Tinseltown Confidential: A Novel of Golden-Era Hollywood (Hollywood's Garden of Allah novels Book 7)
Page 32
“I doubt that very much.” Kathryn slipped an arm around Gwendolyn’s waist. “But I think we can manage six weeks, can’t we, Gwennie?”
She nodded.
“I’ll bring you back some of Signora Scatena’s zucchini flowers,” he said. “Or at least the recipe.”
“Because we’re such gourmet cooks?” Kathryn laughed. “People are starting to line up. You better go.”
He embraced them both. “It’s just six weeks.” He gave them a final hug and picked up his cabin bag.
They leaned against the window and watched him shuffle to the front of the line until the stewardess waved him through. He smiled at them and raised his fedora before disappearing through the door.
They stared at the doorway, each lost in their own thoughts.
“I guess it does feel different this time,” Gwendolyn said.
“He’s not being railroaded out of town.”
“He gets to start over.”
“Speaking of, what are your plans for starting over?”
“Oh my goodness!” Gwendolyn exclaimed, “I didn’t tell you what happened today.”
Halfway through her story, Gwendolyn realized what was good news for her was a bitter pill for Kathryn.
“The National Council of Negro Women is a whole lot richer, and you got a terrific job offer,” Kathryn said. “So two out of three ain’t bad.” A low thrum vibrated the large pane of glass to their backs. They turned around to see the propellers of Marcus’ aircraft spin as the ground crew pulled away the stairs. “And how sweet to see all that momentum Uncle Ratface built over the summer sputter out completely.”
“He is kind of rat-faced, isn’t he?”
“And to think I’m related to him.” Kathryn shivered. “Ugh.”
“Let’s not forget that speech you gave. You made a big impression on many important people. I wouldn’t dismiss that, if I were you.”
The plane pushed off from the terminal and started taxiing away. Gwendolyn and Kathryn stood in silence as it banked right before slowing to a halt.
“I wish I’d thought to tell Marcus about my job at Fox.”
“It’ll make a hell of a letter,” Kathryn said. “If you post it tomorrow, he should have it in a week. He’ll love that.”
The Douglas DC-7 lurched along the runway just as the sun slipped out from behind a cloudbank. The wings gleamed like quicksilver as the aircraft picked up speed. Slowly, almost effortlessly, the nose tilted upwards. The wheels, now a blur, bounced along the tarmac once, twice, then lifted off the ground, picked up speed, and shot into the warm California dusk.
THE END
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ALSO BY MARTIN TURNBULL
Book One in the Hollywood’s Garden of Allah novels
The Garden on Sunset
Right before talking pictures slug Tinsel Town in the jaw, a luminous silent screen star converts her private estate into the Garden of Allah Hotel. The lush grounds soon become a haven for Hollywood hopefuls to meet, drink, and revel through the night. George Cukor is in the pool, Tallulah Bankhead is at the bar, and Scott Fitzgerald is sneaking off to a bungalow with Sheilah Graham while Madame Alla Nazimova keeps watch behind her lace curtains. But the real story of the Garden of Allah begins with its first few residents, three kids on the brink of something big. They learn that nobody gets a free pass in Hollywood, but a room at the Garden on Sunset can get your foot in the door.
Book Two in the Hollywood’s Garden of Allah novels
The Trouble with Scarlett
It’s 1936 – Gone with the Wind is released by first-time author Margaret Mitchell and becomes an international sensation. Everyone in Hollywood knows that Civil War pictures don’t make a dime but renegade movie producer David O. Selznick snaps up the movie rights and suddenly the whole country is obsessed with answering just one question: Who will win the role of Scarlett O’Hara?
Book Three in the Hollywood’s Garden of Allah novels:
Citizen Hollywood
It’s 1939 – Orson Welles, the enfant terrible of New York, is coming to Hollywood to make his first movie. Tinsel City is agog! Can he even direct a movie? What will it be about? Will he scandalize the West Coast the way he’s shocked the East Coast? And, more importantly, who will he bed first and does he kiss-and-tell? When William Randolph Hearst realizes Citizen Kane is based on him, he won’t be happy—and when Hearst isn’t happy, nobody’s safe. Marcus, Kathryn, and Gwendolyn need to go for broke, and the clock is ticking.
Book Four in the Hollywood’s Garden of Allah novels:
Searchlights and Shadows
The dark days of Pearl Harbor loom over Los Angeles. America is at war, and posters warn Hollywoodites that loose lips sink ships. MGM screenwriter, Marcus Adler, needs to come up with a sure-fire hit, but he’s threatened by a vicious rumor: “Marcus Adler is a goddamned Commie.” After losing her job at the Cocoanut Grove, Gwendolyn Brick dreams of opening her own dress store. But will it be worth the trouble if it drags her back into the orbit of Bugsy Siegel? Hollywood Reporter columnist, Kathryn Massey, realizes her boss is gambling away his fortune—and her future. Could their very survival depend on a place nobody’s heard of called Las Vegas? In the city of searchlights, suspicions can lurk behind every shadow.
Book Five in the Hollywood’s Garden of Allah novels:
Reds in the Beds
As World War II ends, a new boogieman emerges: the Red Menace, and the House un-American Activities Committee prepares to grill the brightest stars in town. MGM writing department head Marcus Adler needs to keep his reputation beyond reproach. Unfortunately in Hollywood, nobody’s past is spotless. Gossip columnist Kathryn Massey may have to take on J. Edgar Hoover himself to shed her FBI informer reputation. And from behind the perfume counter at Bullocks Wilshire, Gwendolyn Brick makes a shocking discovery that could revive her dream and change multiple lives for good. In postwar Hollywood, there are reds in the beds, the sharks are circling, and it’s feeding time.
Book Six in the Hollywood’s Garden of Allah novels
Twisted Boulevard
When ousted screenwriter Marcus Adler hatches a plan to start over with a disgraced movie star, a Hollywood censor reminds him that the misdeeds of the past aren’t soon forgotten. Hollywood Reporter columnist Kathryn Massey is dealing with a hot new rival when she glimpses a haunting sight on the set of Sunset Boulevard. Gwendolyn Brick thought her new store would be a hit, but when LA’s most notorious madam threatens it, she’ll need a Hollywood-style miracle to keep her Chez Gwendolyn alive.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Heartfelt thanks to the following, who helped shaped this book:
My editor: Meghan Pinson, for her invaluable guidance, expert eye, and unfailing nitpickery.
My cover designer: Dan Yeager at Nu-Image Design
My beta readers: Vince Hans, Nora Hernandez-Castillo, Bradley Brady, Matthew Kennedy, Beth Riches and especially to Royce Sciortino and Gene Strange for their invaluable time, insight, feedback and advice in shaping this novel.
My Proof Reader Extraordinaire: Bob Molinari
My thanks, also, to Susan Milner and Andie Paysinger for providing verisimilitude. I can only dream of these lives but Susan and Andie lived it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
From an early age, Martin was enchanted with old movies from Hollywood’s golden era – from the dawn of the talkies in the late 1920s to the close of the studio system in the late 1950s – and has spent many a happy hour watching the likes of Garland, Gable, Crawford, Garbo, Grant, Miller, Kelly, Astaire, Rogers, Turner, and Welles go through their paces. It feels inevitable that he would someday end up writing about them. Originally from Melbourne, Aust
ralia, Martin moved to Los Angeles in the mid-90s where he now works as a writer, blogger, webmaster, and tour guide.
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