cover image Hollywood on the Couch: A Candid Look at the Overheated Love Affair Between Psychiatrists and Moviemakers

Hollywood on the Couch: A Candid Look at the Overheated Love Affair Between Psychiatrists and Moviemakers

Stephen Farber. William Morrow & Company, $23 (352pp) ISBN 978-0-87795-998-4

L.A.-based writers Farber and Green ( Outrageous Conduct ) have been reporting on the film colony since the 1970s. After briefly establishing the symbiosis of psychoanalysis and fame, they chronicle the influx of psychotherapists to the West Coast where they won the hearts and minds first of writers and later of other members of the film industry during the '30s and '40s. Although they behaved more like an invading army than healers, the analysts were soon revered as ``experts,'' inspiring screen dramas such as Spellbound . The deliciously gossipy story related here goes from bad to worse: unscrupulous shrinks enjoy sex with glamorous stars, friendships with renowned directors and producers; others make big money from adoring patients whose names they drop for extra ego satisfactions. The authors cite cases such as sadly dependent Marilyn Monroe and Vivien Leigh. Though Farber and Green note that most of Hollywood has moved on ``to trendier modes of psychic rejuvenation,'' this tribe of gurus still receives stalwart support--financial and moral--from true believers. (Nov.)