Kenneth Anger’s book Hollywood Babylon made its first appearance in 1965. After less than a week, the book was banned and pulled from the shelves. A decade would pass before the book would be released again.

Anger’s underground classic trolls the back alleys and bedrooms of Hollywood during the first half of the 20th Century up through Sharon Tate’s bloody murder at the hands of the Manson Family. The book offers a combustible mix of wild speculation with a salacious style of scandal spreading that launched a thousand urban legends about silver screen giants like James Dean, Jean Harlow, Marilyn Monroe, Jane Mansfield, Rudolph Valentino and more.

This episode of Arena features Anger himself guiding viewers through the book’s most shocking chapters while also offering illuminating insights into his own films including Fireworks, The Invocation of My Demon Brother, Kustom Kar Kommandos, Scorpio Rising and Lucifer Rising.

Check out Kenneth Anger’s Hollywood Babylon below:

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