R.E. Sherwood

By the 1920s the grandiose films of Hollywood were influencing peoples' fashion and behavior across the globe. With perceived powers greater than preachers and presidents, the film capital of the world became a legend in its own right. As an occasional screenwriter, and an editor and motion picture critic for Life magazine, R.E. Sherwood was in a unique position to dispel the myths of Hollywood and its glamorous citizens and explain the often boring reality of life in that California city.

There are no lovely legends connected with the origin of that vague section of Los Angeles County which has become the film capital of the world, the most loudly advertised and the most thoroughly misunderstood of all the communities in creation. . . .

However, it is idle to concoct any more myths relating to Hollywood. The place...