Hollywood Babylon

For the Supernatural episode, see Hollywood Babylon (Supernatural).
For the Crazy Town song, see The Gift of Game.
Hollywood Babylon
The book title, written vertically in pink letters, and in the middle actress Jayne Mansfield leaning forward in a low cut dress
First edition (French)
AuthorKenneth Anger
LanguageEnglish
SubjectHollywood gossip
PublisherJ.J. Pauvert (1959)
Straight Arrow Press/Simon & Schuster (1975)[1]
Publication date
1959
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Paperback)
Followed byHollywood Babylon 2 

Hollywood Babylon is a book by avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger, which details the purported scandals of famous Hollywood denizens from the 1900s to the 1950s. The book was banned shortly after it was first published in the U.S. in 1965, and remained unavailable until reprinted ten years later.[2] Upon its second release in 1975, The New York Times said of it, "If a book such as this can be said to have charm, it lies in the fact that here is a book without one single redeeming merit."[3] The Daily Beast described Anger's book as "essentially a work of fiction. There is no doubt that many—if not all—of the stories Anger shares in his slim bible have no merit."[2] Film historian Kevin Brownlow repeatedly criticized the book, citing Anger as saying his research method was "mental telepathy, mostly".[4][5]

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