Mike Connolly and the manly art of Hollywood gossip / by Val Holley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Holley, Val.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Connolly, Mike.

Gossip columnists--United States--Biography.

Gossip columnists.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xv, 188 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland, [2003]

Summary:

In 1954, Mike Connolly, the gay gossip columnist for the Hollywood Reporter from 1951 to 1966, was described by Newsweek as "probably the most influential columnist inside the movie colony," the one writer "who gets the pick of trade items, the industry rumors, the policy and casting switches." He was indeed one of the most talented and influential members of the Hollywood press of his time, and his column, for those who could read between the lines, was a daily chronicle of gay goings-on. Fifty years later, his cumulative output is a virtually untapped lode of gay Hollywood history. Mike Connolly's life and work are the focus of this book. It considers his formative years, his pre-World War II life at the University of Illinois and in Chicago, and the ways in which the homosexual community in Hollywood lived lives both secretive and open in the forties, fifties and sixties. It also examines the literary merit, power and newsworthiness of Connolly's "Rambling Reporter" column in the Hollywood Reporter and its significance as a chronicle of gay Hollywood life; the previously unexplored role of Connolly's column in the Hollywood blacklist and how his anti-Communist crusade was rooted in his earlier campaign to close down the brothels in his college town; and how his life informed his column and his column shaped his life.

Contents:

Introduction: Glutton for Publicity 1

1. Fool for Fellas 9

2. Confidential Confidential 27

3. I'll Quit Tomorrow 39

4. Prayers for Peace 50

5. Battler for Chastity 60

6. Nose for News 74

7. How to Succeed in Gossip-Mongering 86

8. Indecency 102

9. Glutton for Punishment 116

10. Coverage Coverage 128

11. Tasks for Tomorrow 138.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 149-175) and index.

ISBN:

0786415525

OCLC:

52269771