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. 😉

Interesting, titilating, and enjoyable book

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Maybe to some, as it's a racy story.

What did you like best about this story?

Its graphic nature.

Have you listened to any of Johnny Heller’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Never heard him before, but he did a fine job.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Without giving anything away, there were a couple of deaths that were particularly saddening to me.

Any additional comments?

This is an "adults only" book and leans towards the gay male audience. Scotty was obvious bisexual and related many stories that were both interesting and even amusing. You will be shocked at the orientation and escapades of stars from the past. I envied Scotty for his association with the rich and famous. Great book!

Great Book on the Real Hollywood Behind the Scenes

Great book about the real lives (particularly sex lives) of famous Hollywood actors and icons. I think it also speaks to the varied sex lives, that unlike the very rich and famous, that most of us keep repressed or hidden. In other words straight monogamy for most is still a myth that our culture and religions push even though we are anything but. Note I'm a straight guy with nothing like most interests of Scotty but in him I recognize a person that I envy because of his ability to love and appreciate (not just sexually) most people. Book very enlightening and very very entertaining. Highly recommended.

A Bit Outlandish

The writing itself is good enough and so is the performance, but the "believability" factor is not there for me.

I believe that Scotty Bowers encountered several Hollywood stars throughout his career as an escort. However, some of the stories are just too much to believe completely. I refuse to believe that he seemed to always randomly encounter people who wanted (and got) sex from him. So many details seemed unclear or glossed over -- understandable for someone with such a long career in such a "job."

I think this is true -- in parts -- but overly-embellished and too outlandish to consider as "real" in others. Take it for what it's worth: a trashy tale of old Hollywood. Some parts are true or some elements are somewhat true, but it's hard to fathom that everything was true in this book.

Interesting...

Really and truly GRAPHIC, but an interesting read and very enlightening. I never realized so much went on behind the scenes back in the good ol' days. Wow.

Great book about the Golden Era of Hollywood

I loved this book and enjoyed hearing about the dirty secrets of the stars and many others of the 40s thru the 60s. Very well narrated and kept me glued to my phone the whole story.

Very interesting!

Very interesting and entertaining! My mouth dropped through out the story. great book. great narrator.