Gossip columnist 1930s through the 1950s, the two best-known - and competing - Hollywood gossip columnists were Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons. Well-timed leaks about a star's purported romantic adventures helped the studios to create and sustain the public's interest in the studios' star actors. As well, the movie studios' publicity agents acted as unnamed "well-informed inside sources" who provided misinformation and rumors to counteract whispers about celebrity secrets — such as homosexuality or an out-of-wedlock child — that could have severely damaged not only the reputation of the movie star in question, but the movie star's box office viability. Having fallen
By Right of Purchase with some reported deterioration in the sixth and last reel. By Right of Purchase By Right of Purchase is a 1918 American silent drama film starring Norma Talmadge in a story produced by her husband Joseph Schenck. The film was distributed by Lewis J. Selznick's Select Pictures Company. An up-and-coming actress and soon to be gossip columnist, Hedda Hopper, has a small role in this picture. As described in a film magazine, against the promptings of her heart, Margot Hughes (Talmadge) marries Chadwick Himes (O'Brien) and completely ignores the fact that her husband is very much in love with her.