Hollywood Horrors: Murders, Scandals, and Cover-Ups from Tinseltown by Andrea Van Landingham

Reviewed by Jeanne

While the lurid title and red blaze across the cover might entice some to pick up this book, it almost had the opposite effect on me.  Pick it up I did, however, and found the contents to be (thankfully!) less sensational and more informative than I would have thought.

Van Landingham covers most of the usual cases (the Fatty Arbuckle trial, William Desmond Taylor’s murder, the Black Dahlia mystery) and tends to stick to more of “just the facts” although she does at times repeat some of the alternate theories about a case.  I liked the selected bibliography at the end and that most of the time she indicates her sources while recounting incidents.  And thank goodness there is an index!

But while many of these are tried and true cases (and not all strictly Hollywood), there were some that were new to me.  I had no idea how many of those iconic restaurants and bars who played host to Hollywood royalty were actually owned by the mob and were under the protection of the LAPD.  It certainly made me think of certain places in a different light!

I was unfamiliar with the story of Thomas Ince’s death and the part William Randolph Hearst may have played, so I found that one to be of particular interest.  Ince was an early American film maker and studio owner who, in 1924, was invited to visit Hearst’s home and yacht.  What happened next is somewhat disputed:  according to the official report, Ince had a heart attack and later died.  Rumor has it that he was shot by Heart who mistook him for Charlie Chaplin and thought he was making a pass at Marion Davies, an actress and Hearst’s long time mistress.  I was intrigued by the story and even more intrigued to learn that Patty Hearst, granddaughter of William Randolph, co-wrote a murder mystery based on Ince’s death, Murder at San Simeon.

I was also very curious how the author would deal with the Lana Turner case, which I had heard vague references to for years.  Briefly, Turner’s boyfriend was stabbed to death by Turner’s fourteen year old daughter Cheryl, though again rumors have circulated that Turner actually stabbed him and Cheryl shouldered the blame.  In this instance, the author relied heavily on Cheryl’s autobiography for the account.

Other stories include accounts of the death of Jean Harlow’s husband Paul Bern, an apparent suicide; how Robert Mitchum ended up with a record; and Errol Flynn’s trial for rape.

A few stories don’t really involve crimes, hence the “scandal” part of the title.  Most notable is the section on Elizabeth Taylor who was paralyzed in grief over the death of her husband Mike Todd. She was comforted by her best friend Debbie Reynolds’ husband, Eddie Fisher, also a good friend of Todd’s.  In fact, they so bonded over Todd’s death that Fisher left his wife and married Elizabeth.

I have to say, though, that at times I wondered about the selection process for the stories. For instance, I was surprised the story of George Reeves’ death wasn’t included.

If you are a fan of old time movies, you’ll find much to like in these pages.  The author has a good eye for detail and I especially enjoyed some of her descriptions of places—the way she contrasted Thomas Ince’s tasteful home with the extravagance of Hearst’s, for example.  She also keeps the stories brief so even if you aren’t interested in a particular one, it isn’t long before she has moved on.  This is a very entertaining book which might inspire folks to delve deeper into some of the tales presented.