Old Hollywood Gossip

[huntergrayson]

And yet, despite his propensity for whipping it out on a whim, there are no pictures.

(I love the anecdote where he gets in some pissing contest with a guy over who has the bigger dick - the man whips out a monster and Berle's friend tells him "Just pull out enough to win.")

I remember reading where someone walked in on her in her dressing room when she was lightening her pubic hair. She was completely unfazed and just said, "Can't you see I'm making my collar match my cuffs?"

Ah, the old lightening of public hair. Apparently, Marilyn, dimbulb that she was, tried to do it directly with bleach. Needless to say, painful complications later ensued. And Jean Harlow had to lighten hers so it wouldn't show through her dress in Dinner for Eight.

[eclair]

VH1 had a one time comedy show called "In Their Own Words", or something similar. It featured a bunch of comediens reading from actors' and musicians' autobiographies. Very simple but very funny.

Its well known that Eddie Fisher left Debbie Reynolds for Liz Taylor. All three wrote autobiographies covering this event. Richard Burton also wrote his life story.

One section of the VH1 show had four people reading from the Debbie, Eddie, Liz, Richard books at once. It was hilarious! I wish they would have more episodes of this show.

Modified because its VH1 or E! not VH!.

[Deleted]

thedivinemisst03 said:

I don't know if they necessarily qualify as divas, but Clara Bow: Runnin' Wild by David Stenn and Louise Brooks: A Biography by Barry Paris are two of my favorites.

The best book about Louise Brooks is the one she wrote herself: Lulu in Hollywood. It is a series of essays about her films and her life. She was a liar by omission but she was a very good writer.

[Brookie]

This is a fabulous thread! Bring on the fossilized snark!

[strawberrylover]

^ hehe! Fossilized.

eclair, that sounds like a really fun show! Couldn't find it anywhere on YouTube though. Bummer.

[Cinchona]

esoterica said:

auroranorth said:

Carole Lombard was made of awesome.

She used up all the awesome in her day. There's none left for any of the starlets of today.

I remember reading where someone walked in on her in her dressing room when she was lightening her pubic hair. She was completely unfazed and just said, "Can't you see I'm making my collar match my cuffs?"

I remember hearing another story on American Masters or E! Mysteries & Scandals (I think) about the director of one of her movies telling her that her “collar” was too puffy. Carole came back with a pair of scissors and asked him to do the honors.

[abbynormal]

I believe it's fairly well known now that Grace Kelly was a major league skank and slept with most of her co-stars. Apparently on the set of Rear Window she tried her hardest to get into Jimmy Stewart's bed but he wouldn't give in. He refused to cheat on his wife, which I'm sure wasn't easy. The woman was absolutely gorgeous. Even so, they managed to stay friendly with each other. I've loved him ever since I heard that.

[pomegranate]

abbynormal said:

I believe it's fairly well known now that Grace Kelly was a major league skank and slept with most of her co-stars.

Oh totally, her father never approved of her being an actress and actually working for a living. She was terrified of failing and having to move back home. Sleeping with her costars and directors was her very sad and messed up way of giving herself job security. She fell really hard for Clark Gable on the set of Mogambo and was devastated when he told her it had just been an on-set fling.

[abbynormal]

Oh definitely. She had some major Daddy issues.

[esoterica]

Also, my dad met Berle at some event (a golf event, maybe), and said that Berle was the foulest human being that he (my dad) had ever met. Considering my dad had survived three major wars, that doesn't speak well for Berle.

I'd believe that just based on how nasty he was to RuPaul. (Loves me some RuPaul!)
I remember reading that about Grace Kelly as well. I thought of that when Fyshstick was compared to her. IIRC, Kelly was gorgeous and would happily hump anyone with a big name or wallet, but was not considered a great actress. Why would those two be considered similar?

Another great Hollywood tidbit: Clark Gable was widely considered to be the worst lay in the world. Lombard even said, "God knows I love Clark, but if he had one less inch, he'd be considered the queen of Hollywood instead of the king." Joan Crawford and others apparently attested to this.