First published 2014
Robert Wagner opens the doors to Hollywood's most exclusive gatherings during the studio system's peak decades. The veteran actor draws from five decades in the business to reveal what happened when the cameras stopped rolling and the stars retreated to their private worlds. Wagner takes readers inside Clifton Webb's dinner parties where Judy Garland performed Gershwin at the piano, onto golf courses with Fred Astaire, and through Jimmy Cagney's modest Coldwater Canyon farmhouse. He guides tours through William Randolph Hearst's beach mansion built for Marion Davies and reserves tables at legendary establishments like the Brown Derby, Romanoff's, the Trocadero, and the Mocambo. These were the venues where Hollywood's gods and goddesses socialized away from studio publicity departments and magazine photographers. Wagner witnessed this world firsthand and now offers his personal memories of the magnificent homes, luxury hotels, opulent nightclubs, and unforgettable parties that defined Hollywood's social scene at its height. His account captures both the glamour and the genuine humanity of stars who became legends, preserving a vanished era when Hollywood represented the ultimate symbol of American style.
Genres: 20th-century, american, memoir, non-fiction, biography-memoir, film
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: insider-perspective, nostalgia
Setting: Brown Derby, Coldwater Canyon, Hearst Beach Mansion, Mocambo, Romanoff's, Trocadero
Period: Golden Age of Hollywood, Studio System Era
272 pages · Hardcover · Viking