The Only Article About Both Fatty Arbuckle and Blake Lively
by Nicole Cliffe "In the earliest days of cinema, little information was available. Audiences just talked about how well the actor was able to convey what was happening in the story with few subtitles...
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Anne Helen Petersen's Scandals of Classic Hollywood: The Book (!)
by Edith Zimmerman Did you hear Anne Helen Petersen's "Scandals of Classic Hollywood" series is becoming a book of the same name in the summer of 2014, via Plume/Penguin, and that it'll contain all...
View Article"Eartha Kitt and The Man Who Sat There — All Night!"
by Jane Marie "The Battle of Bobbed Hair: Photoplay Magazine has made a national investigation of the problem to help you make up your mind. Read what they all say, pro and con. Weigh it carefully and...
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Scandals of Classic Hollywood: In Like Errol Flynn
by Anne Helen Petersen Errol Flynn was that guy — that one guy, we all know them — who was too handsome for his own good. Early on, he figured out what his looks could do for him, and he rode that...
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Scandals of Classic Hollywood: The Many Faces of Barbara Stanwyck
by Anne Helen Petersen Maybe you’ve never heard of Barbara Stanwyck. She certainly isn’t the first star that comes to mind when you think of classic Hollywood. Ask for a screwballer and I’ll say...
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Scandals of Classic Hollywood: Robert Redford, Golden Boy
by Anne Helen Petersen Robert Redford still does it for me. He did it for me when I first saw him in Butch Cassidy, he did it for me when he was washing Meryl Streep’s hair in Out of Africa. He did it...
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Scandals of Classic Hollywood: The Ecstasy of Hedy Lamarr
by Anne Helen Petersen The first time audiences saw Hedy Lamarr, she was running naked through a field. The second time they saw her, she was in the throes of a very animated orgasm. The next time she...
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Scandals of Classic Hollywood: The Most Kissable Hands of Pola Negri
by Anne Helen Petersen Pola Negri looked like something from a storybook: she had jet black hair, pale skin that reporters compared to a camellia blossom, and a sensual mouth that, painted bright red,...
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Talking to Anne Helen Petersen About Leaving Academia for BuzzFeed
by Jia Tolentino Did I hear this headline correctly? YES: I’m leaving academia. And second: I’m leaving it for BuzzFeed—more specifically, to be a full-time features writer at BuzzFeed. [8 minutes of...
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A Life Well-Lived: An Interview with Anne Helen Petersen
by Haley Mlotek In 2011, Anne Helen Petersen wrote a Hairpin post about Ingrid Bergman. If this was a movie about Anne's life that's when the success montage would start. Since then, Anne has written...
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Scandals of Classic Hollywood: Dorothy Dandridge vs. The World
Dorothy Dandridge was a fighter. Growing up in The Depression and making her way through Hollywood in the ‘40s, she encountered resistance — to her skin color, to her refusal to play demeaning roles...
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Scandals of Classic Hollywood: Warren Beatty Thinks This Song Is About Him
Warren Beatty wasn’t your typical handsome. There was something earnest about him — something plaintive, needy — that made women want to protect him. And, of course, sleep with him. And if you know...
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Scandals of Classic Hollywood: The Long Suicide of Montgomery Clift
Montgomery Clift had the most earnest of faces: big, pleading eyes, a set jaw, and a side part that reminds you of old pictures of your granddad. Onscreen and off, he was what the kids these days...
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Scandals of Classic Hollywood: The Gloria Swanson Saga, Part One
Gloria Swanson wasn’t here to make friends. She wasn’t “just like us.” She didn’t take out the garbage or “wear cotton” or go to the bathroom. Lady had a gold-plated bathtub. She married a Marquis....
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Scandals of Classic Hollywood: The Gloria Swanson Saga, Part Two
When we left off, Gloria Swanson’s career was effectively over. She seemed a relic, a beautiful curio. I cannot imagine how much this must have pissed her off, but Swanson, for all of her conspicuous...
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Scandals of Classic Hollywood: Ronald Reagan Plays the President
When you think of Ronald Reagan, you think of jellybeans, Nancy’s power suits, and self-satisfaction. You think of all the contemporary Republicans who miss him and what he seemed to represent, along...
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The Classiest Classic Movies I Revisited This Year
… for free, or near-free, via Amazon Prime. Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) Gary Cooper, I forgot what an endearing dolt you are in this movie. I forgot how sheepish you look when hungover and rumpled....
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Scandals of Classic Hollywood: The Most Wicked Face of Theda Bara
Theodosia Goodman grew up in Cincinnati, the child of middle-class Jewish immigrants. Her father was a tailor; her mother kept house. She went to high school, she went to two years of college. She was...
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