This is the first complete biography of actress Peg Entwistle, known as the "Hollywood Sign Girl" because of her suicide fall from the HOLLYWOODLAND sign in 1932. It details her childhood, stage and film career, marriage and divorce, and her suicide and almost cult-like pop culture status today. Extensively researched and written with the complete cooperation of the Entwistle family, this work includes excerpts from interviews with Peg Entwistle's brother Milton and her cousin Helen Reid, both of whom recalled much of Peg's years living in Hollywood, her career and private life, and her final weeks. It also features many of Peg Entwistle's own words from extant letters to her family and newly discovered interviews with theatrical reporters. Nearly 30 previously unpublished images from the author's collection, the Entwistle family, and a number of other sources complete an intimate look at a life that was defined by far more than its famously unhappy end.

This work covers 840 intentional suicide cases initially reported in Daily Variety (the entertainment industry's trade journal), but also drawing attention from mainstream news media. These cases are taken from the ranks of vaudeville, film, theatre, dance, music, literature (writers with direct connections to film), and other allied fields in the entertainment industry from 1905 through 2000. Accidentally self-inflicted deaths are omitted, except for a few controversial cases. It includes the suicides of well-known personalities such as actress Peg Entwistle, who is the only person to ever commit suicide by jumping from the top of the Hollywood Sign, Marilyn Monroe and Dorothy Dandridge, who are believed to have overdosed on drugs, and Richard Farnsworth and Brian Keith, who shot themselves to end the misery of terminal cancer. Also mentioned, but in less detail, are the suicides of unknown and lesser-known members of the entertainment industry. Arranged alphabetically, each entry covers the person’s personal and professional background, method of suicide, and, in some instances, includes actual statements taken from the suicide note.

Beginning as a humble vaudeville hall in the Skowhegan-Madison trolley park, Lakewood Theatre has graced the southwestern shore of Lake Wesserunsett in Madison, Maine, since the turn of the 20th century. Under the masterful guidance of Herbert L. Swett, a Bangor native and Bowdoin graduate, Lakewood eventually developed into a nationally renowned playhouse that was called the “Broadway in Maine” by the New York Times in its heyday, from 1925 until World War II. In the years following the war, Lakewood was operated by Swett’s heirs and became a virtual who’s who of both Broadway and Hollywood, until it nearly went dark in the early 1980s. Operating today as a nonprofit community theater, Lakewood is the official state theater of Maine and the oldest continually running summer theater in the country.

The story behind the massive white block letters set into a steep Los Angeles hillside—and the city and culture they represent: “Terrific.”—San Francisco Chronicle To so many who see its image, the Hollywood sign represents the earthly home of that otherwise ethereal world of fame, stardom, celebrity—the American and worldwide aspiration to be in the limelight, to be, like the Hollywood sign itself, instantly recognizable. How an advertisement erected in 1923, touting the real estate development Hollywoodland, took on a life of its own is a story worthy of a movie itself. Leo Braudy traces the remarkable life of this distinctly American landmark, which has been saved over the years by a various fans and supporters, among them Alice Cooper and Hugh Hefner, who spearheaded its reconstruction in the 1970s. He also uses the sign’s history to offer an intriguing look at the rise of the film business from its earliest, silent days through the development of the studio system that helped define modern Hollywood. Mixing social history, urban studies, literature, and film, along with forays into such topics as the lure of Hollywood for utopian communities and the development of domestic architecture in Los Angeles, The Hollywood Sign is a fascinating account of how a temporary structure has become a permanent icon of American culture. “An entertaining tale.”—The Washington Post

Here is the first extensive, full-length biography and career record on the life and work of Mexican whirlwind Lupe Velez (1908-1944). Over the years many crude myths have surfaced about Velez, the most notorious that she "died with her head in the toilet." This biography not only studies Lupe's personal life and career--including her tempestuous marriage to Johnny Weissmuller--but also examines her death in detail. It has been almost seven decades since her untimely end; at long last, the ugly rumors and myths are debunked--for good. Included are never-before-told family stories and photographs from Lupe's second cousin, and an analysis of the actress's lasting influence on popular culture. The foreword by Oscar-winning film historian Kevin Brownlow focuses on the fact and fancy behind Lupe Velez's colorful public image.

Charming and classically handsome, John Gilbert (1897--1936) was among the world's most recognizable actors during the silent era. He was a wild, swashbuckling figure on screen and off, and accounts of his life have focused on his high-profile romances with Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich, his legendary conflicts with Louis B. Mayer, his four tumultuous marriages, and his swift decline after the introduction of talkies. A dramatic and interesting personality, Gilbert served as one of the primary inspirations for the character of George Valentin in the Academy Award--winning movie The Artist (2011). Many myths have developed around the larger-than-life star in the eighty years since his untimely death, but this definitive biography sets the record straight. Eve Golden separates fact from fiction in John Gilbert: The Last of the Silent Film Stars, tracing the actor's life from his youth spent traveling with his mother in acting troupes to the peak of fame at MGM, where he starred opposite Mae Murray, Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, and other actresses in popular films such as The Merry Widow (1925), The Big Parade (1925), Flesh and the Devil (1926), and Love (1927). Golden debunks some of the most pernicious rumors about the actor, including the oft-repeated myth that he had a high-pitched, squeaky voice that ruined his career. Meticulous, comprehensive, and generously illustrated, this book provides a behind-the-scenes look at one of the silent era's greatest stars and the glamorous yet brutal world in which he lived.

"In Hollywood myths, veteran film critic Joe Williams dissects the film industry's biggest myths and rumors, from the dawn of the silver screen to the twenty-first century. Myths discussed pertain to superstars, power couples, groundbreaking films, and the industry itself"--Provided by publisher.