"Children of Hollywood" - Fascinating tales of growing up with a celebrity parent, straight from the mouth of the children themselves. Their stories will make you laugh, make you cry and make you realise that being in the shadow of a celebrity parent is much harder than it ought to be........

"Children of Hollywood" covers the personal stories of what it was like to grow up with a celebrity as a parent. Families covered include those of W.C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, Eddie Cantor, Mario Lanza, Stan Laurel, Jerry Lewis, Douglas Fairbanks, Tyrone Power, Stan Laurel, Bing Crosby, Harold Lloyd, Harry Langdon, the Three Stooges and Boris Karloff, just to name a few. Research is drawn from interviews with celebrity offspring, who also provided never-before-published snapshots of Hollywood legends at home.

(PRWEB) August 18, 2004 -- Living in the shadow of a famous parent can have powerful effects, from opening professional doors to pressure so great it leads to suicide. Some children of stars are proud of their roots while others live in secrecy. This is a rare look into the private lives of the children (and, in a few cases, grandchildren) of the classic Hollywood icons, telling the stresses and inspirations of living with great actors who may or may not have been great parents. Some movie stars protected their offspring, but others used them as publicity props or even made them into rivals. Despite their unusual youths, some succeeded in the movies or elsewhere, but most never lived up to the standard expected of them by the public. Many lost their parents, whether to the extremes of the celebrity lifestyle, to divorce, or to their careers. From the beautiful bedtime stories Harpo Marx and his wife told their four adopted children to explain where theyd come from, to the studded belt Bing Crosby used to punish his sons for mentioning their famous father to school chums, this work tells the best and worst of growing up in a celebrity home.

"Children of Hollywood" is currently available for pre order at - www.mcfarlandpub.com