Reverse to Innocence Summary

Deborah O’Connell (or Hardkaste, depending on the year one knew her) is a well-known actress. Waking up from a luxurious nap in her Los Angles home one morning, she suddenly decides to write her memoirs – only of the last five years. A 26 year old (or 25 by some accounts) with numerous opportunities ahead of her, so why write?

Well, the year is 1938 and many things have changed from her arrival five years before, professionally and personally.

She begins her story where she started off: New York City. As a 21 year old tough talking chorus girl, she secures an audition with Davin Taplin, a top choreographer in the movies. She lands a small part in his film, precipitating a move to California.

Meanwhile, Buddy, the man who got her the audition in the first place, is placing bets on her outside the theater. Typical Buddy. Seeing this, she gets serious, if only for a few minutes, to discuss her relationship with him a few years before that. Deborah looks back on how a newspaper article changed her life, mind, and views of both herself and her way of life, making her leave her restricted life with Buddy and opt for a freer lifestyle.

Deborah’s two roommates, the featherbrained Audrey and more sensible Lily, have successful auditions as well, and the three of them leave their lives behind in New York for the allure of California. Deborah sets out ready to take the movie industry by storm.

Or so she thinks.

Once off the train, she realizes that life operates differently in California. In the foreign and fast paced world of motion pictures, the once tough Deborah tries to regain her being and confidence. She slowly acquaints herself with the prohibiting rules of the studio system and starts making friends when she is attacked by a man.

Or so she believes.

She instinctively fights back, but that is the wrong thing to do to Greg, a movie producer who thinks she shows some potential as a serious actress. With their relationship already off to a rocky start, Greg takes the usually headstrong Deborah under his wing and helps her out. Before she knows it, she is a starlet, rapidly moving up in the industry. But she owes it all to a man. Greg is present for every argument and every trip she makes to the publicity department for her never-ending wrong-doings. Deborah starts getting fed-up with the fact that a man is running her life. She decides to fight back, as usual, but takes her anger out on a different matter.

Deborah arrived in California at a chaotic and intense time. Pre-Code Hollywood, as it was later called, is in full swing. As June 1934 rolls around, the growing power of the SRC and the Catholic Church hangs in the air above all the studios. So as Deborah tries to deal with Greg outside of the studio, she also has to fight inane men who earnestly believe that she is endangering the youth of America with her sheer nightgown (which really is not sheer).

Faced with stubborn publicity men, prying interviewees, and an apparent hatred of her name, Deborah tries to stay afloat in a town run by power hungry men. Deborah learns that attempting to live by her own standards while battling the suffocating studio system and impending Production Code can be a hard task. When Deborah loses one big battle, she realizes that she can’t do it all herself. Once again, Greg is there for her to patch things up.

A life she once ran away from is presenting itself again, with a new and more promising look. In a town where imaginary characters, false pretenses, and dashed hopes run rampant, Deborah realizes that a stable life is a rare find that she must grab before it floats away.

In her witty and surprisingly charming voice, Deborah recalls just a few of the hilarious days when she actually had to cook a meal (something she would never do again), learn to drive a car (the state of California will not grant her a license), and was this close to being in a publicity scandal (she still holds firm to her statement that it was not her fault).

Deborah eventually discovers that even with devotion and hard work, she can’t win every battle, but she can sure try to. Through mishaps and dilemmas, she sees that the life she always dreamt of is standing right in front of her. And at the end of it all the self proclaimed independent woman spots the big truth: men aren’t that bad.