He claims, for instance, to have set Hepburn up with “over 150 different women.” Other stories in the 286-page memoir involve Spencer Tracy, Cole Porter, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and socialites like the publisher Alfred A. The people who fed the world strait-laced cinema like “The Philadelphia Story” and perfect-family television like “I Love Lucy” were often quite the opposite of prudish in private.Īt the same time, a lot of what Mr. Bowers was most active - were just that: images. Twenty-six years after Hudson’s death from AIDS and more than four decades after “Hollywood Babylon” was first published, it will come as a surprise to no one that the images the movie factories created for stars of the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s - when Mr.
“I finally said yes because I’m not getting any younger and all of my famous tricks are dead by now. He paused for a moment to scratch his collie, Baby, behind the ears. Bowers said recently over lemonade on his patio in the Hollywood Hills, where he lives in a cluttered bungalow with his wife of 27 years, Lois. “I’ve kept silent all these years because I didn’t want to hurt any of these people,” Mr.
