Adventures of a Hollywood Secretary: Her Private Letters from Inside the Studios of the 1920s

by Valeria Belletti, Sam Goldwyn Jr. (Foreword), Cari Beauchamp (Editor)

Adventures of a Hollywood Secretary is an insider’s view of the film studios of the 1920s—and the first from a secretary’s perspective. Rich in gossip, it is also an eyewitness report of Hollywood in transition. In the summer of 1924, Valeria Belletti and her friend Irma visited California, but instead of returning home to New York, the twenty-six-year-old Valeria decided to stay in Los Angeles. She moved into the YWCA, landed a job as Samuel Goldwyn's personal and social secretary and proceeded to trip over history in the making. As she recounts in her dozens of letters to Irma, Valeria Belletti encountered every type of Hollywood player in the course of her working day: moguls, directors, stars, writers, and hopeful extras. She shares news about Valentino's affairs, Sam Goldwyn's bootlegger, the development of the “talkies,” her own role in helping to cast Gary Cooper in his first major part and much more—often in hilarious detail. She writes of her living and working conditions, her active social life, and her hopes for the future—all the everyday concerns of a young working woman during the jazz age. Alternating sophistication with naiveté, Valeria’s letters intimately document a personal journey while giving us a unique portrait of a fascinating era.

Genres: History, Film, Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir, Autobiography, Pop Culture

264 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2006

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. It's very slight--basically a diary through letters of a secretary's work in Holyywod ca. 1926-1928, but there's plenty of name-dropping and neat observations about some of the leading movie folk of the era.

[Beth Cato · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an insightful view into the 1920s! I've read quotes from this book in several other books on the period, and it was wonderful to read them in full context. Valeria Belletti was a 26-year-old Italian New Yorker when she went on an exciting vacation to California with her pal Irma. Valeria enjoyed the Golden State so much that she decided to stay. She settled down in California and began writing regular letters to Irma.

These are not exciting letters. This is a young woman writing to her bestie, explaining roommate woes and good dates and bad dates and sharing gossip about her new job--as secretary to Sam Goldwyn. Valeria is in Hollywood during a time of incredible transition. She quits for a time to make a dream trip to Italy to reunite with her father, only to find out he recently died, and struggles through sickness and legal issues before returning to the States. She returns to Los Angeles and chronicles changes as studios consolidate, but the instability of her job doesn't bother her too much as she's preparing for her own new job: as a wife. The letters end as Talkies emerge as the future of the industry.

Valeria comes across as such a bright, fierce woman. She is brave to strike off on her own to start anew in California, and to travel to Italy with her little-practiced Italian. She dates often, always with an eye to marriage, and is also guided by strict morals. Her viewpoint on the 1920s is an absolute treasure.

[Samantha Glasser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Valeria Belletti was an ordinary girl who moved to the west coast for her health. Her asthma got better in the sunshine of California, and before long she got a job as a secretary to Samuel Goldwyn. At his studio she met many famous celebrities like screenwriter Frances Marion and actor Ronald Colman. Later, she visited her home in Italy and returned to California to work for Cecil B. DeMille. Her story is told through her letters to her friend Irma which were rediscovered decades later by author Cari Beauchamp. Beauchamp edits this text by adding notes about the contents of the letters and brings everything into context.

More than anything, this is a fascinating look into the culture of the 1920s. We see that women could work until they got married, but no one was surprised when they quit their jobs for domestic life. Belletti displays typical moral values of the time period, which are at times shocked by the bohemian lifestyles of her friends and by Hollywood in general. The California setting makes the book even more interesting because it provides a glimpse into the studios by someone who was not looking to break into the movies. Her casual assessments of movies and stars are great fun to read and sometimes comical.

The biggest disappointment is the way the letters seem to trail off at the end. Beauchamp attempts to give the history of what happened later, but this quick sum-up is not as effective as more letters would have been, and the end seems to abrupt to be entirely satisfying.

[Autumn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally boring in the best way. Like reading the letters you would write to your bestie if you had been living in Hollywood in the 20s. Not really for people looking for hot hot backstage gossip, but a great read for any lady in her 20s who is trying to have an adventure and figure out what to do in life. Valeria goes on dates, reads some philosophy, briefly takes up golf and Bohemia and occasionally attends a liquor party. These letters are gems and I'm so glad Irma saved them and Cari Beauchamp got them published.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pleasure, filled with almost accidental insight into the era. Beauchamp’s notes are an example of why she can ruin other non-fiction for you: she puts things across so concisely yet with such flavor that rather than read a book on, for example, Ince’s Fatal Voyage, her extended footnote on the affair should about take care of you.

[Graceann · Rating 5 out of 5]

The letters that Miss Belletti wrote were only meant to be seen by her friend, but they were so insightful, newsy and interesting that it's a lucky happenstance that they were kept. They are brilliant, fly-on-the-wall observations of Hollywood life and I couldn't bear to see the story end. It was a delight to meet Cari Beauchamp the day I finished reading this book and getting her to sign it for me. What an honor!

[Lis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating. It's almost unbelievable that these are actual letters to a friend, instead of written for a novel. I love Valeria's spirit and her bold decision to leave home and live somewhere else. It's a great example of female empowerment.

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is real treasure trove for anyone interested in the development of the Hollywood film industry, the growth of the city of Los Angeles, and of the lives of young independent women of nearly a century ago. It is a series of personal letters written in the 1920s by Valeria Belletti, who moved to California from northern New Jersey to work in the movie studios, to her best friend, Irina Prina. Commentary on the letters was provided by Cari Beauchamp, the author of several books on leading women screenwriters of early Hollywood.

Valeria and Irina took a vacation to California together, but Valeria stayed on, working in administrative positions for leading Hollywood businessmen and directors, including Sam Goldwyn and Cecil B. DeMille. Fortunately, Irina saved the letters and eventually returned them to Valeria during a visit to California decades later. Valeria's daughter-in-law, Margery Baragona, had kept them, and was urged by Beauchamp (after she read Beauchamp's books and then realizing the letters' historical value) to donate them to the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The letters are fascinating as a historical document of the film industry since in her positions, Valeria had direct contact with influential individuals in all areas of the business, but they also provide insight into the everyday life of someone who seems unique in her independent attitude and drive to experience an atypical existence. Considering that she also came from a close-knit Italian-American community which emphasized a traditional lifestyle, it seems even more surprising.

On the other hand, Valeria was a bit different than some of her friends and neighbors, since she was an only child who had lived with her immigrant mother (and her aunt and cousins) after her father had left them and returned to their Italian village. Valeria left school as a teenager, and worked in New York for Lawrence Langner, founder of the Theater Guild, which eventually produced many well-known Broadway plays and musicals into the 1990s. She also showed her independent spirit by marching in the suffragette parades that helped to pass the 19th Amendment in 1920.

Valeria's mother died in 1921 when Valeria was twenty-three. She stayed on with her family in New Jersey for a while, but with Irina then made the trip to California that changed her life. She was twenty-six.

The letters follow a chronological sequence, and describe Valeria's work life, friends, and the many places where she lived in and around Los Angeles. They are so detailed and vivid that reading them is like being there. Beauchamp's introduction, epilogue, and commentary help to fill in the background and provides information that clarifies and explains some of the references in the letters. There is also a selection of photographs showing both Valeria and Irina, which offers even more context. The entire book is the ultimate insider's view of a fascinating time and place.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

For those interested in early Hollywood and the rise of the studio system, this collection of letters written by Sam Goldwyn's private secretary is like the cherry on the sundae of Hollywood history books. It's a slight book, only about 200 hundred pages, and takes place over the course of about 2 years. It's a wonderful source for any writer researching the era. Nothing earth-shattering is revealed. It's the minutiae of Valeria's job that fascinates. I loved reading about how daily life was for her. Both the info about the studio and Valeria discussing her private life as a single working girl of the 1920s taught me so much. Buying booze from bootleggers, going to parties, clothes shopping, how she & her roommates decorated their places, even the meals she cooked - I love reading about the life of a regular private citizen instead of a powerful famous person.

Valeria's trip back to Italy to visit her father(who immigrated to the USA but couldn't handle it and returned home, leaving Valeria & her mother behind in NYC) really highlighted just how rapidly life had changed for American women in the 1920s. Both Valeria and the reader are relieved when she heads back to LA and away from the judgmental and incredibly conservative rural Italian village where she'd been staying. She realized how great her life actually was.

The letters, since they were never meant to be published, are full of gossip about the stars of the day. The editor of the book provides handy notes explaining who is being referenced but you will definitely get more out of her comments if you know something about the time period. Fun fact, she briefly dated Gary Cooper(!) before he became famous. Swoon! It was thanks to her telling the bigwigs at the studio about him, that he got signed to a contract.

The book ends when she gets married and quits working. I kept thinking, "No don't quit, the Depression is about to start!" Oh well. Her goal had been to get married and have kids; the studio secretary job was always meant to be a temporary thing.

I'm so glad she wrote these letters and later on that her descendants had them published.

52 Books Reading Challenge/#42 an epistolary
Lit Life Reading Challenge/ a book of letters

[Blueglass · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such an interesting collection of letters from a secretary working in the Hollywood studios in the 1920s. What is great is that they were never meant to be saved for posterity since Valeria was just sharing her life with her best friend, so they seem to be her true feelings on the page. I appreciated how honest she was about wanting to do something great and having the opportunity, but not necessarily having the motivation to do it. Also, I liked reading about the dating scene in the 1920s.. the women just seemed to go out with guy after guy until they found someone who would "do". I do recommend this book to anyone who likes old Hollywood and is interested in the early days.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great little book told from the point of view of an ordinary individual who was smack dab in the middle of a very unordinary and exciting time. Valeria's letters were so honest and lovingly thought out. It's a shame letter writing has gone the way of the dodo. How nice it must have been to go to one's mailbox and have a stack of letters waiting to be read. Now whatever mail we do get is usually junk or bills.

[Keith M Altomare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful

Cari Beauchamp is one of the best writers to discuss the early days of film. But I didn't think that a confident Hollywood secretary would deliver the best book on Hollywood going into the Talkies. Read her passages on Talkies and how to change a industry overnight and you can feel the pressure. Valeria did too and we are better for it.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had just seen Stella Dallas a month before I read the book. Cool hearing her thoughts on it.

[Natalie Quinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent collection of letters, but from a new period this time! This was a great glimpse into the beginning of the Golden Age of Hollywood and I loved the bits of added context!

[C. Zampa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book for a candid, fascinating glimpse into the real world of the Hollywood studios in the 1920's.
Valerie Belletti,a young Italian New Yorker, moved to sunny Los Angeles and began work as a secretary for studio moguls. During the course of her life in California, she wrote letters to a friend back home in New York, and years later her friend compiled the correspondence and had them published. And the result is a magnificent patchwork of true stories of daily life behind-the-scenes in such studios as MGM, where Beletti was the trusted secretary to Samuel Goldwyn and to Cecile B. DeMille. She dated the unknown-at-the-time Gary Cooper and met stars such as Ronald Coleman and Rudolph Valentino.

A fascinating, unusual read told in a unique fashion. Highly recommended.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It's a collection of letters sent between the years 1924-1929 from a woman who would become the secretary to Samuel Goldwyn and is associated with discovering a famous movie star from the era. I found her letters to be timeless and I loved the insight she gives to Hollywood during this period. The way she writes about prohibition, working with famous people, finding love and living in Los Angeles I truly was wrapped up in her letters!

[Greta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining diary of a woman who was Sam Goldwyn’s secretary. Lots of stuff on Ronald Colman and some on Vilma Banky. Mentions that Lionel Barrymore was terrible on stage in The Copperhead performance she saw because “he’s in terrible condition due to dope.” You never know what you'll find in people's diaries.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of letters written by Sam Goldwyn's secretary, Valerie Belletti, to a friend back home. This is a fascinating look at behind-the-scenes look at the movie-making industry. Edited by Cari Beauchamp.

[Stefanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of annotated letters really brings you back into the time. It was a joy to read especially for this film degree graduate. A must read for people who are interested in early Hollywood culture.

[Kathleen]

A totally charming book with a sad ending: after a refreshing and independent life and career, she gets married to a man for whom she feels she is settling and has a kid, just like she's supposed to do.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Years, later, I still think about this book. I loved everything about it. The everyday perspective in a "glamorous" place is pure charm.

[. . · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. Much of it is banal, but that's part of the point: Valeria's letters provide a view of day-to-day life in the Hollywood studios. This book brings the period and places to life.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly charming

[Hailey H · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really fun read. You can get a sense of what California was at the dawn of Hollywood and through a woman's eyes!