In the Golden Era of moviemaking, motion picture studios owned Hollywood from the beat cops on up, meaning that the wild misadventures of top-earning movie stars were regularly swept out of the public eye. But no such effort was expended on behalf of minor stars, and their shenanigans became tabloid gold in newspapers across America, damaging careers, reputations and lives.
This book presents 15 life stories of Golden Age Hollywood from the sordid to the sad, from battles with the bottle to nightclub brawls, hard-luck childhoods, and even murder. Each write-up includes biographical information, much of which has gone unseen for decades, and filmographies. Actors covered include Ross Alexander, David Bacon, Bruce Cabot, James Cardwell, William Eythe, Wallace Ford, Billy Halop, Weldon Heyburn, Ronald Lewis, Tom Neal, Allan Nixon, Craig Reynolds, Danny Scholl, Lawrence Tierney, and Sonny Tufts.
In the era of Hollywood now considered its Golden Age, there was no shortage of hard-luck stories--movie stars succumbed to mental illness, addiction, accidents, suicide, early death and more.
This book profiles 23 actresses who achieved a measure of success before fate dealt them losing hands--in full public view. Overviews of their lives and careers provide a wealth of previously unpublished information and set the record straight on long-standing inaccuracies.
Actresses covered include Lynne Baggett, Suzan Ball, Helen Burgess, Susan Cabot, Mary Castle, Mae Clarke, Dorothy Comingore, Patricia Dane, Dorothy Dell, Sidney Fox, Charlotte Henry, Rita Johnson, Mayo Methot, Marjie Millar, Mary Nolan, Susan Peters, Lyda Roberti, Peggy Shannon, Rosa Stradner, Judy Tyler, Karen Verne, Helen Walker and Constance Worth.
Listen to the accolades Laura has received:
She is totally deranged! I instructed my publisher to NEVER, NEVER send a review copy to Classic Images again unless you hire a new Book Reviewer.
Her review of Errol Flynn: Gentlemen Hellraiser is a piece of TRASH, spread over THREE full pages! Why the Editor let this junk slip by is beyond me! Her ridiculous raunchy review should have been cleaned up and reduced to far less than one page. Just a few paragraphs could have told why this book is not worth buying nor reading. I hope future features will not follow this awful example.
She is a very hateful person in need of counseling. She has no friends because of her anger issues. I'll pray for her, hoping one day she might learn to be truly professional
and actually review books and not indulge in personal attacks. She has ruined my life and countless others with her thoughtless, uninformed reviews. Amazing!
I tried to read Wagner's book. Very difficult to follow or even want to follow. Boring, not entertaining, not clever, disjointed. Waste of money and my time. Gave it away.
She is a detriment to C.I. because of her negative attitude and refusal to accept facts. How old is she? She sounds antique. Other non-fans think she is a hateful, dissatisfied bitch, and I will forgo reading C.I. in future, as long as she's there.
Let Me Tell You How I Really Feel ...with a Vengeance is the third volume of Laura Wagner's book reviews from Classic Images. The first two, Let Me Tell You How I Really Feel: The Uncensored Book Reviews of Classic Images' Laura Wagner, 2001-2010 and Let Me Tell You How I Really Feel ... Again: More of the Best of Laura Wagner's Book Reviews from Classic Images, were also published by BearManor Media. Wagner is also the contributing editor of Classic Images and Films of the Golden Age, and has written articles for both. She is the co-author of Killer Tomatoes: 15 Tough Film Dames and the sole writer of Anne Francis: The Life and Career, Hollywood's Hard-Luck Ladies and Hollywood Boozers, Brawlers and Hard-Luck Cases (all for McFarland). She contributed a short story to the BearManor anthology It's That Time Again 2!: More New Stories of Old-Time Radio.
This first-ever biography of American actress Anne Francis will enlighten her casual fans and earn a nod of agreement from her diehard admirers. The star of such 1950s cinematic classics as Bad Day at Black Rock, Blackboard Jungle and Forbidden Planet, Anne made the risky decision to transplant her talents to television--and as a result, her acting has often been taken for granted. But TV supplied her with the groundbreaking title role in Honey West (1965-66), where she became the first leading actress to portray a private detective on a regular weekly series.
All of Anne Francis' film and television appearances are chronicled, including a full episode guide for Honey West and a complete listing of her guest roles on such series as The Twilight Zone, The Untouchables and Murder, She Wrote.
Listen to the accolades Laura has received:
She is totally deranged! I instructed my publisher to NEVER, NEVER send a review copy to Classic Images again unless you hire a new Book Reviewer.
Her review of Errol Flynn: Gentlemen Hellraiser is a piece of TRASH, spread over THREE full pages! Why the Editor let this junk slip by is beyond me! Her ridiculous raunchy review should have been cleaned up and reduced to far less than one page. Just a few paragraphs could have told why this book is not worth buying nor reading. I hope future features will not follow this awful example.
She is a very hateful person in need of counseling. She has no friends because of her anger issues. I'll pray for her, hoping one day she might learn to be truly professional
and actually review books and not indulge in personal attacks. She has ruined my life and countless others with her thoughtless, uninformed reviews. Amazing!
I tried to read Wagner's book. Very difficult to follow or even want to follow. Boring, not entertaining, not clever, disjointed. Waste of money and my time. Gave it away.
She is a detriment to C.I. because of her negative attitude and refusal to accept facts. How old is she? She sounds antique. Other non-fans think she is a hateful, dissatisfied bitch, and I will forgo reading C.I. in future, as long as she's there.
Let Me Tell You How I Really Feel ...with a Vengeance is the third volume of Laura Wagner's book reviews from Classic Images. The first two, Let Me Tell You How I Really Feel: The Uncensored Book Reviews of Classic Images' Laura Wagner, 2001-2010 and Let Me Tell You How I Really Feel ... Again: More of the Best of Laura Wagner's Book Reviews from Classic Images, were also published by BearManor Media. Wagner is also the contributing editor of Classic Images and Films of the Golden Age, and has written articles for both. She is the co-author of Killer Tomatoes: 15 Tough Film Dames and the sole writer of Anne Francis: The Life and Career, Hollywood's Hard-Luck Ladies and Hollywood Boozers, Brawlers and Hard-Luck Cases (all for McFarland). She contributed a short story to the BearManor anthology It's That Time Again 2!: More New Stories of Old-Time Radio.