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 naivete, Valeria's letters intimately document a personal journey while giving us a unique portrait of a fascinating era.

"Those who, like Valeria Belletti, worked entry-level jobs in early Hollywood had ringside seats at one of the country's most happening scenes. Belletti, the daughter of Italian immigrants, worked as a secretary for Samuel Goldwyn and Cecil B. DeMille from 1925 to 1929 and this volume presents her nave letters to a friend back home in New Jersey. Alas, her missives read like a young girl's diary (Belletti was in her late 20s), not a savvy view of Tinsel Town. Despite Belletti's proximity to the rich and powerful — Rudolph Valentino and Gary Cooper, to name two — her musings are remarkably chaste by 21st-century standards. All she can muster for Goldwyn is: 'I don't particularly like him, but he's no worse than the others.' Although she hints at tawdry interludes — star affairs, scandalous deaths, studio shenanigans — she refuses to reveal anything of substance. Editor Beauchamp, an Emmy-nominated documentary film writer, interjects commentary throughout, contextualizing the events Belletti relates. But dispatches on Belletti's outfits for movie screenings and details on her dates ('We had real champagne.... It was a case of love at first sight') don't make for scintillating — or even enlightening — reading. Only readers with an ardent interest in the period will find these letters of note." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"Valeria Belletti's letters to her good friend Irma are sure to be devoured by all who want an inside look at Hollywood in the twenties. These letters make for some of the most fascinating reading about the goings on at the studios in one its greatest eras. Cari Beauchamp's editing provides a superb read, and is not to be missed by all who love and laugh at the world of movie-making."--Mary Lea Bandy, Chief Curator, Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art, New York

A real-life, behind-the-scenes glimpse of Hollywood in the 1920s is revealed in letters by Sam Goldwyn's secretary.