[ The title of this book review is from a song Life in the Fast Lane recorded by the Eagles and released as part of the classic 1976 Hotel California album. The song, written by Joe Walsh, Glenn Frey and Don Henley, tells the story of a hard-headed and brutally handsome man and a terminally pretty woman. Though the song lyrics reflect life in a contemporaneous Los Angeles, the couple sound a lot like the principals in Casey Sherman’s true crime story of 1950s Hollywood. You can listen to the Eagles hit song here. ]

WHAT I’VE BEEN UP TO

Keeping busy on the home front with cousins visiting this week. That’s what happens when you retire to the area the extended family grew up visiting every summer. This area where we live now has exerted a pull on our family for five, going on six generations now.

I mentioned last week I had three books going, one of which I reviewed last week, and this week’s review covers the second of the three. I still have Jonathon Alter’s 2020 biography of President Jimmy Carter on my nightstand - I’m about halfway through that. And, I still hope to have that one read and reviewed before our Camino Primitivo pilgrimage starts at the end of the month.

I’ve also picked up another book that’s been on my to-be-read pile for quite a while now. It’s an anthology of short stories on LGBTQ life in middle America from one of my favorite indie presses - Belt Publishing.

Anyway, on to the book review —

Julia Jean (known to Hollywood as Lana) Turner was discovered by Hollywood at a young age. Only 16 when she appeared in her first movie in 1937, the studio marketed her as a “sweater girl” known more for her beauty and the tight outfits that accentuated her body. But she had staying power, becoming one of MGM’s top stars of the 1940s and into the 1950s. In the ‘40s she starred opposite Clark Gable in several films. Her most critically acclaimed role in that decade was as the female lead in The Postman Always Rings Twice. By 1957 she was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in Peyton Place.

Turner’s time in Hollywood coincided with the rising influence on movie studios of mafia gangsters. By the ‘40s many of the studios were paying protection so that the gangs wouldn’t “make trouble” for them. Some mobsters, like Mickey Cohen and Bugsy Siegal had pretensions of becoming stars or producers themselves. Turner was romantically linked to Siegal, but her connection to Mickey Cohen was much darker.

In the late 1950s Turner was able to escape the exclusivity of her contract with MGM Studios and formed a production company of her own. She knew that the studios were turning their star-making powers toward younger stars, and, if she wanted to remain active in motion pictures her best chance might lie with her own company, where she could appear less often in front of the camera, but remain active behind the scenes.

It was then that Mickey Cohen, who had been friends with Lana, decided that the time was right to try to make some money off Turner. His partner in the effort was Johnny Stompanato, his mob protege. Stompanato was handsome and he knew what to do to seduce the Hollywood star - he had a history as a gigolo, attracting both female and male clients. Cohen and Stompanato schemed to get Lana to fall for Johnny, with the intent of getting incriminating photos of her to use as blackmail.

The two succeeded in getting Stompanato a place in Lana Turner’s life, at which point Johnny’s desire to “go legit” into the movie business took precedence over the plot to blackmail the star. But Stompanato became increasingly cruel and abusive toward Lana. Then came the fateful night in 1958 that ended with Stompanato dead.

Sherman, journalist and author of several books, gives the Turner/Stompanato story the “true crime” treatment. He marshals facts to dispute the story that was told and accepted at the time of Stompanato’s death about who killed him and how it happened. Whether his conjecture is correct or not I can’t say. I can say the book didn’t convince me one way or the other.

The book goes into great detail about Turner’s life and the rise of the mob leading up to Stompanato’s death. There were a few points in the book where I felt as if some of the stories he was telling were included just to pad the book, rather than to advance the narrative. Overall though I liked the historical perspective he brought to the story. And the stories of Lana Turner’s bad relationships with men drive home the point that the recent “me too” moment and the public outing of the behavior of men like Harvey Weinstein was only the latest reflection of what is a long and sorry history of abusive behavior by the men associated with the film industry.

RATING: Three Stars ⭐⭐⭐

RATING COMMENTS: The story of Lana Turner and the rise of the mob in Hollywood, leading to the death of Johnny Stompanato in Turner’s home. Read it for the history it provides of the so-called golden era of Hollywood, not necessarily for any new understanding of an almost 70-year-old scandal.

WHERE I GOT MY COPY: I listened to the audiobook checked out from my library on the Libby app.