babylon", a graphic expose' based on hear-say and tabloids. Much of Reid's early life is little-known(The history of film-making before 1915 is sketchy. Few films ever survive.), but this is no license to pad the book with movie trivia. The text is well-written, but there are some errors. On page 39, Fleming writes that the noted Paramount director's name was William Desmond Taylor. It wasn't. His real name was William Cunningham Deane-Tanner. On page 80, he says that Reid was considering Lasky's offer to join Universal. But Jesse Lasky never worked at Universal studios. When the depression hit, Lasky lost his job. In the late 50's, Lasky was so deeply indebted to the IRS that he returned to film production at Paramount. He died while his film was still in pre-production. A co-founder of Paramount Pictures, Jesse Lasky died almost penniless. Overall, this is a thoughtful and ambitious work; a true story of a boy's rise to greatness, his abuse by Hollywood, and his terrible decline. Wallace Reid's wife, Dorothy, saved hundreds of poems he gave her. Written just months before he died, Reid wrote a letter to his son called "Lullaby":
You want to know when, O Baby of mine,
He'll be coming home to you.
And O how I'm longing and longing dear
To be able to tell you true.
So come to my heart, dear Baby o' mine,
Let me comfort your baby woes.
You cry for your Daddy, baby o' mine
Can't you see that I'm crying, too?
Five Stars.......2007-04-07
I became a big fan of E.J. Fleming after my daughter gave me his fabulous Carole Landis biography. I love that E.J. writes about stars how haven't already had a million books published about them I did not know much about Wallace Reid before reading this - I feel like I am an expert now! This is a fascinating look at the early days of Hollywood and the agony of drug addiction. I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of Wallace Reid, loves classic movies, or just wants to read an interesting biography.
You should also check out E.J.'s book Carole Landis: A Tragic Life In Hollywood
A Wonderful Biography.......2007-02-28
E.J. Fleming has done it again! He has written another fabulous biography about a forgotten classic star. This is a well-researched, well-written, and very entertaining book about silent actor Wallace Reid. It is a fascinating look at the early days of Hollywood and the agony of drug addiction. The book includes some rare photos and a complete filmography. I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of Wallace Reid, loves classic movies, or just wants to read an interesting biography. It's a little pricey but it's worth every penny. I can't wait until E.J.'s next book :-)
Book Description
The deaths of film celebrities are sometimes even more fascinating than their lives. Hollywood visitors and natives are often drawn to sites of tragedy involving the rich, the beautiful, and the notorious. This book can make finding those locations simple.
These sixteen driving tours cover over 500 sites relating to celebrity deaths and scandals. Each tour covers a specific area of the world's film capital, from Sunset Strip to Bel Air, giving specific directions to each location on the tour. Sites include famous graves, like Rudolph Valentino's, where the Lady in Black made her annual pilgrimage for thirty years; houses and businesses said to be haunted by those as famous in death as they were in life; locations of famous murders and deaths, from William Desmond Taylor to John Belushi; and scandalous locations like the infamous Francis Brothel. Tips for safe and enjoyable touring are also included, and the tours allow everyone from the mildly curious to the completely morbid to find some of Hollywood's darkest corners.
Customer Reviews:
Well researched guide that can be used for travel or armchair reading.......2006-05-30
This unusual guidebook is structured as a series of sixteen tours to scandalous sites around the Los Angeles area., from Hollywood (central, Western, and more) to Beverly Hills to the outer boroughs. Why are we so fascinated with sites of death and scandal? Who knows?!? We are, though, and we might as well own up to it. Nothing sells better than the true-life stories of sex, drugs, and rock n' roll (or sex, drugs, and Hollywood's big screen, in this case).
This is billed as a guidebook, but, as a Los Angeles resident, I found it more fascinating from an armchair perspective than as a step-by-step trip guide. I have no desire to go on any of these sixteen tours, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the scandalous sites around the Los Angeles area. Much of the text focuses on pre-1930's and lesser-known film stars, so few people are likely to obsessively follow any given tour as a tribute to a fallen movie star. Anyone familiar with the Los Angeles area will enjoy this book and glean ideas for "Oh, do you know what happened here??" during the course of the text. If you are an L.A. resident and ant to impress your friends and visitors, look no further.
The text is a guidebook on the surface, but beneath the exterior, it is truly a guide to every major Hollywood scandal. I don't plan on using it as a driving tour; rather, it has furthered my education about the region. On the other hand, the comprehensive index will allow any fan of specific stars to locate the site of related scandals.
Very helpful for scandal lovers!.......2005-02-25
I love visiting celebrity graves and infamous locations so this book was perfect for me. I even learned about a few scandals I had never heard about before. Mr. Fleming provides good directions and helpful tips so you won't miss a thing. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in Hollywood scandals.
You have to do it to believe it.......2003-11-11
I have family that lives in the L.A. area and when I visit them, they know we will do a "Death Tour". They teased me at first and then when we started seeing the sites, they stopped!! Now they look forward to the next tour that we will take. This book is an interesting compilation of not only where events have taken place, but also the history behind them. Although, the title can seem a bit ominous, there are a lot of other sites to see in the book besides "DEATH" (stars homes, arrest locations, homes used for TV shows, etc.). So, as for the previous review about this being too morbid, I completely disagree. Besides, death is after all a part of life. Enjoy...I certainly have!
too morbid for my taste..........2001-06-27
first things first, it is a very good book with great research but just too morbid for my taste. I prefer sight seeing of star homes, movie studios, the Chinese theater, the wax museum, etc.... where celebrities met their mortality has never interested me...
Things To Do On Your Vacation (or a free Saturday in L.A.).......2000-10-26
Several years ago an L.A. cemetery worker told me that a Chicago area resident was researching a book about Hollywood cemeteries and death sites. I am assuming this is it. This is a chatty gem of a tour book that examines some uncoventional tourist attractions ----- predominantly suicide, death and scandal sites ----- and is loaded with information. Having done my own bizarre self-designed tours in L.A., I wish I had this book in the past as I would have saved myself much time and trouble. The narrative was informative and well-written and provided a lot of facts, along with some excellent (and fairly current) pictures. For the most part the information was accurate, but I did identify some questionable facts mostly involving dates. My immediate impression was that this book probably should have been proofed better before it went to print, but it is quite apparent that the author really does know his/her subject matter and did a fairly thorough job researching the subject matter. Is it worth the $35 price tag.......definitely! It provided me with a full day's worth of enjoyment and was a lot cheaper and more fun than a trip to Disneyland. Will I use it again? Absolutely........I have only done a couple of the tours so far!
Average customer rating:
- A wonderful book
- Timeless and Authentic
- A Remarkable Book with an Unforgettable Voice
- Richie's Picks: SAMMY & JULIANA IN HOLLYWOOD
- Couldn't put it down
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Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood
Benjamin Alire Saenz
Manufacturer: Rayo
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Speak
ASIN: 0060843748
Release Date: 2006-08-01 |
Book Description
The Hollywood where Sammy Santos lives is not one of glitz and glitter, but a barrio at the edge of a small New Mexico town. In the summer before his senior year, Sammy falls in love with the beautiful, independent, and intensely vulnerable Juliana. Sammy's chronicle of his senior year is both a love story and a litany of loss, the tale of his love not only for Juliana but for their friends, a generation from a barrio: tough, innocent, humorous, and determined to survive.
Customer Reviews:
A wonderful book.......2006-01-05
I really enjoyed this book, but I think its a shame that they are marketing it as Young Adult. This is a book that deserves a wider audience than just teens, as many adults will be able to relate due to the era.
Timeless and Authentic.......2005-08-02
"We have plans. Then something happens." Sammy has plans: to go to college, to get out of the barrio, to love Juliana. Although Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood takes place in the Hollywood barrio of Las Cruces, New Mexico, in 1968/69, it is a timeless story of teen hopes and fears, love and loss, and what it is like to grow up poor and of color. Sammy, called The Librarian by his friends for his scholarly ways, falls in love with Juliana the summer before his senior year. By summer's end, she has died tragically and senselessly, and Sammy "[doesn't] care. Not about anything. Not anymore." But despite his anger and the pain of his loss, the demands of his friends and his family only increase in his senior year and Sammy is pulled into their lives. These are real teenagers, who drink, party, take drugs, have sex, swear, push the limits of school administrations and the law. Sammy agrees to be campaign manager for Gigi who is running for student body president on a platform of "shakin' up the school." Some of his friends face the draft and service in Vietnam, and everyone knows that poor Hispanic boys of Hollywood come back in pine boxes. Two friends are brutally beaten for being gay. One friend dies of heroin addiction. His father is injured in an automobile accident. Things happen.
Sammy maneuvers through the minefields of student elections, drugs, protests, racism homophobia, and loss and finds a resiliency he doesn't know he has. Like all teenagers, he thinks his life will start when he gets to college. But he is deeply involved in the life of Hollywood. Saenz has found an authentic voice in Sammy who is full of the angst and confusion of all teenagers but is also perceptive, sensitive and compassionate. This is a beautifully realized story of what it meant in 1968 to grow up in the barrio. Today, teens growing up in the ghettos face the same problems Sammy and his friends faced.
A Remarkable Book with an Unforgettable Voice.......2005-01-08
This novel covers a year in the life of a Hispanic teenager living in a Florida barrio in the late sixties. The voice of Sammy, the main character, is authentic and his personality is vivid and lovable. I was rooting for him from page one through the end.
The author also captures the flavor of the barrio and Sammy's high school through wonderful portrayals of Sammy's girlfriend Juliana, his Hispanic and Jewish friends, his caring family, and his next door neighbor. They practically step off the page.
Finally, the book, through portrayals of Vietnam soldiers, school protests, and diminishing hemlines, makes the late sixties come alive.
Sammy and Juliana is a wonderful novel.
Richie's Picks: SAMMY & JULIANA IN HOLLYWOOD.......2004-12-04
In 1968, during the summer preceding his senior year at Las Cruces High School in southern New Mexico, seventeen-year-old Sammy Santos hooks up with Juliana Rios. The powerful and achingly tragic story Sammy recounts of Juliana and that summer is but a mere preface in this stunning ode to growing up in the barrio--a neighborhood that some joker has named Hollywood. I alternately laughed, cheered, and cried as Sammy and his Hollywood friends encounter the prejudices, the Church, the hormones, the War, the drugs, the violence, the music, the aspirations, and the dress code, while making their way through that year both inside and outside of the barrio. If I had to choose a single "top" book from the 200+ new books for teens that I've read in 2004, SAMMY & JULIANA IN HOLLYWOOD would be the one.
Couldn't put it down.......2004-09-28
This is a book I highly recommend. I got it in the mail on Sat and finished it by the next day.
It can be at times very depressing to read, in that Catcher in the Rye type of way. The difference is that Sammy isn't born into a life of privelege, and his obstacles extend beyond his own wonderings. His immidiate world is filled with economic and social harship.
Sammy goes through so much that you can't even imagine what else could possibly happen, but you want to be there with him when it does. It is very honest, vivid and well-written. My only negative criticism: there's a part that seems to be chronologically out of order...I was a lit major in college, so I am very picky.
Book Description
Her husband was Robert Blake, the award-winning star of In Cold Blood. But she found her own fame at point-blank range....Obsessed with glamour and wealth, she followed her dream to Hollywood, and finally found fame-- in death.Bonny Lee Bakley's dream was to marry a movie star. Using sex and guts, the ruthless small-town blonde finally struck it rich by wedding Robert Blake, the Emmy Award-winning actor who scored in the hit show "Baretta." When Blake found his bride of six months with a bullet in her head outside a Los Angeles restaurant, he was thrust back into the spotlight, and Bonny Lee was exposed for the manipulative woman she was-- a grifter with a sordid criminal history of sex swindles, credit-card fraud, and Social Security scams. But her specialty was fleecing wealthy men for quick cash-- a lucrative sting that finally brought Bonny Lee Bakley to Hollywood to live-- and die-- among the rich and famous....But who really murdered Bonny Lee in cold blood? How did it play into Robert and Bonny's turbulent marriage? Was she a victim of her own con-- or something more sinister? What was the truth behind her fears of being stalked? And what secrets were hidden in Bonny's past that she found impossible to outrun?Now, in this riveting, fascinating account, Gary C. King brings you the inside details of the most talked-about Tinseltown murder in years.With 8 pages of unforgettable photos!
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding Account!.......2002-05-01
This book is fast-paced and full of details about this very interesting case. I don't usually read the so-called "quickie" books, but this one ranks at the top of the heap. This book also introduced me to some of the author's earlier works, which are also excellent.
Gripping.......2002-04-22
Bonnie Bakley was some kind of woman! Thank you Mr. King for a great read! Looking forward to reading more! Jude
wonderful!.......2002-04-22
I was shocked to read the activities of Bonnie! What a woman she was! Thanks Mr. King looking forward to reading your other books! jude
How to make a quick buck via hearsay............2001-11-12
To tell the truth, I read more information about this case and the now famous BonnyLee in the tabloids while waiting in the grocery line than the 2 hours I spent reading this poor excuse of a book! And the only reason I continued to read this book after the first boring chapter was because I knew if I put it down on the coffee table, I'd never pick it up again! The author obviously was out to make a quick buck. Why else would anyone write this poor excuse for a book BEFORE the main subject has even been charged with anything! As we know, most authors write about a murder AFTER the murderer has been caught. Even O.J. books were churned out by the dozen after his trial. Not before! Everything Gary King wrote about could have been read in the tabloids, public records, newspapers or on the internet. All he did was combine public knowledge into this silly book then charge us (...). What a ripoff! My advice? Don't waste your money. The National Enquirer has a much more interesting layout each week than this joke of a book.
Too little too soon.......2001-09-29
The crime occurred on May 4, 2001 and this book was published in August, 2001. Not much was or is known about who killed Bonny Lee Bakely. So the author had to add a lot of extraneous material to make up a book. Then he had to rush it to print, leaving a few typos such as spelling Bonny's sister's name two different ways (Marjerry and Margerry - see pages 96 and 141 ) There are some juicy parts with gripping reading. The author reveals some similarities to the O.J. Simpson case. Both murders were a celebrity's wife and the suspect was a phantom never heard from or seen. Of course until you figure out who really did it! Some interesting stuff!
Book Description
Hollywood Death Scenes is the first book in a series of true crime and tragedy tour guides. With over 150 addresses, 50 pictures of Hollywood's tragic figures, and more than 200 photographs of crime scenes as they appear today, Hollywood Death Scenes will transport the reader to the locations of Los Angeles's greatest tragedies. The reader will be able to peer inside the dark underbelly of this glamorous city from the safety and comfort of his or her own home. Hollywood Death Scenes will also give the adventurous explorer the necessary tools to experience firsthand some of Hollywood's most notorious landmarks.
Whether for the armchair detective or the extreme thrill seeker, Hollywood Death Scenes will take the reader to the other side of the yellow crime scene tape. See the sites where such famous Hollywood luminaries as Marilyn Monroe, Phil Hartman, and River Phoenix met their untimely deaths. Witnesses the atrocities committed by some of the world's most infamous mass murderers. Stare in horror at extended looks into the country's most twisted serial killers such as The Night Stalker and The Hillside Stranglers. Understand the chaos wrought on an entire city by madman Charles Manson. Delve into the unsolved mysteries of the deaths of celebrities from Natalie Wood to The Black Dahlia. Hollywood Death Scenes lets the reader experience an important part of our culture's violent history, without the fear of being harmed.
Customer Reviews:
I agree with what is said about the pictures!.......2007-04-17
The pictures in this book alone are worth the buying...and ofcourse an incredible author, as usual :)
Worth Every Penny.......2006-12-31
I am a huge fan of author Corey Mitchell's work. I have given all three of his paperback releases with Pinnacle 5 star reviews. I was hesitant, however, to plunk down $50+ for his first book which is long out of print. Well, I didn't have to as my wife bought one for me this Christmas and I am glad she did. Mitchell's first book is fantastic. While the writing is not as strong as his current writing in "Evil Eyes," he still is a fantastic writer. It's fascinating to see the progression in the quality of his writing.
As with all his following books, his research is top notch. There are several cases here I had never heard of like Rozz Williams, Hillel Sloak, and Jason Thirsk. There were also tons of new facts on familiar cases such as the Charles manson Murders, The Hillside Stranglers, and the Night Stalker that I had never read anywhere else. Not to mention that Mitchell shot and included over 500 photographs, a couple of hundred crime scene addresses (including updated versions), and that stylistically the book looks killer. My wife is the greatest and I believe the book is worth every dollar she paid for it.
I hope Mitchell continues the series. He mentions in the back of the book that a New York version was next. I guess after the death of his wife (as mentioned at the beginning of his next book "Dead and Buried") he put the "Death Scenes" books aside. I would love to see one of these books for my hometown.
LZJ
an instant true crime classic.......2006-04-15
Hollywood Death Scenes is one of a kind. It's the true crime book all others should have been. An entertaining, delightfully morbid journey, taking the reader to scores of scenes of tinsel towns most famous (infamous) murders, suicides, unexplained deaths and celebrity graves. In cool factor alone, this book is worth the already rising price. A meticulously researched collection of gruesome information compiled by the author in one volume, giving the reader time to enjoy the sites and take the tour of Hollywood's Death Scenes.
VERY FACTUAL REFERENCE........2004-10-13
While visiting my daughter in California, I decided that we should visit Westwood Cemetary. Opon finding it, I was looking for Dorothy Stratten's headstone and was asked by a man if I needed any help. He then started to tell me where most of the famous were enterred; he was Cory Mitchell and when I asked how he knew so much he told me he was writing a book. This book turned out to be "Hollywood Death Scenes". A great book since it is so well researched. It is actually 50 or so small novelettes about each famous person who died around Hollywood. Buy it; you won't regret it!!!!!
The Best There Is.......2004-02-18
Hollywood Death Scenes is incredible! There is more information, addresses, and photos in this book than any other so-called true crime tour guide. Ignore the person who said there is nothing new here...he could not be more wrong. Everything from serial killers, mass murders, celebrity murders, suicides, and graves to corrupt cops and more, more, more!!! Even if you have read every single book on the dark side of Los Angeles you will still find new material here. Corey Mitchell is a wonderful writer and I can't wait until he puts out another in the Death Scene series.
Customer Reviews:
Power of a 'Non-Fiction Novel'.......2006-12-21
In discussing personal events, some a half-century old, it's damn difficult to believe that anyone has the 20/20 recall displayed by John Gilmore in 'Laid Bare'. But once you suspend disbelief, you can walk into this book with the swagger of a Chandleresque detective, sipping an afternoon whiskey in a smoky dive in downtown LA, listening to a failed 1950s Hollywood actor tell you all about the famous people he's known. "Sure pal," you say, "go on, tell me more about this Jim Dean character. Sounds like trouble."
This is a book about deformed celebrity (James Dean, Jane Fonda, Marilyn Monroe, etc.) and failed celebrity (John Gilmore). You aren't required to recognize half of these long-ago stars to get the jaded, forlorn vibe of the piece. Gilmore walks with a lot of ghosts and lives with a deadening irony: if he's (in)famous (and published) it's through describing first-hand, often graphic encounters with film stars. Yet, he constantly moans about his failure to launch successful film and publishing projects. He's not content with his notoriety -- yet is painfully aware that without it he'd be sweeping floors.
In this way, Gilmore himself becomes a kind of Zelig-like character, always in the background, molding to the events, surviving the headliners, interpreting their actions.
Is it all fact? Probably not even Gilmore knows. Perhaps Capote was on to something with the power of the non-fiction which says (to a point) - "It might not have happened exactly this way, but it should have."
If Gimore wasn't actually been present at these events, then this would devolve to fanzine/tabloid fodder. But the fact that he was - to some degree - an observor/participant, takes it from yellow journalism into the realm of confession.
And confessions make great movies. So maybe the irony will, one day, come full circle for John Gilmore.
GILMORE STILL THE KING OF L.A. NOIR .......2006-07-31
LAID BARE tells the hard-knocks, riveted facts of a life lived in Hollywood, always on the sets, the parties and wild times. It is with equal delight that I express that while James Ellory was breaking into high school girls homes and stealing their panties, and while he was sleeping in park bushes from binges (all according to Ellory), John Gilmore was hanging with James Dean and movie stars, a teenage Sunset Strip and Beverly Hills club-hopper with people Ellory could never have possible known who would have now found him an incredulous and obnoxious boor. As describned in LAID BARE, Gilmore was struggleing to make it as a legitimate stage actor in New York, and trying to break into Hollywood movies while Ellory was burglaring homes on panty raids instead of chasing the real thing as Gilmore was doing. Gilmore's writings were being published while Elroy was still on in the bushes, or so it would appear. Gilmore's book on the Black Dahlia was optioned six years for a movie by Edward Pressman who didn't option Ellroy's book. Ellroy has lucked out with a mediocre movie with Brian DiPalma while Gilmore has withdrawn his own property for a special venture on the person he knew as Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia. Ellroy has apparently pulled his head from the bushes and sees he is not as important as he wanted to be; he is not the hard-core L.A. noir writer of Gilmore's stature. A reviewer says that Ellroy has publicly said "Gilmore is full of crap". Ellroy is a hack writer of juvenile mentality and Gilmore is a superb artist. Perhaps Ellory hates more that Gilmore doesn't acknowledge Ellroy and has no time for such "buck-grabbers," as Gilmore said during a reading at Skylight books in Los Angeles, mentioning Ellroy, Steve Hodel and Donald Wolfe. Ellory thrives on public attention while Gilmore doesn't. Ellory writes commercially to entertain and Gilmore, a genius, writes to enlighten. Ellroy has used almost every celebrity name to bolster his pulp fictions (naturally the real people he fabricates about are dead). Gilmore actually knew these people. As in LAID BARE, He writes about them honestly and with daring aplomb, pathos, sensitivity and pain. Such is the saga of James Ellroy bad-mouthing Gilmore. LAID BARE is a brilliant read, a deep, searching probe into the nature of celebrity and the price of the hunger for fame. A book that will live for generations!
A Hollywood Trip...........2006-07-20
While reading John Gilmore's "Laid Bare - A Memoir of Wrecked Lives and the Hollywood Death Trip," I was amazed at the number of notorious celebrities the author had tilted booze, dropped acid and eventually slept with. From Janis Joplin and Jean Seberg to James Dean and Sal Mineo, Gilmore was witness to a side of fame few could only dream of. Now, if it was only true.
This is not to say Gilmore's extremely well-written musings are a load of baloney, as his chapters devoted to Joplin, Jim Morrison and even the sad story of Barbara Payton are insightful and poetic. The details provided are so original that much of this has to be based on fact. Gilmore, born and raised in Hollywood and the son of a former bit player at MGM and an LAPD cop, was a part-time actor, screenplay writer and director who seemed to never catch a break. City hopping between Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Paris during the 1950s and 60s, Gilmore's quest for movie stardom failed to materialize. To his credit, he had several agents and did quite a bit of television work with guest roles on such programs as "The Naked City," "Bonanza" and "The Barbara Stanwyck Show." Publicity shots of Gilmore from this period show a youthful heart-breaker with a strong resemblance to Tony Curtis. He tried to direct a surfing epic in Hawaii, but financing fell through. He was to co-star in a European film with Seberg, but Italian investors pulled out. And while he was Dennis Hopper's roommate, he wrote a screenplay that was eerily similar to what would become "Easy Rider," though he received no credit for it. And the list goes on.
One of many controversial passages in Gilmore's book is devoted to his friendship with James Dean. After Dean's shocking death at the moment of super stardom, quite a few people claimed deep friendships with the legendary star. Gilmore has not only tried on this jacket, but he says their camaraderie began in New York and continued through Los Angeles where they would ride motorcycles together along coastal highways. These dream-like road trips would inspire his screenplay that would eventually be stolen by Hopper and mined into "Easy Rider" gold.
Gilmore describes a deeply troubled Dean, who had a fascination with speed and death. He claims they experimented together sexually, but Dean was mainly a heterosexual. This friendship, while giving Gilmore some notoriety, eventually caused Hollywood to brand the author a "rebel and troublemaker," further contributing to his failure to break through studio doors. Perhaps, but it did lead to Gilmore's novel "Live Fast Die Young: the Short Life of James Dean" which has done well on the bestseller lists. Today, residing in attractive senior citizen splendor, Gilmore the rebel seems to have found his niche with nonfiction investigation, penning such memorable works as "Severed: the True Story of the Black Dahlia Murder" and "Manson: The Unholy Trail of Charlie and the Family." In all, he's written around 10 noteworthy novels, some fiction, most not, hovering around the seamy side of LA life.
What is most fascinating about Gilmore's "Laid Bare" is the recreation of a storied Hollywood in transition. The studio system was coming to an end and the fertile era of the furious 1960s and 70s was slowly taking root. It's the kind of meat James Ellroy ("LA Confidential") feeds on regularly, and it's not surprising that Ellroy has gone on record to say Gilmore is full of crap. Truth be told, Gilmore most certainly hovered around a movie scene Ellroy could only dream of.
Anyway, Gilmore's take on the likes of Lenny Bruce, Jane Fonda, William Burroughs and Steve McQueen is not especially positive. He has quite a bit of venom built up for McQueen, who had an affair with his first wife while the trio lived in New York. Hopper is raked over the coals with rare abandon. Jack Nicholson is poked a few times. He even takes Errol Flynn to the cleaners, though the sex-obsessed swashbuckler has always been an easy target.
The irritating hair which one can never easily pluck while perusing this underbelly wreckage, is that the huge majority of celebrities Gilmore crucifies kicked the bucket many years ago. None of these sad souls are alive to dispute Gilmore's shady claims. Conversations which took place 40 and 50 years ago are recited verbatim. One suspects "Laid Bare" is kind of like those dinosaurs in "Jurassic Park." They were created with incomplete DNA, with frog blood filling in the missing gaps. Thus, a monster has been created equal parts beautiful, horrifying and repulsive.
Towards the end of Gilmore's unforgettable work, there's a passage where he seems to be winking at the audience. While describing Carlos, the roommate of a friend, he says "People who told the truth were fools, Carlos said. He believed lying was more creative than telling the truth. He'd just sit around making up stories to get people to think of him as an intelligent and important person. After he got that stuff published, he got some fat checks. He didn't care that anyone thought he was a fake. He was going to keep on lying because a superior man never tells the truth - he tells what he wants to be the truth."
Gilmore's work may indeed be baloney. If so, it's well-written baloney. Burn, Gilmore, burn.
ONE OF THE BEST HOLLYWOOD MEMOIRS EVER PENNED! .......2006-07-07
LAID BARE was given to me by movie director Curtis Harrington who had purchased a stack to pass out to friends. I have done the same: bought a stack and am passing them out. This is Hollywood in the Golden Age, told by one on the inside and half the time on the outside (via the nature of the movie business!). A boldly written, brilliantly penned memoir from around 1950 until about 1970 (and Jim Morrison!), giving us glimpses of the collapse of the major studios. John Gilmore has lived it, worked it from the start (Republic Studios),desired it, sought a special kind of fame and was so steeped in the Hollywood Mystique he seems a walking encyclopedia of the bright and dark side of L.A., and its heartbeat: Hollywood. Gilmore was born and raised in Hollywood, was pals with James Dean, was a bedtime mate of Jean Seberg and a host of other starlets, worked with talents like Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Fontaine, Peter Lorre, was mentored by Ida Lupino and John Hodiak, was acquainted with Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russel, Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren, and far from least, Brigitte Bardot. Gilmore tells all in this daring, piercing memoir of a highly creative talent wandering through twenty-plus years of Hollywood's cold days and hot nights, yearning to make it big time but finding survival in the drivers seat insterad of drugs, booze and death. I didn't want the book to end and I wish there were more!
I bought his book because he wrote about James Dean.......2005-09-21
However, it was a fascinating book chock full of information about many actors. Once you begin you must read until the last page. Very informative, but dark book dealing with the seamier side of personalities.
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