Non Fiction Book Reviews #168

BABY DOLL:

AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY

by Carroll Baker

Carroll Baker was born into a troubled family that had very little. By the time she was fourteen in 1965, her parents had divorced and she was living with her father when her father remarried. Carroll's stepmother was only ten years older than her and they did not get along. to escape the turmoil at home Carroll threw herself into activities in high school. After graduation she moved down to St. Petersburg, Florida to be with her mother. She attended college for a few months and then quit to dance at a local club. there she met a magician, the Great Volta, who hired her to work with him. It was the summer of 1950 when she started on the Kemp Time Vaudeville Circuit with Volta, not only doing magic acts but also doing specialty tap numbers. By 1952 she was living in New York City and had been for a year. Carroll pounded the pavement working at a variety of jobs, lonely but surviving. Then she got a job as a chorus girl appearing in a show in a hotel in Canada. The show bombed and was what supposed to be sixteen weeks of work became four. Back i New York Carroll met Louie Ritter who owned the Wheylan Hotel. In the beginning Ritter provided Carroll with everything and asked for nothing in return. The on a train trip to Hollywood for a promised acting job, Ritter raped her and Carroll felt that she had no choice but to marry him. For Carroll this marriage turned out to be one of hell as Ritter held her hostage. One year later she was out of the marriage and on her own. Carroll's only source on income was a Coca-Cola commercial she did live on television once a week. Wanting to learn about acting she joined the Actor's Studio. It was there that she met Jack Garfein who she would become involved with. Carroll and Paul Newman auditioned for starring roles in Picnic but lost out to William Holden and Kim Novak. She did get the role as the ingenue in the play All Summer Long and got rave reviews. She then screen tested for the role of Liz Benedict II in Giant and got it. Before leaving for Hollywood Carroll and Jack got married. Carroll got to work with James Dean, Rock Hudson, and Elizabeth Taylor and got directed by George Stevens. Three weeks after finishing Giant she was in Benoit, Mississippi to appear in Baby Doll that was written by Tennessee Williams and directed by Elia Kazan. When Baby Doll was released it was condemned by the Legion of Decency and denounced by Cardinal Spellman. With that Baby Doll was a box office hit and Carroll was saddled with the "Baby Doll" image. She next appeared in The Big Country starring Gregory Peck; The Miracle with Roger Moore; and But Not For Me starring Clark Gable. In 1963 Carroll began work on The Carpetbaggers that caused a resurgence of her sex-symbol identity. Carroll had eight films released in 1903 - 64, which meant that she kept very busy. Then came the movie Harlow which was rushed into production to bet the Electrovision version, which it did. In 1966 Paramount fired Carroll and had her blackballed. Between 1968 and 1977, she lived abroad and appeared in many European films. She also divorced Jack and got on with her life. A candid memoir that is a good read.

ELSA LANCHESTER, HERSELF

by Elsa Lanchester

Elsa's parents, Edith Lanchester and James Sullivan, never married and because of that in 1895 the Lanchester family had Edith put in an asylum for the insane. After a few weeks she was released and returned to James Sullivan. On October 28, 1902 Elsa Sullivan Lanchester was born. Back in 1897 her brother William was born. The Lanchester/Sullivan household was always poor and moved from house to house. Her parents were Socialist who were involved with various social issues including women's suffrage. When Elsa was eleven she joined Isadora Duncan's school for talented children in Paris. But year alter with war on the horizon she returned to her family. she then became an assistant teacher at a school while attending school. During the summer she involved with a dance school in the Isle of Wright as a teacher. In 1916 he older brother refused to serve in the army and spent a year in jail. When he got out he began to manufacture hand looms, teach weaving, and making puppets. Back in London Elsa started a Children's Theatre that led to opening a cabaret called the Cave of Harmony. To pay for food and rent Elsa was a correspondent to couples who wanted a divorce and was a model for artists. After the cabaret she began to appear in plays starting with The Insect Play that Claude Rains also appeared in. It was 1927 that Elsa first met Charles Laughton and that was at the first rehearsal of the play Mr. Pohawck. They began to date and soon a relationship started that led to marriage in 1929. Which made her parents very happy. Two years into the marriage Charles was arrested for "misguided generosity" with a young boy. It would not be the last one and put a wall between the two. In 1931 Elsa and Charles came to the United States and went to Hollywood where Charles went to appear in a movie. It would be the first of many trips to the United States for movie roles for Charles. Elsa continued working on the stage and appeared in her first Hollywood movie David Copperfield. After that she got a courtesy contract with MGM running concurrently with Charles's contract. Her first major part in a Hollywood production was The Bride of Frankenstein in which she played the dual role of Mary Wollstoncraft and the Bride. The Bride is one of the few films that has followed her all the time and is recognized for the parts she played. Back in England she appeared in Peter Pan in 1935 that was approved by James Barrie the author. By the 1940s Elsa and Charles were living and working in the United States and in 1950 became citizens of the United States. In the 1950s Charles began to travel throughout the United States on a reading tour that was quite popular. Elsa worked on television and went out on her own tour entertaining audiences. By 1961 Charles was growing ill and after he fell it was discovered that he had bone cancer. After a painful period of treatment he died on December 15, 1962. At sixty Elsa was a widow and continued to work on stage, screen, and television. A fascinating memoir of a survivor.

THERE REALLY WAS A HOLLYWOOD:

AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY

by Janet Leigh

Janet Leigh was born on July 6, 1927 as Jeanette Helen Morrison. Life at home was not happy, but school was a haven for her as she enjoyed learning. Then the Morrison family moved to Merced and Janet was skipped ahead a half grade and entered Merced High School as a junior. When war broke out the Morrison family moved back to Stockton so that her father could get a job in the war-time industry. But Janet didn't want to leave her friends and at the age of fourteen she eloped. Her parents had the marriage annulled and this marriage became the family secret. In 1943 Janet graduated from high school and entered the College of Pacific at Stockton where she met Stanley Reames. In August of 1945, Janet and Stanley got married and continued with their college education. Then Stanley and Janet left college and moved to Los Angeles so that Stan's band might get the "big break." But the big break didn't come to Stanley, but to Janet who got a screen test and then a contract at MGM. Her first movie was The Romance of Rosey Ridge (1946) where she got the name Janet Leigh that would remain her stage name. In the spring of 1947 Janet made her second movie If Winter Comes and things seemed to be going well for Janet and Stanley. But as her career flourished, his big band floundered and soon the resentment came. So the two divorced. Janet began a romance with Barry Nelson, but a romance she kept form leading to marriage. One of the men who was interested in her was Howard Hughes and his interest was as strange as the man and the both got stranger. In may 1949 she was loaned-out to RKO for three films and had to deal with Hughes's amorous attentions. She worked with Robert Mitchum, John Wayne, and Tony Martin. Stockton honored Janet in January 1950 and no one had discovered her secret. 1951 was a big year for her in her life. she made Strictly Dishonorable and Jet Pilot and got serious with Tony Curtis. Janet and Tony got engaged on May 26 and they got married on June 4. On December 1951 Tony and Janet and others including Orson Welles performed for Princess Elizabeth. Six months after making The Romance of Rosy Ridge with Van Johnson, they reunited on Confidentially Connie. In 1962 they reunited on Wives and Lovers. She appeared in Prince Valiant with Robert Wagner who hated his hair style. The Black Shield of Falworth was the second teaming of Janet and Tony and had a great time working together. Janet left MGM in 1954 and signed two nonexclusive pacts. One with Columbia for five pictures spread over a period of time. And one with Universal for four pictures, also spanning a few years. Janet went to Kenya, Africa in 1955 to film Safari and then took a trip through Europe with Tony. On June 17, 1956, Janet Kelly Lee Curtis was born. Also in 1956 Janet and Tony formed CurtLeigh Productions and co-produced Sweet Smell of Success with Burt Lancaster. Then came one of Janet's best movies: Touch of Evil with Orson Welles and Charlton Heston that was based on the novel Badge of Evil. On November 22, 1958, her second daughter, Jamie Lee Curtis, was born. In 1960 came her most famous movie, Alfred Hitchcock's Pyscho. In 1962 she played Rosie in The Manchurian Candidate and them worked on Bye, Bye, Birdie. Also in 1962 she and Tony divorced. She then met Bob Brant, married him, and went on with her life. A touching look at her life and those she knew.

LIFE IS A BANQUET

by Rosalind Russell & Chris Chase

Rosalind Russell got her first name from the ship S. S. Rosalind that traveled between New York and Nova Scotia. The Russell family lived in Waterbury, Connecticut where they had good theaters and movie houses. they also made trips to New York City for shopping and for theater going. When she was nineteen, Rosalind's father died and Rosalind quit college to go to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. It was 1029 when she graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and went out to look for a job on the stage. She got a job in a stock company and went from summer stock straight into winter stock. By 1934 Rosalind took a job on the subway circuit, plays that were sent around to places that could be reached by subway. She then got a call from Universal Pictures and went to Hollywood. but she didn't want to work for Universal and instead went to work for MGM. Her first movie was Evelyn Prentice (1934) starring Myrna Loy and William Powell. From William Powell she learned how to act on camera and got a good friend. The first led she played at MGM was a B movie called Casino Murder Case and after that she played only leads. Rosalind was never a sex symbol, she was always a character actress. Between 1934 and 1938 she made movies and learned much about her new craft. In 1939 she went after a flashy part in The Women and got the role she wanted. She then went to Columbia Pictures to make His Girl Friday with Cary Grant and directed by Howard Hawks. It was Cary Grant who introduced Rosalind to Freddie Brissan who would become her husband. It was a marriage that would last a lifetime. After seven years with MGM she went to Columbia Pictures. 1942 was a busy year for her as she made movies and traveled for the USO. She also had to deal with a pregnancy. After the birth of her child, Rosalind did three movies for RKO: The Informer, Sister Kenny, and Mourning Becomes Electra. She then went on tour on Bell, Book and Candle and went back to RKO to do the comedy Never Wave at a WAC (1952). Under the direction of Josh Logan she appeared in the play Wonderful Town that in 1953, won her various awards including a Tony Award. Rosalind went straight from the play Wonderful Town to appear in the movie Picnic playing the frustrated teacher. But a lot of the schoolteacher's stuff was cut out of Picnic. She still had a great time filming in Kansas and putting up with William Holden's antics. Then came the play Auntie Mame which was a hit and led to the movie Auntie Mame (1957). Both she starred in. In 1959 her foot and hand prints were embedded in concrete at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. It had only taken her twenty-five years to get there. In 1962 she played Natalie Wood's pushy stage mama in Gypsy and actually did her own singing. In 1967 she gave up smoking, but her many years of smoking would come back to haunt her. It was rhemuatiod arthritis that forced her into retirement in 1970 and then the medication almost killed her. Then in 1975 she was diagnosed with cancer, which, despite aggressive treatment, would take her life. On November 28, 1976 Rosalind Russell passed away. A delightful memoir.

ON THE OTHER HAND:

A LIFE STORY

by Fay Wray

Fay Wray was born Vina Fay Wray in 1908 in Canada. In 1911 the Wray family traveled to the United States and moved to Culton, Arizona. Two years later the family moved to Salt Lake City for a better life and Fay realized how poor the family really was. In 1914 the family moved to Lark where her father had a job in the mill. In Lark was a movie house that became Fay's land of enchantment. At the age of ten Fay's parents separated and, while her father stayed in Lark, the rest of the family moved back to Salt Lake City. At fourteen Fay traveled to Hollywood where she went to school and took drama classes. At sixteen she got a screen test at Fox which led to a film contract with the Hal Roach studios. A year later she moved to Universal and began to appear in Westerns going from two-reelers up to five-reelers. In 1927 she got the leading role in The Wedding March directed by Von Stroheim. Fay then went to Paramount where she made three silent films and got to work with such stars as Gary Cooper. When she was nineteen she began to date screenwriter John Monk Sanders who had written such movies as Wings and The Dawn Patrol, among others. In 1928, her younger brother killed himself and Fay and John got married. Soon Fay realized that John loved to drink too much. He also began to cheat on her. The first time Fay met Merian Cooper was when she appeared in The Four Feathers (1929) and a friendship developed that would benefit both in years to come. Fay was loaned to Columbia in 1931 to appear in Frank Capra's production Dirigible. When her contract ended with Paramount in 1932 she was let go as was her husband. In 1930 she learned that her father was dying of cancer and did so in 1932. Fay then went to New York City to appear in the play Nikki that also starred Archibald Leach who was playing Cary Lockwood. After only six weeks Nikki closed and Fay and John returned to Hollywood. She met with Merian Cooper at his new offices at RKO where talked about the movie he was preparing to make: King Kong. Soon she was working on King Kong which became her biggest hit. Because of Kong she was offered other "scary" movies: Doctor X, The Mystery of the Wax Museum, The Most Dangerous Game, and The Vampire Bat. When she got Merian Cooper for a producer-director, Fay soon became the busiest actress in Hollywood. Meanwhile John was hard at work at MGM writing and drinking. In 1933 and 1934, Fay was in picture after picture, beginning a new one every fourth Friday. Most of the movies she made at Columbia were B movies and she worked hard. In 1935 she traveled to England to do two films for Gaumont British. In 1938, her daughter Susan Cary Saunders was born and shortly after that she and John separated. By the next year the two had divorced and a year later John killed himself. Fay started dating Robert Riskin in 1940 and in 1942 they got married. From 1942 to 1945 Bob served in the OWI and at the end of the war went back to writing scripts for Frank Capra. Fay continued acting and Robert continued writing. The one fateful day in December 1951 he had a heart attack and went into a coma. Two years later he died. Fay continued to act in movies and television and years later remarried. A delightful memoir from the woman who had the "tallest, darkest leading man."

Copyright (c) 2002 by wmt bookviewzine@aol.com. All rights reserved. These reviews many be freely distributed with proper attribution. Copies may be printed for non-commercial use. Redistribution, publication, or archiving of these reviews on any other terms require my consent.

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