5 comments about Elvis In Texas: The Undiscovered King 1954-1958.

1. This a very nice book. There are some great pictures in here. I own a lot of Elvis books and there are some pictures in here I haven't seen before. The text is a bit gossipy but okay. It's not an in depth study of the King but good coffee table fodder. According to this, he really did sow his wild oats in Texas - I wonder how many little Elvi are going about?

   It's interesting to see Elvis the boy at the beginning, looking full of life and looking to the future and then look at pictures of him toward the end. Was all the success worth it? Perhaps not.




2. I bought this book because I'm writing Faron Young's biography and needed information on dates Faron and Elvis worked together. Lori Torrance lost my respect in the very first paragraph of the book, with her statement, "Country music twanged on the radio, Hank Williams crying in his cornflakes again." A few pages later, she says, "At that time, easy listening and my-dog-has-fleas country music monopolized the mass music market." The research was useful but the flippant writing was a turn-off.



3. Scotty Moore, Elvis' original guitar player and manager, recently said he thought he had seen every photo from that era until he saw this book. That's why I bought it. The photos, mostly performance snapshots, are great. Unfortunately the text is not. At best the writing gets in the way, and at worst it is just plain wrong (which Scotty warned me about). Still, this rare glimpse of one of the greatest American bands merits its recommendation.



4. Scotty Moore, Elvis' original guitar player and manager, told me he thought he had already seen every photo from that era until he saw this book. That's why I bought it. The snapshots in this book are great, but the writing is so full of itself, it's frustrating to read. I find the photos helpful as a visual reference when reading other books on Elvis' early years.



5. Great Book... The chapter on "Devil In A Pink Dress" was really good.. A 'must have' for any true Elvis fan..

5 comments about The Rise And Fall Of The Dillinger Gang.

1. If you just want the facts about the Dillinger Gang then this is the book for you. The books flows smoothly and is easy to read, individual chapters are allocated to each gang member which details their family life, upbringing and their drift into a life of crime. Many of them lost one or both parents very early in life, maybe this pushed them over the edge to crime l do not know, but low paying, mundane jobs were not an option for the Dillinger gang.
   
   Van Meter, Nelson and Pierpont were vicious, nasty creatures who seemed born for the prison yard, although evidence is presented that Pierpont was never the same after he was beaned on the head by a baseball bat, it is claimed he suffered from periods of insanity. Makely seems to have been a enough nice fellow he just enjoyed robberies along with the money and lifestyle it bought. Makely reflecting in the book said that a life dedicated to honesty would lead to the poverty he saw in his father's lifestyle which to him was a waste of a life!
   
   Many bizarre moments of the criminals lives are in the book, a milk bottle is thrown at the Dillinger gang while exiting from one of their robberies and Van Meter escaping from the police by jumping on an untended wagon pulled by horses and whipping the horses into a gallop as he and the wagon tore down the street to a successful escape! Nelson, sitting in a hotel room enjoying the rantings and ravings of Van Meter (no love lost between these two) who was distraught at the look of his face after plastic surgery.
   
   Overall a good introduction to the Dillinger gang with a lot of details on the type of tension filled lives they lead.



2. Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (8/06)
   
   "The Rise and Fall of the Dillinger Gang" is really interesting. Author, Jeffrey S. King, extensively researched the background of the Dillinger gang. He offers pictures, references, quotes from people and letters and the personal history of each person in the gang.
   
   Dillinger himself was either seen as "Public Enemy Number One" or he was viewed as a modern day Robin Hood. The later comparison was actually really sad because while he wasn't robbing from the poor, he was responsible for the beatings and or deaths of several people, including many law enforcement officers. This gang robbed stores, theaters, banks, and raided police stations to help some of the members escape including Dillinger himself.
   
   Dillinger's criminal career started early. He was locked up from 1924 to 1933. He got out and continued his crime sprees. Some of his family members felt that he continued his life of crime because his first prison sentence was unfairly too long. His numerous attempts at escaping prison continued to add to his sentence. His family should have looked at why he was locked up in the first place. He was truly a career criminal and did not seem to want any other life.
   
   From his prison release in May of 1933 to when he was gunned down on July 22, 1934, Dillinger's gang was responsible for killing about 16 people and robbing 20 banks. Eleven of these people were law enforcement officers.
   
   Other members in the gang's lives are also reviewed in this book. This includes: George "Baby Face" Nelson (Lester Gillis), Harry Eugene "Eddie" Green, Homer Van Meter, Harry Pierpont, Charley Makley, Russell Lee Clark, John Hamilton, and Thomas Carroll. You will learn everything about their upbringings, their relationships, and their demises.
   
   Included in some of the photos are pictures of several of gang members after they were killed. This includes Dillinger's photo. It is unsettling to see these pictures, but what I feel was more unsettling are the smiling faces of several of the people posing in the background photos around the bodies. Because of his notoriety, Dillinger had 15,000 people view his body at the morgue.
   
   I highly recommend this book to history or biography buffs. In addition to learning about the career criminal lives of these men, you get a really good feel for what society was like at the time. You also learn about how the FBI got start and J. Edgar Hoover's role at the time.



3. This is not a book of rehashed material, as one recent reviewer complained. Little of the biographical material on John Dillinger is new--after all, millions of words were written in his own time, and the biographies continue to flow in--but there is a goldmine of new information on all the major members of the two Dillinger Gangs. As Bill Helmer comments on the back cover, "Dillinger didn't do it alone," and King's goal in this book was to cover the criminal backgrounds of John's accomplices, something no one has done before. And he succeeds remarkably well. The previously undocumented criminal careers of Harry Pierpont, Charles Makley, John Hamilton, Russell Clark, Tommy Carroll, Homer Van Meter, and Eddie Green are covered in great detail, and it makes for fascinating reading. Most of these men committed far more crimes, and over a wider geographic area, than the celebrated gang members, Dillinger and "Baby Face" Nelson. Pierpont, Carroll, or Makley alone would each be deserving case studies themselves for book length biographies. This book is destined to become a true crime classic at least for its in-depth study of the gang members. That much said, there are flaws, which cause me to dock a star: [1] Some obsolete legends from previous Dillinger biographers--notably Toland and Nash--are accepted uncritically; [2] Nelson's three-fingered getaway driver on the Grand Haven bank robbery is not likely to have been William "Three-Fingered Jack" White, whom King definitely identifies him to be. FBI files on the Grand Haven job mention White as a possible suspect but tend to rule him out and no certain identification was ever made; [3] King obviously missed the recent expanded paperback edition of the Girardin-Helmer work "Dillinger: The Untold Story". Otherwise he would know that the fake guns used in the Pierpont-Makley death house break were carved from soapstone, not soap as previously reported. But these are minor quibbles and no historical work of any kind has ever been without errors. This book is a good read and there are plenty of leads here for future researchers to pursue.



4. Several books have been written about John Dillinger and his cohorts along with the recently published book entitled The Vendetta by Alston Purvis. Each of the books cover the same cast of characters and incidents such as the shootout at the Little Bohemia lodge in northern Wisconsin. Jeffery King's book does provide a great deal of information on the gang's members, but not anything different than what can already be found in numerous other books on this subject. King states that the Purvis family was "deeply upset" that Hoover ignored Melvin's death. However, in Alston Purvis's book "The Vendetta", in a telegram to Hoover after Melvin's death, his wife stated, "We are honored that you ignored Melvin's death. Your jealously hurt him very much..." I did find numerous spelling errors, the same word repeated in a sentence, word omissions, and incorrect words placed in sentences especially, but certainly not limited to, the chapter on Little Bohemia. In summary, while I found the book to be interesting, it doesn't have any information to speak of that can't be found in numerous other similar volumes. It also is in serious need of a proofreader.



5. Finally a crime book that dives deep into the background of every member associated with the Dillinger gang, definitely the best book written by author Jeff King. The Rise And Fall Of The Dillinger Gang brilliantly uncovers new facts and sets the record straight! I give this book 5-stars because it is a top-notch book with unsurpassed detail! A must read! Thank you. Review by 7ony Stewart - author of Dillinger, The Hidden Truth (...).

3 comments about Lucy A to Z: The Lucille Ball Encyclopedia.

1. "Lucy A to Z" is well researched and fact filled. It is one of the few books about Lucille Ball that I can recommend without reservation and I have read most of them. It is an easy read and well worth the time invested in reading about Lucy's career. Wanda Clark



2. I was a fairly big Lucy fan but hadn't bought many books about her, mostly those about her show, I Love Lucy. But when I found this book, the idea of an encyclopedia intrigued me, and I figured there'd be lots of stuff about I Love Lucy, in any case. There sure is, and there's a lot more, on every aspect of Lucy's career, arranged alphabetically. The pictures are great and everything is super easy to find. The writing is both breezy and insightful; the author's obviously a big fan, but he knows his stuff. A lot of research must have gone into this. As someone else on the page says, if you need any `splainin' about anything in Lucy's life or career, it's here.



3. Everything you could ever want to know about Lucy...in one place! I bought a copy of the second edition a few years ago and liked it very much, but I was disappointed that there were no pictures inside. Well, the author has taken care of that in this new fourth edition, and then some! There are lots of pictures, many of which I haven't seen before. The cover photo alone is a real knockout! Not only that, but the book size is bigger and there are many more new entries. It looks like it has been totally redesigned. And if you ever needed to find out anything about Lucy, it's an encyclopedia format, so just look alphabetically (there's also a huge index). I love Lucy, and I love this book! Highly recommended.

No comments about Clark Gable - The King of Hollywood (Biography).

3 comments about Hollywood Undercover: Revealing the Sordid Secrets of Tinseltown.

1. I was expecting a great, juicy exposé of insider news and gossip in this book and was sorely disappointed. Mr. Halperin's writing style is weak, he never mentions names when disclosing supposedly sordid secrets, and his facts are often inaccurate. In one section, he mentions how Debbie Reynolds stole Eddie Fisher away from Elizabeth Taylor, when quite the opposite is true. The information that is in this book is basically what one can read in any People magazine--and People has far better photos. The photos in this book are amateurish and feature the author in his ridiculous sequined coat and bow-tie. I hate to be mean, but this is one book that you shouldn't waste your time on. I bought it because of the two positive reviews--I was misinformed.



2. I bought this book after hearing the author interviewed on a morning radio show (The Jay Thomas Show). What intrigued me the most was that the author said he started out to do a documentary on being an aspiring actor in Hollywood and came to Scientology. During the interview, the author claimed he was hiding out in the mountains of Canada as a result of threats he'd received on the phone and he's scared for his life.
   
   Needless to say, I wanted to read all about the mysterious Scientologists.
   
   I also was interested to see how everyone in Hollywood knows certain people are gay but that it's totally unknown to the general public. The reason I gave the book 4 stars was because he chooses not to out the actors...I wish he'd name drop.



3. What a great read! I loved all the little sorid details of this book. It kept me interested from page one, no less! I highly recommend this to anyone who loves the whole Hollywood thing! Also, I liked and would recommend Take Your Shirt Off: A Novel of Hollywood.

5 comments about Anastasia: The Riddle of Anna Anderson.

1. "Anastasia:The Riddle of Anna Anderson".....was a very interesting,captivating book....But I have questions: 1.If you had been at the receiving end of a firing squad,that murdered your entire family...and you lived.....would you be perfectly sane? 2.If you kept telling everyone that you were you....and they kept saying you weren't....would you be sane? 3.After your families' death...The banks of England pocketed all the money your family invested and said"there were no deposits"...and you show up to claim the money they stole....what would you do? 4.If the living heirs (from the other sides of the family) thought you were dead...and the "crown and possessions and title were up for grabs...and ever hoping that the possibility of "the Monarchy' would reign again.....what do you think"They" would do???? 5. If you were a ruler of one country and your family was the ruler of another...and those two countries were at war...and you went to try to get your relatives to give up control and get out....but knew that if anyone found out that you did this it would be your head!!!! What would you do? 6.If your country...that you loved..shot you...stabbed you...bayoneted you...disfigured you....and you LIVED...and escaped...and went to another country...what language would YOU speak??? Well...I'm not saying SHE WAS......but I think we'd all be a little bit crazy...sick...worn out from life and argueing that we were who we thought we were.....even if we weren't ...because we'd gone completely crazy!!!! I'm done................



2. The credibility of this book should have been destroyed by the DNA testing which disclosed Anna Anderson's true identity, but of course there are stil circles of people out there who will bend over backwards to invent any and every theory that works with their fantasy. If the science doesn't agree with them, then of course the science must be wrong. What else is new? That in the year 2007 people continue to tout this imposter as Anastasia is an insult to Anastasia's memory.



3. "Anastasia: The Riddle of Anna Anderson" was written before the "official" discovery of the Romanov bones, therefore, Anna Anderson could not have undergone DNA testing, when this book was published in 1983. Without getting into the DNA testing, there is one question throughout the story of Anna Anderson that was either never asked by Kurth or never asked by Anna Anderson's opponents. According to Anderson's story, she ["Anastasia"] escaped Ekaterinburg with an Ipatiev House guard, Alexander Tschaikovsky. "Anastasia" and Tschaikovsky made their way to Bucharest, Romania--where "Anastasia" gave birth to a son, and the two were married in a Catholic church. Here's the problem. Anastasia Romanov was Orthodox. Why would she marry in a Catholic church? In Russia, this could be understandable; but in Romania, which is also predominately Orthodox? That is one question Kurth, or Anderson's opponents, never asked.



4. Numerous other reviewers have already gone into massive detail about all of the evidence Mr. Kurth produces to establish that "Anna Anderson" was indeed Grand Duchess Anastasiya, so I'm not going to write yet another length missive repeating what so many other people have already reiterated. I had only been a Russophile for three years when I read this book, and absolutely loved it; the next year I was able to write a research paper on this very topic (though Mr. Kurth's book wasn't one of the resources I used for my research), proving that these two women were one and the same, with so much compelling proof that one must question what really happened when the DNA test was administered. My research turned up a story about a shady figure named Willy Korte who was hanging around the lab and who quite possibly saw sensitive information on the papers in a folder. Not only that, but when the researchers first went to get the DNA, it was lost, and they spent several hours searching for it. Seems pretty suspicious to me.
   
   However, this book was written before the DNA test was done, so that issue is really neither here nor there and should be the topic of another book, or maybe even additional material in an updated reissue. If Mr. Kurth were really so "obsessed" with proving "Mrs. Anderson" were really Anastasiya, he would have been grasping at straws and painting circumstantial evidence as unquestionable proof. He does absolutely none of that here. There's enough proof here to convince even a hardened skeptic. If this woman really were such a fraud and had been nothing but some peasant bumpkin woman, why did the missing peasant woman's own relatives say they didn't recognise her and had never seen her before in their lives? Why did both Anastasiya and "Anna Anderson" have the foot disorder hallux valgus? Why did this mysterious woman have scars on her body corresponding exactly to the wounds inflicted by the regicidal murderers? Why did she recognise so many people from her family and close circle of friends (like Duchess Olga and Dr. Botkin's children) and know so many intimate details about their lives? Why did she have eyes that were the exact same deep shade of blue as the tsar's? Why did they have the same fingerprints? How was she able to know about a secret visit the tsarina's cousin Kaiser Wilhelm made to St. Petersburg during WWI, something which no one outside of the Royal Family would have even known about? How did she know so many details about a hospital for wounded soldiers she, her mother, and her sisters often helped out at? She even corrected some of the veterans who tried to mislead her and prove her identity false, such as one who falsely claimed that her little brother had been there as well when they visited. Why did both women have the same handwriting? And in a German court of law, the comparison pictures of her ears and Anastasiya's ears matched on far more than just the bare requisite amount of similarities to prove identity, as well as the similarity between their faces. As one of the experts said, "Such similarity between two human faces is not possible unless they are the same person or identical twins."
   
   There was so much compelling undeniable proof that it seems utterly ridiculous to say, "Oh, I guess I was wrong" just because of the results of a highly suspect DNA test. It seems as though most people who dismiss "Anna Anderson" as a fraud have never even done any in-depth reading on this subject, don't know about all of this massive proof, have no idea about the monkey business that went on concerning the alleged DNA. Far from a delusional fraud or a peasant woman with amnesia, this woman was truly the real deal.



5. This book, is wonderful let me start bvy saying that. It is endlessly compelling and fascinating and is exhaustively researched, as a reader can probably tell by the constant source refrences.
   
   It tells the story of Anna Anderson, the young woman who jumped of a bridge and then, whilst in a German asylum, claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia, youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II. Kurth's book exhaustively details the known sections of her life, recording the testimony of not only thoughs who supported Anna but also those who opposed her.
   
   The only detractor from this book, is that Kurth refers to Anna Anderson as Anastasia throughout, which can get confusing (especially in the earlier sections.)
   
   I have read one review here that says that Anna Anderson could only speak German. To me this is proof they have not read a word of the book. Anna Anderson spoke English and Russian 'like a lady of high soceity' both in her sleep and in secret to the nurses whilst she was in the asylum, and by 1928, after only a few lessons in English based on childish nursey rhymes, would speak nothing BUT English, the language she used for the rest of her life. And to those who say the REAL Anastasia couldn't speak German, workbooks in her own hand, that feature writing in German with LESS errors than in her writing in Russian totally disprove the widely spread myth that Anastasia couldn't speak German.
   
   Overall this is an excellent book, and I recommend it to anyone who wants a well balanced account of one woman's claim that gripped the world.

5 comments about Genuine Authentic: The Real Life of Ralph Lauren.

1. I have now read all of Michael Gross' books and each has been a pleasure - all I can ask is, "What next?" All the hallmarks of Gross' style are here, incredibly readable, covering a wide range of topics in a comfortable manner and with a sweeping sense of the history of the subject. Gross is equally at home in the technical details of the garment business, the sociocultural aspects of growing up Jewish in the Bronx and the aesthetics of high fashion photography and his tone is never shrill or polemic. I would have liked to have known more about Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein but at 369 pages the book is already weighty, and I absolutely loved every page on Lauren's childhood. I could have used a bit less business writing. But this is my bias. Who knows maybe there is another Gross book about to spring upon us about Hilfiger, whom Lauren repeatedly mispronounced Hilfinger early on, a perfect example of Gross' eye for the exquisite detail. Gross is a master at his trade and this book is a gem.



2. I agree with other reviewers who complained that there were not enough pictures and that one could hardly avoid getting confused about all of the different names in Gross's book. It probably is not Gross's fault but to write about Lauren without plentiful photographs is a disservice to any reader. Gotta give it to Gross though. His report is thorough. He deserves 4 stars. His publisher deserves 2 stars.

   The book is well worth reading for the education it gives the reader about the clothing business and "designer" labels as well as the telling insights into RL himself. In short, RL has cashed in on the preppy WASP persona but, to this day, doesn't really "get it" himself. Upon being questioned about art in his "WASP" designed house, he cannot identify artists on his wall and brags that he just goes by "feel." Clearly, he doesn't understand that the way of life he imitates includes education and culture, neither of which he has to this very day.

   The book is also a wonderful education for the clothes buyer. You know those outlet bargains? I guess they are not, since a whole line goes straight from the factory to the outlet. Did you think that you were the only one who did not buy the $100 blouse at the department store? Looks like no one else buys much either. The money gets made from those pique shirts. Buyer beware.

   Another interesting aspect of RL's personality is his "over the top" out of proportion opinion of himself. He actually imagines that JFK, Jr. does not have as famous/interesting of a father as his own son. He hates to party with royalty or even the White House unless he is the star. Can you say Narcissist?




3. I agree with other reviewers who complained that there were not enough pictures and that one could hardly avoid getting confused about all of the different names in Gross's book. It probably is not Gross's fault but to write about Lauren without plentiful photographs is a disservice to any reader. Gotta give it to Gross though. His report is thorough. He deserves 4 stars. His publisher deserves 2 stars.

   The book is well worth reading for the education it gives the reader about the clothing business and "designer" labels as well as the telling insights into RL himself. In short, RL has cashed in on the preppy WASP persona but, to this day, doesn't really "get it" himself. Upon being questioned about art in his "WASP" designed house, he cannot identify artists on his wall and brags that he just goes by "feel." Clearly, he doesn't understand that the way of life he imitates includes education and culture, neither of which he has to this very day.

   The book is also a wonderful education for the clothes buyer. You know those outlet bargains? I guess they are not, since a whole line goes straight from the factory to the outlet. Did you think that you were the only one who did not buy the $100 blouse at the department store? Looks like no one else buys much either. The money gets made from those pique shirts. Buyer beware.




4. I wonder if "reader" who wrote the first review below works for Ralph Lauren. I bet so. What a personal attack on someone who has obviously worked hard to write a balanced, thorough and honest book. Which this is. Despite Lauren's flip-flopping, first asking for a biography with integrity, then refusing to cooperate when the writer tried to give him what he wanted--a story told in the hysterically funny and revealing author's note at the beginning of the book--Gross not only illuminates Ralph Lauren's business, but also his complex and fascinating character, his tremendous drive and entrepreneurial spirit and the whole world of fashion. He should be proud--not ashamed. And Lauren should count himself lucky that he got a biography of such a high caliber.



5. The book gives a fairly good overview of the major stages of Lauren's life and accomplishments. While the chronology is fairly informative, I feel that it focuses more heavily on the personal relationships in Lauren's life. The book falls short in its description of the creative process that Lauren uses and the source of his inspiration and his ability to reinvent itself. The discussion on the business and financial aspects of Lauren's success is fit more for a magazine article than a serouos biographical study -- don't look for any insights here either.

3 comments about John F. Kennedy, Jr.: A Life in Pictures (Kennedy Family).

1. This book contains wonderful pictures from John's early days to his last ones. If you are interested in the Kennedy family, this book is definitely a must have. Unfortunately the quality of the text doesn't equal the picture's ones. There is only few information delivered with this book and very often you would wish for more.



2. Focused and experienced editors Yann-Brice Dherbier and Pierre-Henri Verlhac have created the third volume of photographic tributes to the Kennedy Family, the closest this country ever came to royalty - in the most positive sense possible. Having successfully enshrined JFK and Jacqueline Kennedy for the still mourning public in their previous volumes, this sizeable portfolio likewise confines editorial comments to a few pages then lavishes the viewer with photographs, not all professionally created, but justifiably saved for posterity.
   
   The life of John-John was never easy - from our first memories of his birth as a White House baby, to the indelible impression left by his captured farewell salute during his father's funeral march, to his struggle for privacy in the clangor of paparazzi, to his schooling, creative adventure with George Magazine, to his throne as the world's most eligible bachelor and his subsequent marriage to Carolyn Bessette and tragedy of their deaths in a plane crash - and the ideal young man was beset with undercurrents of sadness. Yet he remains a heroic figure in the minds of the people who adored him from his birth to his untimely death.
   
   The book is rich in memories as captured by both professional and non-professional photographers and is one of those volumes that remind the reader of a saner, kinder time. It is worthy of everyone's library. Grady Harp, December 05



3. For those of us lucky enough to remember President Kennedy and his family, this retrospective about his son John, couldn't come at a better time. With all the rage of war in Iraq it's nice to think about a time when life was more at ease. This book helps.
   
   John Kennedy was not a hero or a saint. He was a son of a president who tried to make a life on his own against tremendous odds. Yes, he had things going in his favor, but he also had talent, courage and died far too young. Study the photos of this man. We are not a country of kings, queens or princes. But we did have John Kennedy for a few, brief years, and I think we were all the better for it.

2 comments about Little Caesar: A Biography of Edward G. Robinson.

1. Edward G. Robinson seemed tough, but he had a sensitive side too that was most obviously expressed in his love of modern art; his collection of Renoirs alone was for many years the most impressive West of the Mississippi. He was said to have bought a masterpuece every time he made another film for Warner Brothers, to reward himself with some beauty for dipping himself in dreck. And yet Robinson's films still startle with their magnificent energy and passion. They too are works of art every bit as much as his Soutines and his Picassos.
   
   He was not a ladies man in the traditional sense of the term, but as Gansberg's fine biography shows, he was interested in all forms of beauty. And part of the reason he could so well play obsessed characters (such as his films with Joan Bennett in the noir cycle) is that he too was prone to obsession.
   
   The blacklist (or more strictly speaking, the graylist) affected his career badly. For some time offers of employment dried up, even though he was never a Communist or anywhere near it. The mere idea is laughable. Cecil B. De Mille of all people, the director and producer often thought of as a rightwing nut case, was the one who gave Robinson a solid job playing in his own remake of the TEN COMMANDMENTS. No other mogul in Hollywood would have had the balls to cast Robinson so promimently, not at that time when men walked scared of HUAC and its minions. It took a compassionate conservative to restore Robinson to the high echelon of film stardom to which he rightfully belonged.
   
   Robinson's own book, ALL MY YESTERDAYS, was famous for revealing so little about its subject. Author Gansburg gets right down to ground zero with Robinson's psyche, exploring his ups as well as his well chronicled downs. I wish I had been a fly on the wall when Gansburg interviewed some of his many Among his many films, TWO WEEKS IN ANOTHER TOWN, THE VIOLENT MEN, SCARLET STREET, SOYLENT GREEN and NIGHTMARE have all undergone recent critical revision, while DOUBLE INDEMNITY< KEY LARGO, and THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW remain American masterpieces of the highest order.



2. This book, except for the Epilogue, was written in 1983, ten years after Edward G. Robinson's death. The author, Alan Gansberg, therefore had the opportunity to interview a number of key friends and relatives to gain insight into the man, and we are richer for it. Emanuel Goldenberg, aka Edward G. Robinson, was defined by his strong Jewish upbringing and the words of his father, who taught his children to improve themselves and to "Always live beyond your means. It will make you work harder." Robinson took both pieces of advice to heart. He was a life-long learner, a tremendous workhorse, and made the best of every talent he had. In his early efforts to get into acting, he sold himself with the line that he was "not good on face value, but good on stage value." And he delivered, got noticed, and found himself, in 1915, in the play "Under Fire," a war melodrama where Robinson played three different parts. The play opened first in Boston, and Robinson received a glowing review in the "Boston Globe." Shortly thereafter, the play went to New York, and Robinson again got good notices in "Vanity Fair" and "The Theatre Magazine." This was the turning point for Robinson. At 22, he dropped out of CCNY, bought a new wardrobe, and turned his full attention to his new career. And this book takes you through every aspect of that brilliant career, including the awful times of the early 1950s, where Robinson was forced to appear (twice) before HUAC to clear his name against anonymous charges that he was a communist sympathizer and even a Russian spy. Heading up the right wing and enforcing graylisting and blacklisting was the head of the Screen Actors Guild at that time, none other than Ronald Reagan, who knew which way the wind was blowing and made certain his career was never in danger. This book puts Reagan in a bad light as a manipulative, self-serving, self-righteous fellow with little compassion. The consequences of Reagan's indifference to the suffering of his fellow actors are apparent in Robinson's and others' suffering, including that of John Garfield. Robinson, like millions of others, was nothing more than an FDR liberal all his life, and wasn't shy about it. For this he was punished, and, in the Epilogue, Gansberg draws parallels to today's repressive national climate.
   I have always enjoyed Edward G. Robinson and am grateful to Turner Classic Movies for broadcasting Robinson movies from his Warner Brother years. Robert Osborne, the host of TCM, mentioned this book at the recent screening of "Larceny, Inc.," a 1942 "flop" that actually is pretty entertaining today, if a bit tiresome.
   The book has an excellent Appendix listing all the stage, screen, television, and radio appearances of Robinson. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to read about the life and times of a great actor and a warm, engaged person. Robinson's biggest fault, which he himself admitted, was that he wasn't a great fathter to his troubled son, Manny. That comes across in the book too. "This was a man" is a line from the Antony soliloquy in "Julius Caesar," which Robinson used in his first audition, in 1912, for the Sargent School, later the Academy of Dramatic Arts. The soliloquy describes Robinson himself.

5 comments about Jackie Oh!.

1. This is a biography (authorized? I highly doubt it) on Jackie Kennedy Onassis. The book makes her out to be a spoiled brat basically (like making her husband fly to Paris because she is out of her favorite perfume). It was fun reading, but I'm not sure how accurate it is. I guess we'll never know.



2. This book reads much like Gone With the Wind and Jackie Kennedy's character, personality and upbringing is eerily similar to that of Scarlett O'Hara herself. Although the book is dated it is a fascinating and engrossing read. Kelly's an excellent writer and story teller and aside from the speculation about the book's reliability, it is nonetheless, immensely readable. Moreover, there is nothing in this book that is not consistent with facts which have been verified in the years since it was published.
   
   If you are a Kennedy worshiper you will not like this book. It is not flattering to Mrs. Onassis nor should it be. From all accounts Jackie Onassis was a self absorbed, materialistic and psyopathically arrogant bully of a woman. You will not come out of this book liking her. But even under the harsh glare of the truth, Jackie Onasis is fascinating. She was a pivotal figure in this country's history regardless of her shallow, ruthless and self serving ways. You also might come out of this book profoundly resentful of the unconditional genuflecting she enjoyed from American society at large. How someone like this could move through life with absolutely no accountability and with unconditional reverence makes the book even more thought provoking.



3. When Jackie Oh! came out it shot Kitty Kelley to fame. It was considered vicious trash by the critics but the public ate it up. Reading it almost 30 years later I'm struck with the feeling that the hype was more than the book. There have been allegations that Kelly relied on backstairs gossip and a lot of what's in here can't be proven. Then there is the fact that Jackie was alive when the book was published. Kelly's decision to write about Jackie's treatment for depression (The woman lost a son and a husband within months. Who wouldn't be depressed?) seemed simply cruel for the sport of it.

   Reading Jackie Oh is kind of like finding your old high school year book and being embarrased by the clothes, the hobbies and the sentiments written therein. You look at it and are chagrined at how important such sillines seemed at the time.




4. Trashy, gossipy biography written by an author known for digging up the dirt. I laughed at some of the situations that were described because I couldn't believe all of them. Good for an afternoon's read while lying on the beach or taking a long bath.



5. Great tidbits on Jackie. A book that you cannot possibly put down. Very entertaining. FOR QUESTIONS OR DISCUSSIONS ON JACKIE ONASSIS, PLEASE E-MAIL ME AT MellissaLD@aol.com. HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!