Author Manny Pacheco Documents Hidden Hollywood History

Author Manny Pacheco is on a mission to preserve the fading pieces of old Hollywood. Pacheco has worked on radio throughout his career and now does traffic on the fives for KNX (1070 AM, 97.1 FM). However, when he is not working, he has another aim: to preserve the stories of old Hollywood that are increasingly becoming at risk of disappearing.

Pacheco began documenting stories of old Hollywood on his blog Forgotten Hollywood and he released his first book, “Forgotten Hollywood, Forgotten History” in 2009. He focuses on the stories that are less often told — and the ones that are most at risk of being forgotten altogether.

For Pacheco, preserving these stories in books is more important than ever, especially in the digital era. He recalls an event he attended during which historian David McCullough spoke about how he discovered many stories from letters and diaries of ordinary people. Now, communication has shifted, meaning those resources are less common.

“We're going to lose all of that because people write in disposable ways in tweets and in texts and emails, and they can disappear,” Pacheco says. “All of a sudden, the next generation of Hollywood historians would not be able to tell that story.”

By 2020, Pacheco had written more than 2,300 blogs about Hollywood, mainly from the ’30s to the ’60s, and its lasting impact in the world today. 

“If a couple of movies that were deemed lost had been found or preserved, I was there to tell the story. If the Natalie Wood investigation, which seems to pop up from time to time, would be in the newspapers, I was there to tell the story,” Pacheco says. “So it just seems that I've been able to chronicle the past and how it has impacted the first quarter of the 21st century.”

Pacheco has written a three-part book series specifically highlighting the lives of actors who appear “below the titles” of films, meaning they were in supporting roles. They are the faces one might recognize on camera, but their names are less recognizable than stars like Cary Grant and Marilyn Monroe. In old Hollywood history, these actors’ stories are the ones most at risk of becoming forgotten as years go by. Pacheco has now written about 75 of those character actors, covering people like James Cagney, Betty Davis, Katharine Hepburn and Joan Crawford.

Most recently, Pacheco and his sister Virginia Vandewouwer compiled 50 of his best blogs — including one that received an LA Press Club award in 2013 — into his latest book, “Forgotten Hollywood: Beware of the Blog,” which just came out earlier this month.

“This book is very timely, it's very nostalgic and it's very entertaining, and it really belongs on any coffee table that I can think of,” Pacheco says.

Pacheco views Hollywood history as a timeless passion beloved by many because so many old films, from “Gone with the Wind” to “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” still resonate strongly with a modern audience. With today’s technology, people can analyze and learn about movies and Hollywood more extensively than ever before, and he sees a natural curiosity in the history of film in those he meets. His goal is to give people a story that they have not heard yet or found through their own research.

“You hear these same stories over and over again about ‘Casablanca,’ or you hear the same stories about the ‘Adventures of Robin Hood.’ What I try to do is find stories that people aren't telling. I try to find those nuggets,” Pacheco says.

Now that Pacheco has found a deep passion for preserving the history of Hollywood, he does not see himself retiring from it. He can envision himself doing this for the next two decades, even after he retires from his day job.

“Even after I retire from radio or teaching, the fact that I can still write and tell stories orally, or I can write them in the form of a blog or book is, for me, a very gratifying way to age, and that is something that I never bargained for,” Pacheco says. “I never bargained that I would be able to do something so fun and so fascinating.”

If you are interested in hearing some of Pacheco’s unique old Hollywood stories, he will be doing a lecture on Sept. 12 as part of the Lectures with Lianne series. Pacheco enjoys bringing fascinating stories to curious crowds and seeing them resonate with audiences.

“I think Forgotten Hollywood is my legacy, and that is to be able to tell forgotten Hollywood stories that are told in a way that is entertaining and that have an impact for today and in the future,” Pacheco says.



Bio:

Emily McGinn is a journalist based in the Los Angeles area. She enjoys reporting on and writing about a variety of topics from lifestyle to news, especially in her areas of specialty, environmental science and political science.