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TIM PARKS, GLT REVIEW

The familiar phrase “sex sells” provided Confidential Magazine publisher Robert Harrison with plenty of fodder for the celebrity scandal mill. In its heyday during the 1950s, Confidential Magazine changed the very nature of entertainment journalism and easily outsold such publishing stalwarts as Time and The Saturday Evening Post, becoming a spin-zone nightmare. Headlines screamed: ‘Joan Crawford’s back street romance with a bartender,’ ‘Why Liberace’s theme song should be, ‘Mad about the boy!’ ‘Psst! Vic Mature: Remember that cute trick you dated? She was a he!’ Confidential Magazine cast a long shadow over Tinsel Town, targeting numerous celebrities. Author Samuel Bernstein uncovers the rise and fall of Harrison and what was known as the “Trial of 200 Stars,” which forever changed the way the press covered the world of Hollywood: flinging open closet doors, peeking behind drawn bedroom curtains and uncovering the flip side of fame.