Getting Garbo: A Novel of Hollywood Noir

By Jerry Ludwig

Set in the glamorous, cruel and often bizarre Hollywood era of the 1950s, Getting Garbo is a hilarious and suspenseful novel of the cinema's Golden Age, when autograph hounds were relentless as they sought the names of stars who became legends in their own lifetime.

Nineteen-year-old Reva Hess is a charming autograph collector and the number one fan of Roy Darnell, star of the hit TV series Jack Havoc. Reva follows him everywhere, while keeping tabs on the private lives of film celebrities with her group of expert autograph collectors called The Secret Six.

Soon, the slight confusion between Roy's own personality and the dashingly dangerous Jack Havoc becomes an ominous obsession and the novel turns to murder. Along the way, Jerry Ludwig brings the old Hollywood to life, evoking the giant screen figures of Humphrey Bogart, Burt Lancaster, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra and dozens more, as well as the off-screen ruthlessness of Jack Warner. This is a world where "getting Garbo," the elusive Greta who never signs autographs, is synonymous with the yearning for the impossible, the longing for fame and romance and the blurring of fiction and reality.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1402202237
• ISBN13: 9781402202230
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
• Length: 331 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.1" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

In A Lonely Place--Hollywood

GETTING GARBO might not have been the best title for this hard-hitting noir book which reads a lot like Dorothy B. Hughes bestseller of a bygone era, IN A LONELY PLACE. I think GETTING GARBO, coupled with the simpering face on the cover of this novel, will lead some readers into thinking the book is a romance which it definitely is not. Well, maybe it is in an ultra-perverse sort of way. Young Reva, a member of the Secret Six society of autograph hounds, has always had an unspoken affinity to up and coming screen star Roy Darnell, who has a TV series from Warner Brothers called "Jack Havoc." Roy and Reva alternate chapters between them, and author Ludwig nails down both characters beautifully, as well as giving us a full scale, Edna Ferber-like picture of show biz life both in NY and Hollywood. It's almost a Kenneth Anger "insider's" look, but one that has a gentle, sepia tone to it, even in its courscating scenes of violence, ruthless ambition, and horrible bloodshed. Though this is not a book for the faint-hearted, adventurous readers will appreciate the trip back to the days when "Confidential" was both a threat and a treat to stars and their fans alike.

HOLLYWOOD LORE

I LOVED this book! I just love a story that takes me back to Hollywood in the 50s and 60s because the stars of that time were so classic! The characters are entertaining, if a bit offbeat and the story built all the way until the end. I would recommend this to anyone who loves Hollywood gossip or just a good mystery.