Jungle Red!

”[C]onversational yet info-packed … offers gossipy tidbits about [The Women’s] offscreen feuds and fights but also provides plenty of background that might surprise even the most devoted fans … will please cineastes, Old Hollywood buffs, and readers of LGBTQIA+ histories.“–Library Journal (starred review)
“Among all the Hollywood biographies and histories I’ve read, [Jungle Red!] truly stands out. I was genuinely impressed by the depth of research and the behind-the-scenes revelations I had never encountered. It’s a compelling and exciting read. Even the famous Bette Davis-Joan Crawford feud pales in comparison to the Norma Shearer-Joan Crawford rivalry that explodes off the pages … a sharp, funny, and surprisingly tender deep dive into one of the most daring films Hollywood ever made: a 1939 picture with an all-star cast, a Gay director, and not a single man on screen.” –Seattle Gay News (SGN) “Frank Gaimari”
“With a breezy but incisive veracity, [Illeana] Douglas reveals the intrigue behind granular aspects of the production of [The Women], especially the personality conflicts that upended everything from costume design to set lighting. A film fan’s dream.”–Booklist (starred review)
“In this fun and smart account, actor and film historian Douglas (Connecticut in the Movies) chronicles the making of The Women, a 1939 film featuring a cast of 135 women–including Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, and Norma Shearer–and no men. Douglas traces the long, circuitous development process for the film … [Jungle Red!] reveals the complexities inherent to getting a movie made, from stars buying the favor of the crew by having ice cream delivered to set to the perceived politics of a costume choice and camera setup. Film buffs will flock to this.”–Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Jungle Red! The Making of MGM’s The Women is a treasure trove of facts, dish and most of all insight into one of the screen’s great comedies. Illeana Douglas explores every facet of the film’s production; writing, direction, casting and filming. What a cast of characters! Among them F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Cukor, Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer and Rosalind Russell, each of them drawn with respect, sensitivity and wit. This is a welcome addition to any classic film aficionado’s bookshelf.”–Charles Busch, actor/playwright, Die, Mommie, Die!
“Bold and fun and meticulously researched! ReadingJungle Red! The Making of MGM’s The Women you feel like a fly on an MGM soundstage wall, transported back to that iconic year in film - 1939. Told with the unique insight of an actress writing about actresses. Did I mention it’s also as gossipy and entertaining and unexpectedly moving as the film itself? Jungle Red! is the book classic movie lovers didn’t know they needed.”–Steven Rogers, screenwriter, I, Tonya
“Everyone associated with the production of this beautifully made movie that was ahead of its time would be thrilled to see what a wonderful job Douglas has done in setting The Women in its rightful place as one of MGM’s very best movies.”–Jeanine Basinger, AFI Trustee and author of A Woman’s View: How Hollywood Spoke to Women 1930-1960
“Illeana Douglas’s riveting peek behind the scenes of the first all female-cast classic film The Women is not only so rich with early film history but charts the incredible self-made careers of these powerful, driven and incredibly talented female stars and writers, charting their own paths before women even had the right to vote. Yes, you will delight in the feuding shenanigans, especially between Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer, but you will come away with the highest respect and gratitude for their courage and determination, deeply aware of the debt we owe them all. Pure enjoyment!”–Allison Anders, writer/director, Grace of My Heart
“In Jungle Red!, Illeana Douglas offers incisive insight into the making of the classic 1939 film The Women, providing readers with a valuable addition to the literature on Hollywood’s ‘Golden Age.’”–Howard Gutner, author of Gowns by Adrian: The MGM Years 1928-1941
“Shearer! Crawford!! Russell!!! Cukor!!!! Adrian!!!!! It’s a pleasure to report that Illeana Douglas’ Jungle Red!, her forensic inquiry into the film’s difficult production, is every bit as entertaining, not to mention funny, as the movie itself.”–Scott Eyman, author of Joan Crawford: A Woman’s Face
“A long, delicious deep dive into The Women’s world of 1939, the story, the stars, the writers, the truth behind the gossip and the gossip behind the truth. In Illeana Douglas’s deeply researched, stylishly rendered account, everyone gets a backstory and they are fascinating, some (the many sides of Clare Booth Luce) revelatory. It’s illuminating to see how these characters and the actresses who play them both conform to and–occasionally, gleefully–subvert the conventions of their time. Jungle Red! is the case of a great idea in the hands of the perfect writer!”–Molly Haskell, film critic and author of From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies
“After devouring Jungle Red! in two sittings, I’m here to say that the multitalented Illeana Douglas was born to write about the making of one of the all-time funniest, bitchiest, wisest, most enjoyable movies of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Jungle Red! brims with the wit, intelligence, knowhow, self-assurance, and high style the subject deserves. It’s impressively researched, empathetic, amusingly reported, jam-packed with delicious gossip, and it assigns blame and lavishes credit on all the right parties–the playwright, the screenwriters, the director, the producer, the cast, the studio, the sexist culture in which it was created, the works. I’m guessing that any fan of The Women will savor this book’s intrigues, revelations, and delicious indulgences. Consider it the literary equivalent of the film’s high caloric Pancakes Barbara.”–Stephen Rebello, author of Criss-Cross - Making Hitchcock’s Dazzling, Subversive Masterpiece Strangers on a Train
“From recounting the firing of F. Scott Fitzgerald as the script writer and the pressure on Oscar-winning director George Cukor to keep his homosexuality a secret, and detailing the bitchiest conflicts between the all-female cast, Illeana Douglas has crafted a hilarious book on the making of The Women. The result is a spicy tale of how the meanest behavior behind the scenes led to a beloved, timeless classic. It made me miss old Hollywood.”–Susan Orlean, New York Times bestselling author of The Library Book
“I once had a brief reputation for being a ‘woman’s director, ’ until someone had the bright idea to let women tell their own stories. George Cukor had no such luck and from Douglas’s meticulously researched and entertaining book, I learned being known as a ‘lion tamer to the ladies’ came at a painful cost. What might Gone With the Wind have been like had Clark Gable not fired him for that very reputation?”–Griffin Dunne, actor, director, bestselling author of The Friday Afternoon Club
“If a major studio film was directed by a known homosexual, had an entirely female cast, and was made in 1939, one would assume it was decades ahead of its time, politically correct, and (excuse the expression) ‘woke.’ Illeana Douglas’ Jungle Red! puts that idea to rest with this thoroughly addictive deep dive into Hollywood bitchiness at its most hilarious.”–Amy Heckerling, writer/director, Clueless

Illeana Douglas has starred in films like Cape Fear, To Die For, Grace of My Heart, and Ghost World, as well as in TV shows like Goliath, Shrill, Entourage, and Six Feet Under. Douglas is the granddaughter of two-time Academy Award-winning actor Melvyn Douglas. A classic film lover, she hosted Trailblazing Women for Turner Classic Movies and participated in many film documentaries, including CNN: The Movies and Kino Lorber’s Pioneers: First Women Filmmakers, which she also executive produced and hosted. Her first book, I Blame Dennis Hopper: And Other Stories from a Life Lived In and Out of the Movies was named Best Pop Culture book of the year in 2015 by Entertainment Weekly. Her most recent book, Connecticut in the Movies, was a regional bestseller in 2023.

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