The Secret History of Entertainment
A must for all Pop Culture junkies.‘Myriad weird and weirder showbiz stories with which to amaze, astound and possibly bore rigid close personal friends down the pub or in sheltered accomodation. A must for intellectuals and anoraks alike.’ Mark RadcliffeDid you know that those aren’t Julia Roberts’ legs on the ‘Pretty Woman’ poster? In fact the only things that are Julia’s are the head and the incandescent smile. Everything from the neck down belongs to Shelley Michelle, a model, actress and body double.Okay so maybe you knew that one, but how about these: Who – or rather what – won the very first Best Actor Oscar? What life changing discovery did Jack Nicholson make about his sister in 1974? And what in the devil’s name is the ‘Wilhelm Scream’ and how does it link ‘Planet of the Apes’, ‘Star Wars’, ‘Reservoir Dogs’ and fifty-seven other movies?Unlike most of what passes as ‘trivia’ – who really cares who’s had the most number ones? – these one hundred amazing, unfathomable, absurd and often implausible stories point towards some greater truth. This is the secret history of entertainment.If ‘Schott’s Miscellany’ is the book of useless facts to be read in the smallest room in the house, then ‘The Secret History of Entertainment’ is the book of useful stories to devour and wow your friends with over a pint in the pub.David Hepworth has launched (and written for) some of the most successful magazines of the last two decades – including Q in 1985, Empire in 1988, Mojo in 1997 and Heat in 1999. He is the only person to have won both the Writer of The Year and also Editor of The Year awards from the Periodical Publishers Association. He has presented programmes for the BBC and VH1 and makes regular contributions on BBC Radio 4.
Читать The Secret History of Entertainment онлайн беплатно
The Secret History of Entertainment
David Hepworth
To my wife Alyson and our children Clare, Henry and Imogen
Table of Contents
ROCK AND ROLL WAS INVENTED BY A LOOSE LUGGAGE STRAP
THE MAN WHO DIED ON A TV CHAT SHOW
THE MAN WHO WAS MEANT TO BE BOND
THE MYSTERY OF ‘WHAT’S THE FREQUENCY, KENNETH?’
ALEC GUINNESS’S STAR WARS PENSION
DAVID BOWIE’S EYES ARE DIFFERENT COLOURS
THE BABYSITTER WHO INVENTED COUNTRY ROCK
ENGLISHMEN WERE THE GODFATHERS OF AMERICAN ROOTS MUSIC
BROWN M&MS AND OTHER ROCK STARS’ RIDERS
DELIA SMITH MADE THE LET IT BLEED CAKE
‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY’ IS STILL IN COPYRIGHT
SOME OF THE BEST LINES ARE MADE UP ON THE SPOT
JACK NICHOLSON GREW UP THINKING HIS MOTHER WAS HIS SISTER
THE TRAGIC LIFE AND LONG DEATH OF JACKIE WILSON
THERE’S ONLY ONE MANCUNIAN IN FRASIER (AND IT’S NOT DAPHNE MOON)
KEVIN COSTNER MADE NICK LOWE A MILLIONAIRE
MADONNA CO-WROTE A HIT WITH A DEAD MAN
BRUNO BROOKES, BOB HARRIS AND 35,000 RECORDS
FARGO IS NOT A TRUE STORY – BUT THIS IS
THE ROLLING STONES ACTUALLY HAD SIX MEMBERS
THE WORLD’S ONLY CELEBRITY DOG
THE HISTORY OF FUCK AND THE MOVIES
RICHARD GERE OWES HIS CAREER TO JOHN TRAVOLTA
THE LONESOME DEATHS OF FRANKIE HOWERD AND BENNY HILL
THE TERRIBLE EARLY LIFE OF RAY CHARLES
THE AMAZING STORY OF ‘BITTER SWEET SYMPHONY’
THOSE AREN’T JULIA ROBERTS’S LEGS ON THE PRETTY WOMAN POSTER
THEY KNEW IT WAS DIRTY BUT THEY DIDN’T KNOW HOW
THE NUDES IN THE DISNEY CARTOONS
CHOLLY ATKINS IS THE TRUE FATHER OF MODERN POP
WHY ELVIS NEVER TOURED OUTSIDE THE USA
SHIRLEY MACLAINE AND WARREN BEATTY ARE SISTER AND BROTHER
WHO WAS ‘YOU’RE SO VAIN’ ABOUT?
HIT MOVIES ARE DECIDED IN THE FIRST WEEKEND
BOB DYLAN’S SECRET SECOND WIFE
THE FACE THAT LAUNCHED A THOUSAND RIFFS
HOW TO MAKE MONEY WITHOUT HAVING A HIT
THE SIMPSONS AND THE GROENINGS
WHEN THE BBC CLOSED FOR BATHTIME
DOWN ON HIS LUCK, SINATRA PLAYS BLACKPOOL
AMERICA DOESN’T GET BRITISH COMEDY
PEOPLE WHO COULDN’T LEARN LINES
ROCK STARS WHO SERVED THEIR COUNTRY
THE ALBUMS PREVIOUSLY KNOWN AS…
NOBODY THOUGHT THE WALKMAN WOULD WORK
THE FOUR TOPS’ FIFTY-YEAR CAREER
The expression ‘anorak’ has become the standard way of describing any individual – generally a male one – who takes an excessive interest in minutiae.
But why ‘anorak’?
In the 1960s, during the heyday of pirate radio in the UK, devotees of the stations would take pleasure trips out into the North Sea to photograph the boats from which they broadcast. These radio fans were instantly identifiable by the brand new weatherproof gear they had purchased for their voyage. Hence ‘anorak’ became the noun to describe anyone with the kind of chemical imbalance that would lead them to undertake that kind of expedition for no reason beyond the satisfaction of their own curiosity. Or, indeed, to know any of the stories that follow.
The Secret History of Entertainment is a collection of stories that not a lot of people know, stories that explain something of how the entertainment business functions and why some huge and familiar things are the way they are. It touches on the strange lives of stars, the exotic language of the business, the unimaginable wealth of the few, and the hard, complicated struggles of the many. It encompasses huge triumph, utter tragedy and some farce. It deals with everything from why there are no laughs in The Simpsons to the economics of hiring The Rolling Stones for your birthday party.
It started life as a feature in Word magazine in 2003. This in turn grew out of a conversation in the pub. It was the sort of conversation where people who know too much about nothing very important swap entertainment anecdotage to keep each other amused. If there were two people there who hadn’t heard the story before, it went in. This book has been put together in the same spirit. If you know it all already, then bully for you. After you with the anorak.
Every Monday if he’s in the UK, or Tuesday if he’s in the US, Elton John buys three copies of the major new record releases, one for each of his homes in Atlanta, Windsor and the South of France.
On 5 March 1951, while on their way down Highway 61 to a recording session in Memphis, touring R&B band Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm lost an amplifier off the roof of their Oldsmobile. At the session, producer Sam Phillips attempted to repair the damaged speaker cone with a piece of cardboard. The resulting distorted sound, the musical equivalent of a folded piece of cardboard jammed in bicycle spokes, became the key element of ‘Rocket 88’, the Jackie Brenston side cut at that session which is now widely regarded as the first rock and roll record.
