THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL: HOLLYWOOD IN THE FIFTIES

THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL: Hollywood in the Fifties. Sam Kashner and Jennifer MacNair. W. W. Norton; 2002.

This is a very entertaining and readable account of Hollywood trends, important movies, and notable performers, writers and directors during the very end of the film capitol's golden age. The Bad and the Beautiful has chapters on the scandals both in and surrounding the controversial publication Confidential; the troubled offspring of certain movie stars (such as Edward G. Robinson and his son Manny); James Dean and Rebel Without a Cause; Rock Hudson, Douglas Sirk and Ross Hunter; Charles Laughton's Night of the Hunter; Kim Novak and Sammy Davis Jr.; Sweet Smell of Success, Burt Lancaster and Walter Winchell; rival Hollywood "news hens" Hedda Hopper, Louella Parsons and Sheila Graham; the life and plays (Picnic; Come Back, Little Sheba) of William Inge and the film versions thereof; and Gloria Swanson and Sunset Boulevard. The book also details how Hollywood was completely changing in this decade, what with the inroads of television, the breakdown of the studio system, and the increasing use of location filming over shooting strictly on sound stages. Some of this material may be familiar to the film enthusiast, but there is much that is new and interesting as well, all told in compelling prose that keeps the pages turning.

Verdict: Excellent look at the foibles and triumphs of 1950's Hollywood. ***1/2.

SWMMING WITH SHARKS

SWIMMING WITH SHARKS (1994). Director: George Huang.

Guy (Frank Whaley) wants so badly to make it in the movie business that he becomes an assistant to an egomaniacal asshole named Buddy Ackerman (Kevin Spacey) and puts up with his mood swings, nastiness, and abusiveness until something finally pushes him over the edge. Most of the movie consists of flashbacks as Guy makes Buddy a prisoner in his own home. Intriguing suspense-drama holds the attention, but what really puts it over is the acting, especially by an amazing Spacey. Whaley is also excellent, as is Michelle Forbes as a producer named Dawn with whom Guy has an affair. Benicio Del Toro also scores as Buddy's last assistant, who tries to teach Guy the ropes. The ending is unrealistic but cynical. This is no Citizen Kane but there's a character named "Foster Kane." Whaley and Forbes have done mostly TV work since this film was released.

Verdict: Quite entertaining with a marvelous Spacey. ***.

ROBERT WISE: THE MOTION PICTURES

ROBERT WISE: THE MOTION PICTURES. J. R. Jordan. Newly Revised and Updated. BearManor; 2020.

Although Hitchcock, John Ford, Billy Wilder and William Wyler, among others, may get the lion's share of the attention and critical kudos, the fact remains that Robert Wise was not only a solid and highly-skilled director who worked in many genres, but the architect of many successful and famous motion pictures. Beginning as an editor -- Wise worked on Welles' Citizen Kane and Magnificent Ambersons, among others -- his first professional directorial credit was for producer Val Lewton's Curse of the Cat People. (He returned to the horror genre with The Body Snatchers and the marvelous Haunting). Although today Wise is probably best remembered for directing the box office blockbusters The Sound of Music and West Side Story, in his younger days he helmed such gritty film noir-type pictures as Born to Kill, Odds Against Tomorrow and The Set-Up. Wise also did two major science fiction films, The Day the Earth Stood Still and The Andromeda Strain. He also helmed Star Trek: The Motion Picture and the unfortunate Star!, among others. Some of his other notable films include Three Secrets and Tribute to a Bad Man, and there was the very occasional stinker, such as Executive Suite.

J. R. Jordan's well-written tome finally gives Wise his due with an illustrated book that covers all of his motion pictures. Each essay gives a background to the film, why Wise chose the project, his working methods on the set, synopses, important highlights of each picture, and lengthy quotes from people, including crew and cast members, who worked with Wise. Aside from one man who claims Wise was unsympathetic when he was injured on the set, everyone's recollections are positive. Wise was no martinet, a la Otto Preminger, but a reasonable and well-adjusted craftsman and artist who didn't need to scream at or belittle people to get what he wanted from them. Like Hitchcock, he was always fully prepared for each scene, choose his actors with great care, and only gave them direction when it was required. Wise left behind an impressive body of work and this well-researched tome will remind readers of the director's long and distinguished career. This is by no means a gossipy book, but Janette Scott's comments on Rossana Podesta when they were working together on Helen of Troy are amusing.

 Verdict: For Wise fans and film enthusiasts in general. ***1/2.

Addendum
The book is dedicated to the author's father. Joseph C. Jordan Jr. suddenly passed a short time following the publication of this article. In Robert Wise: The Motion Pictures the author wrote, "Those I interviewed for this book generally described Robert Wise as noble, patient, validating, and a class act. Such words, in short, apply to Dad."

Mr. Jordan's wife, Rosetta, preceded him in death by 37 years (see photo). He missed her terribly and never remarried. The author was fortunately afforded the opportunity to be at his father's bedside on the day of the passing. Prior to the moment of death, the author faced his father and said, "This is a special day. You're going to be with Mom again." Mr. Jordan's face lit up, as his excitement was clearly apparent. He passed a short time later.

MYRNA LOY: THE ONLY GOOD GIRL IN HOLLYWOOD

MYRNA LOY: THE ONLY GOOD GIRL IN HOLLYWOOD. Emily W. Leider. 2011; University of California Press.

This absorbing, well-written and well-researched biography of Loy traces her roots in Montana, her early years doing movie after movie, often cast as "exotic" Orientals [The Mask of Fu Manchu], her indentured servitude working for studios that hardly ever gave her a day off, her eventual emergence as a major star with a wider range than expected who commanded some respect from fellow filmmakers, and her final days when she turned to the theater and became a character actress in a few late movies [Midnight Lace]. Along the way we meet Loy's four husbands, most of whom treated her badly (and most of whom were plug-ugly, although Leider refers to one potato-head as "catnip to women!"). Loy had liberal politics, seemed to care about people other than herself (which alone makes her different from most movie stars) and decided after her fourth divorce that it was not so terrible not to have a husband. The bio also delves into Loy's many friendships with people famous and not so famous, her relationships with various family members, and analyzes most of her films and her approach to her roles, which included co-starring in the Thin Man movies, The Best Years of Our Lives, Cheaper by the Dozen, The Animal Kingdom, and many, many others.

Leider resuscitates this business about Loy possibly having had some kind of relationship with Montgomery Clift while they were making Lonelyhearts and after (first brought up in Patti Bosworth's bio of Clift). Loy denied this vehemently in her own memoir, and also denied it (in my presence) to Lawrence Quirk, who wrote The Films of Myrna Loy. Considering that she was no longer married to her husband at that time years later, it makes little sense to deny it if it were true. Also, Clift was essentially gay, Loy was 15 years older, and as this book makes clear, she was not the type to sleep around indiscriminately or cheat on her husband. (I also knew Jim Kotsilibas-Davis, who worked on Loy's memoirs with her.)

Verdict: Excellent biography and quite possibly the last word on Loy. ***1/2. 

HAYWIRE

HAYWIRE. Brooke Hayward. Originally published in 1977; updated 2011. Random House.

Brooke Hayward is the daughter of actress Margaret Sullavan and agent-turned-producer Leland Hayward. This memoir looks not so much at those two individuals, but at how their interactions affected Ms. Hayward and her brother and sister. Sullavan and the narcissistic Hayward divorced after the latter had an affair while she was out of town working oversea for months, and it left lasting scars, especially on Sullavan, who felt abandoned by her children when they went to live with their father. Both of the parents remarried.

Instead of a probing look at the parents, two interesting individuals, whatever their flaws, with seriously important careers, we mostly get the ruminations of their daughter, which at times become quite tedious in this lengthy if occasionally absorbing memoir, although, to be fair, she does a fair job of analyzing them at times. Although the author tries very hard to portray her family as some kind of dynasty, and their story as an epic tragedy, this doesn't quite work, and she seems oblivious to the fact that marital problems, suicides, mental health issues etc. also afflict people in tenements. In fact, entitlement screams at you from every page. Oddly, Ms. Hayward barely goes into her marriages to Dennis Hopper or Peter Duchin (son of Eddy Duchin), although that might have been of some interest to the reader. Despite the rave reviews (Ms. Hayward had connections, after all), I imagine many readers got tired of slogging through the book in search of juicy material. Another problem is that the book is poorly organized, jumping around in time when a linear narrative would have worked much better.

Ms. Hayward also ignores her career, although there wasn't much to it. Although she was rather amateurish appearing opposite Jerry Orbach in the film Mad Dog Coll, she displayed real ability in the Twilight Zone episode "The Masks." She only amassed 12 credits, however. She also had a brief modeling career although her looks were average.

If you actually want to read a biography of the great Margaret Sullavan, I recommend Margaret Sullavan, Child by Fate by Lawrence J. Quirk.

Verdict: Well-written but seriously flawed memoir. **1/2. 

LIFE IS A BANQUET: ROSALIND RUSSELL

LIFE IS A BANQUET: ROSALIND RUSSELL. Rosalind Russell with Chris Chase. Random House; 1977.

Published posthumously, Rosalind Russell's autobiography, very well-written by Chris Chase, has an affecting introduction by her widower, the producer Frederick Brisson. Russell writes of her comparatively privileged upbringing, her two sisters (one of whom was to remind her of Auntie Mame), her first stabs at acting, her long-lived marriage to Brisson, and her many famous roles, especially Mame, which she played both on Broadway and in the film adaptation. Her other notable film roles included Sister Kenny, Gypsy, Craig's Wife,  along with a few stinkers, such as What a Woman, which she declines to even mention. She does not relate that many backstage or behind-the-scenes stories, and is generally kind to her co-stars, although she does excoriate some unnamed film directors who have no idea of what they're doing and can not work with actors at all. Russell reveals that Hayley Mills was extremely unpleasant to work with when she appeared in The Trouble with Angels, as well as the fact that Russell and her husband were close, lifelong friends with Frank Sinatra, who took over and completely handled what sounds like an incredible 25th anniversary party for the couple. Russell indulges in some perfectly understandable name-dropping along the way, including people who were not in the film business. In later years, she worked hard to help people who suffered from arthritis, as she did. Russell always felt that she was not quite "of" Hollywood, that she wasn't one of those stars who was so devoted to her career and so obsessed with becoming a top-ranked star that she neglected everything else in her life, and it sounds like she was all the better for it. Russell insists that she was not dubbed at all for her singing in Gypsy, but it's very clear in the movie that she begins to sing a number until Lisa Kirk takes over; Russell never mentions her and seems to have a delusion about her true vocal contribution. Russell gives an excellent performance in the movie, however.

Verdict: Excellent film memoir is engaging and well-written, although not very "dishy." ***1/2. 

AMERICAN PRINCE: A MEMOIR -- TONY CURTIS

AMERICAN PRINCE: A MEMOIR. Tony Curtis and Peter Golenbock. Harmony; 2008.

Apparently not being satisfied with the first book, this is the late Curtis' second autobiography. Never forgetting a slight, real or imagined, in this volume he settles scores. Since his first wife, Janet Leigh, had passed away by then, he feels free to dissect their marriage and highlight her alleged faults as a wife. (One can't imagine that this endeared him to his daughters by Leigh, including Jamie Lee Curtis.) One gets the impression that Curtis had no real interest in honest reflection nor in seeing things from other people's pov\s. He is the very personification of the self-absorbed movie star.

Curtis traces his early years and his bad relationship with his parents; the tragic deaths of his two brothers -- he never balances his basically successful life with the brother who was placed in a mental institution and eventually wound up homeless and beaten to death --  his determination to make it in Hollywood, and his cinematic triumphs in such as Sweet Smell of Success (arguably his greatest performance) and Some Like It Hot, among others.  Curtis doesn't shy away from detailing the years afterward, when he was forced to take virtually any role in any piece of crap just to pay the bills, including alimony and child support. He also writes about his cocaine addiction and his many marriages (at least one wife never gets mentioned at all).

Curtis never lost the chip on his shoulder. Part of this is due to the fact that he never felt he was really taken seriously. Part was also due to the fact that no matter what the role he generally came off as dead-common. This book didn't help him shake off that image.

Verdict: Not a bad read, but it leaves a sour taste. **1/2. 

IN PIECES: SALLY FIELD

IN PIECES. Sally Field. Grand Central; 2018.

After appearing in the short-lived sitcom Gidget, and then toiling for three years on the hit series The Flying Nun -- a show she absolutely hated and denounced as "drivel" -- Sally Field thought she would never be taken seriously in Hollywood. But after appearing in several telefilms -- as well as another short-lived series, The Girl With Something Extra (she has little good to say about co-star John Davidson) -- she managed to win an Emmy for the multiple personality drama Sybil, and then went on to garner two Best Actress Oscars for Norma Rae and Places in the Heart. She also received accolades for playing Mary Lincoln in Lincoln, and won another Emmy for her role in the TV series Brothers and Sisters. But Field's private life wasn't so successful. In between two marriages to men she admitted she wasn't really in love with, she had a long-term relationship with Burt Reynolds, a control freak and (in my opinion) long-time asshole (he deemed Field the "love of his life," however; his first wife was Judy Carne). She had a  very problematic relationship with both her biological father and her mother, actress Margaret Field [The Man from Planet X], who divorced her husband to marry actor Jock Mahoney [Tarzan's Three Challenges]  and eventually developed a drinking problem. Field claims that Mahoney molested her continuously for several years when she was a minor, but he would only admit to her mother that it was one drunken incident. (After Lex Barker -- who was married to Lana Turner --  Mahoney is the second actor to play Tarzan who allegedly molested a step-daughter.) Trying to be a good mother to her three sons, and (in her eyes, at least) failing more often than not, she couldn't quite avoid the mistakes her own mother made. In Pieces is an extremely well-written memoir, full of honest reflection and in-depth ruminations on life, career, and loves, as well as the usual dose of movie star self-absorption. Field doesn't spend as much time on her films as one might have hoped, but there's plenty of meat in here for people who want to know the inside life of a movie star and for aspiring actors who are hoping to follow in her footsteps.

Verdict: Thoroughly absorbing page-turner proves that Field can write as well as act. ***1/2.  

WILD AND WOOLLY WOODY ALLEN

Two faces of Woody Allen

WILD AND WOOLLY WOODY ALLEN.

Woody Allen turns eighty-one on December 1st, 2017.

Love 'im or hate 'im, he has been an influential filmmaker for many years, and has come out with a great many movies, some wonderful, some awful, some in-between. He has had an interesting, some would say scandalous, personal life, mostly centered around his relationship with significant other Mia Farrow (who he was not married to), and her adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn.

Whatever one's thoughts about that bizarre triangle, this week Great Old Movies looks at a slew of Woody Allen movies, from near-masterpieces like Broadway Danny Rose and The Purple Rose of Cairo to stink bombs like Stardust Memories to the merely mediocre like Bullets Over Broadway and Zelig. We also look at a recent biography of the man.

Whatever his flaws as a man and a filmmaker, Woody Allan was rarely if ever boring.

You can read posts of Allen's films that have been reviewed on this blog in previous months by using the search bar above.

CAGNEY

CAGNEY. John McCabe. Knopf; 1997.

John McCabe was actually the ghost writer for Cagney's memoirs, Cagney by Cagney, and herein fills in some of the gaps based on his knowledge of and conversations with the star and icon. There's Cagney's early days growing up in a tough neighborhood, his early stage career and his dissatisfaction with movie assignments and the money he was making, his hiring his actor-brother William to be his manager, his long-term marriage to wife "Willie," and so on. Apparently his relationship with his two adopted children was far from perfect, perhaps stemming from the fact that they were put in a separate house and didn't receive that much nurturing from their parents. There's just a little gossip -- Merle Oberon allegedly coming on to Cagney and being rebuffed -- and lots of information about Cagney's career. McCabe doesn't love every Cagney performance, and dissects his mannerisms and acting approach to certain roles, right or wrong, but considers him one of the three greatest American actors. While this is a solid and substantial book, one senses that a lot of has been left on the "cutting room floor," so to speak; sometimes being friends with your subject is not the best idea. With lots of illustrations and a filmography.

Verdict: Good, but something's missing ... ***.

CAGNEY BY CAGNEY

CAGNEY BY CAGNEY. James Cagney. Doubleday; 1976.

James Cagney had no particular interest in writing his memoirs, but he was tired of authors getting the facts wrong and decided he had better tell his own story. The first section of the book features a lot of tales detailing just how tough Cagney was growing up in a bad neighborhood where you had to prove yourself with your fists. Cagney wouldn't be the first song and dance man who felt a need to affect a super-macho image. (Ironically, one of his first jobs had him dancing in drag!) The book is more interesting when Cagney gets into his career, and he makes it clear that he considers himself, first and foremost, a dancer. Cagney felt that making movies was a grind, and he wasn't thrilled with some of the by-the-numbers assignments he was thrown into, nor with the fact that real bullets were originally used in scenes with machine guns! (Oddly, he doesn't acknowledge that he was making much, much more money than the average person.) He writes pleasantly of his fellow actors, with two exceptions: an unnamed leading lady whom he finds condescending: and Horst Buchholz, with whom he appeared in One Two Three. When Buchholz tried one of his "scene-stealing didoes," Cagney was going to "knock him on his ass." Cagey was a rarity in that he wasn't that interested in a typical Hollywood lifestyle, preferring to live in the east, and he was happily married to the same woman, a former actress, for a great many years. Liberal in his youth, Cagney became more conservative as he got older, and also became a conservationist. The book is full of ruminations on how the picture business has changed, as well as the country, and includes many samples of his poetry, which is much better than Jimmy Stewart's. Cagney comes off as a moderately cultured man with some good horse sense, who didn't allow his movie stardom to completely define him. He writes bluntly of movie colleagues who just can't accept the fact that their careers are over and no one is interested in them anymore, a fate that did not ensnare Cagney, as he became an icon instead of a has-been.

Verdict: Probably not the last word, but an interesting look at a very interesting and talented actor. ***.

SCREAMS AND NIGHTMARES: THE FILMS OF WES CRAVEN

SCREAMS AND NIGHTMARES: The Films of WES CRAVEN. Brian J. Robb. Overlook Press; 1998.

This well-written and heavily illustrated coffee table tome looks at the life, career and work of director Wes Craven, most famous, as the title suggests, for A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream. Never in the top rank of film directors, Craven nevertheless amassed a number of credits and did some very influential movies. Craven first came to attention with the graphic thriller The Last House on the Left, a low-budget homage or rip-off of Ingmar Bergman's The Virgin Spring, then suffered poverty and anonymity for many years until he hit the big time with Nightmare and Freddy Krueger. Craven never really wanted to be a horror director, but the field kept calling him back when he needed a paycheck and when fans began to appreciate his movies. Craven's work outside the horror field was limited, however, with one example being the Meryl Streep starrer Music of the Heart. Craven also produced several genre films, and directed telefilms and episodic television, such as the remake of The Twilight Zone. Screams and Nightmares doesn't delve much into Craven's personal life, which would probably be of minor interest to most readers anyway. Even if you're not a tremendous Craven fan, this book is engaging and Robb doesn't make the mistake of deifying the director and not finding fault with his work, which he seems to appreciate more than I do. Perhaps Craven's best directed film, of the ones I've seen so far, was Scream 2.

Verdict: Handsome horror tome with lots of photos. ***.

CRAB MONSTERS, TEENAGE CAVEMEN, AND CANDY STRIPE NURSES -- ROGER CORMAN: KING OF THE B MOVIE

CRAB MONSTERS, TEENAGE CAVEMEN, AND CANDY STRIPE NURSES -- ROGER CORMAN: KING OF THE B MOVIE Chris Nashawaty. Abrams; 2013.

This is a huge, heavily illustrated coffee table book that tells all you could possibly want to know about Roger Corman, his production methods, his character, the people he worked with and who got his start from him, and so on. There isn't much film criticism in the book, however, and there is little astute judgment of the Corman product or what made him effective as a director. A number of snappy, well-directed Corman films aren't even covered. Instead of a straight text biography, Crab Monsters is comprised primarily of chapter introductions that provide an overview, and quotes from those who know and have worked with the famous producer/director. Corman was willing to exploit everyone and everything to make a buck and stay in business, and he reinvented himself more than once. Corman first made adroit little movies like Attack of the Crab Monsters and It Conquered the World, then graduated to the impressive color spectacles of the excellent Pit and the Pendulum and Masque of the Red Death, He made a film entitled The Intruder that was close to his heart but didn't make a dime, and didn't direct a picture for twenty years after his disappointment with Von Richthofen and Brown. His last directorial effort, Frankenstein Unbound, was a disappointment to everyone. Along the way he produced dozens of pictures, capitalized on the biker trend, the LSD trend, the women-in-prison trend, and the sexy nurse trend, among others. After starting more than one film production company, and making mostly direct-to-video features, Corman started working with the Syfy channel, churning out dozens of silly, repetitive monster movies. As a director/producer, Corman's legacy is limited to a comparatively small amount of pictures, with much of his output (especially as producer) consisting of -- let's face it -- pretty forgettable movies, but he did give a lot of people a start in the business. Corman has hired more women than anyone else, though it's uncertain if it's because he's a male feminist or because he can get the gals more cheaply, or just recognizes talent when he sees it. Lavishly illustrated, the book is great to look at, and there are a lot of interesting quotes from a variety of individuals. Unfortunately, some information is repeated a little too much, first in the overview, then in the captions, then in the interviews, but all in all this is a praiseworthy show. Corman received a special Oscar for his body of work and his contributions to the industry. He was a talented director and it's too bad that he didn't concentrate on that more in his later years.

Verdict: Corman devotees will love this! ***.

CRANE: SEX, CELEBRITY, AND MY FATHER'S UNSOLVED MURDER

CRANE: SEX, CELEBRITY, AND MY FATHER'S UNSOLVED MURDER. Robert Crane and Christopher Fryer. University Press of Kentucky; 2015.

Whatever the title may say, this is more a book about the life and career of Robert Crane, the son of actor Bob Crane (Hogan's Heroes) than a biography of the elder Crane or an investigation into his murder. There has already been a book about the murder investigation, as well as a film, Auto Focus, which looked at Crane's life and death and his obsession with making videos of himself having sex with numerous women. Whether Crane was a "sex addict" or used this pastime to deal with his disappointment over a fading career (he was doing dinner theater at the time of his death), is open to debate. Crane [Man-Trap] was a typical self-absorbed "star" who jettisoned his first wife for the bimbo who played a bosomy secretary on Hogan's Heroes, causing a rift between two families that has never been healed. Large sections of the book deal not with Bob Crane's life and death, but with the younger Crane's job as publicist and gofer for forgotten actor John Candy. The best sections of the book actually deal with young Crane's moving account of his first wife's battles with, and death from, cancer. Young Crane, who is not so young anymore, comes off in some ways as a little old-fashioned. His preoccupation with himself means that there are gaps in his father's story, such as a more detailed examination of his affair (and subsequent marriage to) the Hogan's Heroes secretary and his first wife's reaction to its revelation. Crane objects to his half brother Scotty selling "porn" videos of their father on line, but the elder Crane's ego and joy in his sexual prowess as well as his obvious exhibitionism may have meant that he couldn't care less and even would have liked the idea. [While Bob Crane may not have been a fighter for sexual freedom, as Scotty suggests, he was not a molester or rapist and the condemnations of his activities seem a little hypocritical in Hollywood and elsewhere.] Young Crane argues that he didn't auction off the jacket his father wore on Hogan's Heroes, which he had every right to do, for money -- it brought in $40,000 --  but to see how much interest there would still be in his father. Sure. A freelance writer who formerly worked for Playboy, Crane's prose is memorable, but the chief feeling you take away from this book is his contempt for his father, whose side he can rarely see. Young Crane writes how his father wasn't interested in hosting a party for his son's book on Jack Nicholson (the actor cooperated with the book but years later snubbed the younger Crane), and it doesn't seem to occur to him that this might have made his dad feel rather small.

Verdict: If you're interested in the life of Bob Crane's son ... **1/2.

LUCKY ME: MY LIFE WITH -- AND WITHOUT -- MY MOM, SHIRLEY MACLAINE

LUCKY ME: MY LIFE WITH -- AND WITHOUT -- MY MOM, SHIRLEY MACLAINE. Sachi Parker with Frederick Stroppel. Gotham; 2013.

It isn't easy for children of celebrities, especially if they have similar ambitions, to be in the shadow of self-absorbed parents. Of course, some of these children feel entitled to enjoy their parents' connections and money, and this is certainly true of Sachi Parker, who has no problem with nepotism. Still, as the daughter of a wealthy movie star -- if we're to believe this account -- she received only sporadic attention, conditional love, and little support, financial or otherwise. Some driven movie stars become extremely protective of their territory to the point of almost becoming jealous of their talented offspring.

Then we have Sachi's father, an incredible scam artist and borderline child molester. Sachi writes about how her possibly pansexual father would climb in bed with her and act not at all in a fatherly fashion, and would squeeze her buttocks while dancing with her after she was grown. She witnessed him ruthlessly beating his mistress. Yet later in the book she is anxious for this creep to meet his grand-children! Why? You'd think she would keep them as far away from him as possible. It's these inconsistencies that make you realize that much of Lucky Me has to be taken with a grain of salt.

As in her life, Sachi Parker is clearly anxious with this book to establish herself as "somebody." hence I believe many of the anecdotes in this book are highly exaggerated or even fictionalized. If you look at Lucky Me as a semi-autobiographical novel it makes a little more sense. The book begins with Sachi learning that her mother has something to tell her that will finally make it clear why she was raised in Japan far from Shirley MacLaine. (Sachi's mother and father remained married for decades, but lived in separate countries and maintained an open relationship -- husband Steve Parker had a Japanese mistress as well.) Three quarters of the way through the book you learn what the big secret is and it's one of the most hilarious things I've ever read. I've never thought of MacLaine, talented though she may be, as having too much upstairs, but, honestly, she must be as dumb as a bucket of rocks! While the book maintains interest in the final quarter, it loses some steam, recounting Sachi's acting efforts and film/stage appearances.

So what are we to make of this? Did Sachi Parker have the misfortune of having two of the worst parents who ever lived? Did MacLaine have virtually no maternal instincts? Are she and brother Warren Beatty cut from the same cloth of ruthless ambition in which no one else ever really seems to matter? Or is the disinherited Sachi just another Christina Crawford, hating her mother for not handing her a successful career, fame, and riches on a silver platter? You can judge for yourself. But one thing that has to be said is that for much of its length Lucky Me is an absorbing and highly amusing read, and that the book is very well-written by co-auhor Frederick Stroppel. Her long story involving flatulence on a movie set could have been left out, however.

Verdict: Weird, suspect at times, but undeniably fascinating. ***1/2.

INGRID BERGMAN: MY STORY

INGRID BERGMAN: MY STORY. Ingrid Bergman and Alan Burgess. Delacorte; 1980.

Ingrid Bergman (1915 - 1982) worked with writer Alan Burgess on her memoirs just before her death in 1982. The book consists of Burgess' observations interspersed with lengthy sections written by Bergman, with quotes from those who knew her, personal letters, and diary notes. Therefore the book emerges as a fairly complete look at the life and career of Bergman, although one senses that certain things were probably swept under the rug. Born in Sweden where she became a film actress fairly easily, Hollywood took notice of her in Intermezzo, and set out to make an American version with Leslie Howard. Bergman hit the heights with such films as Casablanca, Notorious, Spellbound, Gaslight, Joan of Arc and others, earning more than one Oscar, before her career was nearly derailed by her adulterous affair with Italian director Roberto Rossellini, who was also married and whose mistress was Anna Magnani. Leaving her husband and daughter, Bergman flew to Italy to make Stromboli with her lover; they later married and made a series of indifferent films such as Fear before they, too, divorced. Bergman managed to survive the scandal, marrying for a third time (a union which also ended in divorce) and came back to Hollywood for Anastasia and subsequent films. Although described as a great beauty and not a typical actress, Bergman was not really beautiful in the conventional sense, although she was a great actress. Like most movie stars, she wanted what she wanted when she wanted it, and first husband Petter [sic] Lindstrom was jettisoned in favor of a more romantic type who was also an artist with whom she could, presumably, make masterpieces that never quite materialized. There is only a little behind-the-scenes details about Bergman's movies, but a great deal about her personal life and impressions of intimates. The truth about Bergman is that her primary concern throughout her life was her career, and considering her talent, she probably made the right, if difficult, choices.

Verdict: The Life and Times of Ingrid Bergman. ***1/2.

FROM MOTHER AND DAUGHTER TO FRIENDS

FROM MOTHER AND DAUGHTER TO FRIENDS. Nancy Aniston. Prometheus; 1999.

As I have little interest in the TV show Friends and its star, Jennifer Aniston, it may seem odd that I chose this tome to read. I think I have always been curious about how it really feels for someone in show biz to essentially have a non-career while their child goes on to great success and fame. From Mother to Daughter does not really explore that, as Nancy Aniston -- if we're to believe her -- seemed more interested in her actor husband's success than her own, and encouraged her daughter in her acting pursuits. She doesn't come off like a stereotypical "stage mom," either. Nancy did her best to get husband John Aniston on his feet and make a living when his acting career stalled for years. He later became a successful soap opera actor and, typically, discarded the wife who'd been there for him, although Nancy is charitable and suggests that what she saw as encouragement he only interpreted as nagging. All Nancy could get her husband to say was "I am not committed to this marriage" -- she subsequently learned he had a girlfriend (one of his co-stars). After daughter Jennifer's success on Friends, Nancy made the innocent mistake of talking to a tabloid show (ostensibly about a special school she felt was doing good work) and an over-reacting Jennifer stopped speaking to her mother. (This book did little to close the gap but after a few years -- when Jennifer broke up with Brad Pitt -- she reached out to her mother once again.) But forget about Jennifer, Friends, and Brat Pitt, From Mother and Daughter works because it is a very well-written memoir that frankly explores painful moments such as the death of Nancy's baby sister; her mother walking out on the family (and the mother's subsequent death); the rejection from her husband and their divorce, and watching as her children grew up to lead their own lives in which she may not necessarily have played as large a part. Some of this must be taken with a grain of salt, as the book presents only one side of the story, and there are hints that Nancy could be a mite priggish, but her writing about how women -- especially cast-off wives -- need to empower themselves is admirable. If her account is accurate, however, Jennifer should probably have stopped talking to her father, not her mother. In any case, Nancy Aniston passed away a few weeks ago, and one hopes that she and her daughter reconciled long before then.

Verdict: Affecting and often moving memoir. ***1/2.

ORSON WELLES'S LAST MOVIE: The Making of "The Other Side of the Wind"

ORSON WELLES'S LAST MOVIE: The Making of The Other Side of the Wind. Josh Karp. St. Martin's Press; 2015.

"Orson Welles's Last Movie" pretty much begins with a meant-to-be-funny-but-isn't anecdote in which Welles is confronted by a homophobic Ernest Hemingway and reacts by acting like a "faggot" in front of him, leading to a battle and then the two collapsing into laughter. The anecdote may be apocryphal but it does somewhat figure in this convoluted story of Orson Welles and his attempts to finish -- or not finish -- The Other Side of the Wind. The book almost unfolds like a mystery as the reader wonders why few people have ever seen the completed footage of the film despite the fact that there is quite a lot of it. Disgusted with interference from studios who took final cut away from him for The Magnificent Ambersons and other films, Welles decided to go the independent route, and hired several people to help him who were devoted to the charismatic actor/director and willing to work insanely long hours for a comparative pittance. (Meanwhile Welles continued to live quite well and indulge his enormous appetite.) The plot of The Other Side of the Wind deals with a film director who, much like Welles, is making what he believes will be his final film while his world falls apart around him. Welles reportedly based the lead character on "macho men" like Hemingway and director John Huston, who plays the lead in Welles' movie. The Big Reveal at the end is that the director, who has affairs with most of his leading ladies, is actually more attracted to his leading men, and in love with the latest male star who has, apparently, only been using him. The big butch guy who is secretly gay and kills himself was a stereotype even in the seventies -- even The Sergeant came out earlier -- so Welles may not have been as ahead of his time as he thought he was. How self-revealing Welles was being with his screenplay (which was mostly in his head) is also open to debate. In any case, due to legal entanglements and the fact that the owners of the film won't release the rights (without a huge pay out, one suspects), it is unlikely the general public or film enthusiasts will ever see any of the movie. Those who have seen the footage claim that certain sequences have the same remarkable imagery and camera work of Citizen Kane, but whether it's as good a movie is another question [one suspects it has moments of brilliance but may not have added up to a whole even if it was finished; and the gay angle sounds awkward]. Author Karp isn't a film scholar, but Orson Welles's Last Movie is well-written and well-reported, and is a completely absorbing look at a gifted, difficult artist trying to make a movie outside of the studio system and putting it together like a patchwork quilt.

Verdict: Very good read with interesting details and a "cast" of dozens really pulls you along. ***1/2.

FIASCO: A HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD'S ICONIC FLOPS

FIASCO: A History of Hollywood's Iconic Flops. James Robert Parish. Wiley; 2006.

This fascinating book looks at the back stories of some of Hollywood's most infamous flops, movies which were not only artistic disasters but in general lost literally millions of dollars for their respective studios. The movies covered include Cleopatra with Liz Taylor and Richard Burton; Ishtar and Town and Country, both of which starred Warren Beatty; Kevin Costner's two mega-bombs, Waterworld and The Postman; Showgirls; Cutthroat Island; and others. Parish explains in engaging and authoritative fashion why some of these movies were disasters-in-the-making, with bad decisions made by ego-driven movie executives who wanted to be the instigator of the Next Big Blockbuster but wound up with egg on their faces, dismal reviews and returns, and careers in tatters. What's amazing is how the green light was often given to projects in spite of the fact that similar films were turkeys of major proportions. Given the out-of-control egomania of both stars, directors, and executives, the vast number of people who tinker with each screenplay, the very bad casting decisions, and the who-gives-a-shit-let's-just-spend-and-spend attitude, it's a wonder that anything decent ever gets made. Part of the problem is the unbelievable salary demands of today's movie stars, who jack up the budget of every film to incredible proportions, sometimes sinking a property right from the start.

Verdict: Compulsory reading for every film enthusiast who wants to know more about the inner workings of Hollywood. ****.

LAUGHING ON THE OUTSIDE, CRYING ON THE INSIDE Judy Carne

LAUGHING ON THE OUTSIDE, CRYING ON THE INSIDE: The Bittersweet Saga of the Sock-It-To-Me Girl. Judy Carne with Bob Merrill. Rawson Associates; 1985.

Judy Carne had appeared in sitcoms before hitting it "big" -- if that's the word -- in Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In as the "Sock It To Me" girl who was always being doused with water or some other eventually humiliating stunt. Leaving the show, she did theater, hoped to star on a sitcom that didn't pan out, had two very bad marriages, two lesbian relationships that were comparatively wonderful (in fact, it's tempting to suggest that Carne's tragedy was in being bisexual instead of a committed lesbian, because her relationships with women were much better than the ones she had with men. She discarded one woman because the powers-that-be were telling her it would adversely affect her career, which in essence went nowhere anyway.)

Carne was trained to be a ballerina in childhood, but then the ballet is never mentioned again.  Her first marriage was to Burt Reynolds, who began to slap her around on a regular basis when her career was doing better than his. At one point, according to Carne, Reynolds knocked her unconscious when her head hit the mantel and he just ran out and left her there with a concussion. Yet she calls Reynolds the great love of her life -- sick! Carne's second husband was a young gigolo who stole from her, got her arrested because of his drug and other bad habits, and cracked up a car she was in due to his drunk driving, breaking her neck and putting her head in a metal contraption for months. There were problems with Carne's Las Vegas appearances, her tour (which lost money), and despite some good reviews for her show in New York, she got more publicity when a brawl broke out at the tony Persian Room. Burt Reynolds actually had her on as a guest the first time he hosted the Tonight Show  -- she even mentioned the fireplace mantel incident -- and when she desperately needed some money he gave her a grand total of five hundred dollars. Carne became addicted to heroin but was arrested more than once on drug charges after she became clean and sober; these charges were eventually dropped when "heroin" proved to be something else. One disaster and complication after another, with little real work.

Sadly, Carne's story of Show Biz Gone Sour makes for a compelling read. (The book is very well-written by Bob Merrill, whom she doesn't mention in the acknowledgments). Bad marriages, drug addiction, financial woes, battered wife syndrome -- at times the whole thing borders on grotesque black comedy, but it keeps the pages turning. Laughing on the Outside would probably make a terrific movie if it were done with care.

A note on Laugh-In. Even when I was a kid I thought the show was stupid and unfunny and couldn't understand how it became so successful for a time. The painted, bony Carne looked ridiculous, Jo Anne Worley was gross and overbearing, I couldn't stand Alan Sues, and I didn't think much of Henry Gibson's poetry, although I must say the poem he wrote as his introduction to this book is excellent.

Verdict: Often horrifying and harrowing account of one woman's descent into drug and show business purgatory. ***1/2.

UPDATE: Ms. Carne passed away at age seventy-six the very day this review was posted.