Howard's women

If you find yourself glancing at the periodicals for the latest news each time you pass through the supermarket checkout line you are likely to enjoy Karina Longworth's Seduction: Sex, Lies and Stardom in Howard Hughes's Hollywood, even if the Hollywood gossip inside is more than half a century out of date.

The book is something of a Howard Hughes biography, although Hughes disappears from the text, as he did from the Hollywood scene, for long periods of time. Mostly Longworth writes about the women in his life, and there were many of them. The names of the Hollywood actresses that fell into his orbit include many of the most prominent actresses from the 1920s through the 1950s: Billie Dove, Jean Harlow, Bette Davis, Ginger Rogers, Katherine Hepburn, Jane Russell, Ida Lupino, Ava Gardner, Gina Lollabrigida, Jean Peters and Terry Moore, among others.

Hughes used these women, and shamelessly so, but the women also used him, or at least tried to. Jane Russell was one who actually got the best of him, even if he turned her into more of a sex symbol than she wanted. Some of the women, notably Peters and Moore, fell in love with him and, for a time, were willing to live with his lies and manipulation.

Longworth writes of Hughes, "He seemed to draw comfort, if not pleasure, from knowing women were waiting for him to pay attention to them -- and then withholding that attention." His standard operating procedure was to scout out young beauties, often by watching movies for hours, even days, at a time. Then he would have his agents sign them to contracts, promising them acting lessons and a chance at Hollywood stardom. His spies would follow them everywhere, controlling every part of their lives. Often they would never even meet Hughes, nor ever get a part in a movie. Others became stars more in spite of Hughes than because of him.

From a young age Hughes had been reclusive and afraid of germs. That became worse as he aged, especially after some spectacular air crashes and getting knocked on the head by Ava Gardner after he abused her. Eventually he gave up pursuing woman and was content just to watch them in movies around the clock.

The book, like Hughes in his prime, is seductive, but something less than good.