Mr. Confidential: The Man, the Magazine & the Movieland Massacre | 
 enlarge | Author: Samuel Bernstein
Publisher: Walford Press
Category: Book
List Price: $22.95
Buy New: $17.49
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Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 437879
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 377
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 0978767128
Dewey Decimal Number: 071.3
EAN: 9780978767129
ASIN: 0978767128
Publication Date: November 27, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New, Perfect Condition, Please allow 4-14 business days for delivery. 100% Money Back Guarantee, Over 1,000,000 customers served.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Liz Smith says: "SEX, SCANDAL and sensationalism. Libel suits and humiliations. Idols with feet of clay. Think it's anything new? Not at all. Slip into the compulsively lurid and exhaustively researched pages of 'Mr. Confidential' which tells the tale of publisher Robert Harrison and his magazine, Confidential. That forerunner of celebrity dirt quite literally changed the face of entertainment journalism. It reads like a house afire in a sultry swamp. Nobody did 'down and dirty' like Mr. Harrison, and today's beleaguered stars, politicians and others owe him a sock in the jaw. An illuminating, fun read!"Robert Harrison was the brilliant publisher of Confidential. He not only invented a new form of journalism, but lived and embodied its values and culture. His trailblazing magazine somehow started selling over 5 million copies of each issue in the mid-'50s, the highest newsstand sales in history at that time. It was a publishing phenomenon that changed celebrity journalism forever. Everyone who worked in showbiz seemed to read it, though as Humphrey Bogart once famously noted, no one ever admitted to buying it. The cook brought it in. One of the maids. Someone else. This is the story of the rise and fall of the magazine, of the man and the family behind its stunning success, of the spectacular circus-like libel and obscenity trial that riveted the country, and of the murder/suicide that would forever define Harrison and the magazine's legacy. A MUST READ FOR for anyone interested in celebrity, Hollywood, gossip, conspiracies, and obsession: In other words, EVERYONE. Please Note: This book is being printed with a colour cover and black and white interior images. The full colour images shown here are for display purposes, and are printed in black and white in this edition.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 LIKE A CHAMPAIGN COCKTAIL! April 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Wow. Haven't had so much fun in ages. It took me right into what it must have been like in Hollywood back in the '50s - when stars were really STARS! Loved it.
 Not What I Expected February 3, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I had hoped to read the story of the hectic, hysterical hunt for Hollywood sleaze. There's very little of that here. Instead of stories of private detectives and paid informants lurking in the shrubbery, we get a relatively bland biography of publisher Robert Harrison and his family. Fair warning: the final third of the book consists of reprints of magazine covers.
An entertaining read, in need of a copy editor January 30, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
As a fan of 1950s Hollywood, I enjoyed this book. Its comprehensive list of Confidential's mostly innocent "scoops" (Marilyn Monroe likes sex. Ava Gardner likes sex. Elvis signs womens' breasts if they ask him to and, by the way, he likes sex) is worth the price of admission alone. It also puts into perspective Confidential's role in the "outing" of celebrities like Tab Hunter and Liberace, a role which other books about the era often overdramatize.
Author Samuel Bernstein has a chatty, conversational style which fits the material well. But where, oh where, was his copy editor? He repeats himself, makes references to characters he hasn't yet introduced, and goes off on ill-timed and personal tangents. Any professional with a red pencil would have made this a better, tighter book.
As it is, this book is less like a serious piece of film history and more like having a juicy conversation with a film historian at a dinner party.
 Boring Boring Boring April 11, 2007
2 out of 7 found this review helpful
This is perhaps the most boring book I've read in some time. Nothing in it was worth my time.
Hollywood sex, scandal and ironies comes to life March 6, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Hollywood sex, scandal and ironies comes to life in MR. CONFIDENTIAL: THE MAN, HIS MAGAZINE & THE MOVIELAND MASSACRE THAT CHANGED HOLLYWOOD FOREVER, which tells of publisher Robert Harrison and his magazine Confidential, which changed the face of entertainment writing. From the impact of different kinds of stories and dramas to changing Hollywood personalities, MR. CONFIDENTIAL offers up an inside look into the industry that is required reading for any who would understand Hollywood's underlying influences.
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