Ms. Hellman wrote these when she was 23-24ish. I think at that time she was divorced, working at MGM as a reader, and had just met the love of her life, Dashiell Hammett. The stories are the first flexing of her literary muscle. They were published once, in a magazine…
Tag: MGM
Anita Loos worked for a very long time in the film industry, had an unfailingly cheerful disposition, and knew a whole hell of a lot of people. She wrote several books, including “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” and a few memoirs, from which we cull the following: A fan letter from William…
Rosalind Russell wrote an autobiography called, “Life is a Banquet”. It used to sit on my grandmother’s bookshelf and I remember picking it up when I was around twelve and sitting down one afternoon and becoming completely engrossed. The book, like the author; is candid, genteel, and witty. Buy it,…
The Villa Carlotta was a fun place to live… SOUTH OF BEACHWOOD CANYON | BEGUILING HOLLYWOOD. Louella’s apartment was across from ours… Louella entertained a lot, and William Hearst and Marion Davies frequently attended her parties. I had never met Hearst but had seen him at the MGM studios when…
“My first day at MGM dawned… First I was dispatched to makeup—only to find myself sitting at a long table, in front of an even longer mirror. Next to me sat Ava Gardner, Elizabeth Taylor, Lana Turner, and Grace Kelly. I soon found out that the modus operandi at the…