Hedda Hopper's Hollywood : Celebrity Gossip and American Conservatism / Jennifer Frost.
Frost, Jennifer, author.
2011
PN4874.H64 F76 2016
Available Online

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Title Hedda Hopper's Hollywood : Celebrity Gossip and American Conservatism / Jennifer Frost.
Author Frost, Jennifer, author.
ISBN 9780814728482
Published New York, NY : : New York University Press, [2011]
Copyright ©2011
Language English
Language Note In English.
Description 1 online resource
Call Number PN4874.H64 F76 2016
Dewey Decimal Classification 070.44979143092
Summary Before Liz Smith and Perez Hilton became household names in the world of celebrity gossip, before Rush Limbaugh became the voice of conservatism, there was Hedda Hopper. In 1938, this 52-year-old struggling actress rose to fame and influence writing an incendiary gossip column, "Hedda Hopper's Hollywood," that appeared in the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers throughout Hollywood's golden age. Often eviscerating moviemakers and stars, her column earned her a nasty reputation in the film industry while winning a legion of some 32 million fans, whose avid support established her as the voice of small-town America. Yet Hopper sought not only to build her career as a gossip columnist but also to push her agenda of staunch moral and political conservatism, using her column to argue against U.S. entry into World War II, uphold traditional views of sex and marriage, defend racist roles for African Americans, and enthusiastically support the Hollywood blacklist.While usually dismissed as an eccentric crank, Jennifer Frost argues that Hopper has had a profound and lasting influence on popular and political culture and should be viewed as a pivotal popularizer of conservatism. The first book to explore Hopper's gossip career and the public's response to both her column and her politics, Hedda Hopper's Hollywood illustrates how the conservative gossip maven contributed mightily to the public understanding of film, while providing a platform for women to voice political views within a traditionally masculine public realm. Jennifer Frost builds the case that, as practiced by Hopper and her readers, Hollywood gossip shaped key developments in American movies and movie culture, newspaper journalism and conservative politics, along with the culture of gossip itself, all of which continue to play out today.
Access Note Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics text file PDF
Source of Description Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 18. Sep 2023)
Series American History and Culture ; ; 8
In New York University Press Backlist eBook-Package 2000-2013
Available in Other Form print 9780814728239
Linked Resources Online Access
Record Appears in Online Resources > Ebooks
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Frontmatter
Contents
Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Introduction.
Escape from Altoona
1. The Making of a Celebrity Gossip
A Columnist Is Born
Gilding Hollywood's "Golden Age"
Publicity and Right-Wing Politics
2. Readers, Respondents, and Fans
Crafting Columns, Creating Community
Reading Hopper, Writing Hedda
Hollywood Gossip as Public Sphere
3. Hopper's Wars
Prewar Isolationist to Cold Warrior
Civil Liberties in Times of War
Chasing Charlie Chaplin
4. Cold War Americanism, Hopper Style
Selling Americanism
Fighting the "Un-Americans"
5. Blacklisting Hollywood "Reds"
Establishing the Hollywood Blacklist
Hedda's Black (and Gray) List
Enforcement Efforts
6. Representing Race in the Face of Civil Rights
An Oscar for Uncle Remus
In Defense of Mammy
Presenting Poitier
7. "Family Togetherness" in Fifties Hollywood
Hopper's "Home Life and Good Citizenship"
The Sinatra Situation
The Liz-Debbie-Eddie Incident
8. Taking on "Hollywood Babylon"
A Career's End
Reporting on a Fading Hollywood System
From Old to New Right
Conclusion
Notes
Index
About the Author

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