Hollywood Handbook

The subhead for this sleazy and rather dull pseudo-expose of Hollywood scandal should probably be Style Slaughters Substance. The ugly, tabloid-sendup layout not only makes the book difficult to read but degrades the little bit of quality it contains. Editor Balazs, who owns the Chateau Marmont Hotel (famous as the place where several celebrities checked in in order to check out), had the taste to choose a very funny selection from Lillian Ross's Picture and the chilling William Faulkner short story ""Golden Land"" but wastes too much space on the tedious excesses of the druggy 1960s. The surprisingly conservative recounting of the ""Top Ten Hollywood Scandals"" breaks no new ground. If Balazs's intention was to pique interest in the Chateau Marmont, that venerable survivor comes out sounding like a place with tatty carpets and pleated lampshades, where the sad and desperate go to end their lives. Photos. (Dec.)