Ghost Stories of Hollywood

Rating:
Summary: Warmed-over stories with dubious historical integrity
Review: Author Barbara Smith has writing style that's clean and keeps interest, but GHOST STORIES OF HOLLYWOOD was a disappointment. Much of the information she reports comes from sources this reviewer is already familiar with and Smith's historical integrity is dubious.

This Hollywood theme collection of ghost folk tales are sorted by their various settings, including the spirits' former homes, hotels, forms of transportation, public places, graveyards, theaters, and studios. Some legendary greats and forgotten souls of the film and TV industry appear as central characters in these stories, either as ghosts or witnesses. This volume is also liberally illustrated with black and white photos of the haunted sites and superior pencil portraits by Arlana Anderson-Hale.

Jayne Mansfield is still seen sunbathing by the pool of her celebrated home, the Pink Palace, and no matter how many times subsequent owner Ringo Starr tried to repaint the walls, her favorite color still bled through. John Wayne visits his beloved yacht, THE WILD GOOSE. Sharon Tate had a precognitive vision of "the image of a human form tied to the stair rail, bleeding from slashes to the throat and quite obviously dying." For many years, a mysterious woman in black regularly visited the final resting place of Rudolph Valentino, who some believe frequents the costume department of Paramount Studios.

The lack of research effort put into this 2000 volume is painfully obvious. With the exception of personal experiences Smith relates, there is little consultation with primary sources, such as direct interviews with eyewitnesses or references to documents with first-hand accounts. Most of the stories she delivers are amalgamations of material that's been published before and not even accurate. Since this reviewer has already done quite a bit of research on Jean Harlow, she'll be used as an example.

Smith quite obviously used both HAUNTED HOLLYWOOD, by Hans Holzer, and HOLLYWOOD HAUNTED, by Laurie Jacobson and Marc Wanamaker, for Harlow's story without even realizing that each book was talking about a different house. Holzer documented events of the home Harlow shared with her mother and stepfather on Club View Drive in West Los Angeles while Jacobson reported on the house where she lived with her second husband, Paul Bern, on Easton Drive in Beverly Hills. The phenomena Smith reports are all attributed to the latter. Smith also attests that Harlow died from kidney damage from a beating by Bern, one of the biggest falsehoods rumored in Hollywood. Bern never physically abused Harlow, the nephritis that brought on her early demise was a gradual growing infection from an attack of scarlet fever she had as a teenager. Still, it is interesting to note that two of Harlow's former homes are now haunted.

Marilyn Monroe also makes several "appearances" in this anthology. This reviewer won't deny that the phenomena occurred, but the claims that Monroe are responsible are unsubstantiated, especially with the number of different locations where she was allegedly seen. Many people would like to befriend famous personages. If death negates that possibility, then some will accept posthumous encounters as a way of becoming closer to them. Monroe, with her special charisma, particularly dazzles people. A lot of blondes have passed through Hollywood--not all of them famous--and nothing verifies that any of these sightings were Monroe. One fact Smith reports on Monroe that this reviewer has been able to confirm is that her soul was reborn about 1980. She was no anomaly in the spiritual evolutionary process. She passed through the white light on death, so Monroe sightings are likely wishful thinking on the part of the people who make the claims.

Part of being a good ghost folklorist is doing a bit historical sleuthing. A stray error in detail can be forgiven; however, some of Smith's infractions are more serious. The accounts of Mansfield and Wayne have a ring of truth behind them, but, since Smith fails to verify other information she supplies in her book, can they be trusted? GHOST STORIES OF HOLLYWOOD makes fun, entertaining reading, but it is unreliable for anything else.