Full Service

My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars

By: Scotty Bowers, Lionel Friedberg

Narrated by: Johnny Heller

Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Newly discharged from the Marines after World War II, Scotty Bowers arrived in Hollywood in 1946. Young, charismatic, and strikingly handsome, he quickly caught the eye of many of the town's stars and starlets. He began sleeping with some himself, and connecting others with his coterie of young, attractive, and sexually free-spirited friends. His own lovers included Edith Piaf, Spencer Tracy, Vivien Leigh, Cary Grant, and the abdicated King of England Edward VIII, and he arranged tricks or otherwise crossed paths with Tennessee Williams, Charles Laughton, Vincent Price, Katharine Hepburn, Rita Hayworth, Errol Flynn, Gloria Swanson, Noël Coward, Mae West, James Dean, Rock Hudson and J. Edgar Hoover, to name but a few.

Full Service is not only a fascinating chronicle of Hollywood's sexual underground, but also exposes the hypocrisy of the major studios, who used actors to propagate a myth of a conformist, sexually innocent America, knowing full well that their stars' personal lives differed dramatically from this family-friendly mold. As revelation-filled as Hollywood Babylon, Full Service provides a lost chapter in the history of the sexual revolution and is a testament to a man who provided sex, support, and affection to countless people.

©2012 Scotty Bowers and Lionel Friedberg (P)2012 Tantor

Critic reviews

"A startling memoir." (Gore Vidal)

X-Rated Hollywood Bio

Wow. Just wow. we need to thank Scotty Bowers for this spicy sexual history of Hollywood. He fearlessly named names and spills the tea on many of the Hollywood legends. I have to admit that I found myself shaking my head and uttering stuff like "...you smarmy bastard" and "Damn, your peckers' gonna fall off, dude !" as I read over his raunchy exploits. No judgments, but I found it kind of hard to relate to someone who so obviously lived from f*ck-to-f*ck.

If you liked Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon, you'll like this in-your-face, tell-all book. If you get grossed out easily, skip over the stuff about Charles Laughton.

The narration of this audiobook by Johnny Heller is excellent. I'm so glad they chose a more mature-sounding reader for this book - it just added more to the authenticity of the facts being presented.

Incredulous

Found the information incredulous in the early part of the book not that I thought the author was inventing his history. I couldn't
imagine all of the liaisons and lack of secondary sources.

Interesting although somewhat repetitive at times

I found the story interesting although the language was a little to my chin a little too often and I was a little bored at times hearing what sounded like the same stories over and over again there were certainly some interesting parts in the Hollywood history is great and I generally enjoyed it but not my favorite book obviously.

Salacious history of Hollywood in its golden era.

To be perfectly honest, when I got through this book, a lot of it felt like it was lifted directly into Ryan Murphy’s “Hollywood,” for Netflix.

The stories on that show are not nearly as explicit, but unless you’re wanting to watch that *specific* type of content, you likely wouldn’t be turning to Netflix anyway.

The author seems rather credible, and there are details here and there that lend it a further air of authenticity. However, without the corresponding manuscript that’s discussed in the book, it’s difficult to know for certain if any of this is true.

Nonetheless, even if it is complete fiction, or somewhat true, it is a fairly entertaining look at old Hollywood from the PoV of a former WWII soldier-turned-hustler/Hollywood Pimp Master extraordinaire.

You’d have to have been born prior the 80s, at a minimum, for most of these names to mean anything for you, unless you happen to study cinema or are a cinephile for the startup days of Hollywood.

If you know the human references, then the juicier the,” oh my gosh!” and, “no way, did that really happen?” types of reactions are likely to escape your lips.

It’s probably a little longer than it needs to be, since the author is giving a fairly exhaustive checklist in mostly chronological order, from a live very well, and interestingly, lived.

It is probably all the more interesting since for a man of the generation he was from, had no hangups, no qualms, no issues about engaging in, or detailing (and I do mean *details!*) his escapades and the ones he set up, for decades (let alone never seriously arrested).

If gossip, sex, and early Hollywood are your thing, then this book might be right up your, er, alley. 😉

Johnny Heller's voice

I will only on comment that at the very first, Johnny Heller's voice seemed more mocking than serious narration. However, by the end of the first chapter he found his rhythm and brought the book to life.

I will not comment on details. I will, however, comment that what I heard matches what I know and/or can piece together from historical information.

This work, as a whole, was well written and engaging. I listened straight through in one night. I found myself wishing to step back in time and see some of the history described. Ironically the locations and evolution of Hollywood was equally as interesting as Scotty Bowers' life narrative.
WELL DONE!

wow

The beginning was hard to stomach. But I do understand why it needed to be told. It was not what I expected but it's a fascinating story.

Impressive Life

The narrators voice matches the look of Scotty.
I look forward to seeing the documentary.
I am lesbian and I would often watch the celebrities that he mentioned and I knew some were like me.
Along with some surprises. Great life Scotty. No judgment here.
What best is that you’ve remembered so much. This is great.

better the expected

loved this book. great stories keep my interest the narrator sounded like he wrote the book
hated too hear it end. Wonderful

Great Book

After watching the Netflix mini series Hollywood, the book filled in a lot of blanks and gives a great insight into Hollywood and the hay day of it all.
It tells on how many actors and actresses were able to still be who they were without the world knowing.

Made me feel icky, but dang if I didn't finish LOL

Having listened to thd book and watched the documentary, I find the stories credible. I'm conflicted/intrigued by the author. Would not have wanted to meet him in person.