1. LouellaParsons

2. Early Life Born Louella Rose Oettinger on August 6, 1881.- Later falsified the year of her birth.- Parents were both Jewish-German immigrants.- Born in Freeport, Illinois. Father died at age 33, releasing her mothers exuberant passion for all thingstheatrical.- Helen Oettinger used the life insurance money to indulge in lavishsurroundings.- Traveled with Louella by train to Chicago to see stage productions. Louella was an excellent student. The Freeport Journal Standard oftenreported her first prize winnings in essay contests. Family moved to Dixon, Illinois, where Louella became well-respected despiteher reputation for being emotional.- Delivered a speech titled Great Men at her high school graduation in 1901.- Afterward, her principal announced that she would be a great writer. 3. Feminist Ideals Louella grew up as traditional roles for women were evolving.- By the 1890s, approximately 20% of college students were women.- Pursuing acceptable jobs in clerical work, social work andeducation. Louella desired to be a reporter from an early age, and at a time thiswas a male-driven occupation. I wanted to grow up as quickly as possible and to be hailed- if notas the best writer in America- at least as the youngest and the mostbeautiful. 4. Women in Journalism Though women had taken over temporary positions at newspapersfor their husbands during war times, long-term advancements werenearly impossible. Mid-1800s: Only a few women thrived in journalism. Female literacy rates rose after the Civil War, leading to a newaudience for newspapers.- Urban newspapers published womens columns on society,advice, cooking and fashion. 1880: U.S. Census recorded 288 working women in editing andreporting. 2,000 female journalists by 1900, though very few transcended thewomens columns. 5. Beginnings of Gossip In 1902, Louella began working part-time at the Dixon Star writingthe society page.- Published without a byline, following trend at the time. To write Society Doings, she immersed herself in the towns socialscene, reporting on weddings, engagements and formal parties.- Learned a lot of town gossip in the process. Later said that much of Hollywood gossip was no different fromsmall-town hearsay in a 1934 article for Cosmopolitan magazine. 6. Gossip as an Asset After Louella proved her writing abilities, she waspromoted to write front-page articles. She scoured the town for news, taking a direct approachby knocking on doors and asking for it. A reporter for a rival paper called the Dixon Telegraphrevealed Louellas fickle nature:When the coroner of Dixon gave her copy, he was a niceman, and when he didnt she hated him. 7. Chicago and Essanay Shortly after relocating, Louellagot a job at a small moviecompany called Essenay as ascenario editor. She filtered through dozens offan-written screenplays for film-worthy pieces. Louella herself wrote a handful ofscreenplays.- Two were made in 1912:Chains and The Magic Wand. In 1914, she was writingAmericas first gossip column forthe Chicago Record Herald. 8. Hearst William Randolph Hearst bought theChicago Record Herald in 1918. Louellalost her job because Hearst had not yetrealized that movies and their starsqualified as news. She moved once again to New York Cityand wrote a similar column for the NewYork Morning Telegraph. She was not above using exaggerationsor carefully calculated friendships toadvance her career. Became close friends with MarionDavies, an accomplished socialite andgold digger. Louella urged her readers to give Daviesa chance as an actress. Davies wasHearsts mistress, and Louella signed acontract with Hearst in 1923. 9. Steady Career After moving to Los Angeles,Louella quickly became a voice tobe reckoned with. Her column inthe Los Angeles Examiner was readby millions. Her gossip and criticism couldmake or break a Hollywoodhopefuls career. She hosted several radio programsfeaturing interviews with film stars. Viewed herself as the moralcompass of Hollywood, damagingthe careers of actors whosepersonal lives did not coincide withher ideals. 10. Citizen Kane Louella heard a rumor in 1941 thatOrson Welles was making a filmbased on Hearst. She confronted Welles, who lied toher and said it was just a movieabout a dead man. When Citizen Kane was released, sherealized that Welles had deceivedher and began voraciously attackinghim in her column. Hearst was enraged by the filmssuccess. Her relationship with himnever fully recovered. Even in recent years, Citizen Kanehas been dubbed the greatest filmof all time by the American FilmInstitute. 11. Rivalry Louellas career was further damaged by the arrival of HeddaHopper, a former actress who she once favored. Hopper worked for a rival newspaper and assumed the same role asa film/gossip columnist. Though Louella never surrendered, Hopper had a reputation forbeing nicer and more eloquent. Both women were willing to pad the truth when it didnt serve theirinterests enough. 12. Later Life Published her memoir, The Gay Illiterate in 1944. The book becamea bestseller. Louellas iron fist in Hollywood melted after the 1950s. In 1965, her assistant took over the column. She died in 1972 at age 91. 13. Legacy Even when she appeared jovialand relaxed, no one could ever besure that anything LouellaParsons saw wouldnt becomepart of her column.When you greeted her, shesmiled at you in an abstractmanner as if mentally she werewriting your obituary. FrancesMarion She has two stars on theHollywood Walk of Fame- one forfilm and one for radio. 14. Works Cited Barbas, Samantha. The First Lady of Hollywood: A Biography of LouellaParsons. Berkeley: University of California, 2005. Print. McNamee, Gregory. "Remembering Louella Parsons, a Pioneer of CelebrityGossip." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web.29 June 2012. . Menke, Mary Ward. "Review | The First Lady of Hollywood: A Biography ofLouella Parsons by Samantha Barbas." Review | The First Lady of Hollywood:A Biography of Louella Parsons by Samantha Barbas. N.p., n.d. Web. 29June 2012. .