Supernatural outtakes from old Hollywood
Written: May 12 '04 (Updated May 09 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Combines Hollywood and ghost legends into some engrossing stories, author does hands-on investigation
Cons: No follow-up research or verification of true identities of lingering spirits
The Bottom Line: Despite this book's deficiencies, the combination of Hollywood and ghost folklore is a double treat for people interested in both subjects.
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| adriennefoster's Full Review: Haunted Hollywood Books |
Tom Ogden, in his book The Complete Idiot's Guide to Ghosts and Hauntings, refers to Haunted Hollywood as the best-known survey of "Movieland's" phantoms, but these tales of the netherworld are a little more than that. Author Hans Holzer's books intrigue lovers of ghost folklore because he treats each case like a work in progress, rather than a done deal both living and dead cope with for all time. While this volume is compelling reading, the lack of follow-up research makes the conclusions difficult for even the most hard-core believer.
Holzer, who has hunted ghosts for a few decades, does more than just report people's encounters with ghosts. Like most of his case collections, Haunted Hollywood compiles his experiences seeking out the paranormal. The theme of this 1974 book revolves around people in show business or with some other connection to Hollywood. When Holzer pursues a lead, he usually acquires the services of a medium to pick up impressions of the haunted building. Sometimes she acts as a conduit for communication. The medium, if lucky, helps to "loosen" the ghost's hold on this dimension, allowing the entity to cross over into the next one.
Holzer devotes entire chapters to big-name stars, including Jean Harlow, Carole Lombard, Marilyn Monroe, John & Lionel Barrymore, Clifton Webb, and Harry Houdini. Also supplied are brief mentions of Jayne Mansfield, the haunted home Elke Sommer and Joe Hyams shared, and a few others. Holzer also includes the story of Gaye Speigelman, who almost made her fortune in show business.
The greatest disappointment in this slim volume is Holzer's coverage of Harlow. This brief section is a transcript of a single interview with a woman who lives in a one-time Harlow home. "Mrs. H" details disembodied voices, her bed being jerked around as she and her husband lay in it, and a warning to replace some antiquated electrical wiring that could have triggered a fatal accident. During the interview, Holzer and Mrs. H automatically assume it is Harlow who is haunting the house, despite all of the other residents who lived there in the interim. Since Harlow moved around quite a bit during her short life, this would be the house she resided in just before her marriage to Paul Bern in 1932. It was also where she may have learned that he committed suicide two months later. At the time Harlow died, she was preoccupied with her relationship with William Powell; wouldn't the immediate problems be more overpowering than the one she'd been distanced from for five years? On the other hand, Harlow had been dangerously close to being arrested for murdering Bern in September of 1932, so it's possible her unspoken distress over her husband's death could've festered in her all that time. Holzer also repeats some of the fallacies attributed to Bern, including sadism. Harlow did nude scenes on the set of Red Dust, which she was filming at the time he died; yet neither the crew nor camera implied she had suffered any injuries at that time. Bern has to be one of the most unjustly maligned figures in film industry history. Holzer creates more questions than he answers thus making this simple interview inconclusive.
Holzer reports Monroe's posthumous efforts to relay a message to a couple of friends. Holzer associates the word mistake with her death, but eludes a cohesive explanation. Her involvement with the Kennedy brothers was a touchy controversy in the early 70s, when fans in denial were abruptly confronted with Norman Mailer's biography, Marilyn. Holzer delicately treads the subject. Being skittish serves Holzer's purpose poorly. If this is an account of Monroe's death, this book should help answer some of the questions surrounding the dubious circumstances. Monroe has since moved on in the evolutionary process, however, so this mission must have had low priority to her.
The account of Lombard seems out of character when the medium refers to Clark Gable by his first name. Anyone who has any background information on the couple is well aware she called him "Pa." Speigelman's life bore a resemblance to the life of Mansfield, although the aforementioned encompassed much more supernatural activity. Webb still gives his houseguests grief about smoking, even though he died long before it was considered really obnoxious. The supernatural entities in the old John Barrymore (Drew's grandfather) residence are disturbing as they're compounded with the alcoholism that seems to impact its former owner even in death. The chapter on Houdini continues the magician's pursuit of answering whether there is life after death. Holzer's visit with Lombard indicates that she is at peace, but his encounters with the others apparently had little--if any--affect.
Catherine Buxhoeveden's illustrations are poor in perspective, yet they provide a good idea of what these old homes look like. The houses that she draws have a character one would expect from old Hollywood.
To be fair, some of the information that supplements these comments wasn't widely available at the time Holzer compiled his accounts. His ghost hunting is a cut above the simple narration most folklore books do, but Holzer could have made a little more effort when the personalities involved are so well known. Those who enjoy old Hollywood and ghost folklore should find Haunted Hollywood fixating; however, if these memoirs are being used for serious research they need further backup. Despite its deficiencies, I found the combination a double treat.
More Hollywood ghost folklore:
Ghost Stories of Hollywood, by Barbara Smith
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Originally posted at Amazon.com on December 21, 2000.
Recommended:
Yes
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