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. 😉

Candid, Compelling and Creepy

If only ten percent of Bowers' stories are true it's still a fascinating and frank look at an era in Hollywood when certain activities and attitudes were sequestered and secreted from the public at large. Bowers names names and reveals the alleged sexual activities of many of our most famous celebrities. He seems to have known everyone and been a touchstone (no pun intended) for hooking people up. Just the vast number of vignettes causes one to ponder his verisimilitude. But I'm not casting aspersions because so many of his recollections have a ring of truth and seem plausible. And I'd think Gore Vidal would not endorse this book flippantly. But who knows? As always, Johnny Heller's reading is perfect.

Scotty Gets The Last Grateful Laugh

In fact Scotty Bowers does not laugh. He's too grateful for a life well-lived in a way that quite frankly nobody, if given the chance, would ever say no to. All of it. Every basic detail and I say basic because this is not the best written book. There are inconsistencies, but they can be overlooked. Remember, this is all Hollywood in an era that we'll never see again, ever.

He loved it in amounts that cause a few of the some 1200 or better reviews to hate him for it. And believe me they hate Scotty because he did what they only wished they could have done. And instead of what most of the reviews do and kind of give him and the book a "Good for you!" nod, they pretend to be outraged, hurt, offended and then launch into hypocritical pseudo-analytical tirades that are laughable and very sad really. Some of them in their red-faced ire blame Scotty for having the fun he did as early in life as he did. Blaming him. Wow, that is hypocrisy at its worst. I'm sure Scotty would never criticize them at all however because he's not that kind of guy at all.

Yes, his tiresome listings of movies pissed me off to the tune of one star's worth. Total waste of writing and time. All of the men and women he talked about, dead and gone as he will be soon. Scotty is 95. He is not long for this world, but that man will have gotten all 95+ years and more, much more than 99% of us ever will and I say, "Good for you, Scotty!"

Some reviewers rightfully question the truthfulness. Incredulous as I was. Watch the documentary. Listen to the producer, Matt Tyrnauer, and all that is cleared up. It's all true and that too makes people angry that it is. Now, some of the details given he could not have possibly observed. Again, the writting is sloppy and make you think he saw what he did when he could not have. I think there is narrative woven that he would not take credit for, but cared not to be clear in the writing. Literary license and all that. And who is Lionel Friedberg and what exactly did he contribute? The book does not say. Anyway, what a trip. One we'll never see again. Farewell Scotty Bowers, you have stamped your place in Hollywood history!

People who live 89 years have done SOMETHING right

As I have often been told, California IS a cereal, full of FRUITS and NUTS.

Surprise with every chapter!

I saw Scotty Bowers documentary and felt the need to look further into his world; what I found was a wealth of Hollywood tidbits none had known. Full of juicy stories that makes me think if stars were behaving like this then, I can only imagine what is going on in todays Hollywood. I guess every generation has its Scotty Bowers.

Excellent Book!!!

Loved how open and honest Scotty was about his life… some stars I knew about and others I did not. All were fascinating.

Bowers is quite a character and has quite a story

Bowers weaves together a personal and historical sexual evolution predating WW2 and up through the mid 80s. He shares a lifetime pf stories from behind the scenes of Hollywood and aristocracy and his unique perspective on relationships and the role of human sexuality both within and outside of those relationships.
The honesty in the storytelling creates raw moments where you may remain intrigued by the tale, but less so
with the man. I found the story to be that of what I would otherwise assume to be a sad and hollow life, but that I’m
fairly certain was quite the opposite for
the author. He comes off as a man who walks to the beat of his own drum, unapologetically, but in his own unique way creates the lasting relationships he personally finds most meaningful.
A good read.