Mr. Confidential: The Man, His Magazine & The Movieland Massacre That Changed Hollywood Forever

By Samuel Bernstein

Liz Smith says it best in her advance praise: "SEX, SCANDAL and sensationalism. Libel suits and humiliations. Idols with feet of clay. Think it's anything new? Not at all. Slip into the compulsively... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0978767128
• ISBN13: 9780978767129
• Release Date: November 2006
• Publisher: Walford Press
• Length: 377 Pages
• Weight: 1.24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.0" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

LIKE A CHAMPAIGN COCKTAIL!

Wow. Haven't had so much fun in ages. It took me right into what it must have been like in Hollywood back in the '50s - when stars were really STARS! Loved it.

Hollywood sex, scandal and ironies comes to life

Hollywood sex, scandal and ironies comes to life in MR. CONFIDENTIAL: THE MAN, HIS MAGAZINE & THE MOVIELAND MASSACRE THAT CHANGED HOLLYWOOD FOREVER, which tells of publisher Robert Harrison and his magazine Confidential, which changed the face of entertainment writing. From the impact of different kinds of stories and dramas to changing Hollywood personalities, MR. CONFIDENTIAL offers up an inside look into the industry that is required reading for any who would understand Hollywood's underlying influences.

Cooler Than Cool -- Swank!

I really groove on Hollywood history, so I expected to like "Mr. Confidential." But I was blown away by how much fun this book is. I felt like I was really there, like I was meeting these people who made this crazy magazine Confidential in the '50's, and I wanted to hang out with them as long as possible. That's my only criticism -- I wanted it to be longer! Actually, wish the covers and art inside could be in color, but I guess it would have been too expensive? Anyway, this book seriously made me laugh.

SCANDAL WITH A CAPITAL 'S'

"Mr Confidential" is a joy from beginning to end, sort of the literary equivalent of buying a box of your favorite chocolates and eating them all your self! I was going to call it a guilty pleasure, but why feel guilty about reading a book as informative and well-written as this? In his story of the rise and fall of the man who almost invented the trash gossip genre, Bernstein has perfectly captured the journalistic style of the era. It was a time when stars still behaved like stars (or minor royalty in some cases) and were famous for more than showing their assets when getting out of limousines. It's the perfect airplane/beach/rainy weekend read, and what the hell, get the box of chocolates too!

Hollywood Jungle Red

Locked in the closet and won't come out? Confidential Magazine would have picked the lock for a headline. Samuel Bernstein throws open all those closet doors in his splendid expose of the tabloid predators in the Hollywood jungle of the '50s. And seldom has this been done in more entertaining fashion than in MR CONFIDENTIAL. This is not just the dirt on the Hollywood machine of the 'fifties, it's the dirt on the guy who raked up the dirt and who, in doing so, raised the fear level of the movie studios and their stars to that equalled only by McCarthy and television. Written in a clever parody of the hard-boiled prose of the magazine itself, Samuel Bernstein evokes the period perfectly and keeps the reader smiling from cover to cover. For anyone remotely interested in Hollywood history, this is a five star essential - a book crammed with gems, all of them worth their weight in gold. BARRY CREYTON playwright, author Hollywood CA January 2007