Mr. Confidential

Liz Smith says it best in her advance praise: "SEX SCANDAL and sensationalism. Libel suits and humiliations. Idols with feet of clay. Think it's anything new? Not at all. Slip into the compulsively lurid and exhaustively researched pages of 'Mr. Confidential' which tells the tale of publisher Robert Harrison and his magazine Confidential. That forerunner of celebrity dirt quite literally changed the face of entertainment journalism. It reads like a house afire in a sultry swamp. Nobody did 'down and dirty' like Mr. Harrison and today's beleaguered stars politicians and others owe him a sock in the jaw. An illuminating fun read!"   Samuel Bernstein is the award-winning author of Mr. Confidential which he adapted into a stage musical with David Snyder that premiered at the 2014 New York Musical Theatre Festival. He is the writer and producer of the Paramount and Showtime film Bobbie's Girl and the multi-festival award-winning Silent Lies. In addition to writing for various television series he created the award-winning digital series Kill Your Inner Child for Hearst Entertainment. He is the winner of a Stonewall Book Award from the American Library Association for his work on Uncommon Heroes a Hermes Creative Award for Mr. Confidential and a G.L.A.A.D. nomination for Bobbie's Girl. He lives in West Hollywood with husband Ronald Shore and a passel of dachshunds.   "Bernstein's hard-boiled yet juicy chronicle of publisher Robert Harrison's 1950s celebrity gossip magazine Confidential is an apt unflinching take on the wildly popular tabloid. Including more than 75 pages of photos and reproductions of the magazine's stories and covers this smart expos&eacute should please anyone interested in 1950s Hollywood or the evolution of celebrity journalism."--Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Bernstein spills the beans on Confidential and its delicious dishing and scandal-mongering in language reminiscent of Confidential's house style seasoned with fabulous puns and alliteration. Get a load of it." Mike Tribby Booklist "SEX SCANDAL and sensationalism. Slip into the compulsively lurid and exhaustively researched pages of 'Mr. Confidential' which tells the tale of publisher Robert Harrison and his magazine Confidential. That forerunner of celebrity dirt quite literally changed the face of entertainment journalism. It reads like a house afire in a sultry swamp. Nobody did 'down and dirty' like Mr. Harrison and today's beleaguered stars politicians and others owe him a sock in the jaw. An illuminating fun read!" Liz Smith "People in the '50s enjoyed believing in Rita Hayworth's skills as a mother in June Allyson's wholesomeness in Rock Hudson's heterosexual virility even while breathlessly reading stories that directly contradicted these flights of fancy. As Bernstein aptly writes 'It is entirely possible to lose oneself in the fantasy of idealized belief while still knowing deep down that the essential truth of that belief is about as sturdy as Jell-O.'" Scott Eyman Cox News Service