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
Hedda Hopper "This Is Hollywood", sponsored by Procter & Gamble. It ran until June 28, 1947. Expanding to 30 minutes on NBC, she was host of a variety series, "The Hedda Hopper Show", broadcast from October 14, 1950, to November 11, 1950 on Saturdays, then from November 19, 1950, to May 20, 1951 on Sundays. This program featured music, talk and dramatized excerpts from movies with well-known guests, such as Broderick Crawford doing a scene from "All the King's Men. On January 10, 1960, a television special, "Hedda Hopper's Hollywood", aired on NBC. Hosted by Hopper, guest interviews included a remarkably eclectic