sleazy scandals

Cartoonists Co-op Press August 1974
With the advent of underground comix and the eradication of restrictions on adult content (e.g., nudity), the first thing that came to mind for cartoonists wasn’t “Hey, now we can finally show what really happened with those Hollywood scandals in the early 20th century!” But eventually, that idea rolled around and underground cartoonists tackled that very subject in Sleazy Scandals of the Silver Screen.

Alas, the Marilyn Monroe story promised on the cover is never delivered inside, but that doesn’t prevent this digest-sized comic from delivering notorious scandals. From Fatty Arbuckle raping a drunken starlet who died three days later to Clara Bow’s gangbanging with the USC football Trojans (including John Wayne!), Sleazy Scandals deftly mixes absolute truth with clever fiction. Some of the fictional parts were based on Kenneth Anger’s Hollywood Babylon, a 1959 book that described many Hollywood scandals with details that historians would later dispute.

One of the strongest and most curious stories is that of Lupe Veléz, a Mexican actress who became a star on stage and screen after her debut in 1925 at the age of 17. In 1944 she became pregnant but her married lover refused to get a divorce, so she committed suicide. The story portrays her death based on Anger’s questionable book (an account that is well disputed), but that doesn’t make Jim Osborne’s chronicle of her suicide any less compelling.

The weakness in Sleazy Scandals is the story about Liberace at the end of the book, which reveals no scandals whatsoever but simply the privileged life of a rich, eccentric celebrity. Nonetheless, Sleazy Scandals of the Silver Screen delivers some entertaining dope on Hollywood, even though the stories involve ancient celebrities nobody really cares about any more. And of course, the book can’t hold a candle to the outrageous scandals reported about celebrities in the media today.

Jim Osborne (=”Lawrence La Fey”) – 1, 11-17 • Kim Deitch (=”Fowlton Means”) – 2, 21-30 • Art Spiegelman (=”Al Flooglebuckle”) – 3-10, 35, 36 • Spain Rodriguez (=”C. Flippant”) – 18-19 • Bill Griffith – 20, 31-34

2 – We Have No Illusions About Our Readers • 3 – Fatty’s Fatal Fling • 11 – Hollywood Tragedy, The Suicide of Lupe Velez • 18 – Clara Bow “Takes On” The Thundering Herd • • 20 – Sleazy Tallulah Bankhead • 21 – The Mysterious Death of William Desmond Taylor • 31 – Piano Lessons Paid Off For Liberace • 35 – Sleazy Scandals’ Sorded Sources • 36 – Star Drek