|
|
Post by Fading Fast on Nov 12, 2022 9:53:38 GMT
 Veronica: The Autobiography of Veronica Lake (with Donald Bain) published in 1969
Eddie Muller, the host of TCM's outstanding "Noir Alley," turned me onto this one, in part, because he mentioned that he wrote the introduction. Well, I'm a fan of Muller, but I expected more than a brief two-and-a-half pages from him. However, what he wrote was good and the book is an entertaining enough fast read.
Autobiographies are what they are - a person writing his or her own history. Even an honest attempt at the truth would suffer from memory lapses and unintentional bias, but how many write an honest autobiography?
Based on my general knowledge of Ms. Lake's life, which includes a biography of it read many years ago, Ms. Lake wasn't shooting for total honesty in this one. But what the heck, it's a book by a huge Golden Era star that has some fun inside-Hollywood tales and adds something to the Veronica Lake story.
After her not-great-not-horrible upbringing, including the early loss of a father, but a very good relationship with her ensuing stepfather and a mixed one with her driven mother, Lake came with her family to Hollywood at sixteen years old.
In a case of almost instant stardom, less than two years after her first role as an extra, Lake was a major star. First, in a wonderful happenstance during a promotional shoot, an airplane's propeller wash wrapped her skirt tightly around her, creating a perfect and very popular cheesecake publicity photo (see below) for her first real movie, I Wanted Wings. Then, with all but no experience, she improbably got the starring role in her next movie, the smartly funny and socially conscience Sullivan's Travels, and it was a hit.
Veronica Lake movie star and sex goddess was launched. And, for the next few years, several hits followed propelling her and her peek-a-boo hairstyle to mega stardom. But throughout it, Lake, by her own admission, was often difficult to work with. While she claims it was to cover for her insecurities, even with her spin, you're still thinking stardom might also have gone to her head, at least somewhat.
Add into that time period her first of four marriages, the birth of her first child, the death of her stepfather and a break with her mother and a lot of chaotic life was squeezed into a narrow window. Also lightly touched on was too much drinking and way too much spending.
But there were also some wonderful Golden Age of Hollywood moments as when lothario Errol Flynn takes her rejection of his suggestion for a roll in the hay in stride, which led to a nice platonic friendship between the two. Even better was the description of a quixotic night-long bender Lake had with Gary Cooper where the two enjoyably spent the evening (deep into the morning) hopping from one tawdry strip club to another critiquing the women "performers" as they went.
Lake characterizes all her issues - the spending, the fighting with the studios, her difficult reputation - as part of her rebellious nature, but that makes one wonder what exactly was she was rebelling against other than adulthood. Sure, studios weren't fair and some family and friends tried to use her, but that's also called life. Stars like Bette Davis and Joan Crawford fought their way through the same issues to forge decades-long careers.
Unfortunately, Lake's anger and personal life - including a divorce and second rocky marriage - worked against a long career so that less than ten-years later, by the end of the forties, her time in movies was all but over just when her spendthrift ways had pretty much drained her bank account.
From there, Lake spent the fifties into the sixties milking some good money out of her fading stardom via TV and summer-stock work, but usually spending more than she made, so that any slowdown in income quickly became a crisis. This time also saw periods of alcoholism, the failure of marriages number two and three and inconsistent parenting of her, now, three children.
To her credit, Lake doesn't gloss over or excuse all of her self-inflicted problems, but when you think through her explanations, you see many gaps that don't reflect favorably on the star. And what most jumps out at you is that she seemed only to learn very, very slowly from her mistakes.
To wit, even in the late fifties, after having been up and down financially several times and after a publicly embarrassing exposure when she was bartending in a run-down hotel in return for a room, she immediately took an expensive apartment when she caught a good job in radio for a few months. You almost want to scream at the book, "save some money, you should know better by now." But that was not what Lake, the self-described "rebel," would do (until later in life).
In the end, we're left with a woman with many personal shortcomings that hurt her more than anyone else (except, maybe, her children). Despite all that, I still love Veronica Lake the movie star. This Gun for Hire was a picture I first saw as a kid where Lake and her famously flowing blonde locks hooked me for life.
I wanted to read that her life turned out well and I wanted to blame her problems on others, but even with her spin, you come away from her autobiography mainly disappointed because she seems like a reasonably decent person who was also her own worst enemy. However, at least by the late sixties, it appears she had settled down into an okay life with the self-destructive extremes and excesses kinda sorta behind her. Who knows what's true and what's Lake-spin in Veronica, but still, the book is a fun enough quick swim through a notable rivulet of Golden Era Hollywood.
The career-boosting promo picture from I Wanted Wings
And the famous peekaboo hairstyle |
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Nov 12, 2022 15:59:17 GMT
Veronica: The Autobiography of Veronica Lake (with Donald Bain) published in 1969
I must say that I understand Lake's personal issues...not the drinking part...but I think she was narcissistic (one of my faults) and also I think she was someone who did not take well to criticism (another fault of mine) so that when people tried to dictate terms to her, it made her bristle. Also, she probably felt disrespected by studio bosses and family members as well as spouses, so that fueled her rebellion.
What happens in these cases is that you escalate to the extreme, trying to show everyone that you are in control...when the truth is you're becoming more self-destructive. And yes, the only way this ends is with self-actualization and change...or death.
She is one of the most iconic female stars from the 1940s. I've written elsewhere that my favorite Veronica Lake film is SAIGON (1948) which deserves airplay on TCM...especially on Eddie's Noir Alley series. |
|
|
|
Post by Fading Fast on Nov 12, 2022 16:12:28 GMT
Veronica: The Autobiography of Veronica Lake (with Donald Bain) published in 1969
I must say that I understand Lake's personal issues...not the drinking part...but I think she was narcissistic (one of my faults) and also I think she was someone who did not take well to criticism (another fault of mine) so that when people tried to dictate terms to her, it made her bristle. Also, she probably felt disrespected by studio bosses and family members as well as spouses, so that fueled her rebellion.
What happens in these cases is that you escalate to the extreme, trying to show everyone that you are in control...when the truth is you're becoming more self-destructive. And yes, the only way this ends is with self-actualization and change...or death.
She is one of the most iconic female stars from the 1940s. I've written elsewhere that my favorite Veronica Lake film is SAIGON (1948) which deserves airplay on TCM...especially on Eddie's Noir Alley series.
|
|
Janet
New Member
Posts: 27
|
Post by Janet on Nov 14, 2022 16:52:36 GMT
Fading Fast, based on your review of Laura, I have just placed an order for the book. It's one of my favorite classic films and I look forward to reading the original source material. |
|
|
|
Post by Fading Fast on Nov 14, 2022 17:09:23 GMT
Fading Fast, based on your review of Laura, I have just placed an order for the book. It's one of my favorite classic films and I look forward to reading the original source material. |
|
|
|
Post by Roy Cronin on Nov 14, 2022 18:56:01 GMT
I've long been fascinated by Kings Row and Peyton Place. Three years ago I started a thread on the TCM forum "The Intersection of Kings Row and Peyton Place"; I'd be interested in thoughts and opinions if you didn't see it over there:
Some years ago after I first viewed Kings Row I began reading about the novel and the making of the film. I became a great fan of this film and immediately thought of comparisons to Peyton Place, a movie of which I am also fond. Full disclosure: I have not read Henry Bellamann's novel, but I have read Grace Metalious's Peyton Place.
Reading background on Metalious and having viewed both films, one of course sees parallels. She even admitted that she was a fan of Bellamann's work and considered it a source of some inspiration. As you may know, the central plot of Peyton Place focusing on Selena Cross was based upon a real event which intrigued Grace.
While incest is found in Bellamann's novel (I have heard), it was excised in explicit form for the film. In Peyton Place it is step-father/step-daughter rape in both the book and the film. However, in her manuscript, Metalious specifically made the event father-daughter after the real life occurrence. Her publisher, however, insisted upon the change and Grace was furious, considering that the central theme of her work was destroyed. Interesting, considering Kings Row was published in 1940 and PP in 1956.
Another alteration which I learned of recently was the change in title. Grace originally called the book "The Tree and the Blossom" while the publisher had it changed to "Peyton Place" presumably to duplicate the success of "Kings Row" and its small-town reference.
Funny how the first lines of each novel reference a season: I wonder if Grace did this intentionally.
"Spring came late in the year 1890, and the fullness of its burgeoning heightened the seasonal disturbance that made unquiet in the blood."
"Indian summer is like a woman. Ripe, hotly passionate, but fickle......"
Grace has become a highly sympathetic character to me, though self-destructive.
A friend said after the book's success: "Grace Metalious would never be really poor or really happy again."
And on her death bed she is said to offer the advise: "Be careful what you wish for. You might get it."
Her life story might make an interesting biographical movie. I mean, they did one on Jacqueline Susann.
|
|
Janet
New Member
Posts: 27
|
Post by Janet on Nov 15, 2022 15:12:08 GMT
Veronica: The Autobiography of Veronica Lake (with Donald Bain) published in 1969
Eddie Muller, the host of TCM's outstanding "Noir Alley," turned me onto this one, in part, because he mentioned that he wrote the introduction. Well, I'm a fan of Muller, but I expected more than a brief two-and-a-half pages from him. However, what he wrote was good and the book is an entertaining enough fast read.
Autobiographies are what they are - a person writing his or her own history. Even an honest attempt at the truth would suffer from memory lapses and unintentional bias, but how many write an honest autobiography?
Based on my general knowledge of Ms. Lake's life, which includes a biography of it read many years ago, Ms. Lake wasn't shooting for total honesty in this one. But what the heck, it's a book by a huge Golden Era star that has some fun inside-Hollywood tales and adds something to the Veronica Lake story.
After her not-great-not-horrible upbringing, including the early loss of a father, but a very good relationship with her ensuing stepfather and a mixed one with her driven mother, Lake came with her family to Hollywood at sixteen years old.
In a case of almost instant stardom, less than two years after her first role as an extra, Lake was a major star. First, in a wonderful happenstance during a promotional shoot, an airplane's propeller wash wrapped her skirt tightly around her, creating a perfect and very popular cheesecake publicity photo (see below) for her first real movie, I Wanted Wings. Then, with all but no experience, she improbably got the starring role in her next movie, the smartly funny and socially conscience Sullivan's Travels, and it was a hit.
Veronica Lake movie star and sex goddess was launched. And, for the next few years, several hits followed propelling her and her peek-a-boo hairstyle to mega stardom. But throughout it, Lake, by her own admission, was often difficult to work with. While she claims it was to cover for her insecurities, even with her spin, you're still thinking stardom might also have gone to her head, at least somewhat.
Add into that time period her first of four marriages, the birth of her first child, the death of her stepfather and a break with her mother and a lot of chaotic life was squeezed into a narrow window. Also lightly touched on was too much drinking and way too much spending.
But there were also some wonderful Golden Age of Hollywood moments as when lothario Errol Flynn takes her rejection of his suggestion for a roll in the hay in stride, which led to a nice platonic friendship between the two. Even better was the description of a quixotic night-long bender Lake had with Gary Cooper where the two enjoyably spent the evening (deep into the morning) hopping from one tawdry strip club to another critiquing the women "performers" as they went.
Lake characterizes all her issues - the spending, the fighting with the studios, her difficult reputation - as part of her rebellious nature, but that makes one wonder what exactly was she was rebelling against other than adulthood. Sure, studios weren't fair and some family and friends tried to use her, but that's also called life. Stars like Bette Davis and Joan Crawford fought their way through the same issues to forge decades-long careers.
Unfortunately, Lake's anger and personal life - including a divorce and second rocky marriage - worked against a long career so that less than ten-years later, by the end of the forties, her time in movies was all but over just when her spendthrift ways had pretty much drained her bank account.
From there, Lake spent the fifties into the sixties milking some good money out of her fading stardom via TV and summer-stock work, but usually spending more than she made, so that any slowdown in income quickly became a crisis. This time also saw periods of alcoholism, the failure of marriages number two and three and inconsistent parenting of her, now, three children.
To her credit, Lake doesn't gloss over or excuse all of her self-inflicted problems, but when you think through her explanations, you see many gaps that don't reflect favorably on the star. And what most jumps out at you is that she seemed only to learn very, very slowly from her mistakes.
To wit, even in the late fifties, after having been up and down financially several times and after a publicly embarrassing exposure when she was bartending in a run-down hotel in return for a room, she immediately took an expensive apartment when she caught a good job in radio for a few months. You almost want to scream at the book, "save some money, you should know better by now." But that was not what Lake, the self-described "rebel," would do (until later in life).
In the end, we're left with a woman with many personal shortcomings that hurt her more than anyone else (except, maybe, her children). Despite all that, I still love Veronica Lake the movie star. This Gun for Hire was a picture I first saw as a kid where Lake and her famously flowing blonde locks hooked me for life.
I wanted to read that her life turned out well and I wanted to blame her problems on others, but even with her spin, you come away from her autobiography mainly disappointed because she seems like a reasonably decent person who was also her own worst enemy. However, at least by the late sixties, it appears she had settled down into an okay life with the self-destructive extremes and excesses kinda sorta behind her. Who knows what's true and what's Lake-spin in Veronica, but still, the book is a fun enough quick swim through a notable rivulet of Golden Era Hollywood.
The career-boosting promo picture from I Wanted Wings
And the famous peekaboo hairstyle |
|
Janet
New Member
Posts: 27
|
Post by Janet on Nov 15, 2022 15:14:01 GMT
What a terrific review. I knew nothing about Veronica other than her hairstyle and the film This Gun for Hire. Thanks for the info. I may look for this tome in the future.
|
|
|
|
Post by Fading Fast on Nov 15, 2022 15:26:14 GMT
What a terrific review. I knew nothing about Veronica other than her hairstyle and the film This Gun for Hire. Thanks for the info. I may look for this tome in the future. |
|
|
|
Post by topbilled on Nov 22, 2022 15:51:24 GMT
What a terrific review. I knew nothing about Veronica other than her hairstyle and the film This Gun for Hire. Thanks for the info. I may look for this tome in the future. |
|
|
|
Post by Fading Fast on Nov 22, 2022 17:01:39 GMT
Janet, welcome to the forum and thank you for your kind comment. The book is a fun romp with Ms. Lake that spends a decent amount of time in Golden Era Hollywood. The good news is copies can be had at very modest prices on used book sites. |
|
|
|
Post by Fading Fast on Nov 24, 2022 11:05:23 GMT
For those of you looking for a stocking stuffer for the classic movie fan on your Christmas list, Hollywood Victory is a good option to consider.
Hollywood Victory by Christian Blauvelt "From the Turner Classic Movies Library" published in 2021
Hollywood Victory is more than a coffee-table book, but less than anything approaching a serious look at Hollywood during WWII. It mainly takes an anecdotal approach to revealing how the stars, producers, directors, studios (including the studio heads) and others connected to filmmaking contributed (or not) to the country's war effort.
If you approach this book like a survey - hmm, this is interesting, maybe I'll look into that particular subject a bit more - it's a fast, fun overview of Hollywood's war effort.
At its best, Hollywood Victory tosses in some neat stories like when German actor and staunch Nazi Emil Jannings uses his pre-war Oscar (the first Oscar ever awarded) as a talisman when Allied soldiers made it to his house at the end of the war. It worked; they were nice to him.
Another fun one is German-born and naturalized citizen Marlene Dietrich being called to the White House and told by FDR himself to cool it on her use of prurience in selling war bonds (she had been sitting in wealthy donors' laps at nightclubs to close the sale). Effectively, she was told, "we want your help and the sales, but not quite that way."
More seriously and jarringly, we learn that the military had expected such an outsized number of US servicemen casualties from the invasion of Japan that over five-hundred-thousand purple hearts were manufactured. Because Japan surrendered after the dropping of two atomic bombs, the invasion never happened. Every purple heart awarded since has come from this happily unused-in-WWII stock.
Away from these and a few other neat nuggets, Hollywood Victory is an overview of things most long-time fans of Hollywood already know.
In no particular order: Carole Lombard died in a plane crash on a war-bond-sales tour (she had bullied her way onto the flight that crashed); Clark Gable (Lombard's grieving husband) and James Stewart fought the military and studio bureaucracy hard to see real action (which they did) and Bette Davis led a sincere effort by many stars, including Rita Hayworth, to make the Hollywood Canteen a truly democratic place for servicemen (no officers allowed) to rub shoulders with genuine stars.
You also see how Bob Hope got his start - and kinda built a career around - entertaining troops, while (once again) German-born Marlene Dietrich and big-star-at-the-time Mickey Rooney, like Hope, took some real risks to entertain troops near the front lines.
Directors like John Ford and Orson Welles gave up large studio salaries to direct propaganda or informational films, while studio boss Walt Disney was an integral part of the "good neighbor policy -" the United States' attempt to woo Latin American countries away from Axis entreaties.
Being a modern book, it rightly takes a look at Hollywood's and the military's brutally unfair treatment of minorities with only some virtue-signaling wokeness creeping in here and there. Similarly, as always, it glosses over the true communist affiliations of some in Hollywood, but rightly doesn't shy away from denouncing the overreach and frightening intimidation of the House Un-American Activities Committee, Congress' effort to investigate communist activities in America.
Hollywood Victory does nothing more than surf over Tinseltown's efforts during World War II. Occasionally, it brings out a neat tidbit, but mainly it rehashes the stories most fans of the era are already, at least, somewhat familiar with. It does, though, on almost every page, have some beautiful pictures, including many that aren't the familiar ones.
|
|
|
|
Post by BingFan on Nov 25, 2022 17:14:57 GMT
I’m looking forward to getting Hollywood Victory. The war and Hollywood’s role in it have always interested me.
On that topic, I’d also recommend Five Came Back by Mark Harris. It tells the fascinating WW II stories of directors Ford, Wyler, Huston, Capra, and Stevens. Harris is also the author of the recent biography Mike Nichols: A Life as well as Pictures at a Revolution, which focuses on the year 1967, when the five Best Picture Oscar nominees showed the transition from “old” Hollywood to “new” Hollywood. All of Harris’s books have been outstanding, in my view.
|
|
|
|
Post by dianedebuda on Nov 25, 2022 21:28:44 GMT
On that topic, I’d also recommend Five Came Back by Mark Harris. It tells the fascinating WW II stories of directors Ford, Wyler, Huston, Capra, and Stevens. Harris is also the author of the recent biography Mike Nichols: A Life as well as Pictures at a Revolution, which focuses on the year 1967, when the five Best Picture Oscar nominees showed the transition from “old” Hollywood to “new” Hollywood. All of Harris’s books have been outstanding, in my view. |
|
|
|
Post by BingFan on Nov 26, 2022 2:06:10 GMT
On that topic, I’d also recommend Five Came Back by Mark Harris. It tells the fascinating WW II stories of directors Ford, Wyler, Huston, Capra, and Stevens. Harris is also the author of the recent biography Mike Nichols: A Life as well as Pictures at a Revolution, which focuses on the year 1967, when the five Best Picture Oscar nominees showed the transition from “old” Hollywood to “new” Hollywood. All of Harris’s books have been outstanding, in my view.
|
|
