An edition of Winchell (1994)

Winchell

Gossip, Power, and the Culture of Celebrity

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Last edited by MARC Bot
July 14, 2024 | History
An edition of Winchell (1994)

Winchell

Gossip, Power, and the Culture of Celebrity

  • 1 Want to read
  • 1 Currently reading
  • 1 Have read

Walter Winchell escaped New York-immigrant poverty via the vaudeville stage, his massive insecurity and ambition driving him on. But it was as a young newspaperman that he found his real calling. In 1925, at a time when most newspaper editors were reluctant to publish even the notice of an impending birth for fear of crossing the boundaries of good taste, Winchell brought unabashed and undisguised gossip into the public press.

He understood the bitter subtext of gossip: how invading the lives of the famous and revealing their secrets empowered both purveyor and audience. His columns revealed who was cavorting with gangsters or chorus girls, who was engaging in financial shenanigans, whose husband was compromisingly sighted with whose wife. By legitimizing gossip he forever shattered the taboo against what could be said about celebrities in the media.

In his own words: "Democracy is where everybody can kick everybody else's ass." Adding: "But you can't kick Winchell's.".

Because Winchell was present at the creation of celebrity as we now know it, because he reached the top and tumbled precipitously, an examination of his life illustrates how fame is achieved, how it is lost, what one gains from it, what it exacts - and why America is obsessed with it. "Historians," said a speaker at his funeral, "will be unable to explain the twentieth century without understanding Winchell." His life and his films are richly recaptured - and understood - in Neal Gabler's brilliant biography.

Publish Date
Publisher
Vintage
Language
English
Pages
704

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Winchell
Winchell
April 12, 1997, Random House Value Publishing
Hardcover in English
Cover of: Winchell
Winchell: Gossip, Power, and the Culture of Celebrity
September 26, 1995, Vintage
Paperback in English
Cover of: Winchell
Winchell: Gossip, Power and the Culture of Celebrity
October 4, 1994, Knopf
Hardcover in English - 1st ed edition
Cover of: Winchell
Winchell: gossip, power, and the culture of celebrity
1994, Knopf
in English - 1st ed.

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Book Details


First Sentence

"AS CHAIM WEINSCHEL MADE the long journey from Russia to the United States, he carried within him an implacable darkness of spirit."

Classifications

Library of Congress
PN4874.W67 G33 1995, PN4874.W67

The Physical Object

Format
Paperback
Number of pages
704
Dimensions
8 x 5.2 x 1.5 inches
Weight
2 pounds

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL7700811M
ISBN 10
0679764399
ISBN 13
9780679764397
OCLC/WorldCat
33275245
Library Thing
92750
Goodreads
281870

First Sentence

"AS CHAIM WEINSCHEL MADE the long journey from Russia to the United States, he carried within him an implacable darkness of spirit."

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History

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