Stars & Their Hobbies ~ Lauren Bacall

Everyone agrees that Lauren Bacall collected beer steins. Except for Lauren Bacall.

When Bacall passed away passed away last month at the age of 89, several online obituaries claimed that Bacall's only hobby was collecting beer mugs/steins.

I did some research on this and came across an interview with Lauren Bacall by Rebecca Winters of Time magazine. Here is there exchange:

Winters: Your fan websites say you collect beer mugs.

Bacall: That I collect what? Absolutely untrue. Your not serious! I don't drink beer. I've been accused of a lot of things but that's a new one.

I think this rumor started on the internet when people saw these photos of Lauren Bacall at home with Humphrey Bogart. You can see beer steins on display behind them.

My series Stars & Their Hobbies explores how notable actors and actresses from Hollywood history spent their free time. Click here to view a complete list of entries.

Stars & Their Hobbies ~ Harold Lloyd

Harold Lloyd, Great Danes

The great silent screen actor Harold Lloyd really loved dogs, especially Great Danes. His favorite was “Prince” who often appeared in family photographs and home videos. Lloyd had as many as 65 Great Danes, maybe even more, in his kennel on his Greenacres estate. He bred Great Danes and entered them in shows, winning blue ribbons along the way, and he also kept St. Bernards and Scottish Terriers. He loved his dogs iso much it's been said that he even set aside a plot of land on Greenacres to serve as a dog cemetery.

At one point during WWII, he had to reduce the number of dogs in his kennel from 60-80 down to 20. There are various reasons why he might have done this and the reasons differ greatly depending on which source you read. Here are some of the reasons given by various sources:

• the barking bothered his neighbors
• an epidemic killed most of them off
• a WWII related meat shortage resulted in not enough food for the dogs
• a city ordinance demanded the number of dogs reduced for safety reasons
• Lloyd sold the land the kennel was on to the Mormon church to be a future site for a tabernacle

Whatever the reason, it must have hurt Lloyd to lose more than half of his kennel during the war. Lloyd’s Great Danes were a source of pride for him, his kennel was considered one of the best in the world and Hollywood filmmakers would even borrow his dogs for movies. Some of his prized Great Danes can be seen in the film The Most Dangerous Game (1932).

Lloyd with his Great Dane "Prince" - Source

And again with Prince - Source

My series Stars & Their Hobbies explores how notable actors and actresses from Hollywood history spent their free time. Click here to view a complete list of entries.

Interview with Sheana Ochoa ~ Author of Stella! Mother of Modern Acting

I got to meet the lovely Sheana Ochoa at Book Expo America back in May . Her book Stella! Mother of Modern Acting is one of the best biographies I've ever read. She graciously agreed to an interview for this blog which you can read below.

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What made you decide to write a book about Stella Adler?

Ochoa: I worked at the Stella Adler Academy of Acting in Hollywood while I was getting my graduate degree in writing and immediately noticed that Stella’s contributions to American acting were not well known. Even her name is not as well known as Lee Strasberg’s. I wanted to correct that error and now that I think about it, I guess I could have chosen a different genre other than a biography to do so, but a biography hadn’t been written on her and that seemed another gap in the annals of theater. I love the unsung hero story.

How did you conduct your research?

Ochoa: Oh, the research! One could go on researching a person’s life forever and never finish the book. I loved sleuthing through libraries around the country, discovering old articles about her or her family on Nexus Lexus or the New York Times database, but the best part is the fieldwork. For example, once I got a hold of her FBI file, I learned where she had gone to school. I called up the school and discovered her records had been transferred to another school. I had to make a trip to New York anyway to interview more of her colleagues and family. I went to the school and basically conned my way into the basement archives where, voila, I found her “permanent record.”

Did you have any obstacles to overcome in your research?

Ochoa: I found it very difficult to extract anecdotes from people, which is a problem of the interview itself. Some people just aren’t natural raconteurs. Getting information worth anything and by that I mean, something that will translate into a scene in the book, or at the very least reveal something about the person that informs my understanding of her, is like pulling teeth sometimes. The interview is an art form in itself and you have to learn when to interrupt someone and lead them into a different direction when they’re determined to recount their own life instead of the subject's as well as learn to be quiet so they can find their way to the story you’re looking for.

What kind of impact did Stella Adler have on the acting community?

Ochoa: Her greatest contribution was in script analysis, being able to dissect every line of a play and teach her students how to do the same to uncover what’s between the lines and uncover the themes of the great playwrights. But that came later in life. Her immediate impact came after studying with Constantin Stanislavski in 1934 and returning to America with a different emphasis on acting craft than the one Strasberg had been using. She opened up and refined acting by elevating the role of the actor to one as co-creator with the author. She would stress that the actor had the responsibility of building his or her character within the truth of the circumstances of the work. Subsequently her classes became studies of the human condition, part philosophical, part spiritual. Her students would say that going to Stella’s class was like going to church. It lifted you and it lifted the work not only of the actor, but the playwright (which can be applied to the screenwriter as well).

Who do you think is the most fascinating person in Stella Adler’s life? 

Ochoa: Stella was the most fascinating person in Stella’s life. And I’m not being facetious. There was no one else with the complexity, intellectual insatiability, capriciousness and larger than life presence than Stella. She was surrounded by the artistic and cultural elite of her time from Peggy Guggenheim to Leonard Bernstein, but Stella was in a league of her own. She devoted her life to inspiring others, but there were few people that could inspire her because they were not on the same intellectual and energetic plane.

Do you think Stella Adler would have been more well-known today if she would have done more self-publicity in her lifetime?

Ochoa: Stella once said, and this isn’t in the book, that had she concentrated on the sexual aspect of acting she would have been very well known. She was aware that she wasn’t very good at publicity because she would much rather spend her time on the work. She also had an impression of self-publicity as vulgar, which was a holdover from her parents’ attitude in the Yiddish theater.

Could you tell us little about the play Harold & Stella: Love Letters?

Ochoa: Sure. The letters were edited into a script. They were all written in 1942 when Stella and the great theater critic and director, Harold Clurman were living on opposite coasts of the country as the U.S. entered the Second World War. The steady stream of correspondence buttressed their long distance romance. Through their words we meet two theatrical giants before becoming giants. Both are dealing with romantic and financial uncertainties. Stella can’t get work she feels worthy of her talent and Clurman is under the threat of being drafted. We see a vulnerable side of Stella and the great commitment Clurman had to their relationship. I produced “Harold & Stella: Love Letters” for the Hollywood fringe festival and it won Best of Fringe. I also mounted one show during my book tour in New York. People prefer coming to an event over something like a reading at a bookstore so I was trying to be creative in my novice marketing efforts.

Source

I adore hats and from your book I learned that Stella wore them all the time. Could you tell us a little about her fashion sense and what that meant for her as a woman and as an actress of the theater?

Ochoa:  Stella came up during the belle époque. It was a different time. Traditional. Social etiquette was as important then as social media is today. Much of that etiquette was having proper attire, being well groomed. If you were a woman you wore your hair up. If you wore it down, you could be mistaken for insane. It was a time when children respected their parents and teachers, and spoke to them deferentially. A time when men could shake hands and the “gentleman’s agreement” would seal a venture without necessarily having lawyers and contracts in the mix. Stella’s parents made a good living in the theater and she was brought up with the best of everything, including servants and governesses. She spent half her life accustomed and appreciative of the customs, dress and proprieties of the times. When the Cultural Revolution happened during the 60s, she didn’t catch the wave. She continued to dress the way she had been dressing her entire life. At times people perceived her as superficial, but she was merely a woman not willing to let go of the “costumes” that defined her.

What do you want readers to take away from reading your book?

Ochoa: I imagine the same thing I took from getting to know Stella: Art keeps society on the right path. Without it, we get lost, especially in this day and age, in the treadmill of work and romance and addictions and alienation from our fellows. We put our need for social validation in the form of the “right” job or relationship or house or car before our present experiences. We live in the past or the future, never taking the time to marvel at what is going on right in front of us. The other day I closed my eyes to focus on the birds singing in the yard and I counted five different birdcalls from various distances. Stella noticed such things and used them to teach actors how to experience the present moment of a scene and thereby give a truthful performance. She would tell her students, “Life beats down and crushes the soul and art reminds you that you have one.”

What are you working on now? 

Ochoa: This month I started a new book, not so different really from what I was talking about in your last question. We all have our bag of rocks, as Elaine Stritch’s husband would say, and mine is a misunderstood and unpredictable illness called fibromyalgia. I’m writing a spiritual memoir to help others living with the disease.

Thank you so much Sheana! 

 

Stars & Their Hobbies ~ Marlene Dietrich

Marlene Dietrich, Astrology

"Astrology! Of course. After all, everyone knows that the moon pulls the sea away from the land, and farmers don't plant when the moon is wrong. "Why should humans escape?"- Marlene Dietrich

Marlene Dietrich was influenced by astrology. She followed her own horoscope closely (she was a Capricorn) and prepared horoscopes for her friends. Dietrich was very vocal about her belief in the legitimacy of astrology. In her book Marlee Dietrich’s ABC: Wit, Wisdom & Recipes, she denounced the skeptics who called astrology a psuedoscience and made the case that:

“the human being is not made of such different matter that it can remain untouched, uninfluenced by those same forces that exercise their power day and night on bodies far stronger than the human being.” 

Thanks to J.P. of Comet Over Hollywood  for the tip about this one!

My series Stars & Their Hobbies explores how notable actors and actresses from Hollywood history spent their free time. Click here to view a complete list of entries.

Stars & Their Hobbies ~ Steve McQueen

"Racing is the most exciting thing there is. But unlike drugs, you get high with dignity." - Steve McQueen

Becoming a professional race car driver wasn't in the cards for Steve McQueen but that didn't stop him from pursuing racing as a hobby. Over the years he spent much of the money he made from acting on high-perfomance vehicles. His love of racing transferred over to his films too including The Great Escape (1963), Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Bullitt (1968) and the quintessential racing movie Le Mans (1971). For safety reasons, insurance companies prohibited from doing many of the racing stunts in his films, much to his dismay. But when he wasn't a filming a movie, he was free to race to his heart's desire.

Here are some vehicles McQueen owned:

Motorcycles - Triump Bonneville, Husquarna 400 CR, Indian Chief, a variety of antique motorcycles that dated from the 1920s and earlier.

Sports cars - Siata 208, Lotus XI, Porsche 356 Speedster, Jaguar XK-SS, Ferrari 250 GR Lusso

Read my review of the book Steve McQueen: A Passion for Speed here.

McQueen in the Green Ford Mustang Fastback GT390 from Bullitt (1968)

 Cycle World 1964. Source

My series Stars & Their Hobbies explores how notable actors and actresses from Hollywood history spent their free time. Click here to view a complete list of entries.

Stars & Their Hobbies ~ Lana Turner

Lana Turner, Deep Sea Fishing

On wanting her next role to be worthwhile... “Otherwise I’ll go fishing.” – Lana Turner

Thanks to J.P. of Comet Over Hollywood for the tip on this one! Lana Turner had several hobbies and by far the most interesting of them was deep sea fishing. Turner picked up this hobby when she married husband #3, wealthy socialite Henry J. Topping (also known as Bob Topping).  He owned a fity-eight foot long Yacht named “Snuffy” that came fully equipped with deep sea fishing supplies. They would travel down to the Bahamas to catch Bluefin Tuna. When they eventually separated, it was said that Topping fled to Oregon to go deep sea fishing alone. I wonder if Lana Turner only dabbled in this hobby while she was married to Topping?

Turner with her husband Topping and some Bluefin Tuna they caught.  Source

Source

My series Stars & Their Hobbies explores how notable actors and actresses from Hollywood history spent their free time. Click here to view a complete list of entries.

Stars & Their Hobbies ~ James Dean

James Dean, Bongo & Conga Drums

"When I can't sleep at night I like to get up and beat the skins. It drives away the blues." - James Dean

Playing the bongo and conga drums was meditative for James Dean. He lived hard and died young but even during his short life he found something that soothed and calmed him. Dean would bring his drums with him on set and play in his dressing room, he would listen to jazz records at home and accompany them with his playing and he would get together with friends and have jam sessions.

Source

Dean even made an album that featured him on conga drums and Bob Romeo on flute. You can listen to the recording here.

Actor Marlon Brando also loved playing bongo and conga drums. It's suggested that Dean took up this hobby, along with riding motorcycles, to emulate his hero Brando.

Source

My series Stars & Their Hobbies explores how notable actors and actresses from Hollywood history spent their free time. Click here to view a complete list of entries.

Stars & Their Hobbies - Edward G. Robinson

Edward G. Robinson, Art Collector

“I remember well what it was like to be a true collector, that soft explosion in the heart, that thundering inner 'yes' when you see something you must have or die"- Edward G. Robinson

Edward G. Robinson didn't like to think of himself as a collector. His penchant for fine art was more of an addiction than a hobby. Robinson also collected cigars and records but his passion for art stands out. 

"I am not a collector. I'm just an innocent bystander who has been taken over by a collection." - Edward G. Robinson

Robinson had a collection of over 70 paintings and at one point even started a gallery with actor Vincent Price. Unfortunately, Robinson had to sell most of his original collection to Greek shipping tycoon Stavros Niarchos in 1956 in order to cover the costs of his divorce to Gladys Robinson. He kept collecting after that though and was able to amass a new collection that was even bigger than the first.

Cliff of Immortal Ephemera has two great posts on Edward G. Robinson's hobby: Interpreting and Understanding Edward G. Robinson on Collecting and Edward G. Robinson's World of Art - More Robinson on Collecting. I highly recommend reading them and they were the primary source of information for this post!

Source

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My series Stars & Their Hobbies explores how notable actors and actresses from Hollywood history spent their free time. Click here to view a complete list of entries.

Stars & Their Hobbies - Sammy Davis Jr.

Sammy Davis Jr., Photography

"Jerry [Lewis] gave me my first important camera, my first 35 millimeter during the Ciro's period, early '50s, and he hooked me... I met Milton [Greene]. He got me involved with serious photography and using available light." - Sammy Davis Jr.

Sammy Davis Jr. lost his left eye in a car accident in 1954. I like to think that his camera became his second eye, capturing the world around him through a different lens. Sammy Davis Jr. was an entertainer, a movie star and a member of the infamous Rat Pack. He had access to some of the most important people in the entertainment business and used his photography skills to capture images of them at work and at play. If you haven’t read it already, I highly recommend the book Photo by Sammy Davis Jr. I reviewed it a while back. It’s an excellent collection of Sammy Davis Jr.’s photographs including some of his self-portraits.

Sammy Davis Jr. and Jerry Lewis

My series Stars & Their Hobbies explores how notable actors and actresses from Hollywood history spent their free time. Click here to view a complete list of entries. 

Stars & Their Hobbies - Spencer Tracy

Spencer Tracy, Polo

"There's something about horses which, once you really become interested in them, just naturally makes you think this is a pretty good world." - Spencer Tracy

Director John Cromwell encouraged Spencer Tracy to take up polo and Tracy trained with Reginald Leslie "Snowy Baker at the Riviera Polo Club in Santa Monica. It was a sport he relished for years. Even his wife Louise got into polo, although Tracy was initially hesitant about this because he thought the sport too rough for women. She proved him wrong and became an adept player. (Source)

You can watch a little clip of a celebrity polo match from 1938, which has Spencer Tracy on Joan Crawford's team, on the British Pathe website.

Source

Leslie Howard, Will Rogers, Carole Lombard, Spencer Tracy and Johnny Mack Brown
at a celebrity polo match circa 1934 - Source

My series Stars & Their Hobbies explores how notable actors and actresses from Hollywood history spent their free time. Click here to view a complete list of entries. 

2014 Summer Reading Classic Film Book Challenge - Wrap Up

Thank you to everyone who participated in this year's summer reading challenge. I'm impressed with everyone's efforts and I loved reading the reviews. I only managed to get 3 books in this summer, life got in the way and I should have paid more attention to my own advice. Alas, I still have a lot more reading ahead of me and another challenge next year to look forward to. On to the reviews!

BG of Classic Reel Girl (3)

1. Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations by Peter Evans and Ava Gardner
2. Doris Day: The Untold Story of the Girl Next Door by David Kaufman
3. Frankly, My Dear: Gone With the Wind Revisited by Molly Haskell

Emily of The Vintage Cameo  (1)

1. Cinematic Canines: Dogs and Their Work in the Fiction Film by Adrienne L. McLean

Karen of Shadows and Satin (6)

All six reviews can be found here.

1. Life With Father by Clarence Day
2. Dark History of Hollywood: A Century of Greed, Corruption, and Scandal Behind the Movies by Kieron Connolly
3. Bette and Joan: The Divine Feud by Shaun Considine
4. Center Door Fancy by Joan Blondell
5. Joan Blondell: A Life Between Takes by Matthew Kennedy
6. Palm Springs Babylon by Ray Mungo

KC of A Classic Movie Blog (7)

1. The Wizard of Oz FAQ: All That’s Left to Know About Life According to Oz by David J. Hogan 
2. Sharon Tate: Recollection by Debra Tate
3. Hitchcock’s Partner in Suspence: The Life of Screenwriter Charles Bennett edited by John Charles Bennett
4. Stella! Mother of Modern Acting by Sheana Ochoa
5. Dangerous Rhythm: Why Movie Musicals Matter by Richard Barrios
6. Fred Zinnemann and the Cinema of Resistance by J.E. Smyth
7. Buzz: The Life and Art of Busby Berkeley by Jeffrey Spivak

Laura of Laura’s Miscellaneous Musings (6)

1. John Wayne: The Life and Legend by Scott Eyman
2. Still Memories: An Autobiography in Photography by John Mills
3. Dangerous Rhythm: Why Movie Musicals Matter by Richard Barrios
4. Jacques Tourneur: The Cinema of Nightfall by Chris Fujiwara
5. The Years of George Montgomery
6. Five Came Back: A Story of the Hollywood and the Second World War by Mark Harris

Lê  of Vintage Classic Scrapbook and Critica Retro (2)

1. Na Sala Escura: A Arte De Sonhar Com Os Olhos Abertos by Chico Lopes (review is in Portuguese but you can easily translate it to English!)
2. Beyond Casablanca II: 101 Classic Movies Worth Watching by Jennifer Garlen

Raquel of Out of the Past  (3)

1. Dangerous Rhythm: Why Movie Musicals Matter by Richard Barrios
2. A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907-1940 by Victoria Wilson
3. Steve McQueen: A Passion for Speed by Frederic Brun

Rich of Wide Screen World (4)

1. Three Fingers by Rich Koslowsky
2. Silent Stars by Jeanine Basinger
3. Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
4. The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe by

Robby of Dear Old Hollywood (2)

1. Welcome, Foolish Mortals: The Life and Voices of Paul Frees by Ben Ohmart
2. Life at the Marmont: The Inside Story of Hollywood’s Legendary Hotel of the Stars – Chateau Marmont by Raymond Sarlot and Fred E. Basten

There were three candidates for the final prize. I used Random.org to pick a winner and it was Laura! She wins the set of four Vintage Movie Classics from Vintage Books.

Stars & Their Hobbies - Joan Crawford

Joan Crawford, Knitting

"I took my knitting along so I could keep my hands busy, because I was so nervous."  Joan Crawford

As any knitter will tell you, there is a lot of comfort to be found in the repetitive motions of a pair of knitting needles and some yarn as you knit and purl your way through a pattern. Joan Crawford would often be found on film sets knitting as she waited for her call. It calmed her nerves and kept her distracted during down times. Rumor has it, Crawford was temporarily kicked off the set of The Women (1939) by George Cukor for purposefully annoying Norma Shearer with the constant clicking of her knitting needles.

Source

Crawford teaching Ann Blyth how to knit on the set of Mildred Pierce
Source

My series Stars & Their Hobbies explores how notable actors and actresses from Hollywood history spent their free time. Click here to view a complete list of entries. 

Steve McQueen: A Passion for Speed

Steve McQueen: A Passion for Speed
by Frederic Brun
Hardcover - 192 pages
ISBN: 9780760342480
MotorBooks
October 2011

Barnes and Noble
IndieBound (Your local bookstore)
Powell's

"McQueen will be remembered as one of the finest exponents of speed to ever grace the big screen." - Brun

Steve McQueen: A Passion for Speed is a coffee table book for McQueen fans and car enthusiasts alike. In its 192 pages you'll find beautiful black-and-white and color photographs depicting the actor's passion for racing cars and motorcycles and his enthusiasm for physical sport.

In text written by French journalist Frederic Brun and translated into English by Flo Brutton, we learn about how McQueen's passion for speed influenced all parts of his life including his career as a film actor. The book is divided into six sections with an introduction providing much of the background of McQueen's life, the history of racing and some key figures including John Newton Cooper and Peter Revson. It's followed by 5 chapters each with a different theme: Speed, Physique, Film, Life and Collection. Each chapter starts off with a few pages of text and then continues with single and (almost) double-page spread photographs. These include photos of McQueen in action, candids of him at home, advertisements, movie posters, publicity photos, magazine covers and behind-the-scenes shots. The fun part of reading the book is looking through all the photographs and wishing you could be as cool as Steve McQueen.

I particularly enjoyed the chapter devoted to McQueen's physique, which he kept in tip-top shape with regular exercise. It includes some photos of him exercising at home and some of them are quite revealing of McQueen's physique and unmentionables (oh my!).

Although McQueen was known for having abused his body with cigarettes, alcohol and drugs, I admire his dedication to fitness because it's something that is very important in my life as well. McQueen had a home gym and a personal trainer, in a time when it was very rare to train if you were not a professional athlete. McQueen loved swimming, boxing and martial arts and all of his fitness efforts were ultimately to make him stronger and better suited to his greatest passion: racing.

So if Steve McQueen loved racing so much why didn't he become a professional race car driver instead of an actor? Brun explores this in the book. McQueen was a talent on the race track and kept himself in good shape but even he knew that even that wasn't enough for him make it professionally. He needed to be more fine-tuned in his driving skills and lacked some of the finesse of other more talented drivers. Besides, McQueen's career as an actor allowed him time and money to devote to collecting high performance cars and motorcycles and to influence Hollywood to add more racing and luxury vehicles into their movies.

McQueen's passion for speed was one major aspect of his personality that made him so charismatic and cool. Author Brun says:

"speed has the taste of forbidden fruit; the effect of a powerful stimulant, an unstable force set to destroy whoever consumes it. It is this that makes Steve McQueen so dangerously irresistible."

Steve McQueen glamorized racing and luxury cars on screen. The films discussed at length in the book include The Great Escape (1963), The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Bullitt (1968),  Le Mans (1971) and On Any Sunday (1971). And of course in this book you'll find photos of the famous green Ford Mustang he drives in Bullitt as well as the Porsche from Le Mans.

I'm not going to pretend that I know anything about cars because I don't. I relied on my car enthusiast husband Carlos to translate some of the language in this book for me. You can still enjoy the book even if you're not into cars but knowing the lingo helps, especially when it comes to makes and models.

This book was published by MotorBooks, a company that seems devoted to putting out coffee table books about Steve McQueen. They have five in total! The others include Steve McQueen: A Tribute to the King of Cool, Steve McQueen: The Last Mile... Revisited (written by his third wife Barbara McQueen),  Steve McQueen: The Actor and His Films and McQueen's Machines: The Cars and Bikes of a Hollywood Icon.

A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907-1940

A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907-1940
Volume #1
by Victoria Wilson
Hardcover – 9780684831688
1,056 pages
Simon and Schuster
November 2013

Barnes and Noble
Powell's
IndieBound

Imagine you’re on a nature walk in a historic park. If you just want fresh air and exercise, you’d walk at a brisk pace or maybe even go for a jog. If you want to take in some of the scenery, you might slow down your pace and look around a bit. However, if you want the immerse yourself in the experience, you’d explore all of the side trails, read every sign along the way, stop for every bird or wild creature you see, take photos of the various wildflowers, etc. It would take much longer but you would get everything out of the experience you could.

And that’s the kind of experience you’ll get reading The Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907-1940 by Victoria Wilson. It’s not the quick walk through the life of Barbara Stanwyck nor is it a leisurely stroll. This book is an immersive experience with sidelines and context galore.

Despite its size and page count, this book is not an overwhelming read. Even though the total page count is 1,056, you’ll only be reading 860 because the backmatter (Film, Radio TV and Stage Chronologies, Notes, Selected bibliography and Index) takes up almost 200 pages.

It’s not to say that those 860 pages are a small feat. There is a vast amount of information and the author not only includes the chronology of Stanwyck’s life from her birth in 1907 up until 1940 where the book stops (right at the point when she's about to make Meet John Doe with Frank Capra) but also starts with her family before her birth and also sidelines into details about key characters in Stanwyck’s life and in the movie industry. You’ll learn more about directors, producers, authors, screenwriters, actors, actresses, even hairdressers, costume designers and agents. Political figures like President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the first lady Eleanor Roosevelt are discussed at length. You'd think all that extraneous information would weigh down the book but for me all of that context made the absorption of new information a lot easier. Those breaks slow down the pace of the narrative but I never felt lost or overwhelmed. Instead the book progresses nicely and before you know it you’ve already taken in a couple hundred pages and look forward to reading more.

Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck

Interspersed throughout the book are black and white photographs placed wherever relevant to the corresponding text. There are many wonderful photos of Barbara Stanwyck, publicity shots, candids and family photos as well as photos of people in and out of Hollywood who were involved in Stanwyck’s life in different ways. You’ll find photos of directors, authors, other actors, etc.

Franchot Tone, Joan Crawford, Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor

Barbara Stanwyck started out life as Ruby Stevens and the author refers to her as Ruby for most of the beginning. It’s only when the actress adopts the stage name Barbara Stanwyck and begins to be identified with the new moniker (and not a moment before), does the author switch to using Stanwyck. This was a little confusing to me but it was clear what the author was doing and made sense in the narrative. It also serves to demonstrate Stanwyck’s progression into adulthood and her career as a full-fledged actress.

I didn’t know much about Stanwyck’s life and although the book only covers 33 years I got a good sense of who Stanwyck was as a person and as an actress. She had a rough childhood. Her mother died when she was four years old. Her three older sisters were adults and had already left home and started lives on their own, her father abandoned her and her older brother By (Byron) Stevens. By and Ruby/Barbara were left to fend for themselves and were transferred to various foster homes and sometimes stayed with their older sisters. Such an unstable and transient childhood had a profound effect on Stanwyck.

Frank Fay and Barbara Stanwyck

There is a lot to learn about Stanwyck in this book. As a woman she really valued relationships. However, some of those relationships turned out to be toxic ones. The author explores Stanwyck's doomed marriage with her first husband, actor Frank Fay. By the end of their relationship, Fay was a domineering brute and a drunkard. When you read about their relationship, which progressively gets worse and the narrative goes along, you can't help but root for Stanwyck to kick him to the curb. The book also explores Stanwyck's love affair and the beginning of her marriage to fellow actor Robert Taylor. Stanwyck had a complicated relationship with her adopted son Dion that got worse over the years. Dion was very generous to author Victoria Wilson and sat down for countless interviews and proved to be a great resource for the book! Stanwyck had a close friendship and working relationship with Marion and Zeppo Marx and was best buds with Joan Crawford. I admire her devotion to her brother By, even when some of his actions frustrated her.

Barbara Stanwyck and her son Dion

I was intrigued by Stanwyck's reluctant fashion sense (she had a simple hat, hated adornment) and her lack of materialism. This is something that the author brings up throughout the book and it provides an interesting glimpse into Stanwyck's personality.

Each and every film Stanwyck made before 1940 is explored. Certain films are given more attention; Stella Dallas (1937) gets its own chapter. Stanwyck was well-read, appreciated a good script, had a strong work ethic to the point of sometimes being a workaholic and she often a victim of a harsh studio system.

The author sometimes shows bias towards her favorite Stanwyck's films. For example, Remember the Night (1940), a film I don't particularly care for but has a cult following thanks to TCM, is given additional attention and praise in the book. I always appreciate some sort of positive bias in a biography because it demonstrates how passionate the author is about the subject they are writing about. This book is frank about much of Stanwyck's life but there is a clear affection for the subject.

Barbara Stanwyck and Anne Shirley in Stella Dallas

The book isn't without faults. There are some points where the author repeats herself. After so many pages devoted to the marriage of Stanwyck and Fay, later in the book she recaps Fay's background as though we hadn't heard of it before. I thought that was odd. Plot descriptions sometimes were broken up with asides and I found a couple instances where a plot point was repeated. There are a few errors in the book too (a couple I noticed but didn't jot down and one someone else pointed out to me). I think perhaps another pass is needed to fix any minor errors and weed out some repetition. Otherwise, I thought this was a well-written and very organized book and author Victoria Wilson's 15 years of research, interviews, writing and editing pays off handsomely.

Are you a Barbara Stanwyck fan? Then this book is required reading for you. It's long, and there is more coming, but it's well worth your time.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster for sending me a review copy.

Watch the video below to hear the author speak about the book and find out what "Steel-True" refers to!

This was my second review for my Summer Reading Classic Film Book Challenge.

God Speed Lauren Bacall

Lauren Bacall (1924-2014)

When I heard the news about Lauren Bacall's death, I didn't want to believe it. One of the things I always admired about Bacall was her resiliency. Surely she could survive death rumors! Alas, it was then confirmed by the Bogart estate that Bacall passed away yesterday.

Lauren Bacall was absolutely stunning. She was a talented actress who was as effective at being sultry as she was being serious or silly. She had wonderful range and I admire her for embracing old age when many other actresses were terrified of it.

Her love affair and marriage to Humphrey Bogart is the greatest love story to come out of Hollywood. When you hear "Bogie and Bacall" you immediately think of a relationship of passion, devotion and mutual respect. I'm sure it wasn't a perfect marriage but they were perfect for each other.

I even honored Bogie and Bacall at my own wedding. Table number four was dedicated to them and featured a framed photo of them on their wedding day.

Check out this video clip from 1954. Edward R. Murrow gets a virtual tour of the Bogart home by Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart. Little Stephen and Leslie Bogart also make an appearance! It's a charming little tribute to their family.

If you want to pay your respects to the Bogart family, consider leaving a message on Twitter, include @BogartEstate in your tweet, or on Facebook on the estate's official page.