Party Animals: A Hollywood Tale of Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n' Roll Starring the Fabulous Allan Carr

Hollywood in the 1970s was an age when movie stars, supermodels, and rock 'n' roll musicians could begin to be seen crossing celebrity lines and attending over-the-top parties. At the center of all this was Allan Carr. Robert Hofler looks into Carr's rise as Hollywood's No. 1 party host, to becoming a major movie producer, and being banned by the Academy Awards in his book //Party Animals: A Hollywood Tale of Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n' Roll Starring the Fabulous Allan Carr//. Right away, readers are introduced to Carr's extravagant taste as his sexual and drug riddled house parties--such as Cycle Sluts Party, Mattress Party, and the AC/DC Disco Party--quickly become legendary amongst the Hollywood and media crowd. Hofler uses interviews with celebrities and Carr's high school friends to make readers feel as if they are walking through these excessive fetes. //Party Animals// captures the spirit of Allan Carr and hedonistic era of 1970s Hollywood. Just as Carr did for his productions and parties, Hofler leaves out no details as readers become acquainted with the flamboyant producer of //Grease//, //Tommy//, and what came to be known as the worst Oscars in history. Reviewed by Robyn Oxborrow

It's the second best worst movie ever made. Valley of the Dolls is No. 1 . . . Can't Stop the Music follows. The 1980 musical epic was the first(and only) time The Village People starred in a film, proofing it takes a Village to (almost) stop a Carr in his tracks. At least the flick is credited with the death of disco. The '70s were the pinnacle of Hollywood's hedonistic age--sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll. And no one embraced and cultivated the on-the-edge lifestyle more than the flamboyant, obese, caftan-wearing Allan Carr. Having made his reputation producing and promoting such major movie hits as Grease and Tommy and the cross-dressing Broadway smash La Cage aux Folles, Carr anointed himself Hollywood's premier social patriarch, hosting exclusive and extravagant parties with guest lists that included legends as well as rising stars--everyone from Roman Polanski to Sidney Poitier, Diana Ross and Mick Jagger. Invitations to gatherings at his opulent home--with its bars, disco, and private rooms where guests could indulge their cocaine habits or sexual exploits--were highly coveted. But Carr's fall from grace was as dramatic as his rise to the top. He was banned from the Academy Awards after producing what is remembered as the worst-ever Oscars (yes you remember . . .the one where Rob Lowe "sang" with Snow White) His health failing, he became a personal and professional pariah. And let us not forget Grease II. Now Carr is steering for a comeback. At least on paper. In Party Animals, Robert Hofler examines the glittery life and drug-riddled excesses of the overtly gay Carr in delightfully delicious, almost sinful, detail. Grease may have been the word, but nothing greased Carr's wheels better than a pretty times, pretty caftans, pretty drugs and pretty boys. Hofler takes us behind-the-scenes, exposing scandal, sex and decadent sordid lives so sizzling and sordid you might want to reach for asbestos gloves. Ouch!

I enjoyed Robert Hofler's Henry Willson biography and snatched this book up as soon as I saw it. I know that Hofler, a senior editor at Variety, is plugged into the Hollywood zeitgeist he chronicles so deftly. Allan Carr actually has much in common with Henry Willson, the overweight, homely producer who had the power to make any chorus boy's dream come true. Carr goes through a lot of chorus boys and sees a lot of things at the decadent parties he throws at his home, Hillhaven Lodge. But, because many of the people who attended those parties are still with us, and because Allan was considered toxic after the 1989 Oscars he produced, we perhaps don't get the showstopper quotes that might have fleshed this biography out even more (pun intended). We do get excellent dish on the late Nuryev though. I would haved loved to know what was on those party tapes at Hillhaven Lodge. And what they were doing. But I'm nosy that way. Five stars. Great read!

This bio is a lot of fun and reads like a novel, but is also well-researched. It seems Hofler talked to everyone whoever knew Allan Carr. "Party Animals" is an effective followup to the author's previous biography, "The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson," about agent Henry Willson. "Party Animals" is about another marginal life in Hollywood, but one with real significance. Carr was at the center of Hollywood's party scene for over a decade, and then paid the price when he produced an Oscars telecast that did not meet with the establishment approval. Carr, however, was the one that created the red carpet hoopla that epitomizes today's awards shows. He deserves to be remembered.

Hofler writes about the wild 1970s party scene in Hollywood as if it were a Harold Robbins novel -- only all true.And better! Who knew? Everyone,it seems! PS The behind-the-scenes expose of the making of the Village People's Can't Stop the Music movie would make a great movie.