3 options
Hedda Hopper's Hollywood : celebrity gossip and American conservatism / Jennifer Frost.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- 1961- Frost.
- Series:
- American history and culture.
- American history and culture
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Hopper, Hedda, 1885-1966.
- Hopper, Hedda.
- Hopper, Hedda, 1885-1966--Political and social views.
- Gossip columnists--United States--Biography.
- Gossip columnists.
- Press and politics--United States--History--20th century.
- Press and politics.
- Motion pictures--Political aspects--United States.
- Motion pictures.
- Motion picture industry--California--Los Angeles--History--20th century.
- Motion picture industry.
- Conservatism--United States--History--20th century.
- Conservatism.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (298 p.)
- Place of Publication:
- New York : New York University Press, 2010.
- Language Note:
- English
- Summary:
- Before Liz Smith and Perez Hilton became household names in the world of celebrity gossip, before Rush Limbaugh became the voice of conservatism, there was Hedda Hopper. In 1938, this 52-year-old struggling actress rose to fame and influence writing an incendiary gossip column, “Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood,” that appeared in the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers throughout Hollywood’s golden age. Often eviscerating moviemakers and stars, her column earned her a nasty reputation in the film industry while winning a legion of some 32 million fans, whose avid support established her as the voice of small-town America. Yet Hopper sought not only to build her career as a gossip columnist but also to push her agenda of staunch moral and political conservatism, using her column to argue against U.S. entry into World War II, uphold traditional views of sex and marriage, defend racist roles for African Americans, and enthusiastically support the Hollywood blacklist.While usually dismissed as an eccentric crank, Jennifer Frost argues that Hopper has had a profound and lasting influence on popular and political culture and should be viewed as a pivotal popularizer of conservatism. The first book to explore Hopper’s gossip career and the public’s response to both her column and her politics, Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood illustrates how the conservative gossip maven contributed mightily to the public understanding of film, while providing a platform for women to voice political views within a traditionally masculine public realm. Jennifer Frost builds the case that, as practiced by Hopper and her readers, Hollywood gossip shaped key developments in American movies and movie culture, newspaper journalism and conservative politics, along with the culture of gossip itself, all of which continue to play out today.
- Contents:
- Introduction : "malice in wonderland"
- Hedda Hopper's Hollywood
- Readers, respondents, and fans
- Hopper's wars
- Cold War Americanism, Hopper style
- Blacklisting Hollywood "Reds"
- Representing race in the face of civil rights
- "Family togetherness" in Fifties Hollywood
- Taking on "Hollywood Babylon"
- Conclusion : movies, politics, and narratives of nostalgia.
- Notes:
- Description based upon print version of record.
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Jul 2020)
- ISBN:
- 9780814728482
- 0814728480
- 9780814728246
- 0814728243
- OCLC:
- 779828074
The Penn Libraries is committed to describing library materials using current, accurate, and responsible language. If you discover outdated or inaccurate language, please fill out this feedback form to report it and suggest alternative language.