Kate

Alcott’s Hollywood novels take us inside the sparkle of the star system to

reveal real people, from Clark Gable and Carole Lombard on the set of Gone With

The Wind to purity icon Ingrid Bergman’s spectacular fall from grace as an

American darling.

Hi

there. I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and on the Joys of Binge Reading today Kate

talks about growing up in Los Angeles and being a Hollywood insider, as well as

assessing how women writers and actors fared in early Hollywood compared with

today.

Six things you’ll learn from this

Joys of Binge Reading episode:

Her early inspiration from Louisa May AlcottLiving in LA where 'Hollywood ruled'Her favorite character in all her 12 booksWriting a best seller with best friend Ellen GoodmanThe secrets of the 'Swiss Cheese Book Club' Her mother's part in her best-selling Titanic story

Where to

find Kate Alcott: 

Website:  http://www.katealcott.com/

Facebook: @KateAlcott

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5052587.Kate_Alcott

What

follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for

word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.

Jenny Wheeler: But now here's Kate. Hello Kate, and welcome to the show. It's great

to have you with us.  I was really

touched when I discovered that you've just very recently married and you're

giving this time to do this interview when you've had a lot of great

excitements in your personal life.  So

let me just first offer you our congratulations and thank you for giving us the

time.

Kate Alcott: Well, thank you very much.

Jenny Wheeler: Did it all go well?

Kate Alcott: It did. It all went well. 400 family members on both sides.

Kate Alcott novelist, who has also written historical fiction under the name Patricia Alcott.

Jenny Wheeler: Oh my goodness.  That was a

pretty big party!  You're an experienced

journalist who's obviously used to writing, but what made you decide to move

into fiction and was there a Once Upon A Time moment when something grabbed

your insides and you said, "I've really got to write fiction."

Kate Alcott: Well it was basically always a dream of mine from the time I was, I think about ten and I  - and other women have said this -  but it had a real influence.  I was quite taken with Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, particularly the story of Jo March. I identified with her. She wanted to be a writer, and I loved this character that she had created.

And I've always felt that that was the

beginning. I just knew almost automatically that what I wanted to do was to

write fiction. Of course that had to wait a number of years. But eventually I

was able to do it.

Growing up in LA

Jenny Wheeler: Yes, so I gather you grew up in LA, but possibly not in the

Hollywood part of LA, and you've now published four highly praised historical

novels and several of them dip very heavily into the early years of

Hollywood.  Could you talk a little bit

about your background in LA and possible insider connections that give you

unusual insight into how things work there?

Kate Alcott: Well, I think that growing up in Los Angeles was an experience all

in of itself.  We really, in my lifetime

as a young teenager, you lived and breathed the Hollywood stuff.  I remember my father bringing home a copy of

evening newspaper, and even then it struck me, we were so focused on what was

happening with Hollywood. And here it was - four inch headlines on the evening

news saying "Liz has flu” – like it was the equivalent of World War III.

That's Elizabeth Taylor.

A Touch of Stardust

I had a glimmer at that time that we might

have a somewhat skewed idea, but I grew up in that atmosphere, even though not

in a Hollywood family. Now my husband, Frank Mankiewicz, my deceased husband,

did, and his family was very much a Hollywood family. His father was the writer

of Citizen Kane.

His uncle did All About Eve and many, many

movies - that was Joe Mankiewicz.