MR. CONFIDENTIAL BOOK REVIEWS

TABLOID GOSSIP RULES! Here's the perfect Christmas gift for anyone who loves gossip or Hollywood history: "Mr. Confidential." It's a book about the man behind the famous 50s scandal magazine, written by my friend Samuel Bernstein. Robert Harrison, the publisher behind "Confidential", +adored homosexual exposés and gleefully wrote about those ‘lavender lads’ - Liberace being ‘mad about the boy’ and Tab Hunter's ‘gay pajama party.’ He even outed Van Johnson by declaring his conversion to heterosexuality. The ‘baritone babes’ Lizabeth Scott and Marlene Dietrich got their share of stories too. I asked Sam to tell me about a scoop that "Confidential" COULDN'T print and he recalled one about Elvis. Back in 1957. A PR guy claimed that Elvis had an ongoing affair with another famous teen idol. (Tab? Troy? Fabian? Bobby?) Supposedly they got together for ‘man-play’ - wrestling and beyond. "Confidential" couldn't substantiate the story and didn't print it. WE don't think it was true either, and neither does Bernstein - but it’s great fun! (Actually, in Tab Hunter's bio he mentioned that he was miffed when Elvis stole his "beard" Natalie Wood away from him.)

Liz Smith says Mr. Confidential reads like, "A house afire in a sultry swamp!" Publishers Weekly gives it a starred review, and calls it, "Hard boiled-yet juicy... an apt, unflinching take on the wildly popular tabloid!" And Booklist raves, happily urging readers to, "Get a load of it!" while Cox News Service goes highbrow, chapioning the book's take on, "The neurotic underpinning of the American Dream." But sshhh! Keep it Confidential...


				JANET CHARLTON'S HOLLYWOOD TABLOID GOSSIP RULES! Here's the perfect Christmas gift for anyone who loves gossip or Hollywood history: "Mr. Confidential." It's a book about the man behind the famous 50s scandal magazine, written by my friend Samuel Bernstein. Robert Harrison, the publisher behind "Confidential", +adored homosexual exposés and gleefully wrote about those ‘lavender lads’ - Liberace being ‘mad about the boy’ and Tab Hunter's ‘gay pajama party.’ He even outed Van Johnson by declaring his conversion to heterosexuality. The ‘baritone babes’ Lizabeth Scott and Marlene Dietrich got their share of stories too. I asked Sam to tell me about a scoop that "Confidential" COULDN'T print and he recalled one about Elvis. Back in 1957. A PR guy claimed that Elvis had an ongoing affair with another famous teen idol. (Tab? Troy? Fabian? Bobby?) Supposedly they got together for ‘man-play’ - wrestling and beyond. "Confidential" couldn't substantiate the story and didn't print it. WE don't think it was true either, and neither does Bernstein - but it’s great fun! (Actually, in Tab Hunter's bio he mentioned that he was miffed when Elvis stole his "beard" Natalie Wood away from him.)