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The lost Hollywood novel that scandalized an industry - back in print after 50 years.
"Queer" is used in its 1913 Webster's Dictionary sense - strange, eccentric, unconventional - a celebration of the gloriously oddball characters of 1920s Hollywood.
First published in 1930, Queer People was the insider takedown that set Hollywood's hair on end: a wickedly funny roman à clef by two journalists who actually worked inside the studio system. Irving Thalberg, John Gilbert, Louella Parsons, and many more, appear thinly veiled in a satire so accurate that when Howard Hughes bought the film rights, no actor would agree to play themselves.
This carefully restored scholarly edition includes the complete original text, a new foreword by noted film historian Chris Yogerst, a vintage map of the book's Hollywood locations, and a publisher's afterword providing full historical context. The direct ancestor of The Studio, The Player, Sunset Boulevard, and contemporary Hollywood satire.
"About as funny as anything I've ever read." - Graydon Carter, former editor of Vanity Fair, in The New York Times (2025)
"Satirizes Hollywood in almost libelous terms... set Hollywood's hair on end." - TIME Magazine (1931)
"The best work that has appeared in this field... an extremely entertaining one." - New York Times (1930)
Course adoption potential for Film Studies, American Literature, and Cultural History programs.
Available in paperback, hardcover, ebook, and audiobook.
"Queer" is used in its 1913 Webster's Dictionary sense - strange, eccentric, unconventional - a celebration of the gloriously oddball characters of 1920s Hollywood.
First published in 1930, Queer People was the insider takedown that set Hollywood's hair on end: a wickedly funny roman à clef by two journalists who actually worked inside the studio system. Irving Thalberg, John Gilbert, Louella Parsons, and many more, appear thinly veiled in a satire so accurate that when Howard Hughes bought the film rights, no actor would agree to play themselves.
This carefully restored scholarly edition includes the complete original text, a new foreword by noted film historian Chris Yogerst, a vintage map of the book's Hollywood locations, and a publisher's afterword providing full historical context. The direct ancestor of The Studio, The Player, Sunset Boulevard, and contemporary Hollywood satire.
"About as funny as anything I've ever read." - Graydon Carter, former editor of Vanity Fair, in The New York Times (2025)
"Satirizes Hollywood in almost libelous terms... set Hollywood's hair on end." - TIME Magazine (1931)
"The best work that has appeared in this field... an extremely entertaining one." - New York Times (1930)
Course adoption potential for Film Studies, American Literature, and Cultural History programs.
Available in paperback, hardcover, ebook, and audiobook.