List & Discuss Some Of Your Favorite Books & Bios About Classic Hollywood

Please do -- I love DL book threads.

"Dark City Dames" sounds great ... but my library doesn't have it and the list price on Amazon is higher than the original price (it came out in 2001). I'll keep looking.

I liked "All About All About Eve" for the background to the film and participants. It was an interesting companion to one of my favorite films.

You want a great read, try Pam Grier "Foxy: My Life in Three Acts" best Hollywood bio I've read in along time. About her adventures in Hollywood in the 70's.

Another is "Debbie: My Life" by Debbie Reynolds, not the new one, that's just a rehash. The original is terrific.

"PRINCESS MERLE: THE ROMANTIC LIFE OF MERLE OBERON" by Charles Higham. It made quite an impression on me. I was on a Hollywood bio kick at the time. I did not know she was Eurasian and had to hide it, and felt bad that she had a hysterectomy and didn't know it until she and Alex Korda tried to have children. And she loved sex. Her life was very interesting and she certainly was one of the great faces from the Golden Age.

Just remembered a few more............

"I'D LOVE TO KISS YOU: CONVERSATIONS WITH BETTE DAVIS" by Whitney Stine - A loving but still seemingly truthful portrait of Bette Davis during her last few decades. I think this is where the account of Miss Davis' infamous encounter with Mae West originated.

"RED: THE TEMPESTUOUS LIFE OF SUSAN HAYWARD" by Robert LaGuardia & Gene Arceri - You know you're in for a good read when Robert Preston is quoted on the first page as saying, "Anything I have to say about Susan Hayward you couldn't print." A fascinating read about a very complicated woman. You'll walk away from the book disliking, pitying & admiring her at the same time.

I just read Debbie Reynolds' second autobiography and most of it consisted of how she got screwed over by her third husband and her huge struggle to open a Hollywood memorabilia museum.

She also provide brief recounts of her experiences making every movie she was in.

While occasionally interesting, the book was surprisingly dull and dry - and while I feel sorry for all the trauma she endured, it was a repetitive read. I ended up thinking she needed a livelier ghost writer.

"HOLLYWOOD BEAUTY: LINDA DARNELL AND THE AMERICAN DREAM" by Ronald L. Davis - Heartbreaking biography of Miss Darnell. Mr. Davis paints a vivid portrait of her life from sweet & innocent starlet, to spoiled Hollywood Star & her slow descent into alcoholism.

"IDA LUPINO: A BIOGRAPHY" by William Donati - Gripping biography of one of Hollywood's Toughest Dames & a pioneer as far as Female Directors are concerned. One thing that strikes me about these Hollywood bios is that these people had it all (Looks, Fame, Talent, Monet, etc) but it still never seemed to end well.

Montgomery Clift: Beautiful Loser, by Barney Hoskyns.

Monty: A Biography of Montgomery Clift

ELSA LANCHESTER, HERSELF - The Bride of Frankenstein actress is a terrific and funny writer and she lived quite a life; she doesn't cover up the dish about her gay husband Charles Laughton either

CIty of Nets: A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940's Paperback – by Otto Friedrich

I read it revery few years, and each time it leads me off in completely new directions.

'Bette and Joan: the Divine Feud'. I can't count how many times I have reread that - it's so great.

MY FACE FOR THE WORLD TO SEE — Liz Renay's journey from dirt poverty to winning a Marilyn Monroe lookalike contest, from small parts in Z-movies to becoming a stripper, meeting gangsters, going to women's prison and a good deal more. Total pulp, but completely cinematic and Liz comes off as a good old broad.

THE INDUSTRY by producer Saul David. Not as dishy as I expected but actually very interesting.

HOLLYWOOD by Garson Kanin.

NIGHTMARE OF ECSTASY by Rudolph Grey. A comprehensive look at the life of Edward D. Wood, Jr, with tons of interviews and just an amazing amount of detail, without being dry at all.

MISS TALLULAH BANKHEAD by Lee Isr*el is good but Lee gets a little homophobic toward the end, and she has admitted to having forged some celebrity letters and stolen others. She claims she wrote the book on Bankhead before she started on her literary crime spree, though.

I just bought a copy of Joan Crawford's MY WAY OF LIFE and I am itching to get into it.

I loved NIGHTMARE OF ECSTASY.

Lee I.'s book KILGALLEN was a very good read. I don't understand why she went on a life of literary crime; she was a fine writer. She later wrote a book called CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME: MEMOIRS OF A LITERARY FORGER, but I haven't read it.

HAYWIRE by Brooke Hayward

"Monster," by John Gregory Dunne.

"Lion of Hollywood," Scott Eyman

"Memo From David O. Selznick"

"Showman," by David Thomson

Agree with the aforementioned "City of Nets" and "People Will Talk." I also enjoyed the recent "Ava: The Secret Conversations." Tawdry and depressing as hell, but not as fake as most movie star bios.

Planting My Own Tree - Helen Lawson

JUDY by Gerold Frank is probably the best movie star bio I've ever read. It's so well written you feel you are in the story.

I loved David Shipman's bio of Judy Garland. So scuzzy, so full of info about tantrums and overdoses and box office receipts.

Haven't read the Gerold Frank book.

Maureen O'Hara's autobiography, "'Tis Herself " in which She basically outs John Ford as an abusive, repressed closet case.

Although Hollywood was tangential to Mary Martin's career, she made several films at Paramount in the early 40s, working with many film greats. She writes about her mainly unmemorable film career in her delightful (and ghost-written) autobiography, My Heart Belongs.

The book includes a mini gallery showing various attempts by Paramount's costume and makeup departments to "do up" Mary in the style of various glamor-gals of her era. Her bulbous nose stood between her and a bigger film career. Like Streisand years later, Martin declined to have her nose fixed not wishing to gamble on it changing her singing voice.

Martin met and married Richard Halliday in Hollywood where he worked behind the scenes. With both their careers stalling, they decided to try their luck in New York with Richard managing Mary's career. Their success helped make Broadway history.

David Niven's little known Bring On the Empty Horses. A bit of golden years Hollywood diss, wit and charm.

[all posts by tedious, racist idiot removed.]

"THE DAY THE LAUGHTER STOPPED": About the infamous Fatty Arbuckle murder trial.

"MARLENE DIETRICH": By her daughter Maria Riva. Wonderfully bitchy.

"CLARA BOW: RUNNIN' WILD": Mary Miles Minter is Mary Pickford by comparison to the poor woman's life. Speaking of which:

"A CAST OF KILLERS": About the scandalous murder of gay director William Desmond Taylor, and its investigation by King Vidor. William J Mann has a book coming out next month called "Tinseltown" that retells this story.

"THE SPEED OF SOUND": About the transition from silent films to talkies and the careers it made and ruined.

[quote]R13

Renay was full of shit. She claimed that she won a Monroe look-a-like contest in 1947. Really ? Nobody knew who the hell Marilyn Monroe was in 1947. Renay claimed to have slept with every major male star etc...Most of it is hard to believe.

Then again, plenty of the stars were self serving in their autobiographies; like Shelley Winters, Tony Curtis & Mickey Rooney, all of whom placed themselves at the scene of every pivotal moment in Hollywood history, decision making.

I enjoyed "If This was Happiness" about Rita Hayworth, "Beyond Paradise" about John Gilbert and, another vote for the ridiculous but fun to read "Bette and Joan:The Divine Feud"

"All About All About Eve" is absurd. A college thesis achingly stretched out to book form. The author seems to believe every single movie before or since has been influenced by AAA. He even includes a mock conversation populated by gay men who have just seen the film in which he gets the facts wrong. I believe he also wrote a book about "Sunset Blvd" which I barely made it through.

If Kenny is readin tthis thread, I bet he's pissed by now.

Sam Staggs, the author of All About All About Eve is a hack. He's even dissed by Celeste Holm on the audio commentary of All About Eve (he provides the second audio commentary on the DVD). His book of Sunset Blvd is worse, it that's possible.,

THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL: HOLLYWOOD IN THE FIFTIES by Sam Kashner and Jennifer McNair. It cannot match Otto Friedrich's brilliant CITY OF NETS (as it explicitly tries to do) because it doesn't have the central conceit that a bunch of Marxist Central European geniuses had to go to Hollywood after being chased out by Hitler, and also because its authors are not nearly as widely read and learned as Friedrich. But they do know a lot about Hollywood, and it is an excellent and fun read all the same.

I don't personally recommend CLARA BOW: RUNNIN' WILD. Basically, David Stenn is a borderline con artist. His Clara Bow book contains some wild stuff that has no source -- he footnotes things but if you check the footnotes, half the time, either nothing is there or the source listed is impossible. For instance, a 1960 obit will have a footnote that leads to some 1937 movie magazine.

I also know that several serious (and some anonymous) film collectors are livid with him for purchasing some nice collector prints of Bow films, then claiming he "discovered" and "rescued" them and was now a film preservationist. Stenn also was an unethical ass during the filming of GIRL 27.

Then again, I recommended a book by Lee Isr*el who is an admitted con artist, so maybe I'm being a hypocrite here.

[quote]Renay was full of shit.

Noooo. I have a copy of her book in my to-read pile. Ah well, I'll read it anyway, grains of salt included.

[quote]Renay was full of shit. She claimed that she won a Monroe look-a-like contest in 1947. Really ? Nobody knew who the hell Marilyn Monroe was in 1947. Renay claimed to have slept with every major male star etc...Most of it is hard to believe.

Her best story is about having sex with Jerry Lewis. She claims he wouldn't have penetrative intercourse because that would be "unfaithful" to his wife, so he made her parade around with her big tits while he whacked off on a small piece of white shag carpet he carried in his pocket for just that purpose. When it was over, she claims he told her, "This is the most honored piece of carpet in the world!"

[all posts by tedious, racist idiot removed.]

[quote] "THE DAY THE LAUGHTER STOPPED": About the infamous Fatty Arbuckle murder trial.

Is that title still available?

Melissa, dear, may I suggest the title, The Day the Loud-mouth Stopped instead?

[quote]I just read Debbie Reynolds' second autobiography and most of it consisted of how she got screwed over by her third husband and her huge struggle to open a Hollywood memorabilia museum

Agreed, that ;s why I said go for the first one, a really good book.

[quote]Then again, plenty of the stars were self serving in their autobiographies; like Shelley Winters, Tony Curtis & Mickey Rooney, all of whom placed themselves at the scene of every pivotal moment in Hollywood history, decision making.

Tony Curtis was a lousy one. It was if he just got a hold of his IMBD list and was, my first film was "Criss Cross" with Yvonne DeCarlo...I fucked her. Then I made "Not with My Wife, You Don't!" with Virna Lisi, she wouldn't fuck me. He claims he had a quickie in his dressing room with Natalie Wood one day while filming the iceberg scene in "The Great Race". He barely and mean barely acknowledges his kids.

Are any of these books half as good as Parades Gone By, by Kevin Brownlow?

I'm sold on "CITY OF NETS" & will be ordering my copy shortly. I'd never heard of it until this thread but every review is glowing! Looking forward to it.

R20 , David Shipman penned one of my favorite reference books "THE GREAT MOVIE STARS: THE GOLDEN YEARS" which is excellent. If his Garland Bio is anything like that it's sure to be a great read.

Those Glorious Glamor Years: Classic Costume Design of the 1930s.

Sumptuous picture book with hundreds of costumes illustrated in beautiful black-and-white stills accompanied by an abundant and intelligent text. Strongly recommended for anyone interested in women's fashion and costumes.

This was a good topic. Anyone read any good Classic Hollywood bios recently?

The John Engstead chapter in Kobal's "People Will Talk" was my favorite chapter in an excellent book! What a tough, sassy old queen John was! He deserved a book of his own.