Tragic Hollywood, Beautiful, Glamorous And Dead (Tragic Hollywood Series)

This meaty, fun book isn't your usual ho-hum Hollywood storybook with the same old stories told the same old way. Or some sensationalized accounts that throw the truth to the winds in favor of scandalizing the reader (hello, Kenneth Anger?).I'm a Death Hag (those who frequent a certain website know what I'm talking about), endlessly fascinated with the fast lives, loose living, and overindulgences of the Hollywood elite, whose often reckless actions lead to an untimely demise.Equally interesting are those sad tales of women (and men) done wrong by the system, by their family, by lovers. So much living packed into such short lives!This book tells the story behind the stories. Carefully researched, it gets past the myths we've learned from other, lesser accounts.And some not-so-well-known stars, like Olive Thomas, are included. And more modern stars, like River Phoenix and Chris Farley, whose stories I have never read in such detail.The author has her own style, full of eye rolls and snarky remarks that I, as a reader, could certainly relate to. It made the stories all the more human, and made me feel like Jackie was in front of me, telling me the stories.Oh, and the tale end of the book talks about some of the famous dead who, well, aren't resting in peace...

Normally I extole the virtues of a book I really like first and then get negative, if any negatives exist. This time I am going to review this in reverse order.This book could have used a good editing job. While it is not terrible, I spotted misspellings and some grammatically incorrect statements. However, the negatives didn't amount to much and did not take away from my overall enjoyment of this book. The only major thing that threw me were pictures without captions. A lot of times I wasn't sure what I was looking at. I would have liked captions that provided some information such as whether I was looking at a picture of Erroll Flynn's corpse or looking at Marie McDonald amidst a crowd of people. Speculating can be fun, but it got frustrating at times.The good news. This book was wryly funny despite the fact that these stories were sad and some bordered on tragic. The author Jackie Valinda Ganiy sounds like a southern belle, but she freely admits to being a California girl with too much time on her hands as a kid. She fell into an early fascination with the old movies she watched on tv way before anyone ever even thought of flat screens. O.K., Jackie may not be a southern belle but she is knowledgeable and a real charmer from my point of view. She has an easy conversational writing style and her tongue-in-cheek comments edge on sarcasm at times. I like that because I can relate to her. I found myself thinking a lot of the same stuff. As Jackie freely explains, her interest in old movies eventually led to the actors in them. As she researched them she came to realize that not only were their lives not glorious but they often were pretty sad if not completely tragic. Many of these lives took tragic turns. In Hollywood and the entertainment industry she would come to the conclusion that it is all smoke and mirrors. Little is true.This book starts with the silent era and leads to players in contemporary films. They share one thing in common. They all came to strange and sad endings. As for the veracity of the claims made and stories told, for the most part they are true. I state that because so much has become a combination of verifiable fact and urban legend that I often wonder what is true. Jackie tells her reader, the old saw about Jayne Mansfield losing her head (being decapitated) is false. She either lost her wig or her scalp. On that score as well as others, Jackie does her best to cut through the ridiculous speculation and movie studio publicity that is often difficult to decipher and/or clarify.Between Jackie's easy banter that adds to the overall narrative and her choice of subjects, I truly enjoyed this book. It wasn't overly wordy while it was detailed enough to be informative and really quite enjoyable. She managed to keep her stories interesting and avoided performers who lived long and productive lives and passed away possibly alone in their beds.This came as a recommendation to me based on past purchases and interests. While not lofty reading material, it was a great diversion from my current boring reading material of textbooks and tech guides.

Lots of Hollywood tales that you won’t believe. I couldn’t put the book down. If you like true stories. You will love this one!

Editing is awful on this book. I’m on page 75 and already I have seen paragraphs repeated and grammatical mistakes abound. I’m no English teacher but if I can see the mistakes, why didn’t the editor? So far, the book itself is very interesting. Would recommend it……and a new editor.

If you are looking for Hollywood Babylon this is not the book. Its fair and factual. Yes there are some photos that come out of a nightmare, but its a good book!

Learned lots of interesting facts however there were some areas that were not accurate and numerous typos. Quick read.

I enjoyed reading Jackie's book, "Tragic Hollywood"... As you read through its pages, you seem to form a friendship in your mind with Hollywood's troubled souls, thinking if you only knew them yourself, you might have been able to save them from themselves or the riff raff that some kept company with. If you are "into" the days of ole Hollywood and also of days not so long ago, then you will love reading this book. Jackie keeps it real with how our favorite screen stars lived and died. The stars had moments where they shined brightly and that offers a port in the storm with how the rest of their lives swirled out of control. A book that you can't seem to put down once you start turning its pages. It's Hollywood in all its luster or often times lack thereof. Great book!!

Well written discussion of famous folks who died, sadly.

Very good read. Puts some myths to bed and shines a light on the “all that glitters is not gold” perspective

Cała książka doszła zawartość super

Omg best book about the life and death of celebrities!!!

Great book but spelling and doubled up sentences got a little bit frustrating, I would definitely recommend as it's a very interesting read

Came in just after reading ‘Hollywood Ghost story’ by T.C. O’Halloran, so, pleased to find a whole section on my all time fave Jayne Mansfield…and not just in one part but two! ( Jayne’s ghost is for real!) Loads of stars featured , old and young, and of course, Marilyn has two sections as well ;) Very well written, the author obviously is more than capable of translating her passion into words. Have to say, the *snippet* about Errol Flynn had me giggling all day. Can’t wait to read more of this author’s books!