thanks SB,
I've heard stories that names were changed but that Vito's godson and a few other characters in the book were based on actual people.
You think Woltz and his perversions were based on a real life studio head and perhaps that's why a certain segment of the story was deleted from the film?
Allegedly the "child" is based on a hollywood legend who had a sicko stage mother.
The first three times I read the GF, this part of the story went over my head..I thought that there must be some kind of slang that I just didn't understand. It was unthinkable that I read what I actually thought I read.
Of course a lot of ancient Hollywood history is shrouded in lies, self-serving memoirs, gossip, censored storylines and the fact that most of the old timers are all gone.
But I've read that Rita Hayworth and Clara Bow were both molested by their fathers. Howard Hughes had just about every famous female movie star of his time and was not averse to underage girls (or boys supposedly). The same thing was true, only more so of Errol Flynn, who quite deliberately would look for underage girls and was acquitted of statutory rape in one trial. Chaplin had an "affair" with a 14 yr old actress (Mildred Harris) who he met at a Hollywood party. She had appeared almost nude in the movie
Intolerance. This was encouraged by the girl's mother.
They married when Mildred became pregnant. His later wife, Lillita McMurray he seduced when she was 15 and under threat of a paternity suit decided to marry her. And there were plenty more such scandals, rumors and stories.
Surely Puzo would have been aware of these sorts of stories. But I don't think Woltz's proclivities were based on any mogul/actor in particular. You start looking at the backgrounds of a lot of those people and you'll find some disturbing things. But like I said, most of them are long dead. I'm sure the current crop of Hollywood actors, directors, producers and moguls are ever so much better behaved...
