Waugh, Evelyn. The loved one: an Anglo-American tragedy, London : Methuen, 1979.

In this short novel the master English satirist Evelyn Waugh turns his gaze on Los Angeles, the studio system and the funeral industry.  As an outsider, he had explored these subjects in a visit to Hollywood made shortly after WW2. Waugh subsequently became fascinated by Forest Lawn cemetery and its bizarre practices; the attitude towards death in general, in a city he viewed as practically a pagan place. 

The satire is mostly directed at the excesses of Whispering Glades (a fictional Forest Lawn), the euphemistic protocols, and philosophy of that institution, where death is given the “Hollywood” treatment.  As a Catholic writer, Waugh sublimates his sense of outrage at the degradation of the body (and presumably, soul) into mild but annihilating humour.

There is a sense that at 128 pages, The Loved One, is a minor work from this author, and while it was well received in 1951, the satire may seem somewhat tame by the standards of today.  The novel was published with a Preface by the author, the entire work having appeared in a single issue of the English literary magazine, Horizon.  The novel had a further incarnation when it was filmed, to a lukewarm critical reception, in 1965.

VIDEO: Excerpt from The Love One (1965)

West, Nathanael. The day of the locust, London : Secker and Warburg, 1957.

This short somewhat bitter novel provides an intense experience for the reader of serious fiction.  Its appeal lies in the exploration of what might be described as the "underbelly"of Los Angeles, on the cusp of WW11.  The Day of the Locust was West's last work and his most famous. It is a world of an unglamorous Hollywood and the unsuccessful small-time players who parlay an existence on the fringes of the big movie studios.

What impresses most is a tangible sense of place.  The author's precise use of language conjures the climate, topography, streets, buildings and vegetation of Los Angeles - from Sunset Boulevard to the San Barndino Mountains.  West uses unflinching naturalistic dialogue as we follow the characters from dingy apartments to brothels, staged cock-fighting, to a big Hollywood premiere. The novel explodes in an almost surreal climax as though the author finds no chance of human redemption in mid-century America.

Nathanael West died in a car crash at the age of 40, soon after completing this work.  He received posthumous recognition and is far from forgotten. Today he is viewed as a writer who was ahead of his time and a forerunner of novelists such as William Rice Burroughs.  The book was adapted for the cinema in 1973 but was a box-office disappointment.

1940's Hollywood: Movie and Radio Studios and Landmarks

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Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The last tycoon, London : Penguin, 2010.

One of the 20th century's greatest unfinished novels, The Last Tycoon, is heartbreaking in its unrealised potential.  The book presents a portrait of Hollywood studio czar Monroe Stahr and is based on Fitzgerald's experience of working as a screenwriter for producer Irving Thalberg at MGM, the premier Hollywood studio.  The esteemed critic and editor, Edmund Wilson writes in the Foreword, "Scott Fitzgerald died suddenly of a heart attack (21 December 1940) the day after he had written the first episode of Chapter 6 of his novel."

What Wilson did publish is roughly a third of the novel, which Fitzgerald had revised to certain extent, before his untimely death.  Aside from its elegant prose style, the book's appeal lies in the nascent romance between Stahr and the young screenwriter Kathleen. The glamour of Hollywood is given its due, as well as an  insider's "take" of the movie industry; and the machinations peculiar to a studio conglomerate.

Eventually, The Last Tycoon was adapted for the movies, in 1973 with Robert de Niro as Stahr, amongst an illustrious cast.  However, the film proved to be a box-office flop.  

VIDEO: the glamour of Hollywood at night

Schulberg, Budd. What makes Sammy run?, New York : Random House, 1952.

This novel written in 1941 is generally considered to be the Novel about Hollywood, and by extension Los Angeles.  After all Hollywood is a factory town and its product...cinema and television.

Schulberg was born into the movie business.  His father was a film producer.  It has been suggested that the Sammy of the novel (Sammy Glick) is a portrait of Schulberg's father.  Either way, there is a deeply felt tone to the writing of this very serious novel. 

The reason for its enduring fame rests on gripping story elements and a no-holds approach to revealing the pitfalls of the studio system.  The book has had a number of television adaptations, and was turned into a musical.

VIDEO: Bette Davis refers to the the best book ever written about Hollywood...amongst other things..

Vidal, Gore. Hollywood, New York : Random House, 1990.

Gore Vidal was (until recently) the Grand Old Man of American letters.  He died in 2012 at the age of 86.  From the 1940s through to the first decade of the 21 century his was the most prolific of literary careers.   He is generally considered to be the greatest essayist of his time.  In terms of the novel, he saw himself engaged in a two-horse race with that other great writer: Truman Capote.

In his novel Hollywood, Vidal lends an historical flourish which he also applied to novels such as Burr which dealt with the formation of the American Republic.  The characters are mostly drawn from real life, with celebrities such asWilliam Randolph Hearst and film stars like silent comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle.

The prose is typical Vidal.  Satiric and elegant.  As as accomplished screenwriter (Ben Hur, Suddenly Last Summer) Vidal's dialogue is always apt.  As a Los Angeles resident he knew how the Hollywood studio system operated in its Golden Age, and this book he distills the core of his knowledge.