one of the people you have written about, heather hopper, was an early contributor to gossip. can you tell us about her and the role she played? prof. frost: she wasn't the first big powerhouse. parsons laid the groundwork and hopper challenged in the 1930's. hopper is fascinating to me. if people liked her they called her the duchess of dish. if they didn't like her she was the gargoyle of gossip. she was a powerhouse. she wielded gossip unmercifully. i think what is interesting is she was political. she was conservative politically. she knew gossip to cap about celebrity culture as well as politics. most hollywood gossip is positive. it is puffing the actor, to get people to see the movie. the majority is positive. the negative gossip, the scandalous gossip gets the headlines and people remember. they were part of the industry. it was a balancing act. they needed to help the industry and maintain their own sense of objectivity and be critical. prof. feeley: parsons and hopper were rivals. how often did they write? what were their main subjects? prof. feeley: they were operat

one of the people you have written about, heather hopper was an early contributor to gossip. can you tell us about her and the role she played? prof. frost: she wasn't the first big powerhouse. parsons laid the groundwork and hopper challenged in the 1930's. hopper is fascinating to me. if people liked her they called her the duchess of dish. if they didn't like her she was the gargoyle of gossip. she was a powerhouse. she wielded gossip unmercifully. i think what is interesting is she was political. she was conservative politically. she knew gossip to cap about celebrity colterulture as well as politics. most hollywood gossip is positive. it is puffing the actor, to get people to see the movie. the majority is positive. the negative gossip, the scandalous gossip gets the headlines and people remember. they were part of the industry. it was a balancing act. they needed to help the industry and maintain their own sense of objectivity and be critical. prof. feeley: parsons -- >> parsons and hopper were rivals. how often did they write? what were their main subjects? prof. feele