Articles
Jan Wahl's Love Affair with Hollywood
originally appeared in QSF magazine, March 2003
by David Ortmann
To say that Jan Wahl is somewhat of a local celebrity is almost as gross an understatement as saying that Gavin Newsom is somewhat handsome. I hadn't experienced the charisma of this two-time Emmy Award winner and member of the prestigious Director's Guild of America until I met her at her offices at KRON TV. Complete with one of her trademark chapeaus and quick wit, Wahl proved that a lady could be both a diva and a down to earth gal.
Jan was going to tell me all about her favorite trashy movie books from Hollywood's classic era. Sitting in her office, I felt as though I were surrounded by the magic of the Golden Age of Hollywood. She has photographs of everyone from Jean Harlow to Margaret O'Brien, Clark Gable to Marilyn Monroe, not to mention photographs of herself with Celeste Holm, Tony Bennett, Rita Moreno, Alfre Woodard, the Nicholas Brothers Stella Stevens, Carol Linley, Joel Grey and many others. Clearly the lady knows her subject matter.
JW
I love Hollywood biographies, autobiographies, sociological studies, anything about classic Hollywood. I read at least one juicy, down and dirty movie book a week and I get them whenever and wherever I can. My passion are books about the really interesting people from the past, because classic Hollywood is the Hollywood I fell in love with. that so many of us have fallen in love with, and it looks better than ever since there's so much crap out there today! Classic Hollywood will certainly be with us forever.
DO
Look at all these books. Some are even out of print. Where do you find them?
JW
I get a lot of them at used bookstores. Here's Hedda Hopper's From Under My Hat.
DO
That's a classic.
JW
I know! And I got it from a used bookstore. Hedda's fabulous - she's cryptic, strange, bizarre, and she dishes pretty well. So, I spend a lot of my time haunting used bookstores, looking for trashy Hollywood books. I just picked up Robert Stack's autobiography, signed by him, at a used bookstore. Now it's not a great book, but it sure is fun to have.
DO
Who are your favorites?
JW
Gimme anything about Clark Gable, anything about Errol Flynn. Look at that picture of Gable (Wahl indicates the framed 8x10 glossy on her desk). That's Gable during the making of my favorite Gable movie Red Dust.
DO
I love that film! Gable and Harlow.
JW
Right! Very good. It's with Harlow, and Mary Astor. That was 1936, and you can tell because he doesn't have his mustache and he's skinny.
DO
Gable is fine!
JW
I know! Makes you just want to jump his bones! Don't you love it when the sexuality of the old stars is gender-free? That is, it doesn't matter whether you're a gay man, a straight woman, a gay woman. whatever you are -- those stars will turn you on. Rita Hayworth, doing "Put the Blame on Mame" will turn you on! And Tyrone Power, puh-leeeeeaze! Everybody wanted to hump Tyrone Power.
DO
I still do.
JW
Me too! And these stars are so much sexier than today's stars, who are all so gender specific. I was driving into work today and listening to Peggy Lee sing "Fever" and it's such a sexual song. I feel sorry for the kids today. They don't know what a sexy song is. They know merchandising and marketing, but they don't know a real down and dirty sex song. That's "Fever." That's Peggy Lee! These poor kids are going to think that some little teenage girl romping around is sexuality. Oh not so honey!
Now, let's look at some of the books I brought. Let me start with a few of my favorites. Do you mind if I just go nuts here?
DO
Have at it!
JW
Good! I'm going to start with the dirtiest one first. It's called Did He or Didn't He? The Intimate Sex Lives of 201 Famous Men by Mart Martin. Now Mart Martin also wrote another one called Did She or Didn't She? Let us turn to any page in this book and you will see some wild stuff. For example, here is one of Lee Marvin's more famous quotes, "There's an old adage in the business: never shack up with anyone with lower billing than you."
For every star there is a section on how they lost their virginity, quotes from their lovers. My favorite Tennessee Williams quote is, "It is most disturbing to think that the head beside you on the pillow might be thinking too." That's him explaining why he likes having sex with ignorant rough trade. So how fun is this? This book has everything: Robert Walker, Robert Stack, Elvis Presley, Sidney Poitier, Laurence Olivier, Duke Ellington, and George Cukor. I love the fact that these books are beginning to come out in paperback because they truly make excellent gifts for the Hollywood reader. Oh look! Here's the Gable page!
DO
Look at that list of lovers!
JW
I know. Everybody had Gable. He was called the King of Hollywood. But, listen to this. a quote from his wife, Carole Lombard. "One inch less and he'd be the Queen of Hollywood!" I heard he was small also but, it's Gable, so who cares?
DO
Tell me about Star Crossed: The Story of Robert Walker and Jennifer Jones.
JW
Robert Walker was in my favorite [Alfred] Hitchcock movie, Strangers On A Train. He played a character named Bruno and there is a lot of psychosexual, homoerotic stuff going on between his character and Farley Granger. Now that is not the only reason I like the movie. I like it because it's a wonderfully smart and terrific film. Ironically the same woman who wrote the original story Strangers On A Train was the same woman who wrote The Talented Mr. Ripley.
This book is about how Jennifer Jones broke Robert Walker's heart! Jennifer Jones was a girl who, once she got going, ended up with David Selznick and Norton Simon the financier. So she had quite a life. But the book really shows you what a darling Robert Walker was. He made some wonderful movies during his life, opposite Judy Garland and Ava Gardner. Unfortunately he died way too young and under mysterious circumstances and. it's all in this book.
DO
How about the child stars?
JW
Well just listen to this title: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, but Don't have Sex or Take the Car. This is the best book I've read on child stars. It's written by Dick Moore, who was known as Dickie Moore in his youth. He's been married for many years to Jane Powell, but in this book he compiles the stories of what it was like to be a child star during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Jackie Coogan, Natalie Wood, Mickey Rooney, Shirley Temple; all these stars tell their stories, but they talk about it in a way that is honest, funny, and heartfelt.
Margaret O'Brien, who I've worked with a number of times and is very dedicated to AIDS causes, talks a lot about what it was like for her. There's a bit on Marlene Dietrich and how she worked with kids. Jackie Cooper talks about how Wallace Berry was the meanest man, and Margaret O'Brien actually corroborates this. Berry hated working with children and hated children in general. He would reach out and pinch them or try to hurt them. So they always had to have someone on the set whose job it was to make sure Wallace Berry stayed away from the children. Now I got this book out of the library, which is just an amazing resource for a lot of these old books. We have wonderful libraries and people should use them.
JW
Now I can't get enough of Rosalind Russell as Auntie Mame and judging from the look on your face, neither can you.
But Darling, I'm Your Auntie Mame, the Amazing History of the World's Favorite Madcap Aunt is a wonderful book written by my friend Richard Tyler Jordan with an introduction by the genius Jerry Herman. I adore Jerry Herman. I put him right up there with Cole Porter and that's about as high as you can go, because he has written some of the most beautiful music and lyrics in the history of musical theater. Now, I've interviewed Jerry Herman, and all you have to do is mention Lucille Ball as Mame and he starts crying because he lost control of that casting decision and it ruined the picture! But, you'll notice who is on the cover of this book. only the great Rosalind Russell as the great Mame, looking rather butch too, I might add. But beautifully butch!
This book is amazing. It begins with Patrick Dennis [author of Auntie Mame, Vanguard Press, 1955], where he got the idea, the history, and a tremendous amount about the making of the classic 1958 Warner Brothers film that only gets better as time goes by! So many of these films only get better and better, and that's what makes a classic!
DO
You must have a hard time putting some of these books down.
JW
I know it's a cliché, but yes. This one was especially hard to put down. It's Sam Stagg's All About All About Eve: The Complete, Behind the Scenes Story of the Bitchiest Film Ever Made. This book is brilliant! All About Eve is word-for-word one of the most brilliant screenplays ever written. Joseph Mankiewicz's writing is so tight, so sharp, and so wonderful. This book talks about all the dirt that went down behind the scenes. Now I was lucky enough, awhile back, to interview Celeste Holm and she told me a lot of stories that are detailed in this book. For example, Gary Merrill and Bette Davis were so hot they couldn't keep their hands off each other. This was the very beginning of their relationship. Evidently, they did it everywhere! It's great to think of Ms. Davis as being out there and having a good time, you know? Now, of course, she wasn't very nice to Celeste, but so what, so what, SO WHAT? I tell you, I would rather have a crazy, bitchy Bette Davis than a nice Julia Roberts. I mean, who the hell cares!
DO
(laughing) That is beautiful!
JW
(laughing) I mean it! Now, with the Oscars coming up, this a great book to have and it's updated all the time. It's called Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards by Mason Wiley and Damien Bona. This book has all these wonderful quotes, embarrassing moments, and backstage scandals. It also has a complete list of nominations so you cannot only look at what actor and which pictures won what, but see everything that was nominated in that category as well. So that when you say, "Wait a minute, why didn't Gloria Swanson win as Norma Desmond?"
DO
(frowning)
JW
I know, you're still mad. So am I. This book is great fun and really full of all the information you want to know about the Oscars.
DO
Tell me about Burt Lancaster.
JW
Now we're talking. This book is called Burt Lancaster: An American Life by Kate Buford. Now Burt Lancaster had a really wild life. When you see Elmer Gantry or The Sweet Smell of Success you see a life well led. This man used his stardom to kick ass and produce great films. I wish the stars of today would take that same responsibility that Lancaster did instead of making these egotistical, boring movies! Anyway, there's a whole lot of good stuff in here about him in bed. His vivaciousness and vitality on screen, I think, really must have extended to the bedroom. And it just doesn't get any better than that!
DO
Absolutely.
JW
This is a book I really love. Not My Father's Daughter. It's the very honest book that Tina Sinatra, not Nancy, wrote about her father Frank. It's getting very hard to find, I am told. I wonder if Barbara Sinatra got it stopped? It only came out about six months ago and caused a huge sensation in the press because of her honesty in telling about her experiences. She really held her ground. Her father would have been proud of her. She's a tough Italian babe. She is honest about her opinion that her father lied about his connections with gangsters in Vegas. He said he wasn't connected and she says he was.
DO
Oh please.
JW
I know that's a big surprise, right? Oh, and Liberace is gay? No way! But Tina had the guts to come out and say, "Hey, I think he lied. He's my father, I still love him, he's one of the greatest entertainers of all time, but I think he lied." Very strong lady! She talked openly about the last years of her father's life, when Barbara wouldn't let the kids see Frank, was keeping information about his medication a secret, and was trying to hurt them financially. All these accusations! But she backs them up with her experience. It's a very good book. Now I'd like Barbara to write a book and give her side. But has she? No. Too bad because she has a story to tell, she's an old Las Vegas showgirl who ended up married to one of the Marx brothers and to one of the greatest entertainers of all time. I mean, write the book Barb!
JW
Now here are some classics. Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon I and II. These may be my favorite Hollywood books of all time. Hollywood Babylon II is hard to find. Word has it that the family or estate of Randolph Scott had it stopped because of the depiction of his relationship with Cary Grant. I think that Kenneth Anger really found his calling in these books. When you go into used bookstores, that's were you'll find the Hollywood Babylon books. Underneath the scandalous nature of what he's writing there's a feeling of actual love for the subject, for the era, for the people, and for the films. I really enjoy the way he writes and I keep wishing he would write Hollywood Babylon III.
DO
So do I.
JW
So these are some of my favorite book and stories and there's always more. That's what makes this subject so much fun! There's always more!
Jan Wahl's required reading list for Trashy Hollywood 101
1) Burt Lancaster: An American Life (Kate Buford)
2) Hollywood Babylon I & II (Kenneth Anger)
3) From Under My Hat (Hedda Hopper)
4) Did He or Didn't He? The Intimate Sex Lives of 201 Famous Men (Mart Martin)
5) Did She or Didn't She? Behind the Bedroom Doors of 201 Famous Women (Mart Martin)
6) Not My Father's Daughter (Tina Sinatra)
7) Burt Lancaster: An American Life (Kate Buford)
8) Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards (Mason Wiley and Damien Bona)
9) All About All About Eve: The Complete, Behind the Scenes Story of the Bitchiest Film Ever Made (Sam Staggs)
10) But Darling, I'm Your Auntie Mame, the Amazing History of the World's Favorite Madcap Aunt (Richard Tyler Jordan)
11) Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, but Don't Have Sex or Take the Car (Dick Moore)
12) Star Crossed: The Story of Robert Walker and Jennifer Jones (Beverly Linet)
13) Bring On the Empty Horses (David Niven)
14) Rosebud: The Story of Orson Wells (David Thomson)
15) Frame-Up (Andy Edmonds)
16) An Affair to Remember: the Remarkable Love Story of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy (Christopher Andersen)
17) Dark City Dames: The Wicked Women of Film Noir (Eddie Muller)