Virginia Bruce

Under My Skin

Author:    Scott O'Brien

Genre:     Biography/Entertainment

Hardcover; Digital Book (Paperback Available)

ISBN #:    9781629330273

BearManor Media

504 Pages

$43.14; $9.95 Amazon

October 8, 2008

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

In Born to Dance (1936), Virginia Bruce tempted James Stewart while introducing Cole Porter's "I've Got You Under My Skin."  Thyat same year she dazzled as the archtypical showgirl in the Oscar-winning "The Great Ziegfeld."  Fans and critics saw her poied for major stardom at MGM.

Delve into her turbulent life and career.  In James Robert Parish's Foreword, he notes Virginia's quiet charisma, the haunted, distracted lookj of her eyes, her vibrant voice, and her "off screen life...far more exciting and exotic than any role she experienced on camera." 

Love was very important to Virginia.  She fell hard for screen idol John Gilbert during their filming of Downstairs (1932).  When the virile, yet deeply troubled Gilbert proposed marriage, Hollywood held its collective breath.  The merger ended in divorce, but provided the basis for the Selznick's A Star Is Born (1937).  Virginia's career took off, but the question was, "Did Louis B. Mayer have it in for her?"  Mayer had hated Gilbert.  After a brief, idyllic, yet tragic second marriage to director-producer J. Walter Ruben, Virginia's career focused more on radio, and an occasional "B" film.  Her marriage to a young Turk, Ali Ipar in 1946 provided another unusual twist to Virginia's life, and ultimately a bittersweet ending.

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I love classic films and own thousands of them.  I also read as many of the Golden Age of Hollywood biographies that I can find, and own hundreds.  When I saw this one of Virginia Bruce, I knew I had to read it.  I also think that Scott O'Brien is a wonderful biographer.  He does his research, and he never diminishes his subject, nor shows disdain for them.  His biographies are honest, warts and all.  Which made me rather sad to read this, but nevertheless happy that I did.

I love Virginia Bruce.  Her voice, her stature.  I think she was one of the great natural beauties of Hollywood.  But above all -- those sleepy eyes.  Her eyes were most expressive, and as much a part of her beauty as anything else.  It is what drew me first when I saw her in a film with Ricardo Cortez (another actor I am fond of).

Virginia never put her career first in her life.  She wanted love, and she fell hard for silent actor John Gilbert.  He had a wonderful smile, and charisma on screen.  Off screen, he'd been married three times, and Virginia was his fourth wife.  She'd loved him when she first met him when they were working on a film together, and married him without hesitation.  Unfortunately, John had his own demons he could not fight, including the fact that his wife's star was rising while his was fading.  Even after the birth of their daughter, Susan Ann, John couldn't think of anything but his career.  This was his own downfall.  

When they divorced, Virginia was crushed.  But his death soon after left her with more than just memories.  Their daughter became her whole life, and she would dedicate it to Susan Ann, even at the cost of her career.  Virginia could have been a greater star if she had pushed a bit, but she didn't like contention and took the roles offered to her.  While they may seem insignificant by today's standards, watch the films.  She is mesmerizing in her performances.  

Virginia found love again with J. Walter Ruben; they fell in love while on the set of another of her films which he was directing, and she married him as soon as it was completed.  Her life, it seemed, had taken another turn, and she was finally happy, welcoming a son, Christopher Ruben.  Although her happiness wasn't to last.

When she fell in love with Turk Ali Ipar, it was a mistake; but Virginia would not hear anyone telling her so.  In my opinion, this man was a scoundrel.  He destroyed her life and she was never the same again.  In the quest for love, Virginia found the ultimate heartbreak, although she would never describe it the way I have, nor the way Mr. O'Brien has categorized it.  He did not offer any judgement; but I have no such qualms.  Ipar was exactly as I described him, and Virginia would have been a much more well-known star without him.  She could have soared, but didn't.

In the end, her life did leave a legacy with her films.  If you have not seen any of them, I urge you to do so.  She deserves at least this.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Virginia-Bruce-Under-My-Skin-ebook/dp/B07354WNXQ/ref

Goodreads:    https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6866073065

More on Scott O'Brien's Books:    https://www.amazon.com/stores/Scott-OBrien/author/B002BLLB6I?ref=

Jayne Mansfield: The Girl Couldn't Help It

Author:  Eve Golden

Genre:  Biography

Hardcover; Digital Book

ISBN #:  9780813180953

University of Kentucky Press

452 Pages

$34.95; $33.20 Amazon

May 6, 2021

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Jayne Mansfield (1933-1967) was driven not just to be an actress but to be a star.  One of the most iconic sex symbols of her time, she was known for her platinum blonde hair, hourglass figure, outrageously low necklines, and flamboyant lifestyle.  Hardworking and ambitious, Mansfield proved early in her career that she was adept in both comic and dramatic roles, but her tenacious search for the spotlight and her risqué promotional stunts caused her to be increasingly snubbed in Hollywood.

In this joyful biography, the first definitive one of Mansfield, Eve Golden reveals the star that Andy Warhol called "the poet of publicity" as a smart, determined woman.  While she always had her sights set on the silver screen, Mansfield got her start as Rita Marlowe in the Broadway show Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?  She made her film debut in the low-budget drama Female Jungle (1955) before landing the starring role in The Girl Can't Help It (1956).  Mansfield followed this success with a dramatic role in The Wayward Bus (1957), winning a Golden Globe for New Star of the Year, and starred alongside Cary Grant in Kiss Them for Me (1957).  Despite her popularity, her appearance as the first celebrity in Playboy and her nude scene in Promises! Promises! (1963) cemented her reputation as an outsider.

Golden looks beyond Mansfield's flashy public image and tragic death to fully explore her life and legacy.  This funny, engaging biography offers a nuanced portrait of a fascinating woman who loved every minute of life and lived every minute to the utmost.

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I am a huge classic film fan and own thousands of them.  I also own hundreds of biographies of Hollywood actors, directors, studios, etc.  I'm not interested in the actors of today, mostly because I watched those films with my parents.  So I am of course eager to get my hands on anything written about actors from the past.  Therefore, I wanted to read this biography.

Much has been written about actress Jayne Mansfield, but I've never thought anything had given her any justice.  Eve Golden is a prolific author who has written other Hollywood biographies, and I've found her to be a fair judge and not biased on one side or the other.  

Jayne Mansfield was an enigma.  She wanted it all: marriage, motherhood, and utter Stardom.  She tried to have it all, and failed so miserably, but never conceded that she did.  She was a lovely person, both lovely in face and in her treatment of others, but was never taken seriously. Perhaps it's because she was given terrible scripts and offers; perhaps it's because she herself was at fault.  I first saw her many, many years ago in a film called The Girl Can't Help It, and thought she was delightful.  In that film, her gangster boyfriend wanted her to be a star, but all she wanted was a home and family.  Maybe this is what should have happened to her in real life, but it was not meant to be.

She had a kind nature and while true stardom eluded her, she signed every object fans thrust in front of her.  She talked to all reporters, even though they trashed everything she did and spoke badly of her.  She went on tours, both to plug films and see the soldiers overseas.  Jayne never landed in one place for any length of time, dragging both children and pets (and even husbands) with her.  

When she died, reporters tried to make it lurid stories to sell papers.  Lies were told, and to this day there are people that still believe them.  She was thirty-four years old, still beautiful and young, like her fellow actors who died young - Marilyn Monroe and Jean Harlow.  But while they achieved their own brand of stardom, Jayne never achieved hers until after her death.  It's a sad commentary.

I will say I was at first skeptical of this biography when Ms. Golden quoted a Bob Hope film - The Lemon Drop Kid - as being a western.  It's not; he plays a con artist and the movie takes place during the Christmas season.  I watch it every year during the holidays.  So, you can see why I was skeptical.  But I found the rest of her information quite well researched and quotes from Jayne's family accompany this.  

This is a hefty book that delves into Jayne's birth and upbringing; her need to have a man in her life at all times - perhaps because she craved love as well as adoration? - and her struggle to make a name for herself in Hollywood.  It's well-researched, goes into great length of a recounting of Jayne's film, stage, etc., appearances and what the result of those were.  Not only were reporters cruel, but other actors and studio executives.  Yet Jayne never had an unkind word to say about anyone. 

She was also educated, played two instruments and spoke several languages.  She loved children and animals.  It makes one think when you read this.  You get an insight into who the woman really was.  She wasn't perfect; no one is nor can they aspire to be so.  But when you cease reading this book, you think how nice it would have been to sit and talk with her.  But since that's impossible, you can still read the book.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Jayne-Mansfield-Couldnt-Screen-Classics/dp/0813180953/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3769481344

More on Eve Golden's Books:  https://www.amazon.com/Eve-Golden/e/B000APSXOA/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1

Killalot (An Ivy Meadows Mystery #6)

Author:  Cindy Brown
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; Trade Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781635114331; 9781635114300
Henery Press Publishing
282 Pages
$31.95; $15.95; $6.99 Amazon
November 15, 2018

✮✮✮✮✮

A jouster, a playwright and a detective walk into a faire...but it's no joke when one ends up dead.

Actress and part-time PI Ivy Meadows is thrilled when she learns that the famous playwright behind Hello Dolly Madison is in Arizona.  Not so much when she realizes he's a suspect in the murder on a Renaissance faire jouster.

As is her friend Riley.  And about a thousand other people, all disguised in Renaissance costume during the fatal jousting match.

When Ivy is hired to investigate she goes undercover as a Cockney belly dancer at the faire and finagles her way into the playwright's Kennedy-inspired version of Camelot--as Marilyn Monroe, no less.

Then, in the midst of her toughest case ever, Ivy has to solve another dilemma:  Will she follow her lifelong dream of being an actor or settle down with the love of her life?

The murder investigation, the play, and real life come together in a twist that begs the question:  Is there a happily-ever-after for anyone?

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Ivy Meadows is attending a Renaissance faire with her boyfriend Matthew, brother Cody and Cody’s girlfriend Sarah, courtesy of free tickets from Ivy’s friend Riley, who’s a knight who will be jousting.  When they go see the jousters, a match between Riley and Angus, the Black Knight, Riley can’t be found.  Yet when a jouster rides in from a different direction, it’s assumed it’s Riley.  And when Angus is hit with the lance and falls off his horse, again, they think it’s Riley.  But the knight rides out of the arena as quickly as he arrived, and it’s obvious that Angus has been direly hurt.  Then Riley appears holding his head, saying as how he was hit from behind and someone stole his horse.

When the dust settles, it’s determined that someone stole Riley’s horse and helmet and purposely attacked Angus.  Yet when the man later dies from his injuries, Riley is suspected of being involved.  The people at the Faire want an investigation, and they hire Ivy to look into the matter for them.

While hunting for the person responsible, she's curious why Riley's horse ended up at a nearby ranch, which is owned by a playwright.  It is by chance that she discovers the playwright is looking for a Marilyn Monroe impersonator for a spoof of Camelot called Kennelot, and with the help of her friend Timothy, she fits the bill and is hired on the spot.  But the other two people on the "set", JFK and Jackie, seem suspicious and she isn't ready to rule them out as yet.

Then, as if things couldn't get any worse, her boyfriend Matt tells her he wants to discuss something, but before he can he receives a call from home saying his mother had a stroke and he needs to leave immediately, so whatever it is has to wait; leaving Ivy to deal with her insecurities wondering what it is.  With enough on her plate and too much on her mind, is Ivy going to be able to track a killer?  Or will someone be able to get away with murder?...

This is the sixth book in the series and a very good entry indeed.  Ivy is a terrific character, albeit a neurotic one.  She's human, and has her own demons to face: she carries forever a guilt that she caused her brother's disability (which is true enough) but has never been forgiven by her parents for doing so, leaving her PI uncle as a pseudo-parent instead; and it carries over into other parts of her personal life.

But she needs to concentrate on finding out who really killed Angus, yet she's not being helped by anyone she talks to in finding out the truth.  It is only matters of chance that even allow her to get close to discovering what she needs to know.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit and felt the mystery was done very well, and even though I was pretty sure who the killer was early on (I read a lot of these), it was still fun to watch Ivy sift through the clues to get to the truth.

We also watch Ivy as she wonders whether she can have a career and a love life, or will she have to give one up?  She needs to face her own demons and given her past, that's not an easy thing for her to do.  It's also a lot of fun to watch her try and stay in character as "Marilyn" and still figure out if anyone at the ranch had anything to do with the murder.

The story moved along quite nicely, the words flowing at a good pace.  The characters are fully dimensional and believable, and you can feel Ivy's angst as she tries to figure things out for herself - in all areas.  When the ending comes and the killer is revealed, it's rather sad and makes you realize that no matter the circumstances, we are all accountable for our actions.  I look forward to the next in the series.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Killalot-Meadows-Mystery-Cindy-Brown/dp/1635114330/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2570171112

More on Cindy Brown's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/cindy-brown/

Ivy Get Your Gun (An Ivy Meadows Mystery Book 4)

Author:  Cindy Brown
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; Trade Paperback; Digital Ebook
ISBN #:  9781635112108;  9781635112078
Henery Press Publishing
234 Pages
$28.06; $15.95; $4.99 Amazon

✮✮✮✮✮

There's a new sheriff in town -- and she can sing!  When Gold Bug Gulch's actor-gunslinger Mongo winds up shot for real, actress and part-time PI Ivy Meadows goes undercover as the ingénue in the tourist town's melodrama.  Unfortunately, she's distracted by a pack of marauding Chihuahuas, a problematic love life, auditions for Annie Get Your Gun, and a personal mission:  to show people the real Annie Oakley.  What's more, the no-good, yellow-bellied varmint who killed Mongo isn't finished with the Gulch -- or with Ivy.  Will our heroine prove she can get a man with a gun - before the killer gets her?

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Ivy Meadows, an actress and part-time PI who lives in Arizona, is hoping for the lead role in Annie Get Your Gun.  But while she's waiting, she receives a frantic call from her fellow actress and friend Marge, who wants to hire her to find Lassie, Marge's pug, who has disappeared into the desert with a pack of Chihuahuas.  Knowing the desert is dangerous for small animals, Ivy agrees.  But then Marge tells her that Arnie, her husband, has discovered he's a father, and Arnie has invested tons of money in a ghost town named Gold Bug Gulch, run by Arnie's son Nathan.

Marge is afraid Nathan is taking advantage of Arnie, and not be his son at all, and wants Ivy to go undercover in the Gulch as an actress in their little melodrama for the tourists, in order to learn more about Nathan.  How can she say no?

But on her first day, one of the town's actors is killed by a real bullet, and now Ivy wants to know if it was an accident or intentional.  While she's in the town, she not only meets interesting characters, she's in the middle of several "accidents" that all seem to be intent on closing down the Gulch.  But with a host of suspects, it won't be easy to sift through them, and if she doesn't figure it out soon, she could find herself in a role she won't be happy to play - permanently dead.

Once again, Ms. Brown has written an engaging mystery that will keep you reading right through to the end.  She peppers the book with interesting characters who may or may not be who they claim to be; interspersed with humorous situations, dangerous ones, and a new talent that Ivy - nor anyone else - knew she had.

While she's still trying to circumvent her boyfriend Matt's insistence that they tell people they're a couple, she doesn't want to lose him but realizes that with him leaving the group home her brother Cody is in, she's going to have to make a decision soon.  And no one is more shocked than herself when her father visits and she discovers a few things about him that she never knew.  To top it off, she learns more about sharpshooter Annie Oakley than the 1950 film shows, and proceeds to educate others, even incorporating it into the daily "melodrama."

With a full plate indeed - auditioning for a stage role, working in the Gulch, searching for a lost pug, investigating both Nathan and a murder - Ivy's life is nothing more than normal (for her), and it is very enjoyable indeed to watch her navigate through the pitfalls and surprises that await her around every corner, as she tries to remain unobtrusive, but manages to create havoc wherever she goes.

This is a book that is fun to read; both whimsical and, at times, suspenseful; when we discover who the murderer is, as we know we will, it comes as a surprise; and although there are a few clues scattered about, it is hidden well enough to give us plenty of red herrings to follow.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Ivy-Get-Your-Meadows-Mystery/dp/1635112079/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2051459900

More on Cindy Brown's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/cindy-brown/

A Girl's Got to Breathe: The Life of Teresa Wright

Author:  Donald Spoto
Genre:  Biography

Hardcover, Ebook
ISBN#:  9781628460452
University Press of Mississippi
284 Pages
$24.75, $19.84 Amazon
February 19. 2016

Five Stars

The actress Teresa Wright (1918-2005) lived a rich, complex, magnificent life against the backdrop of golden age Hollywood, Broadway and television.  There was no indication, from her astonishingly difficult - indeed, horrifying - childhood, of the success that would follow, nor of the universal acclaim and admiration that accompanied her everywhere.  Her two marriages - to the writers Niven Busch (The Postman Always Rings Twice; Duel in the Sun) and Robert Anderson (Tea and Sympathy; I Never Sang for my Father) - provide a good deal of the drama, warmth, poignancy and heartbreak of her life story.

"I never wanted to be a star," she told the noted biographer Donald Spoto at dinner in 1978.  "I wanted only to be an actress."  She began acting on the stage in summer stock and repertory at the age of eighteen.  When Thornton Wilder and Jed Harris saw her in an ingenue role, she was chosen to understudy the part of Emily in the original production of Our Town (1938), which she then played in touring productions.  Samuel Goldwyn saw her first starring role on Broadway - in the historic production of Life with Father - and at once he offered her a long contract.

She was the only actress to be nominated for an Academy Award for her first three pictures (The Little Foxes; The Pride of the Yankees; and Mrs. Miniver) and she won for the third film.  Movie fans and scholars to this day admire her performance in the classics Shadow of a Doubt and The Best Years of Our Lives.  The circumstances of her tenure at Goldwyn, and the drama of her breaking that contract, forever changed the treatment of stars.

Wright's family and heirs appointed Spoto as her authorized biographer and offered him exclusive access to her letters and papers.  Major supporting players in this story include Robert Anderson, Alfred Hitchcock, William Wyler, Karl Malden, Elia Kazan, Jean Simmons, Dorothy McGuire, Bette Davis, George Cukor, Marlon Brando, George C. Scott, the artist Al Hirschfeld, Stella Adler, and more.

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Teresa Wright has always been one of my favorite actresses.  I have also wondered why she made so few movies, and in this new book by Donald Spoto I have my answers...Teresa began life in an auspicious beginning:  people were dying at record numbers from the Spanish Influenza, and she, fortunately, was one of the 'lucky' ones.  Her father's job required that he travel frequently, and she was left to the care of a mother who was less than ideal, one who had no problem bringing other men into the bed she shared with her daughter.  Her mother vanished early on from her life, and she never spoke of it.  It was indeed fortunate for her that her father adored her, and always wanted the best for her.  I mention this because it is those facts of our early youth that begin to shape us as the people we become.  Were it not for the love of her father, we may never have heard of Teresa Wright.  Yet it left her with indelible scars - I believe she never truly thought herself worth of love and admiration, and it colored her relationships from that point on.

She rose quickly with three stunning movies, The Little Foxes, Mrs. Miniver, and The Pride of the Yankees.  She won the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for Mrs. Miniver, her second film, but was nominated for all three.  No actress to date has ever matched that achievement.  She followed these with Shadow of a Doubt, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and my favorite of the four.

There were still movies she did that were very good, and some not so good, but I lay the blame for this on Teresa's bad personal choices:  She admitted she should have handled her spat with Samuel Goldwyn differently, and I, for one, think she made bad choices in husbands.

Her first husband, the screenwriter Niven Busch, was an arrogant man who cared more about himself than he did her.  I believe he may have loved her, but he put his needs and wants first - even if that meant moving her so far from Hollywood as to make the daily journey impossible.  (He wanted a ranch and chose one that was 350 miles away, which was quite a commute even then).  Her second husband, another screenwriter named Bob Anderson, never recovered from his first wife's death and made constant comparisons between her and Teresa.  It didn't matter to him that it hurt Teresa; another man who put himself first, and his marriage second.

So Teresa, even though she was happy raising her two children, still longed to act and never again achieved the fame she had as a young girl in Hollywood.  Although it never tainted her personally, and she remained kind to others throughout her life, I have to wonder what would have happened if she had developed a stronger personality - would she have been a bigger star?  Would either of her marriages failed?  Alas, we will never know the answer to those questions.

When all is said and done, this is a wonderful book by Mr. Spoto.  There was intensive research done, and contributions by both of Ms. Wright's children and her own letters, friends' quotes, etc.  For anyone interested in the meteoric rise of Ms. Wright, or for those who have not seen any of her films, I suggest you rent one immediately and see what a wonderful actress she was.  Highly recommended.

http://www.amazon.com/Girls-Got-Breathe-Hollywood-Legends/dp/1628460458?

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1643969249

More on Donald Spoto's books:  http://www.amazon.com/Donald-Spoto/e/B000APK13Q/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2?qid=1463597188&sr=1-2

Audrey & Bill: A Romantic Biography of Audrey Hepburn and William Holden

Author:  Edward Z. Epstein
Genre:  Biography/Film/Actors

Hardcover; Ebook
ISBN #:  9780762455973
Running Press Publishing
272 Pages
$15.59; $11.99 Amazon
April 14, 2015

Three Stars

Here for the first time is the complete, captivating story of an on-set romance that turned into a lifelong love story between silver screen legends Audrey Hepburn and William Holden.  In 1954, Hepburn and Holden were America's sweethearts.  Both won Oscars that year and together they filmed Sabrina, a now-iconic film that continues to inspire the worlds of film and fashion.

Audrey & Bill tells the stories of both stars, from before they met to their electrifying first encounter when they began making Sabrina.  The love affair that sparked on-set was relatively short-lived, but was a turning point in the lives of both stars.  Audrey & Bill follows both Hepburn and Holden as their lives crisscrossed through to the end, providing an inside look at the Hollywood of the 1950s, '60s, and beyond.  Through in-depth research and interviews with former friends, co-stars, and studio workers, Audrey & Bill author Edward Z. Epstein sheds new light on the stars and the fascinating times in which they lived.

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Although this book stays true to the fact that it is about Audrey Hepburn and William Holden, one has to wonder when the title itself appears to be misleading.  Audrey and Bill:  A Romantic Biography of Audrey Hepburn & William Holden is not what it seems.  This is not a story about Audrey and Bill...together.  It is, in a way, a story about Audrey and Bill, but very little of it has to do with their time together.  In fact, only the first part of the book, around eighty pages or so of 272, chronicles their love affair.  The remaining pages chronicles their lives apart from each other...which makes it not a romantic biography.

However, though their affair was brief, there is no doubt that they fell in love.  But once the affair was over...Bill went on to other women, and Audrey went on to marriage.  The thing she wanted most in the world was a family, and though she had several miscarriages, she achieved that.

The book is more about Audrey than Bill, and there is no doubt that the author reveres her through all her faults.  He lavishes praise upon her, while finding fault with the others mentioned in the book - Humphrey Bogart and Grace Kelly, for example; and even Bill himself.  It seems rather gossipy at times, almost as if the author felt it were necessary to add snippets of such in order to keep us interested in reading the book.  There was, every couple of chapters or so, something thrown in regarding Bill's life and career; the rest of the book was most definitely Audrey.

There is very little said about Bill's home life, except for the fact that he would bring his girlfriends home to his wife.  Nothing is said about Ardis' reaction to this; in fact, nothing much is said of Ardis at all.  It would be interesting to know why she didn't resume her career.  Was she hoping Bill would see the 'error of his ways' and return to her?  I would have liked to have known more about her side of the marriage; but in fact, there was very little about their marriage at all.  I came away still not knowing much more about Bill than I already knew.

In the end, it is a very nice biography of Audrey Hepburn, and a so-so one about William Holden.  There is no doubt that these were two talented actors (I will admit I am a bigger fan of William Holden, but like Audrey, too).  They were also two fascinating people, and both lucky enough to have extensive careers in both film and personal pursuits.  There are also quite a few nice pictures of the two.  But unfortunately, I don't feel that there is a lot of new information here that can't be garnered elsewhere.

http://www.amazon.com/Audrey-Bill-Romantic-Biography-Hepburn/dp/0762455977/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1526434652

More Edward Z. Epstein books:  http://www.amazon.com/Edward-Z.-Epstein/e/B001H6NJSQ/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2?qid=1453497258&sr=1-2

                                                                 

The Ice Cream Blonde: The Whirlwind Life and Mysterious Death of Screwball Comedienne Thelma Todd

Author:  Michelle Morgan
Genre:  Biography

Hardcover, Ebook
ISBN #:  9781613730386
Chicago Review Press
288 Pages
$19.86; $18.87
November 1, 2015

Five Stars

A beloved film comedienne who worked alongside the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, and dozens of others, Thelma Todd was a rare Golden Age star who successfully crossed over from silent films to talkies.  this authoritative new biography traces Todd's life from a vivacious little girl who tried to assuage her parents' grief over her brother's death, to an aspiring teacher turned reluctant beauty queen, to an outspoken movie starlet and restaurateur.

Increasingly disenchanted with Hollywood, in 1934 Todd opened Thelma Todd's Sidewalk Cafe, a hot spot that attracted fans, tourists, and celebrities.  Despite success in film and business, privately the beautiful actress was having a difficult year - receiving death threats from a stranger known as Ace and having her home ransacked - when she was found dead in a garage near her cafe.  An inquest concluded that her death, at age just twenty-nine, was accidental, but in a thorough new investigation that draws on interviews, photographs, documents, and extortion notes - much of these not previously available to the public - Michelle Morgan offers a compelling new theory, suggesting the sequence of events on the night of her death and arguing what many people have long suspected:  that Thelma was murdered.

But by whom?

The suspects include Thelma's movie-director lover, her would-be-gangster ex-husband, and the thugs who were pressuring her to install gaming tables in her popular cafe - including a new, never-before-named mobster.  This fresh examination on the eightieth anniversary of the star's death is sure to interest any fan of Thelma Todd, of Hollywood's Golden Age, or of gripping real-life murder mysteries.

********

Many people (at least those interested in old Hollywood) have heard the stories and untimely deaths of actresses Marilyn Monroe and Jean Harlow.  But not as many have heard of another beautiful blonde actress, Thelma Todd, who also died young and tragically at the age of twenty-nine.  Fortunately, I, being a great fan of classic movies, have known about her and seen her films.  She was beautiful, smart, nobody's fool, and had a very definite view of what she wanted out of life.

Thelma began life in Lawrence, Massachusetts with parents who loved each other, and a brother who also tragically never made it into adulthood.  She was either dismissed from jobs or never hired because of her being 'too beautiful'.  She trained to become a schoolteacher, but was convinced to enter a beauty contest; and one thing led to another which resulted in her becoming Miss Massachusetts.  This, in turn, eventually led to becoming a stock player and moving to Hollywood.

She was soon paired with the actress ZaSu Pitts (later Patsy Kelly) and the two made a series of comedy shorts for the Hal Roach studios, which even today are quite funny, showing off a true talent for comedy.  Eventually she had minor supporting roles in films with Laurel and Hardy and the Marx Brothers, all of which stand the test of time (I encourage you to find these gems and watch them - a great example is Monkey Business with the Marx Brothers).  But Thelma wanted more; she wanted to become a serious actress, but was only rarely given the chance.  If you find any of these films (she has a great turn in the original Maltese Falcon [aka Dangerous Female] as the widow of Miles Archer) you won't be disappointed.  She could stand with the best of them, and even among these greats, you can't help but notice her.

While her professional life was somewhat stable, her personal life was less so.  After the untimely death of both her brother and her father, she became everything to her mother.  When she moved to Hollywood, her mother moved with her.  There were times when it became too much for her, and though she loved her mother Alice, deeply, she felt the need to escape occasionally.  

Thelma in her life suffered a tragic love affair (although she should have known it probably wouldn't end well), and a short marriage to Pat DiCicco that may or may not at one time been happy.  She was known to have been loved by anyone who knew her or worked with her, due to the fact that she genuinely cared, and it showed.  Unfortunately, her life was also marred by problems:  she began receiving threatening notes from someone named Ace, who demanded money and told her if she didn't pay up, she would be kidnapped.  Her apartment was ransacked, and several expensive items were taken.  

But when her disillusion with Hollywood grew, partly because of the fact that she felt she was getting older and would never be given the chance to achieve true stardom, her ex-lover Roland West offered her a way out:  open Thelma Todd's Sidewalk Cafe; together they created a place where everyone stopped and dined, and Thelma had an apartment above the cafe where she was able to stay when the days were long and she was tired.

 But a curiosity of it was the fact that the garage where she kept her car was much farther up the hill on which the cafe was nested: in fact, a long 271 steps to the top.  It was a habit that Thelma's personal maid Mae Whitehead would park her own car there in the morning, then bring Thelma's down every day for her use.  It was there that when arriving one morning Mae found Thelma's body slumped over in the car, sitting in the driver's seat.

How she got there and why is a true curiosity to this day.  The chauffeur she hired for the night out had dropped her at the Cafe, and assumed she had gone to her apartment above.  Her shoes were not scuffed from the long walk (being fairly new); her hair was not mussed from the high winds.  She was still wearing the clothes she had worn a day and a half ago, the last time she was seen, among other things.

There have been many theories about how and why she died - the most common being that she was murdered by Lucky Luciano (or one of his cohorts).  None of the theories have ever been proven, but it was determined that she died by carbon monoxide poisoning, a sad end to a remarkable woman.  Why she was in the car instead of going up to her apartment has never quite been determined - and theories about that abound as well.

In the end, with the death of Miss Todd, the cinema lost a gifted comedienne, and who knows but a gifted dramatic actress also who was never given the chance to broaden her repertoire.  I found the book highly informative, adding to what I already knew; well written and with much research, giving us an insight into the true Thelma Todd, from her beginnings in Massachusetts to her demise in California.  Highly recommended.  

http://www.amazon.com/Ice-Cream-Blonde-Mysterious-Comedienne/dp/1613730381/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1420441613

                                                  

Bombshell: The Life and Death of Jean Harlow

Author:  David Stenn
Genre:  Biography

Hardcover
ISBN: 9780385421577
Doubleday
370 Pages
Price Varies
September 1, 1993

Five Stars

Her name epitomizes an era, a decade of Depression in which harsh reality created a demand for lush film fantasy - and no Hollywood star was as luscious or fantastic as Jean Harlow.  She was MGM's most bankable asset, a blonde bombshell whose bleached hair, voluptuous body, and bawdy humor inspired a fervent cult following that remains to this day.

Despite Harlow's blinding fame, the events of her life have been obscured by a fifty-year haze of secrets, lies and silence.  Until now.  Finally, after years of research, critically acclaimed biographer David Stenn has unearthed the truth behind the improbable rise of this tow-headed tomboy from Kansas City, her huge success, and her tragic fall.

Harlow's life was a host of contradictions.  She was both "the Platinum Blonde," a woman who iced her nipples and bleached her pubic hair, and "the Baby," a shy, sweet woman-child who liked to hem-stitch on film sites.  A bizarre cast of characters surrounded her, including Howard Hughes, Bugsy Siegel, George Cukor, and David O. Selznick, as well as Harlow's obsessive mother, her gigolo stepfather, and her second husband, Paul Bern, the mystery of whose grisly death is solved in Bombshell.

Controversy surrounds her death.  How could a twenty-six-year-old star with no history of serious illness leave work with 'a cold' and die ten days later?  Why, if her condition was critical, had she been confined to her home?  Now, after fifty-six years, David Stenn has persuaded Harlow's family, friends, colleagues and employers to break their silence and provide previously sealed legal, financial, and medical records, which solve the mystery of her death.  His account is confirmed by scores of exclusive interviews with eyewitness sources, including Harlow's nurses during the last days of her life.

Exhaustively researched and compulsively readable, Bombshell will stand as the definitive Harlow biography.

********

Loving classic movies the way I do, I am always anxious to get my hands on biographies of stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood.  Sometimes I find them to be very good, other times they can be real stinkers that, shall we say, stretch the truth slightly; and others that are filled with downright lies about stars and their lives.  You will get the ones that are biased either in favor of or against the person they are writing about.  A recent one I read was so filled with lies and distortion that I regretted the fact I'd even bought it, wishing I could return it to the store.  I already know enough about most of the true stars of Hollywood that if there is an exaggeration or lie in a book I'll spot it right off.

That being said, I was pleasantly surprised by Mr. Stenn's book.  He obviously has a fondness for Jean Harlow and who she was; or should I say who she wasn't.  Because, you see, she wasn't really anyone.  Let me clarify that statement.

Jean Harlow was born into a wealthy family as Harlean Carpenter.  Her mother, Jean Harlow Carpenter, was a grasping, miserly, greedy, selfish and controlling woman.  Almost like a female Scrooge - except there was no redeeming this woman.  She wanted to be an actress, and when that didn't pan out, she had Harlean, and decided to groom her for stardom.  So an actress Harlean became, taking her mother's name.

She married three times - Charles McGrew II, Paul Bern, and Hal Rosson.  None of the marriages lasted very long, and all for the same reason - her mother broke them up.  She had a tremendous hold on Jean, and was afraid of losing control of "her Baby," which is the name Jean would be called throughout her short life.  She would have married a fourth time - to the actor William Powell, but he refused to marry her, not wanting to marry another actress because he was divorced from Carole Lombard, and hated being known as "Mrs. Carole Lombard."  Perhaps if he'd had his great success as an actor earlier in his career instead of later, things might have changed his mind and married her, but they hadn't, and he didn't.  I have often wondered if he felt he'd made a mistake after Jean's death.

Jean was loved by everyone who knew her, and she was always considerate of others' feelings, both on and off the set.  She was natural in herself, yet had very little self-confidence and was always looking for others' approval.

For years she played the tramp, fallen woman, mantrap, etc.  She hated the roles and wanted something better, but it wasn't until Red-Headed Woman (a favorite of mine) that she was given the opportunity to shine, and her best role was in Bombshell, where she truly showed her acting chops.

But none of it made any difference.  Her mother (and stepfather Marino Bello) lived off her earnings and told her what to wear, what to eat, etc.  Mother Jean had such control over young Jean that unlike Jean herself, Mother Jean was universally detested.

When Jean died of kidney failure at the age of 26, the entire world was shocked.  Hollywood mourned.  Her mother insisted almost to the end that she merely had influenza, and by the time she called for real help, it was too late to save her daughter.

Her life was a sad one.  Wife, widow, actress, daughter - but never a mother, and that is what Jean Harlow wanted most.  A husband and family, but somehow that happiness managed to elude her.  I would guess that a large part of that was because of her mercenary mother.  How different her life would have been if Baby could have escaped her mother's clutches.  But her short life was not wasted.  In her films, we are able to glimpse her life, how beautiful she was, and her winning smile is magical.

This is a heartfelt biography, and highly recommended for all fans (or future fans) of Jean Harlow and her mystique.

http://www.amazon.com/Bombshell-Life-Death-Jean-Harlow/dp/0385421575/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1350857025