![]() Some critics have labeled Babylon as an overstuffed film, but the 1920s and early 1930s was a period of an exhausting amount of success, failure, change, and turmoil in Hollywood. These people lived large, lived fast, and often met tragic ends. The larger-than-life personas on the big screen often had troublesome personal lives. There have been many legends spun about the Fatty Arbuckle trials, the murder of William Desmond Taylor, Wallace Reid’s drug addiction, Clara Bow’s “it” girl persona, and John Gilbert’s alcoholism. ![]() Sam Wasson, co-author of Hollywood: The Oral History, told me that 1920s Hollywood was a “period of decadence before the reckoning.” Babylon offers plenty of decadence and debauchery, something readers of Hollywood lore are certainly familiar with. Movies were an established form of entertainment, the idea of the movie star became solidified forever, money was flowing, and business was good. Hollywood mogul Irving Thalberg (left), Max Minghella as Irving Thalberg in ‘Babylon’ (right) ![]()
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