What do you think?
Rate this book
The Girls: Sappho Goes to Hollywood
Diana McLellan reveals the complex and intimate connections that roiled behind the public personae of Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Tallulah Bankhead, and the women who loved them. Private correspondence, long-secret FBI files, and troves of unpublished documents reveal a chain of lesbian affairs that moved from the theater world of New York, through the heights of chic society, to embed itself in the power structure of the movie business. The Girls serves up a rich stew of film, politics, sexuality, psychology, and stardom.
464 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
49 people are currently reading
2104 people want to read
About the author
Diana McLellan
7 books4 followersEnglish-born Diana McLellan made her bones as a Washington reporter, feature writer, magazine journalist, columnist, critic and editor. (Penney-Missouri Award, Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild Front Page Awards for humor; Pulitzer nominee.)
She spent ten years as a gossip columnist, "The Ear", for the Washington Star, Washington Post, and Washington Times. She is the author of "Ear On Washington," Arbor House, 1982, and "The Girls: Sappho Goes to Hollywood," 2000. A new Special Author's Edition of "The Girls," with new pictures, layout, information and other features, comes out in both ebook and paper in 2013, from Booktrope, which in 2012 published her well-received first book of poems, "Making Hay," charmingly illustrated by the great New Yorker artist Peter Steiner.
Diana spent several years as Washington editor of Washingtonian Magazine, a Washington correspondent for the Ladies Home Journal, and feature writer for magazines of papers like the London Times, the London Telegraph, the Mail on Sunday, etc. She had a longago weekly spot on Maury Povich's innocent old Washington show, Panorama, and appeared regularly on the CBS Morning News with Charles Kuralt.
She considers herself a slacker-cum-caregiver, but occasionally writes a book review. (Washington Post, Wall Street Journal.) She is married to former historian Richard X. McLellan.
She spent ten years as a gossip columnist, "The Ear", for the Washington Star, Washington Post, and Washington Times. She is the author of "Ear On Washington," Arbor House, 1982, and "The Girls: Sappho Goes to Hollywood," 2000. A new Special Author's Edition of "The Girls," with new pictures, layout, information and other features, comes out in both ebook and paper in 2013, from Booktrope, which in 2012 published her well-received first book of poems, "Making Hay," charmingly illustrated by the great New Yorker artist Peter Steiner.
Diana spent several years as Washington editor of Washingtonian Magazine, a Washington correspondent for the Ladies Home Journal, and feature writer for magazines of papers like the London Times, the London Telegraph, the Mail on Sunday, etc. She had a longago weekly spot on Maury Povich's innocent old Washington show, Panorama, and appeared regularly on the CBS Morning News with Charles Kuralt.
She considers herself a slacker-cum-caregiver, but occasionally writes a book review. (Washington Post, Wall Street Journal.) She is married to former historian Richard X. McLellan.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews
June 14, 2008
This book simply blew me away. I was held captive from page one all the way through until the end. The writing is wonderfully vivid and well-researched. The crass warblings of The L Word is nothing compared to the complex, stylish, heady world of lesbians, gays, and various other sexual outlaws during the pre and post-code years of Hollywood. This has everything: silent film divas with a commune for deviants, 1920s Weimar Debauchery, bitchy mayhem, lesbian Duh-raaammmaaa and revenge that makes the mafia look like characters from a Disney movie...oh yeah...and Greta Garbo up a tree yelling: "Go away Rumba!" to the poor guy who was forced to give her rumba lessons for a role in a film. If you're interested in old Hollywood, Weimar, deviants and other juicy tales of rebellion...go grab this book!
September 17, 2017
The sewing circle in 1920s Hollywood
This is a highly readable book and the author has way with words when she describes feminists of 1920s Hollywood who were redefining sexuality and marriage. The so called sewing circle consisted of a significant number of Hollywood elite who chose and practiced their sexuality openly and lavender marriages, supported by studios, were accepted with grace. It was a daring practice of post-WWI feminism.
The author focusses on three major stars who were notorious bisexuals with large preference for women, namely, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich and Tallulah Bankhead. The greatest “conqueror” of sewing circle was probably poet and playwright Mercedes De Acosta who had numerous gorgeous ladies in her count, from Europe to California. Her affairs with some of the well-known ladies like; Great Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Alla Nazimova, Eva Le Gallienne, Ona Munson, Natacha Rambova, and Lilyan Tashman. She was an obscure writer but rose to prominence to enjoy the brightness of life for 40 years. She used creative methods to conquer ladies. Sometimes Mercedes would use her husband’s art studio, get models into the studio for painting and then would seduce them. In this manner she managed to make love to Helen Menken, Charlotte Monterey, Greta Cooper, Valentina Schlee, and Katherine Cornell. Alla’s marriage with actor Charles Bryant; Mercedes De Acosta with Abram Poole; Lilyan Tashman with Edmond Lowe, and Rudolph Valentino with Jean Acker and later with Natacha Rambova were well-known examples of lavender marriages.
In the vanguard of lesbian/bisexual chic included Libby Holman, DuPont heiress Louisa Carpenter, Joan Crawford, Estelle Winwood, Blythe Daly, Barbara Stanwyck, Marjorie Maine, Jean Acker, singer Libby Holman, comedienne Bea Lillie, Isabell Hill, Louise Brooks, Gladys Calthrop, Mimsey Duggett, Katharine Hepburn, Salka Viertel, Dorothy Azner, Natacha Rambova, Patsy Kelly, Kay Frances, Dolores Del Rio, Ona Munson, Jazz singer Billie Holiday, Josephine Baker and many more.
Lesbian love walked into New York stage when Edouard Bourdet’s play, “The Captive” premiered on Broadway in 1927 and Helen Menken (wife of Humphrey Bogart) plays lesbian woman who receives amour nosegays of violet, used as a symbol of lesbian love, from her lover. Menken received many warm missives from deans of several women’s colleges across United States. Radclyffe Hall’s 1928 lesbian novel, “The well of loneliness” had torn the veil of silence and Mary Casals autobiography, “The Stone Wall” about lesbian love were adding substance to the myth.
The author reveals a well-known secret about Garbo and Dietrich who claimed to be lifelong strangers, but actually they had met in Berlin and Vienna at lesbian hangouts in 1920s. In the movie, “Joyless Street” produced in 1925 casted both women. The book shows still photographs from the movie to prove this point. Garbo was well known for being secretive and went to extraordinary length to protect her privacy.
Lilyan Tashman was a highly skilled missionary for the joy of lesbian sex. Women were warned of avoiding trip to the powder room with Lilyan because she would corner any attractive woman and plunge her to highly skilled lovemaking. She boasted that she can steal any woman from any man. Her bathroom advances were so overt that Irene Selznick said that she hasn’t seen anything like her overtures. Ann Warner, wife of Jack warner seduced by Marlene Dietrich when she was in Paris and she showed the lesbian hangouts and private rooms at the famous Sphinx Club. Later Ann Warner becomes a full pledged member of sewing circle. When Marlene did the movie “A Foreign Affair” costarring Jean Arthur and directed by Billy Wilder, Marlene reportedly had affairs with everyone from the set from stand-ins and secretaries to stuntmen and didn’t give a damn about the gossip. Tallulah Bankhead sought sex of every variety constantly, hungrily, loudly, candidly and without reservation. Once she told Joan Crawford that she had sex with her husband Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and she will be next. Tallulah adored Marlene Dietrich even though they preyed on same women and men.
Not everything is sex; the last few chapters discuss the work done by the leading ladies of Hollywood on USO tour and other wartime services for the troops both in United States and Europe. Notable work was done Marlene Dietrich who was awarded the Medal of Freedom, the civilian equivalent of Congressional Medal of Honor.
This is a highly readable book and the author has way with words when she describes feminists of 1920s Hollywood who were redefining sexuality and marriage. The so called sewing circle consisted of a significant number of Hollywood elite who chose and practiced their sexuality openly and lavender marriages, supported by studios, were accepted with grace. It was a daring practice of post-WWI feminism.
The author focusses on three major stars who were notorious bisexuals with large preference for women, namely, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich and Tallulah Bankhead. The greatest “conqueror” of sewing circle was probably poet and playwright Mercedes De Acosta who had numerous gorgeous ladies in her count, from Europe to California. Her affairs with some of the well-known ladies like; Great Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Alla Nazimova, Eva Le Gallienne, Ona Munson, Natacha Rambova, and Lilyan Tashman. She was an obscure writer but rose to prominence to enjoy the brightness of life for 40 years. She used creative methods to conquer ladies. Sometimes Mercedes would use her husband’s art studio, get models into the studio for painting and then would seduce them. In this manner she managed to make love to Helen Menken, Charlotte Monterey, Greta Cooper, Valentina Schlee, and Katherine Cornell. Alla’s marriage with actor Charles Bryant; Mercedes De Acosta with Abram Poole; Lilyan Tashman with Edmond Lowe, and Rudolph Valentino with Jean Acker and later with Natacha Rambova were well-known examples of lavender marriages.
In the vanguard of lesbian/bisexual chic included Libby Holman, DuPont heiress Louisa Carpenter, Joan Crawford, Estelle Winwood, Blythe Daly, Barbara Stanwyck, Marjorie Maine, Jean Acker, singer Libby Holman, comedienne Bea Lillie, Isabell Hill, Louise Brooks, Gladys Calthrop, Mimsey Duggett, Katharine Hepburn, Salka Viertel, Dorothy Azner, Natacha Rambova, Patsy Kelly, Kay Frances, Dolores Del Rio, Ona Munson, Jazz singer Billie Holiday, Josephine Baker and many more.
Lesbian love walked into New York stage when Edouard Bourdet’s play, “The Captive” premiered on Broadway in 1927 and Helen Menken (wife of Humphrey Bogart) plays lesbian woman who receives amour nosegays of violet, used as a symbol of lesbian love, from her lover. Menken received many warm missives from deans of several women’s colleges across United States. Radclyffe Hall’s 1928 lesbian novel, “The well of loneliness” had torn the veil of silence and Mary Casals autobiography, “The Stone Wall” about lesbian love were adding substance to the myth.
The author reveals a well-known secret about Garbo and Dietrich who claimed to be lifelong strangers, but actually they had met in Berlin and Vienna at lesbian hangouts in 1920s. In the movie, “Joyless Street” produced in 1925 casted both women. The book shows still photographs from the movie to prove this point. Garbo was well known for being secretive and went to extraordinary length to protect her privacy.
Lilyan Tashman was a highly skilled missionary for the joy of lesbian sex. Women were warned of avoiding trip to the powder room with Lilyan because she would corner any attractive woman and plunge her to highly skilled lovemaking. She boasted that she can steal any woman from any man. Her bathroom advances were so overt that Irene Selznick said that she hasn’t seen anything like her overtures. Ann Warner, wife of Jack warner seduced by Marlene Dietrich when she was in Paris and she showed the lesbian hangouts and private rooms at the famous Sphinx Club. Later Ann Warner becomes a full pledged member of sewing circle. When Marlene did the movie “A Foreign Affair” costarring Jean Arthur and directed by Billy Wilder, Marlene reportedly had affairs with everyone from the set from stand-ins and secretaries to stuntmen and didn’t give a damn about the gossip. Tallulah Bankhead sought sex of every variety constantly, hungrily, loudly, candidly and without reservation. Once she told Joan Crawford that she had sex with her husband Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and she will be next. Tallulah adored Marlene Dietrich even though they preyed on same women and men.
Not everything is sex; the last few chapters discuss the work done by the leading ladies of Hollywood on USO tour and other wartime services for the troops both in United States and Europe. Notable work was done Marlene Dietrich who was awarded the Medal of Freedom, the civilian equivalent of Congressional Medal of Honor.
March 23, 2015
How was I supposed to resist a title like that?
This is the allegedly true, research-based story of Hollywood's two most famous LGBTQIA actresses of the 1930s, Ms. Greta Garbo and Ms. Marlene Dietrich. Neither woman self-identified as lesbian, bisexual, or pansexual during her lifetime, so I have to state for the record that it's a bit unfair of me to label them after their deaths, when they lived in a very different world than we do now. However, there is ample evidence to support that both women had ongoing romantic relationships with women and men.
Dietrich's affairs seem to fit the bi/pan label more closely - she didn't seem to have much of a preference either way - while Garbo seems to have had a preference for women over men.
I found this book absolutely fascinating. You'll probably enjoy it if you're interested in Old Hollywood history, women's history, and/or LGBTQIA history. Some of McLellan's sources are a bit dubious, but that's the nature of the beast when you're trying to uncover the history of something that was deliberately kept hidden. As the World War II era gave way to the 1950s, people in Hollywood had to worry about being associated with Communism. That gave them another reason to obscure and hide some of their past relationships, as well as the cultural swing that was becoming even more repressive of gay, lesbian, and bisexual sexuality. The 1950s were the golden age of the closet.
This is the allegedly true, research-based story of Hollywood's two most famous LGBTQIA actresses of the 1930s, Ms. Greta Garbo and Ms. Marlene Dietrich. Neither woman self-identified as lesbian, bisexual, or pansexual during her lifetime, so I have to state for the record that it's a bit unfair of me to label them after their deaths, when they lived in a very different world than we do now. However, there is ample evidence to support that both women had ongoing romantic relationships with women and men.
Dietrich's affairs seem to fit the bi/pan label more closely - she didn't seem to have much of a preference either way - while Garbo seems to have had a preference for women over men.
I found this book absolutely fascinating. You'll probably enjoy it if you're interested in Old Hollywood history, women's history, and/or LGBTQIA history. Some of McLellan's sources are a bit dubious, but that's the nature of the beast when you're trying to uncover the history of something that was deliberately kept hidden. As the World War II era gave way to the 1950s, people in Hollywood had to worry about being associated with Communism. That gave them another reason to obscure and hide some of their past relationships, as well as the cultural swing that was becoming even more repressive of gay, lesbian, and bisexual sexuality. The 1950s were the golden age of the closet.
March 16, 2010
It's a history book, in that it's nonfiction and written about the past, but McLellan's writing is just as titillating and gossipy as you want it to be when reading about such a delicious subject. However, the level of detail can be confusing and tedious, since so many names come in and out of the picture you'll have to re-read some parts just to keep everybody straight (no pun intended). In fact, it's SO detailed that it made me doubt the veracity of the material; could McLellan really know this much about what went on in the daily lives of these women without being there herself? Add to that some laughable conclusions she draws (like that Garbo and Dietrich were once in a movie together and lied about it, therefore they were lovers!!) and you'll realize that the "nonfiction" categorization only loosely applies here. If you take it all with a grain of salt it's an enjoyable read, though it does go on for perhaps a bit longer than one would like it to.
July 26, 2022
The Girls: Sappho Goes to Hollywood by Diana McLellan A wonderful Sapphic history of the golden age of Hollywood. Who was a lesbian, who was bi, who was pansexual, and so on? The background secrets and hidden relationships. Who would have believed grandma and grandpa's favorite stars may well have been queer. Oh my. Who loved who who would have believed some of the partners. Barbara Stanwyck was always my favorite and now I know why. woo woo, Great stuff I think it has been pretty much verified and I wish we could know the rest. 5 stars just because
February 25, 2018
Having read both The Sewing Circle by Axel Madsen and this one, I have to say I favor Diana McLellan's version. It's meatier (twice as long), more detailed and has a lot of humor.
If you love to read about lesbians (and gays) in classic Hollywood and the stage, it can't get any better than this.
5 stars
If you love to read about lesbians (and gays) in classic Hollywood and the stage, it can't get any better than this.
5 stars
March 28, 2013
A rollicking read if ever there was one. Garbo, Weimar Germany, old movies, international spycraft, stolen jewels and gorgeous, Jet Setting women with supercharged libidos: What's not to like? This is the most fun I've ever had between the covers of a book about Hollywood.
It's great to see that nearly one-fifth of the ratings here on Goodreads are from people who have read The Girls this year. That shows the staying power of a book I first read more than a decade ago. It's even better to learn that it's about to be reissued in paper and for eReaders. I see it on the to-read lists of some of my friends. You're in for a treat. And for those of you browsing my bookshelves, let me just give you a couple more reasons to run (don't walk) to buy this book.
(1) Marlene Dietrich was way cooler than Lara Croft. Learn why. And why didn't Tarantino imagine HER assassinating Hitler in INGLORIOUS BASTERDS? That, I cannot answer for you. But it's a pity. Because she was fully prepared to do it. Hard core.
(2) Garbo was once the highest paid woman in America. And the hardest worker you ever met. Plus with great frontage as you will see. Then she went bust after the Crash. Then she made it all back again. See, it really DOESN'T come naturally (except for the décolletage), and you will gain respect for this woman page after page, even as you cringe at her neuroses and narcissism. But this book really is about Hollywood, so you should never be too surprised on that score....
(3) Finally, a true story where the screenwriter holds all the cards for once. Meet Salka Viertel, a nasty piece of work you'll love to hate. Watch how she manipulates the famous power players you've learned to respect, possibly for the wrong reasons. McLellan will definitely open your eyes and challenge some of your assumptions about Hollywood history.
(4) What ties it all together? A Park Avenue vampire. Mercedes de Acosta is one of the most interesting characters you'll ever read about. But what's with the white face powder?
(5) What fun, what pleasure, to be in the hands of a writer who plays every role to perfection. Biographer, historian, sleuth, page-turning storyteller.... This is the Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy of Golden Age tell-alls.
There's more, but I'll sign off here. I think it's time to go read The Girls again.
It's great to see that nearly one-fifth of the ratings here on Goodreads are from people who have read The Girls this year. That shows the staying power of a book I first read more than a decade ago. It's even better to learn that it's about to be reissued in paper and for eReaders. I see it on the to-read lists of some of my friends. You're in for a treat. And for those of you browsing my bookshelves, let me just give you a couple more reasons to run (don't walk) to buy this book.
(1) Marlene Dietrich was way cooler than Lara Croft. Learn why. And why didn't Tarantino imagine HER assassinating Hitler in INGLORIOUS BASTERDS? That, I cannot answer for you. But it's a pity. Because she was fully prepared to do it. Hard core.
(2) Garbo was once the highest paid woman in America. And the hardest worker you ever met. Plus with great frontage as you will see. Then she went bust after the Crash. Then she made it all back again. See, it really DOESN'T come naturally (except for the décolletage), and you will gain respect for this woman page after page, even as you cringe at her neuroses and narcissism. But this book really is about Hollywood, so you should never be too surprised on that score....
(3) Finally, a true story where the screenwriter holds all the cards for once. Meet Salka Viertel, a nasty piece of work you'll love to hate. Watch how she manipulates the famous power players you've learned to respect, possibly for the wrong reasons. McLellan will definitely open your eyes and challenge some of your assumptions about Hollywood history.
(4) What ties it all together? A Park Avenue vampire. Mercedes de Acosta is one of the most interesting characters you'll ever read about. But what's with the white face powder?
(5) What fun, what pleasure, to be in the hands of a writer who plays every role to perfection. Biographer, historian, sleuth, page-turning storyteller.... This is the Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy of Golden Age tell-alls.
There's more, but I'll sign off here. I think it's time to go read The Girls again.
April 1, 2014
Solidly a great read full of tidbits, horizons filled with lust and multiple lesbian affairs. Bisexuality was the norm, and frequent bedding of multiple partners. Greta has multiple female and male lovers and lives in a strange private world. Marlene Dietrich hops in and out of beds as does Greta.A must read.
February 19, 2009
According to this book, it's amazing that Marlene Dietrich was ever vertical long enough to make a movie. Some juicy bits, but overall just an okay read.
September 21, 2023
5 stars. I love old Hollywood tea and scandals so this really hit the spot for me. This book was informative and juicy and I loved it. I mainly picked this up because of Tallulah Bankhead. I adore Tallulah. She was a woman who really lived life on her own terms and was such a badass. It was also super interesting to read about the sapphic community back in the 1920s and just how well researched and documented everything is. There were stars that I knew about but there were so many others that this was my first time hearing about them which was cool. I found this to be such a fascinating and very entertaining read and I’m so glad that I read this. I’m now on the lookout for even more books about Queer history and Hollywood.
August 9, 2008
Good read - writing sufficient, but there were major players and basic information missing. What was in the book was good, writing and flow sufficient - just lacking slightly on certain, key players and giving very little new insight on the people noted. For those unaware of the lavender side of Hollywood, this would be a great primer.
January 2, 2015
I found the story told utterly fascinating, but there was something about the tone of it, the author's voice, that put me off. While I'm happy to learn more about LGBTI history, it made lesbianism sound like a superficial diversion. Still, the author seems to have done her homework and builds a compelling case that Garbo & Dietrich knew one another.
October 1, 2007
I'm not even half way through this gem and I can't put it down!! The 'sewing circle' which includes Marlene Dietrict, Greda Garbo, Talulluh Bankhead, and other Hollywood starletts, is incestuous! These women have insatiable appetites for sex, stardom, and glamor. I love this book, go and read it!
June 11, 2012
Super fascinating research. The best line is a quote from Noel Coward to Tallulah Bankhead. "Stop stuffing reefers up your jacksie, Talullah!"
November 7, 2022
it gets a bit boring midway, but still is a super interesting reading. very well written, it's not just plain shallow gossip, it's actually grounded on documented facts. a really interesting book on eastern sapphic pop culture and history.
April 21, 2024
Some extremely quotable moments in this! A very frothy, light and gossipy tone throughout and I had a fun time reading this. I am not convinced by the author's conviction that because Garbo and Dietrich lied about being in a film together, they therefore must have had an intense romance that scarred Garbo for life. I need more evidence than just "one can imagine"!
August 18, 2022
When did these women have time to make movies? Fascinating and fun, gossipy and glamourous. Such a hoot to read.
February 5, 2017
Well this was obviously written by a gossip colomnist and not a historian! The language just came across as Oh So Scandalous, and everyone was described as whose lovers they were, rather than who they were. She would repeat conversations of people after they'd had sex together, and I had to ask, how did she get this information??? Most of her information comes from published biographies and autobiographies, and yet she writes it all as speech that was taking place that she somehow witnessed and recorded.
I did however learn quite a few useful things relating to Beatrix though when I read this. I learned that Viertel's wife Salka had written a book about her time in LA, during the 40s and 50s and ordered a copy of that. I learned that her and Viertel had had an open marriage and while he was off with Bea she was having an affair with Greta Garbo. While the book didn't mention Bea at all, there were a lot of reference to people that she had dated, or people her ex's had dated. Somehow I'd not come across Mercedes Acosta before and she sounds fascinating so I'm definitely going to have to track down a copy of her book as well as Salka's.
I'm glad I came across this as it was useful. But not what I'd call scholarly history.
I did however learn quite a few useful things relating to Beatrix though when I read this. I learned that Viertel's wife Salka had written a book about her time in LA, during the 40s and 50s and ordered a copy of that. I learned that her and Viertel had had an open marriage and while he was off with Bea she was having an affair with Greta Garbo. While the book didn't mention Bea at all, there were a lot of reference to people that she had dated, or people her ex's had dated. Somehow I'd not come across Mercedes Acosta before and she sounds fascinating so I'm definitely going to have to track down a copy of her book as well as Salka's.
I'm glad I came across this as it was useful. But not what I'd call scholarly history.
August 22, 2016
Un libro que pretende dar respuesta a muchos enigmas, que al final se quedan en eso: enigmas. Una basura sensacionalista escrita por una periodista de tabloides, que se vende como evangelio y se queda en menos que apócrifo. Un libro que parte de simples rumores y en el que finalmente solo queda clara una cosa: que la autora tiene mucha imaginación, opiniones sesgadas, y una montaña de teorías chismosas a las que no aporta ningún tipo de prueba concluyente. Todo cae por su propio peso desde el primer capítulo. Si fuera un libro de ficción, sería hasta entretenido, pero el libro se vende como un trabajo de investigación, y como tal, es infumable.
November 20, 2007
I learned that "Dyke Drama" transcends class (whether rich or poor), and sexuality (homo or bi). This was a great read an EXTREMELY informative. The book deserves 4 stars just for the amount of research she has done. Granted, even the author states a lot of information has to be taken with caution; but most of it seems plausible.
September 12, 2011
A meticulously detailed, sometimes intriguing/sometimes fantastical biography on a coterie of glamorous and decadent stars from Hollywood's Golden Era. McLellan leaves a lot to conjecture, but when the prose is as dishy and compulsively readable as The Girls' is, it's easy to forgive her.
April 2, 2014
Fascinating account of lesbianism in Hollywood
I gave this book five stars because it brought life to a fascinating time in Hollywood history, and the lives and loves of some of the most interesting women of film.
I gave this book five stars because it brought life to a fascinating time in Hollywood history, and the lives and loves of some of the most interesting women of film.
December 10, 2014
Things I never knew
I'd never been an old film buff, but maybe I would have been if I'd known how many of these actresses were lesbian by preference. A fabulous and fascinating book which I highly recommend.
I'd never been an old film buff, but maybe I would have been if I'd known how many of these actresses were lesbian by preference. A fabulous and fascinating book which I highly recommend.
March 9, 2015
If you've read The Celluloid Closet and The Sewing Circle, you might like The Girls. Although it focuses primarily on Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich, there are some interesting anecdotes about other glamorous ladies who moved in Sapphic circles.
April 12, 2008
Amazing! Book, I love it. It has all the information that I've been looking for about Hollywood's lesbians; plus it has a lot of information about my favorite actress–Alla Nazimova.
October 26, 2011
Rediscovered this as I slowly catalogue my bookshelves. Immersing myself in a more glamorous world.
October 8, 2022
An interesting read and a nice account of queer history; an entertaining combination of research and gossip, even though as a reader it's often hard to tell the difference. Written sort of in the style of a gossip magazine, which is sometimes fun and sometimes entirely too full of cringeworthy innuendos (example 6435: someone learnt to "play the musical saw, an instrument that, like so much, required a parting of her knees" ...) At times, the writer kind of presents lesbianism and queerness as this salacious lifestyle choice which I found icky, and the individuals whose lives are under scrutiny here feel more like characters than real people.
Also, I have to note that the scandalous, anything-goes, celebrity gossip vibe that McLellan is going for is glaringly unfitting when she touches on the abusive power dynamics rampant in the film industry (which are never addressed, by the way, which is kinda weird). Disturbing events are written about in a way that reads as scandalously humorous or bawdy. Like when she writes about the adult man who "introduced 15-year-old Garbo to sex". You mean, who groomed an adolescent enamored with promises of opportunities and fame whose fulfillment was dependent on him? Or when one starlet left her lover because he was "openly sleeping with two of his ten-year-old students." I don't even know what to say to that - did no one edit this ???
Also, I have to note that the scandalous, anything-goes, celebrity gossip vibe that McLellan is going for is glaringly unfitting when she touches on the abusive power dynamics rampant in the film industry (which are never addressed, by the way, which is kinda weird). Disturbing events are written about in a way that reads as scandalously humorous or bawdy. Like when she writes about the adult man who "introduced 15-year-old Garbo to sex". You mean, who groomed an adolescent enamored with promises of opportunities and fame whose fulfillment was dependent on him? Or when one starlet left her lover because he was "openly sleeping with two of his ten-year-old students." I don't even know what to say to that - did no one edit this ???
July 27, 2018
I read this for its concentration on Greta Garbo, this time through I skipped some of the early Hollywood tales about of Alla Nazimova. (Though according to the author, all these women, Nazimova, Garbo, Dietrich and Tallulah Bankhead shared their long- term lovers.) Garbo, according to McLellan, was neurotic, deeply secretive, and paranoid. “Discretion and loyalty were two qualities Greta Lovisa Gustaffson (Garbo’s original name) had always demanded of her girlfriends.” (56) And she existed firmly in built- in gorgeously designed closets, made by her dear friends Cecil Beaton or Adrian and others.
Garbo was in love in John Gilbert. But when he wanted to marry her, to make the relationship monogamous and public, or even to discuss it, she panicked. Repeatedly. When he married someone else, Garbo was furious. The author insists that Marlene Dietrich and Great Garbo had an affair during the making of Garbo’s last European film, The Joyless Street in 1925, and neither ever spoke of the other again, for the rest of their lives, or even admitted knowing each other. I bought this at W. Whitman Books, in the next village over, for $7.95.
Garbo was in love in John Gilbert. But when he wanted to marry her, to make the relationship monogamous and public, or even to discuss it, she panicked. Repeatedly. When he married someone else, Garbo was furious. The author insists that Marlene Dietrich and Great Garbo had an affair during the making of Garbo’s last European film, The Joyless Street in 1925, and neither ever spoke of the other again, for the rest of their lives, or even admitted knowing each other. I bought this at W. Whitman Books, in the next village over, for $7.95.
November 7, 2022
Well-researched record of lesbians/bisexual women in Hollywood, starting with Alla Nazimova and focusing on Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo. Interesting how intertwined they all were with another, much like today. I was not aware how many actresses back then were lesbian or bi. Shows the changing attitudes over time toward gay women. I found it very informative.
I only give this book three stars because the author is a former gossip columnist, and it shows in her writing. She writes like she is exposing nasty little secrets of the stars. Nowadays these people would probably almost all be out about their sexuality. The tone was offputting to me.
I only give this book three stars because the author is a former gossip columnist, and it shows in her writing. She writes like she is exposing nasty little secrets of the stars. Nowadays these people would probably almost all be out about their sexuality. The tone was offputting to me.
February 8, 2022
Author Diana McLellan is an investigative reporter for the ages! This book is an incredible compilation of original research, interviews and scouring the memoirs of Golden Hollywood looking to tie up loose ends. McLellan's compelling writing and organization provides the context and timelines of great names of Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo and a cast of hundreds, in a way that flows the way it actually happened (or so the facts indicate).
Displaying 1 - 30 of 50 reviews