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Confidential Confidential: The Inside Story of Hollywood's Notorious Scandal Magazine
In the 1950s, Confidential magazine, America’s first celebrity scandal magazine, revealed Hollywood stars’ secrets, misdeeds, and transgressions in gritty, unvarnished detail. Deploying a vast network of tipsters to root out scandalous facts about the stars, including sexual affairs, drug use, and sexual orientation, publisher Robert Harrison destroyed celebrities’ carefully constructed images and built a media empire. Confidential became the bestselling magazine on American newsstands in the 1950s, surpassing Time , Life , and the Saturday Evening Post . Eventually the stars fought back, filing multimillion-dollar libel suits against the magazine. The state of California, prodded by the film studios, prosecuted Harrison for obscenity and criminal libel, culminating in a famous, star-studded Los Angeles trial.
This is Confidential ’s story, detailing how the magazine revolutionized celebrity culture and American society in the 1950s and beyond. With its bold red-yellow-and-blue covers, screaming headlines, and tawdry stories, Confidential exploded the candy-coated image of movie stars that Hollywood and the press had sold to the public. It transformed Americas from innocents to more sophisticated, worldly people, wise to the phony and constructed nature of celebrity. It shifted reporting on celebrities from an enterprise of concealment and make-believe to one that was more frank, bawdy, and true . Confidential ’s success marked the end of an era of hush-hush —of secrets, closets, and sexual taboos—and the beginning of our age of tell-all exposure.
This is Confidential ’s story, detailing how the magazine revolutionized celebrity culture and American society in the 1950s and beyond. With its bold red-yellow-and-blue covers, screaming headlines, and tawdry stories, Confidential exploded the candy-coated image of movie stars that Hollywood and the press had sold to the public. It transformed Americas from innocents to more sophisticated, worldly people, wise to the phony and constructed nature of celebrity. It shifted reporting on celebrities from an enterprise of concealment and make-believe to one that was more frank, bawdy, and true . Confidential ’s success marked the end of an era of hush-hush —of secrets, closets, and sexual taboos—and the beginning of our age of tell-all exposure.
368 pages, Hardcover
Published September 4, 2018
20 people are currently reading
113 people want to read
About the author
Samantha Barbas
9 books4 followersAn expert on legal history, First Amendment law and mass communications law, Samantha Barbas is a professor at the University of Buffalo School of Law. She was previously a professor of history at Chapman University, a visiting professor of history at U.C. Berkeley, and a lecturer at Arizona State University.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
February 24, 2019
Admit it.......when standing in line at the grocery store, you pick up the National Enquirer or Star and glance through it surreptitiously but wouldn't be caught dead buying one.
The book is about Confidential, the grand daddy of the scandal sheet, the top of the heap, with more readers than Life, Saturday Evening Post and Time. It was sleazy, raw, and trod a thin line with libel. The founder, Robert Harrison, had formerly published what were called "girlie" magazines and was a con man extraordinaire. He decided to begin a "tell-all" magazine in the early 1950s and it caught on. What really shot up the readership was when Harrison began targeting Hollywood and the stars' bad behavior or what he considered bad behavior, which included homosexuality. It was only a matter of time before some of the actors/actresses sued him and it finally spelled the end of the magazine in 1957.
There is a little too much repetition in the narrative and too much time spent on the endless trials But it is rather fascinating to learn how Confidential lasted as long as it did and how Harrison ducked law suits for libel through threats and bribery.
The book is about Confidential, the grand daddy of the scandal sheet, the top of the heap, with more readers than Life, Saturday Evening Post and Time. It was sleazy, raw, and trod a thin line with libel. The founder, Robert Harrison, had formerly published what were called "girlie" magazines and was a con man extraordinaire. He decided to begin a "tell-all" magazine in the early 1950s and it caught on. What really shot up the readership was when Harrison began targeting Hollywood and the stars' bad behavior or what he considered bad behavior, which included homosexuality. It was only a matter of time before some of the actors/actresses sued him and it finally spelled the end of the magazine in 1957.
There is a little too much repetition in the narrative and too much time spent on the endless trials But it is rather fascinating to learn how Confidential lasted as long as it did and how Harrison ducked law suits for libel through threats and bribery.
November 13, 2018
This highly readable history of Confidential, the very first scurrilous supermarket tabloid,
is an informative, yet entertaining read for anyone who has ever wondered how and why magazines such as Star, People, and the National Enquirer sell millions of copies at supermarket checkouts, and why these days a website like TMZ.com boasts of more than 87 million views a month.
As in the case of the Star, for which I worked as reporter and editor in the 1980s, no-one ever admitted reading Confidential, and yet it was selling more than four million copies a week by June 1955.
Launched by New York publisher, Robert Harrison, in 1952 as a girlie magazine, Confidential switched to focusing on Hollywood legends like Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth and Lana Turner a year or so later.
Harrison assembled an army of informants in Los Angeles — prostitutes , valets , maids , bartenders , waiters , hairdressers , unemployed extras , and screenwriters. He sent his niece Marjorie Meade and her husband, Fred, to Hollywood and installed them to head Confidential’s gossip-collection operations. The company called "Hollywood Research Incorporated" or HRI paid informants handsomely for tips -- "and the juicier the better."
The Meades also worked on hundreds of "verification" assignments for Confidential. They searched material in the public record — land titles, birth and death records, and criminal records — to confirm Confidential articles.
The magazine used private detectives to watch love nests, and if a tail "couldn't get close enough to a house to find out when a car left, he'd put a Mickey Mouse watch under the back wheel. When the car pulled out, it would crush the watch, recording the time."
Harrison hired top-notch lawyers to vet every salacious feature. One of the most fascinating chapters for me is titled The Legal Department, and describes how scrupulously the publication's lawyers vetted every major story (something we also did when I worked at the tabloid, Star.)
One legal tidbit refers to the publication's lawyers advising Harrison to "always print less than he knew." Why? Because "the threat that the whole story would come out in court was enough to deter most libel suits.”
The book regurgitates dozens of stories that Confidential published about the hearthrobs of the day. These stories generated screaming headlines, and shocked readers at the time. The writing style was also hugely entertaining. In one expose, a private detective followed Swedish actress, Anita Ekberg (usually described as a "blonde bombshell") and two-time Oscar winner, Gary Cooper to a bungalow on the Pacific Coast Highway.
This is how the magazine reported the story:
"To tell the truth, it was so quiet the whole morning long of Sunday, August 7th that in spite of the fact that Gary’s car was still in the garage , he received a mysterious phone call between about two and four in the afternoon . Cooper answered the phone — the number is GLenwood 7-2475 , in case you’re interested — and drawled his globally famous "Yup?" into the mouthpiece .
"That’s all the caller wanted to know . There was a soft click on the other end of the line and the world’s best-known cowboy could only wonder what it meant . Now he knows . He also knows , as of this moment , that there were peeping eyes when he walked out of the house in bathing trunks , shortly after four that lazy Sunday afternoon."
High Society Capers
Confidential also covered high society scandals. Its reporters sought out court transcripts for the testimony of billionaire John Jacob Astor’s third wife, and reported the divorce case as follows:
"Here , for the first time , is the sizzling story — the actual testimony — that made [ the judge ] gasp." Astor’s ex - wife testified how "Jakey wanted movies of them taken in their most intimate moments to amuse him when she wasn’t around , and how he ate like a savage, spent hours staring at his fat, naked body in a mirror, and loved to be beaten."
The book, however, is more than a mere regurgitation of scandals which may seem quaint by today's standards when not downright homophobic or racist (Confidential thrived on outing gay actors like Tab Hunter and Liberace, and decrying interracial romances.)
Equally fascinating is the author's account of how much the stars feared the publication -- but feared the idea of litigating against it much more. ("This problem would trouble the [movie] industry for the next three years : how to bring down Confidential without revealing to the public that many of its stories were actually true.")
Author, Samantha Barbas, a University of Buffalo law school professor and movie historian provides a solid account of the legal battles -- not just for libel, but also for obscenity -- that eventually caused Harrison to change the format of the magazine, and so lose its readers.
But, in the final chapters, she points out that Confidential was just the beginning because "sex sells and there's always a market for scandal." Or, quoting an editor, she writes: "Confidential’s success was the public’s fault. Blame the [ editors ] as much as you like, but do not blame them alone. Millions of [ readers ] make those [ magazines ] possible. Sad commentary that there is a vast market for this commodity [but] Gossip magazines exist because people want them.”
A longer version of this review originally appeared on my website at https://www.joannaelm.com/review-of-c...
is an informative, yet entertaining read for anyone who has ever wondered how and why magazines such as Star, People, and the National Enquirer sell millions of copies at supermarket checkouts, and why these days a website like TMZ.com boasts of more than 87 million views a month.
As in the case of the Star, for which I worked as reporter and editor in the 1980s, no-one ever admitted reading Confidential, and yet it was selling more than four million copies a week by June 1955.
Launched by New York publisher, Robert Harrison, in 1952 as a girlie magazine, Confidential switched to focusing on Hollywood legends like Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth and Lana Turner a year or so later.
Harrison assembled an army of informants in Los Angeles — prostitutes , valets , maids , bartenders , waiters , hairdressers , unemployed extras , and screenwriters. He sent his niece Marjorie Meade and her husband, Fred, to Hollywood and installed them to head Confidential’s gossip-collection operations. The company called "Hollywood Research Incorporated" or HRI paid informants handsomely for tips -- "and the juicier the better."
The Meades also worked on hundreds of "verification" assignments for Confidential. They searched material in the public record — land titles, birth and death records, and criminal records — to confirm Confidential articles.
The magazine used private detectives to watch love nests, and if a tail "couldn't get close enough to a house to find out when a car left, he'd put a Mickey Mouse watch under the back wheel. When the car pulled out, it would crush the watch, recording the time."
Harrison hired top-notch lawyers to vet every salacious feature. One of the most fascinating chapters for me is titled The Legal Department, and describes how scrupulously the publication's lawyers vetted every major story (something we also did when I worked at the tabloid, Star.)
One legal tidbit refers to the publication's lawyers advising Harrison to "always print less than he knew." Why? Because "the threat that the whole story would come out in court was enough to deter most libel suits.”
The book regurgitates dozens of stories that Confidential published about the hearthrobs of the day. These stories generated screaming headlines, and shocked readers at the time. The writing style was also hugely entertaining. In one expose, a private detective followed Swedish actress, Anita Ekberg (usually described as a "blonde bombshell") and two-time Oscar winner, Gary Cooper to a bungalow on the Pacific Coast Highway.
This is how the magazine reported the story:
"To tell the truth, it was so quiet the whole morning long of Sunday, August 7th that in spite of the fact that Gary’s car was still in the garage , he received a mysterious phone call between about two and four in the afternoon . Cooper answered the phone — the number is GLenwood 7-2475 , in case you’re interested — and drawled his globally famous "Yup?" into the mouthpiece .
"That’s all the caller wanted to know . There was a soft click on the other end of the line and the world’s best-known cowboy could only wonder what it meant . Now he knows . He also knows , as of this moment , that there were peeping eyes when he walked out of the house in bathing trunks , shortly after four that lazy Sunday afternoon."
High Society Capers
Confidential also covered high society scandals. Its reporters sought out court transcripts for the testimony of billionaire John Jacob Astor’s third wife, and reported the divorce case as follows:
"Here , for the first time , is the sizzling story — the actual testimony — that made [ the judge ] gasp." Astor’s ex - wife testified how "Jakey wanted movies of them taken in their most intimate moments to amuse him when she wasn’t around , and how he ate like a savage, spent hours staring at his fat, naked body in a mirror, and loved to be beaten."
The book, however, is more than a mere regurgitation of scandals which may seem quaint by today's standards when not downright homophobic or racist (Confidential thrived on outing gay actors like Tab Hunter and Liberace, and decrying interracial romances.)
Equally fascinating is the author's account of how much the stars feared the publication -- but feared the idea of litigating against it much more. ("This problem would trouble the [movie] industry for the next three years : how to bring down Confidential without revealing to the public that many of its stories were actually true.")
Author, Samantha Barbas, a University of Buffalo law school professor and movie historian provides a solid account of the legal battles -- not just for libel, but also for obscenity -- that eventually caused Harrison to change the format of the magazine, and so lose its readers.
But, in the final chapters, she points out that Confidential was just the beginning because "sex sells and there's always a market for scandal." Or, quoting an editor, she writes: "Confidential’s success was the public’s fault. Blame the [ editors ] as much as you like, but do not blame them alone. Millions of [ readers ] make those [ magazines ] possible. Sad commentary that there is a vast market for this commodity [but] Gossip magazines exist because people want them.”
A longer version of this review originally appeared on my website at https://www.joannaelm.com/review-of-c...
August 27, 2018
More of the history of the magazine and not an insider look at celebrities.
February 9, 2019
Throughout Confidential Confidential I was struck by how little understanding the author, Samantha Barbas, had of the decade of the 1950s, the decade with which the book concerns itself. Granted, the author was born in 1972, which means her adulthood was 30 years after the close of that decade, but she hasn't done enough research on the 50s. As a result the conclusions that she comes about the mindset of the American people is way off base. The average American was not anywhere near as conservative or naive about sex as she believes them to be. People weren't even that naive in the 1920s.
January 11, 2019
Interesting, but lacking detail in many areas.
September 7, 2020
If you are a fan and reader/watcher of TMZ, Enquirer, Us, People, Entertainment Tonight and the myriad of different gossip sites and magazines available, then you might be interested in one of the most notorious from the 1950's.
Confidential had the motto of "Tells the Facts and Names the Names". In the early years of the Hollywood movie studios, they controlled ALL aspects of their stars lives - what roles, what hair color, who they dated, what they wore, where they lived and what their hobbies were. Stories were planted regarding their wholesome and everyday normal lives. It's didn't matter if they fainted at the sight of blood, if the studio determined that their image required them to be a hunter, they were a hunter. That's what the public was told and their fans relished every tale, feeling connected with the ordinariness of not only their lives but these stars of the screen. Even gossip columnists has to be pre-approved and had to publish the studio line or their access was removed.
The first successful gossip peddler in the U.S in 1916 was more a protection racket, money for ads in exchange for gossip being suppressed.
But it was the 1950's and at that time, America was not only in the middle of the Red Scare and McCarthyism, but dealing with the black American civil rights movement. The classic American family was horrified to even hear about interracial relations, communism, homosexuality, adultery and pregnancy. And the studios protected their celebrities by forcing the suppression of any stories about what they really got up to.
Publisher Robert Harrison was willing to initially make up stories - the celebrity name might be the only actual fact in some of the early stories but as Confidential gained momentum, a wide range of sources began providing him with tips - rejected lovers, old friends, former employees, waiters, waitresses, nannies, hat -check girls, hotel managers, secretaries, private investigators, other workers in the industry. And press agents who would provide tales about their stars - sometimes as a negotiation to prevent another story being published.
Dozens of the stories that were published over the years of Confidential's reign were retold between the pages of this book without the ambiguous innuendos. From Maureen O'Hara to Lisabeth Scott. Robert Mitchum to Tab Hunter. Bob Hope to Liberace. Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner, Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe. Desi Arnez and Lucille Ball. And at the time, it didn't really matter how much of a 'lie' the story may be, stars were hesitant to sue since the truth about the situation could be revealed or perhaps something even worse disclosed.
The first attempt to stop the magazine came from the federal government declaring that the magazine smacked into the regulations regarding mailing obscene material through the Postal Department (this was before the USPS). Only it ran right into the ACLU and First Amendment and Freedom of Speech. Interesting enough, most of the issues of Confidential was moved via truck to distributors across the country for delivery to news stands. Only a small portion of each issue was actually 'mailed'. Harrison 'worked' with the Postal Department - providing 2 issues to review before the printer shipped to the distributors. This is beside the fact that Harrison had lawyers review every story beforehand for any possible openings for a libel suit. Harrison was profoundly apprehensive about libel lawsuits.
But eventually it was the state of California, with the backing of the studios, that brought Confidential and a host of people connected with it into the courtroom. The charge - conspiracy to commit obscenity. This was the trial of the year - as much as people enjoyed reading the magazine (no one ever "bought' a copy! They just looked through it at their doctor's office), parents were also upset that their children were bringing home copies.
The trial ended in a hung jury and Harrison and Confidential came to an agreement - no more Hollywood exposes. That was the downfall of the magazine. Harrison sold it a few years later and it stopped publishing shortly afterwards.
But the takeaway from the story is a couple of the commentaries that Harrison made - don't blame the editors for the magazine. Millions are buying so they are providing a service. Also if the studios didn't want stories published about the shenanigans of their stars, enforce the morality clause in their contract. If they didn't perform scandalous acts, there would be nothing for magazines like Confidential to write about.
One surprising end note - in nearly every issue there was what was called a public service article. About communism - sure, in the beginning. But it also warned about date rape drugs. Abortion pills and the hazards of back alley abortions. Opium smoking and door-to-door salesman rackets. And one that was repeated - the hazardous effects of cigarette smoking. Even as the tobacco industry was taking the exact opposite stance, lying to their customers and the public.
2020-176
Confidential had the motto of "Tells the Facts and Names the Names". In the early years of the Hollywood movie studios, they controlled ALL aspects of their stars lives - what roles, what hair color, who they dated, what they wore, where they lived and what their hobbies were. Stories were planted regarding their wholesome and everyday normal lives. It's didn't matter if they fainted at the sight of blood, if the studio determined that their image required them to be a hunter, they were a hunter. That's what the public was told and their fans relished every tale, feeling connected with the ordinariness of not only their lives but these stars of the screen. Even gossip columnists has to be pre-approved and had to publish the studio line or their access was removed.
The first successful gossip peddler in the U.S in 1916 was more a protection racket, money for ads in exchange for gossip being suppressed.
But it was the 1950's and at that time, America was not only in the middle of the Red Scare and McCarthyism, but dealing with the black American civil rights movement. The classic American family was horrified to even hear about interracial relations, communism, homosexuality, adultery and pregnancy. And the studios protected their celebrities by forcing the suppression of any stories about what they really got up to.
Publisher Robert Harrison was willing to initially make up stories - the celebrity name might be the only actual fact in some of the early stories but as Confidential gained momentum, a wide range of sources began providing him with tips - rejected lovers, old friends, former employees, waiters, waitresses, nannies, hat -check girls, hotel managers, secretaries, private investigators, other workers in the industry. And press agents who would provide tales about their stars - sometimes as a negotiation to prevent another story being published.
Dozens of the stories that were published over the years of Confidential's reign were retold between the pages of this book without the ambiguous innuendos. From Maureen O'Hara to Lisabeth Scott. Robert Mitchum to Tab Hunter. Bob Hope to Liberace. Frank Sinatra, Ava Gardner, Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe. Desi Arnez and Lucille Ball. And at the time, it didn't really matter how much of a 'lie' the story may be, stars were hesitant to sue since the truth about the situation could be revealed or perhaps something even worse disclosed.
The first attempt to stop the magazine came from the federal government declaring that the magazine smacked into the regulations regarding mailing obscene material through the Postal Department (this was before the USPS). Only it ran right into the ACLU and First Amendment and Freedom of Speech. Interesting enough, most of the issues of Confidential was moved via truck to distributors across the country for delivery to news stands. Only a small portion of each issue was actually 'mailed'. Harrison 'worked' with the Postal Department - providing 2 issues to review before the printer shipped to the distributors. This is beside the fact that Harrison had lawyers review every story beforehand for any possible openings for a libel suit. Harrison was profoundly apprehensive about libel lawsuits.
But eventually it was the state of California, with the backing of the studios, that brought Confidential and a host of people connected with it into the courtroom. The charge - conspiracy to commit obscenity. This was the trial of the year - as much as people enjoyed reading the magazine (no one ever "bought' a copy! They just looked through it at their doctor's office), parents were also upset that their children were bringing home copies.
The trial ended in a hung jury and Harrison and Confidential came to an agreement - no more Hollywood exposes. That was the downfall of the magazine. Harrison sold it a few years later and it stopped publishing shortly afterwards.
But the takeaway from the story is a couple of the commentaries that Harrison made - don't blame the editors for the magazine. Millions are buying so they are providing a service. Also if the studios didn't want stories published about the shenanigans of their stars, enforce the morality clause in their contract. If they didn't perform scandalous acts, there would be nothing for magazines like Confidential to write about.
One surprising end note - in nearly every issue there was what was called a public service article. About communism - sure, in the beginning. But it also warned about date rape drugs. Abortion pills and the hazards of back alley abortions. Opium smoking and door-to-door salesman rackets. And one that was repeated - the hazardous effects of cigarette smoking. Even as the tobacco industry was taking the exact opposite stance, lying to their customers and the public.
2020-176
January 17, 2021
Really well-researched, really readable tale of Confidential, a short-lived but extremely influential 1950s publication known for its stories about the private lives of Hollywood stars—chiefly stories that contradicted the public image that those stars and the studios’ publicity machines created with the cooperation of the compliant majority of the US press corps. It published stories about unfaithful spouses, actresses whose sex lives didn’t match their wholesome public personalities, closeted actors and interracial relationship. It was all in a snide, euphemistic style that was designed to avoid prosecution for obscenity, and which also passed judgment in a form of guilt by insinuation. Much of the coverage was mean-spirited; nearly all of it—supplied by prostitutes, private detectives and other sources, and reviewed by the publication’s lawyers—was true. The book’s retelling of the magazine’s rise & fall explores a lot of interesting issues, including obscenity, criminal (as opposed to civil) libel, privacy rights, the rights & responsibilities of journalists, and the political power of Hollywood in the mid-20th century. The book also makes clear Confidential’s impact on subsequent journalism in the US, such as noteworthy descendants National Enquirer, People, Gawker & TMZ. Highly recommended for students of journalism, American cultural history and/or motion pictures.
April 3, 2022
I've been listening to some podcasts about "old" Hollywood and several have been about Confidential magazine of which I knew only a little (I was 8-9 at its end) so I wanted to learn more about this controversial, influential, rather horrible magazine.
Samantha Barbas does an excellent job of telling the magazine's story from beginning to end including all the legal battles with individuals and state governments and public outcry over its stories and its methods.
Several things stick out. First, what an awful magazine it was and how it targeted gay and Black Americans. The seeming delight they showed in attacking gays was sad but even sadder is that it closely resembles what is happening today with Evangelicals leading the way in passing law after law to marginalize them even more. Howard Rushmore, a complete asshole as editor of Confidential, reminds me of a poor man's Ted Cruz or Steve Bannon or Josh Hawley. It's no wonder that my generation (Boomers) rejected so much of 50's society and values in the 60's.
But the battle of censorship vs. the first amendment and the right to privacy, which dominates the latter part of the book, is compelling and I came out right in the end after a sensational trial.
Barbas makes several good points in the last chapter about the importance of and influence of Confidential in the long run-all the way to today.
Samantha Barbas does an excellent job of telling the magazine's story from beginning to end including all the legal battles with individuals and state governments and public outcry over its stories and its methods.
Several things stick out. First, what an awful magazine it was and how it targeted gay and Black Americans. The seeming delight they showed in attacking gays was sad but even sadder is that it closely resembles what is happening today with Evangelicals leading the way in passing law after law to marginalize them even more. Howard Rushmore, a complete asshole as editor of Confidential, reminds me of a poor man's Ted Cruz or Steve Bannon or Josh Hawley. It's no wonder that my generation (Boomers) rejected so much of 50's society and values in the 60's.
But the battle of censorship vs. the first amendment and the right to privacy, which dominates the latter part of the book, is compelling and I came out right in the end after a sensational trial.
Barbas makes several good points in the last chapter about the importance of and influence of Confidential in the long run-all the way to today.
January 14, 2019
The third, and most comprehensive, book on CONFIDENTIAL magazine, the original scandal sheet of the 1950s. Barbas's book is a complete history of the founding of the magazine, its sordid (if highly successful) history, and its legal wrangling. The focus is on the legal battles for the magazine's survival in the late 50s. With Hollywood as its biggest hometown industry, the city of L. A. had an interest in suppressing the outrageous stories that the magazine published about Tinseltown . Ultimately, the trials and the suicide of former editor Howard Rushmore hurt publisher Robert Harrison. It was not as fun as it had been, and Harrison sold the magazine. Barbas does not mention that the magazine continued publication until the 70s. The term "Confidential" has been used in movies, in Bourdain's memoir, and in any sort of story that tells an unpleasant truth. Harrison had cadged the word from two other scandal-mongers, Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer, whose NEW YORK CONFIDENTIAL showed Harrison that there was money in dirt.
May 18, 2019
This book tells the amazing story of the most notorious gossip mag of the 50s.
Confidential, led by renegade maverick publisher Bob Harrison, printed totally insane stories about Hollywood celebrities, most of which were true.
Samantha Barbas does a clear and entertaining job of documenting this magazines rise and its notorious fall.
Many great Hollywood stars appear, as well as other lesser known figures of the era. A particularly fascinating one to me was Fred Otash, the former LAPD officer turned private eye and story verifier for Confidential. I know about Freddy O from reading James Ellroy's novels, where he appears as a fictional character but it was great to learn a lot of the true details about him here.
A must read for anyone wanting to seriously educate themselves about media history.
Confidential, led by renegade maverick publisher Bob Harrison, printed totally insane stories about Hollywood celebrities, most of which were true.
Samantha Barbas does a clear and entertaining job of documenting this magazines rise and its notorious fall.
Many great Hollywood stars appear, as well as other lesser known figures of the era. A particularly fascinating one to me was Fred Otash, the former LAPD officer turned private eye and story verifier for Confidential. I know about Freddy O from reading James Ellroy's novels, where he appears as a fictional character but it was great to learn a lot of the true details about him here.
A must read for anyone wanting to seriously educate themselves about media history.
October 5, 2023
An interesting look at the scandal mag that caused a ruckus in the 1950s. I have to chuckle when I hear "cancel culture" tossed around today since cancel culture has been alive and well since mass media became a thing (and withe rare exceptions such as Roscoe Arbuckle, most celebrities weather being cancelled without too much damage). Confidential is most noteworthy as a pioneer in spreading the kind of celebrity gossip that today is commonplace in mainstream news. The most interesting aspects of this book for me were the legal bits. The US Mail tried to censor the magazine by refusing to deliver it. Confidential rightly and successfully fought back since the government should not fetter free speech. I also enjoyed reading about the machinations Confidential used to try to evade civil libel cases.
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August 4, 2025I got about six chapters in and I realized this book is not good. Has an intriguing premise looking at the history of this gossipy Hollywood news publication called Confidential similar to the rumor mag that’s in the movie, LA confidential run by Danny DeVito.
the problem is as the author says in the first chapter the founder of confidential never had a journal didn’t keep any papers and any sort of records. So the author has very little material to go on for the books premise and because of them they have to go into more explaining what was going on in the world of the United States at the time period of the 1940s and 1950s.
I don’t feel like I’m really learning about the magazine. I’m just learning about United States that I particular time which is not what I picked up the book for.
the problem is as the author says in the first chapter the founder of confidential never had a journal didn’t keep any papers and any sort of records. So the author has very little material to go on for the books premise and because of them they have to go into more explaining what was going on in the world of the United States at the time period of the 1940s and 1950s.
I don’t feel like I’m really learning about the magazine. I’m just learning about United States that I particular time which is not what I picked up the book for.
February 12, 2025
Confidential magazine was founded in the 1950s by Robert Harrison. This magazine is often considered the blueprint for celebrity gossip. People, In Touch, National Enquirer, and TMZ are some of the more modern versions of this magazine. I have to admit that I was taken in with these types of magazines in the grocery store checkout when I was a teenager. Now, I think they are trash magazines that intrude into people's lives. I never really considered the history of magazines like this before, but the book seemed interesting and was available to listen to for free on Audible Plus. Worth checking out if you are into this type of thing.
November 1, 2023
As others have mentioned, this is an interesting, albeit over-long look at the scandal magazines of the 1950s. There's some really fascinating information in here - the attempts to censor the mail is an interesting one - but it's delivered with just a few too many stories about the trials that took place due to stories.
It's a strange complaint - that is part of the history of the magazine, so therefore it's important to document, but that doesn't exactly make it engaging reading.
Ultimately, this one is for the curious readers out there.
It's a strange complaint - that is part of the history of the magazine, so therefore it's important to document, but that doesn't exactly make it engaging reading.
Ultimately, this one is for the curious readers out there.
July 14, 2023
More interesting than the core history of the trashy, gossip magazine "Confidential Confidential" itself is the historic context of publishing, privacy and liable laws that come into play. Well, for someone like me that was already familiar with the bones of the story of Confidential that added context made the narrative more interesting. Definitely worth reading for film history and celebrity culture nerds.
January 17, 2023
Barbas is particularly strong on navigating readers through the minefield of 1950s obscenity law that heavily influenced the trial against Confidential. The book tells a great story, but is academic in its approach, so if you're expecting its tone to match the magazine that is its subject, you've grabbed the wrong tome.
March 23, 2023
Carefully written (a surprise, considering the topic) and heavily sourced, this book chronicles the blazing career of the signature scandal sheet of the early '50's. It was certainly guilty of something, but exactly what that was isn't clear. Perhaps a leering lowbrow tone drove its publisher.
August 12, 2020
A fascinating history of the publication that changed America’s taste for salacious news. Very well researched and presented.
September 9, 2023
Where have all the tabloids gone. This book explains the development, marketing, and the harm done over the years.
June 14, 2021
I'm going to make this very simple for you. The author spends a considerable amount of time busting the magazine for being sleazy and then ends up having to admit 90% percent of what they printed was true. I was expecting sleaze and scandal and got whatever the hell this was. The sleaze is brushed over and she spends way too much time trying to filter this history through the current P.C. nonsense idiocy. It can't be done. That was then, this is now.( Shout out to the 1980's band ABC. That shit should have been a hit DAWGS!) I read this as, dude finds his niche, exploits the hell outta it, and gets rich. That's the American Way. If you just have to know how how he set it up and how Fake ass Reformers and scum bag lawyers brought it down there is some interesting enough stuff here.
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December 30, 2018Loved this. Why do I love all these Hollywood scandals so much?
Some really good dirt on old Hollywood and this scandal tabloid.
Some really good dirt on old Hollywood and this scandal tabloid.
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