The seven deadly sins of Hollywood (1957)

THE FLAMBOYANT SET 1 1,000,000 dollars — and spent it all. "I had a well misspent youth," he said. Now he could not even afford to buy a car. He had to rent one and live modestly at a hotel called the Garden of Allah. I said, " I can see it's pretty expensive to get married in Hollywood." He said, " Depends on who you marry and what sort of lawyers they've got." "And was it worth 600,000 dollars?" "Every cent — considering the high cost of living these days." I asked Flynn whether he had changed — or was he still the same playboy? "Let us say that the playboy tendencies are latent — and that I have become more discreet," he replied. "I have a very tolerant wife who finds my pranks amusing. Also she is very short-sighted and cannot see a thing when she takes her glasses off. Mind you, there are certain barriers I don't overstep now. But don't say I'm reformed. That makes me sound so dull." I promised I wouldn't say he had reformed. "Just a little tamed," he said as the tolerant Mrs. Flynn arched her eyebrows again. You may disapprove of Liberace, Mr. Brazzi and Mr. Flynn (many people do), but I found they each had at least one virtue. They are all larger than life at a time when stars tend to be facsimiles. Hollywood today does not have many fabulous characters left. Most of the stars have become businessmen (who get percentages of the takings of their films) and unfortunately are beginning to look and behave like businessmen. James Mason told me : " Undoubtedly there was a time when movie queens were mad illiterate bums who did crazy things. In those days this business must have had 37