Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

It was time for a new book.

The first book I picked up was full of horrors and war. 

The second book was full of fears of horror and war. And the war was shortly coming.

I could feel my blood pressure shoot up. I am trying to control my blood pressure. I scanned through my hundreds of unread ebooks, downloading anything that might be uplifting, fun, or happy. Beautiful Ruins came up. Why not this one? It had that lovely photo, exotic and unfamiliar. I heard heard great things about it. 

I downloaded it and two days later swiped to the last page, completely content with my choice.

From the opening sentence to the end, Walter weaves a beautiful story about love and doing the right thing and fame and finding true happiness. 

Oh, and my blood pressure has been remarkable.

Jess Walter, I thank you. 

from the publisher:

The story begins in 1962. On a rocky patch of the sun-drenched Italian coastline, a young innkeeper, chest-deep in daydreams, looks out over the incandescent waters of the Ligurian Sea and spies an apparition: a tall, thin woman, a vision in white, approaching him on a boat. She is an actress, he soon learns, an American starlet, and she is dying.

And the story begins again today, half a world away, when an elderly Italian man shows up on a movie studio's back lot—searching for the mysterious woman he last saw at his hotel decades earlier.

What unfolds is a dazzling, yet deeply human, roller coaster of a novel, spanning fifty years and nearly as many lives. From the lavish set of Cleopatra to the shabby revelry of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Walter introduces us to the tangled lives of a dozen unforgettable characters: the starstruck Italian innkeeper and his long-lost love; the heroically preserved producer who once brought them together and his idealistic young assistant; the army veteran turned fledgling novelist and the rakish Richard Burton himself, whose appetites set the whole story in motion—along with the husbands and wives, lovers and dreamers, superstars and losers, who populate their world in the decades that follow.

Gloriously inventive, constantly surprising, Beautiful Ruins is a story of flawed yet fascinating people, navigating the rocky shores of their lives while clinging to their improbable dreams.

Meet Mrs. L. Frank Baum in Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts

Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts is a charming imagining of the life of Mrs. Frank L. Baum. 

In 1938 a seventy-seven-year-old Maud Baum pushes her way into MGM studios to fulfill her promise to her husband to always protect Dorothy. She isn't taken seriously, but nonplussed, continues to show up during the production of The Wizard of Oz to protect her husband's creation, so believed by children. She notices the appalling treatment endured by teenage actress Judy Garland and befriends the girl. 

Maud Gage was the daughter of a well-connected suffragette who expected her to earn a college degree. Being a coed was hard enough in 1880; being the daughter of a notorious activist brought further harassment. 

Visiting her college roommate's family she meets L. Frank Baum. He wins her heart--and her parent's approval, even though he was self-educated and ran a traveling troupe that performed his plays across the country. 

Their life is filled with hardship and challenges, love and loss, taking them from New York State to touring the country, to the upper plains to Chicago, until Frank finally sets down on paper the stories he loves to tell.

Letts' story is based on actual events and persons. Some of the most amazing events in the novel actually happened.

As a girl in the 1950s, I was always so excited when The Wizard of Oz movie was aired on television. I was an adult before I saw it in color! I discovered very old copies of the Oz series in my elementary school library and read most of the books.

I enjoyed Finding Dorothy and I think you will, too. It was wonderful to learn about the "man behind the curtain" who imagined the Oz stories, and the strong woman he married. Judy Garland's experience of abuse mirror stories we still hear today. 

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

"A woman with a heart, a brain, courage to spare, and a girl’s sense of wonder—this is the heroine of Elizabeth Letts’s sparkling, touching. Maud Baum is the daughter of a suffragette and the wife of a dreamer, but she is also a force to be reckoned with in her own right.”—Melanie Benjamin, author of The Swans of Fifth Avenue

Letts' nonfiction books The Eighty-Dollar Champion, which I have read and enjoyed, and The Perfect Horse, which I should have read, have been best-sellers.  

Finding Dorothy

by Elizabeth Letts

Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine

Pub Date 12 Feb 2019  

ISBN 9780525622109

PRICE $28.00 (USD)

The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict

There is nothing new under the sun. It was true in the Third Century B.C. when the writer of Ecclesiastes wrote it and it is true in 2018.

And some of those perennial truths is that women are valued for their beauty and preyed upon for sex and must fight for equality in their vocations and avocations.

Take Hedy Lamarr, the gorgeous Austrian-born star. Marie Benedict's new historical fiction novel The Only Woman in the Room peels back the Hollywood-packaged icon of female physical perfection and offers us a woman who would be in the #MeToo marches and fighting to be taken seriously as an inventor.

I had seen the fascinating American Masters show Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story and was interested to see how Benedict handled Lamarr's exceptional story. Although I have some issues with the writing, I believe that the importance of bringing Lamarr's story to the general public in an accessible venue is more important. The book is a page-turner, quick and easy to read. It hits all the hot-button issues in contemporary society: Antisemitism, abuse and control of women, the power used by Hollywood moguls over starlets, immigration and refugees. Throw in marriage and divorce, adoption, and single moms. And no, the book is not fiction written to address these issues! Hedy Lamarr's life touched on them all.

If all you know about Hedy Lamarr is her films or "It's Hedley!" from Mel Brooks movie Blazing Saddles, you need to read this book.

Benedict's previous books include The Other Einstein and Carnegie's Maid. Learn more about them here.

I received an ARC from bookreporter.com in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

The Only Woman in the Room
by Marie Benedict
Sourcebooks
Publication January 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4926-6686-8
Hardcover $25.00

A True Story of Hollywood's Golden Age: Such Mad Fun

The 1939 Cosmopolitan cover says it all: The lovely and glamourous Jane Hall with her beloved Kate, captured at the height of her successful career as a Hollywood screen writer. The real deal, an early writing genuis published at age 13 who ended up in an office next door to F. Scott Fitzgerald screenwriting writing for the cash desperately needed to support his daughter Scottie in private school and wife Zelda in the sanitarium. He became a mentor and friend to Jane.

An Arizonia small town girl orphaned early and raised by her New York City aunt and uncle, Jane attended a posh private school and 'came out' as a deb. Caught up in the mad fun of endless deb parties that lasted into the early morning hours and required long days of sleep before the cycle started again, she found deb life shallow but irresistable.

Jane's early success writing for magazines was based on her outsider/insider look at the glamourous life of her contemporaries. Attracking the notice of an agent she was hired by MGM where she wrote the screenplay for These Glamour Girls. Jane thrived in the exhausting long days and hobnobbing with Hollywood elite at night. She was a success.

She kept suitors at bay with a singleminded desire to write...until she finally succumbed to the charming and handsome Bob Cutler, a recovering alcoholic and divorcee. Jane thought she'd met her Prince Charming, the perfect man who would also whole heartedly support her career. His glamourous life and money beckoned. They were the 'prefect couple'. They had a quiet marriage and a glamourous life.

But with marriage came responsiblities and Jane found it harder and harder to write, the old stories were old and she couldn't get a grasp on new stories. Metro hired her for $850 a week to work on a picture that was never made; the Japanese attacked Pear Harbor and everything changed.

The magazines were clamouring for Jane to submit stories, but she was facing writer's block. And after a mere 18 months of marriage she discovered the real Bob, a man who retreated into himself while dependant and demanding. Jane gave birth to her only child, and found that family expectations took over her life. She managed to write several more stories but realized that her Hollywood career has been 'thrown away'. Jane, like many women, settled for good enough.

Robin Cutler has presented an interesting biography of her mother's carer, enriched by personal letters and details of her screenplays and stories. Tis is more than a family memoir; it is a hitory of Hollywood's movie business and the Golden Age's 'mad fun' society. She also considers her mother's life in context of social expectations and opportunities for women at that time. Today many female writers juggle personal and professional lives. Jane lived during a time that offered little support for women desiring careers; in fact the author points out that some successful women felt guitly about their careers.

You can read more about Jane Hall and her life and times at Robin Cutler's website at
https://robinrcutler.com/

Read my review of West of Sunset by Stewart O'Nan about F. Scott Fitzgerald's last days in Hollywood at
http://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2015/01/drugs-booze-and-women-fitzgerald-in.html

I recieved a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Such Mad Fun
Robin R, Cutler
View Tree Press
Publication Sept 8, 2016
ISBN:97809974823-0-0 $14.95 paper
ISBN:97809974823-2-4  $9.99 ebook

Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend

"What lasts? What lingers? What is snagged by the brambles of time, and what slips through and disappears?..Maybe all we do in life is just a race against this idea of disappearing."

Susan Orlean's  book about her childhood hero is a surprisingly a deep consideration of the need to hold onto something bigger than ourselves and the desire to immortalize our heroes. Her story is about the real Rin Tin Tin, the man whose life Rinty 'gave meaning to', and the people who worked to share Rinty's story as an example of courage and valor and goodness.

It was Rinty's permanence that intrigued Orleans. Movies and films made Rin Tin Tin a shared legend that crossed generations over the world. Rinty had the ability to convey emotion and was nearly nominated for an Oscar. He was one of the earliest and most successfully merchandised media icons. With The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin came Apache fort play sets, lunch boxes, even the Beyer figurine that Orlean vividly remembers sitting on her grandfather's desk.

In France during World War I America soldier Lee Duncan was in a bombed out town when he discovered a German Shepard bitch and puppies left behind by the Germans. As a child Duncan's mother had to leave him in an orphanage which gave him stability and care, for which he was eternally grateful. Lee empathized with the dogs and saved them, keeping a male and a female pup for himself. He named them Nanette and  Rin Tin Tin after locally made dolls that were worn by soldiers as good luck charms.

With the end of the war Lee was determined to bring his pups back to the States. "I felt there was something about their lives that reminded me of my own life," Lee wrote. "They had crept right into a lonesome place in my life and became a part of me."

Back in America, Lee nursed Rinty through distemper. He could no longer face his old job selling guns; they brought back memories of the buddies who didn't come home. He couldn't stand being indoors and took Rinty into the Sierras. He taught Rinty commands and tricks.

In the 1920s the German Shepard Strongheart was appearing in movies. Lee wondered if he could 'make his hobby pay' and developed a story idea for a film starring Rinty. He walked the streets of 'Poverty Row' in Hollywood trying to sell his movie idea.  A small studio, Warner Brothers, liked his idea and they made the first Rin Tin Tin movie which made Lee's and the Warner's fortunes.

When Rinty's movie career faltered Lee sold the idea of a television program to Bert Leonard and The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin was born. Bert later sold his rights to Naked City and Route 66, but held on to Rin Tin Tin still hoping he'd find another venue for the immortal dog.

Lee was megalomanial about his dog. His wife and daughter were second to Rinty. Bert turned down lucrative offers for productions he didn't think were worthy of the Rin Tin Tin image; he died impoverished. Lee's family packed up all the Rinty mementos and left them behind with friends. Daphne Herford who had bought several dogs from the Rin Tin Tin line tried to keep the legend alive. She and Bert waged a legal battle over the rights to Rin Tin Tin.

The book is a joy to read, at once a trip down memory land and an exploration of the human desire to create something lasting.

The Rin Tin Tin legacy was carried on by several dogs

Rin Tin Tin The Life and the Legend
Susan Orlean
Simon & Schuster

"I adored this book. It weaves history, war, show business, humanity, wit, and grace into an incredible story about America, the human-animal bond, and the countless ways we would be lost without dogs by our sides, on our screens, and in our books."  Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

1957 Modern Screen: The Stars

What was happening in Hollywood in May, 1957? Quite a bit...Parties and marriages, babies and deaths.

Elizabeth Taylor and Eddie Fisher married in Acapulco, commanding four pages of pictures of partying. There were 22 cases of champaign and 15,000 white gladiolas flown in by Eddie. 

Luella Parson's "in hollywood" covered a big party thrown for Merle Oberon's birthday.

Prince Rainier and Grace Kelley celebrated the birth of Princess Caroline by publishing her first photographs.

Bogie had died that January. "The last words he spoke were to his adored Betty--"Good-by, kid." So wrote Louella Parsons in her story about Humphrey Bogart's last days. She goes on to say, "Let me repeat, no scriptwriter could have conceived for Bogey the role he played in the last thirty days of his life."

 

Deborah Kerr's challenge was "can an actress be a good mother?" The article relates Kerr's considering leaving her career for her daughter's well being. Luckily, her husband had filled her loneliness so "now she's learned to give to the very little ones the same fulfillment that a gentle man had brought her when she showed her a love without fear. And she's teaching her children what she herself had never known--how to be alone, and know that you are not alone."

Kerr's then current movie was Hello, Mr. Allison.

Ingrid Bergman was notorious for having a baby before she was married. The only headline this would merit these days would be "congratulations".

Judy Spreckels shared this drawing she made when she met Elvis. It was for sale at the Elvis Presley Fan Club.

Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller were pregnant. They had married June, 1956.

 "The receptionist was very surprised...Mr. Miller...wasn't grinning. Not that he looked sad, or anything...Marilyn came out. Marilyn was crying. You could see the tears streaming down her cheeks and you could see that her lips were trembling, trembling hard."
"No baby, huh?"
"Sure she'd going to have a baby."
"But she was crying!"

Marilyn had two miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy during her marriage to Arthur.

Dennis Hopper's first "complete story" told of his childhood on a farm outside of Dodge with a pig named Porcupine and Puddles the dog. His family moved to Kansas City and then to San Diego where he discovered art. He was star-struck and at age eighteen was in Giant.

"His family disapproved. All this talk about acting and poetry and painting; these things would never bring in any money. They thought, and they told him, that he was going to turn into a bum."

We really liked bad boys. First they called Hopper a rebel. Now we read about Nick Adams was "wild" before he starred in No Time For Sargents. 

Back in Jersey City Adams was Nicholas Adamshock, hanging around pool rooms, hitch-hiking, chasing girls, throwing snowballs at strangers, sneaking into movies--all with his homies. They knocked off a man's hat, for crying out loud, and that's when he discovered they were juvenile delinquents. He flirted with greater danger until he auditioned for a play. Jack Palance got him the part. In 1952 he hitch-hiked to Hollywood where he was in Mr. Roberts, Picnic, and other films.

In 1968 he died of a drug overdose, but some call his death an unsolved mystery. No one knows how he obtained the drugs. His death certificate was changed three times, from homicide to suicide to undetermined.

  

In 1957 the current Hollywood mystery was "what happened to Jean Peters". One day she just dropped out. The long article relates friends glimpses of her here and there. Her New York Times obituary of 2000 relates she had secretly married Howard Hughes!

Drugs, Booze and Women. Fitzgerald in Hollywood.

Cokes and chocolate candy during the day. Chloral hydrate and Nembutal before bed. Benzedrine to get going in the morning. Booze whenever it got too bad.

Zelda was under medical care; Scottie in private school; both were back East. Nineteen years of marriage, half with Zelda's demons keeping them apart, now he sees her on rare holidays when he can get away. Intimate relations ended a long time ago.

In 1937 F. Scott Fitzgerald was in Hollywood, struggling to get jobs and pay the bills. A has-been trying to write a novel about Hollywood, hired to write scripts but tossed from film to film with no billing, nothing to show for it. His royalty check from Scribners amounted to $1.43.

Like his character Stahr in his manuscript that became the incomplete novel The Last Tycoon, Fitzgerald sees a woman who reminds him of his wife. They fall in love. Sheilah Graham was thirty to his forty, a tough, smart, self-made gal. And Scott was grasping at the last golden ring of happiness, in spite of TB and heart disease: the luxury of love.

West of Sunset by Stewart O'Nan is Biographical Fiction based on Scott's last years. Told in the third person limited, we come to know Scott by his actions, and from the narrator's knowledge of  his thoughts.

I could not stop reading. And the day after I felt such sorrow.

Plenty of Hollywood denizens show up in the story, like Bogie and Mayo who mostly drink and romp around the pool. Dottie Parker and her husband Alan Campbell; Dottie who knew him back in the old days. Names are dropped, Scott is snubbed by some of the most famous.

Ernest Hemingway appears on crutches after a botched operation on his leg. His breath stinks, he is unwashed. He has 'sold out' Scott thinks, a wasted talent. It was Hemingway who told Max Perkins that Scott sold out after Tender Is The Night appeared, who told Scott that Zelda was no good for him.

Scott hears that Tom Wolfe, the Thomas Wolfe of  Look Homeward, Angel, has died. Scott admired Wolfe's work, his ecstasy and gargantuan vitality. Wolfe was 36 years old. Scott had chosen the sanitarium near Asheville for Zelda because it was Tom's hometown, the city Wolfe could not "go home" to.

The whole glorious Lost Generation writers, all edited by Max Perkins, are old and dying and already passé, so yesterday. Scott's daughter Scottie gives him an essay she wrote for Mademoiselle about how his generation was as fashioned and outmoded as the Charleston.

What Scottie did not know yet, thinks Scott, was how war changes everything. It is 1939. She will soon see for herself.

I had found a copy of The Last Tycoon while vacationing Up North and read it for the first time since I was a teenager. It is told in the first person, by the daughter of the main character Stahr. Wonderful name for a Hollywood "tycoon.".Stahr has achieved a legendary status, the Boy Wonder who knows how to fix everything, wielding his power for the greater vision in his head. His beloved wife has died, and has only his work to keep him going. Until he sees Kathleen, who looks like his wife. He searches for her, they meet, they fall in love.

The Tycoon Stahr meets a tragic end in a plane crash. Scott died at age 44 of a heart attack at Sheliah's place, where he was working with a secretary on Tycoon.

O'Tan's novel ends with letters exchanged between Scottie and Zelda after Scott's death. "Only in love are we redeemed," writes Zelda. "God answers all prayers."

How ironic.

To learn more visit
http://www.scottandzelda.com/
http://www.fscottfitzgeraldsociety.org/biography/index.html