Hedda Hopper's Hollywood: Celebrity Gossip and American ConservatismBefore 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. |
Contents
Malice in Wonderland | 1 |
The Making of a Celebrity Gossip | 17 |
Readers Respondents and Fans | 45 |
Hoppers Wars | 67 |
Cold War Americanism Hopper Style | 91 |
Blacklisting Hollywood Reds | 113 |
Representing Race in the Face of Civil Rights | 139 |
Other editions - View all
Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood: Celebrity Gossip and American Conservatism Jennifer Frost Limited preview - 2011 |