THE ETERNAL QUESTION. I always just feel so bad for ugly duckling sister Fontaine (who I actually think of mostly as her character in Rebecca). But de Havilland! FORCE OF NATURE! Staying alive this long just to spite Joan!

I would LOVE to see the maisonette. You should go see her papers at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin if you ever get a chance — she is just so endlessly fascinating (and had exquisite handwriting, because of course she did).

I couldn't touch Black Dahlia lest I be pulled into its vortex BUT isn't it interesting that I/we/the world could kinda believe that Orson Welles would be the type of person involved?

I actually really loved this meta-analysis on meeting Cameron Diaz from Alex Pappademas: http://grantland.com/features/camer…

People ask this a lot re: my engagement with all facets of pop culture, and my answer is pretty simple: when you love what you do, you find thinking about these things enjoyable. That's why I work so much: it doesn't feel like work. Granted, that "work" also includes reading Us Magazine and watching screwball comedies…

MISS YOU BIG EMMA.

I think the lack of press is, indeed, press! When I wrote about her for The Hairpin, I emphasized that she was one of the last truly mythic stars — in part because she had her start on the silent screen, when the stars really did seem like gods and goddesses. You can read more of my thoughts here: http://thehairpin.com…

I HAVE SO MANY KENNETH ANGER THOUGHTS. First off, I think that he is a meglomaniac and, while a genius, also pretty destructive. I've written elsewhere about his incredible "hate art" campaign against Gloria Swanson (must be seen to be believed) and I also think that Babylon, while intentionally transgressive, also…

I'm more and more inclined to think of it as trolling, which really just makes me love both of them more. I've written at length about what to do/think about those rumors of Grant's gayness: http://thehairpin.com/2011/12/scanda…

People always think that I must've watched all of these old movies as a kid, but I lived in a small town with only a single movie store, which meant I spent a lot of time watching Star Wars on repeat. I was obsessed, though, with Entertainment Weekly, and read each issue cover to cover. That should've foreshadowed my…

No but he is featured SO HEAVILY in the '50s fan mags, which got super obsessed with all the teen idols (because duh, Sal Mineo) when they saw the potential for teen readership with the death cult of James Dean. In other words: that dirt is just waiting to be excavated.

With these sorts of questions, I'm less interested in the "real" answer and more interested in how stories like this contribute to each of their images. Why do we WANT to believe it? What does that indicate about how we think of JFK, RFK, or Monroe?

I've thought about this a lot, and at this point, we'll probably never know (save with genetic testing of some kind). I do know that Loretta Young's story (in which she gave birth to Clark Gable's baby, gave it up for adoption, then adopted it) was probably not the first or last time that happened, you know?

Yes, and so very, very awesome.

This is true. He had very bad smelling dentures. Enough so that his leading ladies often objected to kissing him.

I like this question very much (maybe I've just got my own PR fatigue).

Wow, that was basically my overarching research question for my dissertation. The non-400 page answer: they're always symbiotic, but the power dynamics are always in flux, especially when new "players" in the industry (like, say, scandal rags or gossip blogs) come into play. Whenever there's a rupture in that…

No clue, but the resistance to this rumor just underlines how strong the image of the Immaculate Newman is.

Brilliant. So savvy — even savvier than Beyonce, I think.

This really only became clear to me as I finished the book: it's all the white straight men, save Fatty Arbuckle. Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn, so many more....and all of them did whatever the fuck they pleased with basically zero consequences, in part because the studio was efficient at covering up their…