Do Tell by Lindsay Lynch

(44. - 1183.) Do Tell by Lindsay Lynch - I was enthralled by “moderately successful” actress, Edith “Edie” O’Dare by the end of the first page:

… I built my career in silences and averted glances, paying attention to who missed work, who skipped parties. I asked why, and when no one answered, I filled in the blanks myself.

I love characters who are fascinated by “why”.

In August of 1939, Edie has invited her brother Sebastian O’Shaughnessy, a “successful” novelist, to come from New York City to Los Angeles. She advised him that he will “have a job”. It is his first education in Hollywood “speak”. She has not arranged a job. She is sure he will get a job as he is “very employable!”

On Seb’s arrival they attend a cocktail party at the mansion of Thomas Brodbeck, Studio Chief and FWM Sudios. She is wearing a gown borrowed from FWM casting which was rejected by a star. His pants and shirt are wrinkled. Edith assures him that people will “think it’s very New York of you. That kind of credibility gets people jobs”.

Edith has not bothered to tell Seb she has but 3 months left on her 7 year contract and studios do not offer new contracts to “moderately successful” actresses. She is out hustling herself to find a way to make a living in Hollywood.

She already has a niche as the “favorite”  source for prominent gossip columnist, Poppy St. John.

The party celebrates the studio arranged engagement of stars Charles Landrieu (a handsome former stuntman) and Nell Parker. The studio even purchases the Cartier engagement ring.

Edies was creative with her past in winning a contest to get to Hollywood and remains inventive. 

As a gossip source she unreservedly questions everyone in the movie business. Her cheekiness, I would actually say brassiness, often gets a quotable response. Many of her tips for Poppy’s Tinseltown Tattler column come from attending nightclubs where the stars and not-so-stars go to be seen. She is a keen observer.

In discussion with the head costume designer at FMW, George:

I always mocked George for his insistence that he was the only person in the industry who truly understood how to tell a story - according to him, actors were phonies, directors were pigs and screenwriters were drunken hacks. It was his belief that he could convey more about a character’s inner life through a fabric choice and tailoring than any of the stars could hope to with their diction or facial expressions.

She knows the value of every actor to the studio and their roles. The primary value for a couple of male actors is their ability to die on screen.

Not all gossip is benign or trivial.

She seizes the opportunity to start moving to newspapers when she skillfully and quietly orchestrates the release of a story of a young starlet who states a star sexually abused her at a party. 

The Los Angeles Times subsequently gives her a chance and Edie is ready.

While she has no shame in listening in at parties, clubs and movie sets or asking questions she has a conscience with regard to the information gathered but how far will Edie go to be a gossip “star”? She knows can destroy a reputation with a deft phrase. 

Beyond the ethics of gossip, she must tread carefully not to overly antagonize the powerful publicists who can make access to their actors and actresses difficult.

It says a lot about the status of women in the movie industry of the early 1940’s for Edie to be “the most feared woman” in Hollywood. There is neither an actress nor a woman director nor a woman producer with real power. I exclude studio mogul as nary a senior executive in the book is female.

There was a relationship for which Edie, a keen observer of Hollywood combinations, was so slow to discern its true nature as to defy probability.

I had hoped Do Tell would be the start of a series featuring Edie but, alas it appears from the plot that it will be a standalone. Entertaining and thought provoking and the movie industry are an uncommon combination.

 I do want to read more from Ms. Lynch. She is a gifted writer.