Chapters 17-23 Summary and Analysis

Chapter seventeen, "Saturn Over Sunset," depicts the years following the Jazz Age, when talkies became all the rage and many careers were ended by the inability to make the transition to the new form of entertainment.

One of the first stars to fall from the sky was legendary actor John Gilbert. Gilbert had been the highest paid star in 1928, pulling in $10,000 a week. Gilbert had just ended an affair with Garbo and soon discovered that his stock investments had left him with no money. On the rebound, Gilbert married Broadway actress Ina Claire. Gilbert consoled himself with the unbreakable contract he had with MGM but the relationship soured when Gilbert's first talkie was brutally referred to as a "shriekie." Gilbert and Marie Provost, another actor sacrificed to the introduction of sound, held a contest to see who could drink...