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Gabler, Neal Winchell: Gossip, Power and the Culture of Celebrity
Westminister, Maryland, U.S.A. Alfred A. Knopf Inc 1994 0679417516 / 9780679417514 First Edition Hard Cover Fine Near-Fine
Near-new copy of this 1994 First Edition (so-stated). NO remainder marks or price clippings. Tight spine - Bright pages. Illustrated with photos. 683 pages. NO writing or tears inside book. - Despised by some, admired by others, journalist Walter Winchell was the first person to bring unabashed, sometimes malicious gossip into the public press. Reaching 50 million out of 75 million adult Americans, kingmaker Winchell created and destroyed celebrities with a mere mention in his daily column or his weekly radio broadcast. This brilliant biography recaptures Winchell's life and times and examines the very face of fame--how it is achieved and lost, what one gains from it, the terrible price it exacts, and why Americans are so obsessed with it. B&W photos. Annotation A sweeping, vital biography of Walter Winchell, the most powerful and, at times, the most feared journalist in the America of his day. Credited with the tabloiding of America, Winchell revealed who was cavorting with gangsters or chorus girls, who was engaging in financial shenanigans, and who was frolicking with whom. Photographs. From the Publisher Walter Winchell escaped New York-immigrant poverty via the vaudeville stage, his massive insecurity and ambition driving him on. But it was as a young newspaperman that he found his real calling. In 1925, at a time when most newspaper editors were reluctant to publish even the notice of an impending birth for fear of crossing the boundaries of good taste, Winchell brought unabashed and undisguised gossip into the public press. He understood the bitter subtext of gossip: how invading the lives of the famous and revealing their secrets empowered both purveyor and audience. His columns revealed who was cavorting with gangsters or chorus girls, who was engaging in financial shenanigans, whose husband was compromisingly sighted with whose wife. By legitimizing gossip he forever shattered the taboo against what could be said about celebrities in the media. In his own words: "Democracy is where everybody can kick everybody else's ass." Adding: "But you can't kick Winchell's." Because Winchell was present at the creation of celebrity as we now know it, because he reached the top and tumbled precipitously, an examination of his life illustrates how fame is achieved, how it is lost, what one gains from it, what it exacts - and why America is obsessed with it. "Historians," said a speaker at his funeral, "will be unable to explain the twentieth century without understanding Winchell." His life and his films are richly recaptured - and understood - in Neal Gabler's brilliant biography. From The Critics Publishers Weekly Inventor of the modern gossip column in the 1920s, pioneer in the mass culture of celebrity and a political opportunist who turned from populism to Red-baiting with the prevailing winds, Walter Winchell (1897-1972) changed 20th-century journalism and society, asserts Gabler (An Empire of Their Own). His thorough biography stylishly tells of Winchell's tortured personal life and high-flying career. Born to Russian-Jewish immigrants in Harlem, Winchell drew on deprivation for his drive, which took him from vaudeville to writing Broadway gossip with a jaunty slang that matched ``the syncopated rhythm of the twenties.'' By the 1930s, he had become a ``journalistic entertainer'' on radio, on the stage and in movies; he helped establish the new, glamorous caf society. In 1934, he injected himself into the trial of Bruno Richard Hauptmann, who was eventually convicted of the kidnap-murder of the Lindbergh baby; he became a prominent New Deal supporter and a mouthpiece for the Roosevelt administration. After the war, however, Winchell foundered in both family and professional life; he fought his enemies in public feuds, and proved too hot for the ``cool'' medium of television. His radio broadcasts ended in 1959; his column, after 38 years of association with Hearst, in 1967. Winchell's legacy, Gabler notes, is today's mania for gossip. Photos. Film option to Martin Scorsese. (Nov.) Library Journal In the 1930s and 1940s, Walter Winchell was recognized as one of the most famous American journalists, while today his name stirs only vague memories. His life stands as a parable for the celebrity-conscious world of gossip that he helped create. In this fascinating biography, Gabler (An Empire of Their Own, LJ 11/1/88) intertwines Winchell's personal life, his professional development, and the growth of mass communication. Born in 1897, Winchell began his vaudeville career when he was 13. His early love of gossip about his fellow performers helped launch his journalism career. His gossip column became a key feature of the Hearst newspaper chain, and his radio program was listened to by millions, giving him enormous personal power. Winchell's fame was fleeting, like that of those he covered, and the power of gossip that he unleashed was turned on him. Gabler offers a reappraisal of Winchell's role in creating the celebrity culture that permeates American journalism today. His book belongs in most library collections. [Optioned by director Martin Scorsese.-Ed.]-Judy Solberg, Univ. of Maryland Libs., College Park BookList For decades Walter Winchell (1897-1972) was the voice of America. His snappy daily newspaper column ran in 2,000 newspapers, and his acerbically witty weekly radio broadcasts titillated millions. His lure? Pure, unadulterated gossip. Gabler, author of "An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood" (1988) and a consummate chronicler of popular history, sees Winchell as the progenitor of the cult of personality and a revolutionary journalist who helped instigate the drift from serious news and commentary to entertainment and hype. Handsome and charming, Winchell grew up poor, neglected, and ambitious. He quickly gave up on school, made his way to the vaudeville circuit, and somehow stumbled on his true calling, covering Broadway with a vengeance and mastering his own unique style of slangy, staccato banter. A big wheel in the Hearst machine, Winchell steadily rose in stature, popularity, and notoriety as he relentlessly dished the dirt and scooped the scandals. The ultimate opinion maker and man-about-town, he was also an adrenaline junkie and a workaholic, holding court at the Stork Club all night, every night, until he finally fell victim to his own brand of reckless vituperation. Gabler does a superb job of resurrecting this almost forgotten star, even making sense of Winchell's disturbing political shift from FDR supporter to McCarthy apologist. Gabler has also filled a crucial gap in the annals of media history.
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