The First Lady of Hollywood: A Biography of Louella Parsons

Samantha Barbas takes us into the world of famed Hollywood gossip columnist Louella Parsons, in her new book "The First Lady of Hollywood: A Biography of Louella Parsons." Hollywood celebrities feared her. William Randolph Hearst adored her. Between 1915 and 1960, Louella Parsons was America's premier movie gossip columnist and in her heyday commanded a following of more than forty million readers. The First Lady of Hollywood tells the story of Parsons's reign over Hollywood during the studio era, her lifelong alliance with her employer, William Randolph Hearst, and her complex and turbulent relationships with such noted stars, directors, and studio executives as Orson Welles, Joan Crawford, Louis B. Mayer, Ronald Reagan, and Frank Sinatra-as well as her rival columnists Hedda Hopper and Walter Winchell. Loved by fans for her "just folks," small-town image, Parsons became notorious within the film industry for her involvement in the suppression of the 1941 film Citizen Kane and her use of blackmail in the service of Hearst's political and personal agendas. The creator of the Hollywood gossip column and the architect of celebrity culture, for over three decades Parsons was one of the most powerful women in American journalism and film.

The book is already garnering praise from the book review media.

Publishers Weekly and Library Journal have both run starred reviews:

Publishers Weekly calls the book, "a fast and fascinating read. . . . This is a terrific book about an unusual life, and the author has done a great service by documenting it so carefully, incidentally exposing all the falsehoods Parsons related in her own 1945 autobiography, The Gay Illiterate."

Library Journal says, "this insightful first biography of legendary Hollywood columnist Louella Parsons is also a fascinating look at the world of movies, newspapers, politics, publicity, and ever-changing social roles. . . . The in-depth description of the power that Parsons wielded within the industry is especially illuminating, as is the chronicle of intense rivalries with other columnists-most notably, Hedda Hopper. Solid details of Parsons's life aid in presenting a three-dimensional portrait of both the woman and the public figure. This well-researched and finely written work will appeal to a wide readership."

Variety attests, "Barbas' book is rich in detail of all aspects of Louella's time including the cultural and the political, of the other players during the decades through which she reigned as Queen of Hollywood, and of her effect on entertainment and the industry she covered. . . . It belongs in every university library, on the shelves of cultural anthropologists, film fanatics and just folk who enjoy a juicy dish."

Barbas holds a Ph.D. in American History from the University of California, Berkeley, and is previously the author of Movie Crazy: Fans, Stars, and the Cult of Celebrity (2001).