NAKARAJAN

  Scandals of Classic Hollywood: The Gloria Swanson Saga, Part One Scandals of Classic Hollywood: The Gloria Swanson Saga, Part One by Anne Helen Petersen Gloria Swanson wasn’t here to make friends. She wasn’t “just like us.” She didn’t take out the garbage or “wear cotton” or go to the bathroom. Lady had a gold-plated bathtub. She married a Marquis. She was 4’11,” wore a 2 ½ in shoes, and had a waist approximately the size of my neck. She looked most beautiful when frowning. And for a period in the 1920s, she was the biggest star in the world. Swanson wasn’t evil, and she probably wasn’t even a bitch, but she just knew how to run that game. She was of a different set of stars — a different breed than Garbo, Dietrich, and other classic idols — that truly lived like demi-gods. And when Hollywood began to change the way it made and distributed films in the late ’20s, she was one of dozens destined to remain a relic of an earlier time. Which is part of the reason she’s so unfathomably...

  THE BEST KISSES FROM CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD No love story is perfect, especially those of Old Hollywood stars, but the romantic roles they portray on the silver screen show the different ways love can take shape. From passionate affairs to slow-burning relationships, classic cinema is full of inspiration to get you in the affectionate mood on National Kissing Day. Click through the gallery to see the most memorable on-screen embraces from the Golden Age of Hollywood and beyond. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall star opposite each other as love interests in this World War II era film. The pair would marry the following year after the films release, in 1945. Katharine Hepburn's character in The Philadelphia Story finds herself choosing between three men, one of which is her ex-husband, pictured here, played by Cary Grant. The cat-and-mouse game that Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway's characters are caught in create irresistible romantic tension in the 1968 original version of the The ...

  Scandals of Classic Hollywood:  Ronald Reagan Plays the President by Anne Helen Petersen When you think of Ronald Reagan, you think of jellybeans, Nancy’s power suits, and self-satisfaction. You think of all the contemporary Republicans who miss him and what he seemed to represent, along with a sort of composure and telegenic presence that even Clinton couldn’t replicate. You think of trickle-down economics, Iran-Contra, and a political legacy so potent that criticizing him is in many circles still considered a moderate form of blasphemy. What you might not think of is Reagan frolicking on the beach in white swim trunks, playing matchmaker for Bette Davis, or divorcing one of Hollywood’s sweethearts. But Reagan did all of those things — and others even more absurd — during his tenure as a rising movie star. And while Reagan’s film career was, let it be said, totally underwhelming, what he did with his Hollywood status was not. He used his position at the head of the Screen A...