Customer Reviews

Glamour Girls: The Illustrated Encyclopedia

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3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I loved this book! I've been collecting books on movies, popular entertainment, glamour and pin-ups for many years, and I'd always been a bit frustrated that none of these books really covered the full range of beautiful women who made contributions to our pop culture. That huge gap has at last been filled--with style and beauty--by "Glamour Girls: The Illustrated Encyclopedia."

All the obvious names--Monroe, Mansfield, Jean Harlow, Raquel Welch, Kim Basinger, Sharon Stone, Tyra Banks--are of course covered with brisk, informative biographies and striking photos. But perhaps half of the 1,700-plus women in this amazing book are exactly the kind of gorgeous, intriguing women who had NEVER been included in any previous movie or entertainment reference book. That fact alone makes this book a must-have for any serious fan.

For example, I'd vaguely recalled seeing photos in Life magazine in the '50s of a beautiful blonde starlet who drove all over Hollywood in a crazy convertible covered in pink rugging. That starlet was Sandra Giles, who (I learn in this book) appeared in films with Elvis and Raquel Welch and had an interesting, colorful career. There's also a terrific photo, and an address to write to her. A blonde bombshell of more recent vintage, Heather Elizabeth Parkhurst, co-starred in the sexy Showtime series "Sherman Oaks" a couple of years ago; here I learn about her other movie/TV credits and magazine appearances, along with her fan-mail address and a sizzling photo. Just about every page has something--either a piece of trivia, anecdote, or photo--that will "grab" just about any reader.

Author Steve Sullivan has really created something special here. This is the ultimate reference book for any fan of glamorous gals past and present.

I am so glad I was able to see a copy of this book before I ordered it because I would have hated to shell out good money for it. In this author's eyes, the legends of Hollywood be they Harlow or Hayworth are no more accomplished or important than last month's Playboy centerfold! I feel there are two very different markets the author is trying to combine, those who love Hollywood and those who love "retro raunch" as they call it or contemporary nudie models and this book is quite clumsy in its attempts to equate the two. Most audaciously, the author lists these 1,000 women in some sort of sexy importance order and somehow a number of women with no more accomplishment than being say Miss April in Playboy may rank above a Hollywood legend. Thus you have Clara Bow, THE sex symbol of silent films, and Mae West, whose sexy films truly changed the film industry barely making Sullivan's top 100! And you have Dorothy Lamour, one of the top four pinup girls of World War II barely making the top 350! And worse of all are these little small paragraph biographies of the women that anyone with the slighest knowledge of movies could have written (and written better because I noticed several factual errors even in this short space. Indeed the author seems to know little about general film history, despite claiming this is an "alltime" sex symbol list I spotted maybe only three women from the silent era) There are several topless photos of several completely obscure women that are totally meaningless to anyone unless you are really into porno. I'm not a prude and I don't mind at all that someone may be interested in more data on these nudie girls (if you can call tiny paragraph bios "data") but please have a little respect for the legitimate film stars and their legacies and don't be so sexist as if to suggest they have nothing more to offer than the visual appeal of a men's magazine model.

From the perspective of a longtime collector of vintage men's magazines and glamour/pin-up memorabilia, "Glamour Girls: The Illustrated Encyclopedia" is a book I've been waiting for all my life. The concept is terrific, and the execution is even better; it's a slam-dunk 5-star winner.

Hundreds of the 1,700-plus women covered in this remarkable book are ladies I'd long admired, but knew relatively little about. Author Steve Sullivan rectifies that problem with the in-depth information and sizzling photos provided here. Just a couple of examples:

1970s burlesque star Morganna was widely known as "The Kissing Bandit" for running out on baseball fields and kissing players. But thanks to the Glamour Encyclopedia, now I know when and where she was born, what she's been up to in recent years, what her best magazine appearances were, and an address to write to her. (The book includes hundreds of fan-mail and website addresses for pin-up stars past and present.) The photo is terrific, too.

Men's mag collectors may vaguely recall the name of Jane Dolinger, who was featured in many magazines during the '60s. But author Sullivan gives us the full lowdown on her biography, including the seven books she wrote about her adventures visiting with headhunters in Ecuador, exploring voodoo rites in Trinidad, etc., accompanied by one of her most gorgeous magazine cover photos. As we learn in this book, many of these glamour gals led pretty remarkable lives--they had far more going on than met the eye!

I could give many other examples, but you're better off discovering them for yourself. "Glamour Girls: The Illustrated Encyclopedia" is an absolute treasure trove of information and scintillating photos (both clad and unclad!) on more than 100 years of the world's most exciting women. This is a book I'm going to spend many hours delving into at my leisure, and I think I'll enjoy every minute.

Anyone with an interest in beautiful, glamorous women past and present is urged to check out "Glamour Girls: The Illustrated Encyclopedia" by Steve Sullivan. Whether you're looking for incisive biographical sketches or merely gorgeous photographs, you'll find them here.

The research that went into this book was staggering, with biographical entries on 1,750 women from the 1890s right up to today. Many of these women have never been covered in any previous book, to my knowledge. This goes far, far beyond the obvious glamour superstars of the past century. You'll also learn about an amazing array of cult movie starlets, burlesque queens, figure and fashion models, Broadway performers, singers and dancers...virtually any category of female entertainers that you can name is represented in this remarkable volume.

One of the many pleasurable things about the book is that it's a broswer's delight. Pop it open to any page (320 pages in all), and you'll find something to genuinely engage the mind or please the eye. The biographical entries are detailed enough to be extremely informative--date and place of birth, date of death if applicable, vital statistics, career summary, key movie or TV appearances, major magazine appearances--but also concise and to the point. And the book's 400-plus photos include some real stunners, including a color section.

It is very clear that author Steve Sullivan wrote this book out of deep affection and admiration for the women he profiles. He set out to pay tribute to many hundreds of women who have never received proper appreciation in print before. That goal was achieved, and then some. "Glamour Girls: The Illustrated Encyclopedia" is fully worthy of a 5-star recommendation!

While some of the negative reviews are too extreme, I agree that "Glamour Girls" is a deeply flawed effort. First, the "GGs" should have been listed alphabetically or chronologically. The arbitrary descending-order approach is SO wrong-headed. How can the fabulous Diana Rigg be as low as #69? And the delectable Diana Dors is #70! Absurd! Second, Steve Sullivan should have focused on those women who are genuine personifications of glamour. I have nothing against Nichelle Nichols, but glamorous she ain't. Also, how can Mr. Sullivan include Caroline Munro, while neglecting her truly bewitching mother, Janet Munro? And I share the dismay of a previous reviewer at the inclusion of Madonna: ugh! Mr. Sullivan's worst offense in this regard is including a seemingly endless (and tedious) supply of Playboy centerfolds and, worse, porn actresses. Talk about a total suspension of judgement! Third, there are NOT some 1,000 glamour girls -- a little discrimination, a little taste. Magnificent mammaries do not a glamour girl make. Sure, Jayne Mansfield had them (boy, did she have them!), but she had much else besides. Fourth, I'm disappointed in Mr. Sullivan's indifferent research. For example, he mentions that Inger Stevens (#258) "played Robert Morse's sexy wife in the hit 'A Guide for the Married Man' (1967)." No, she didn't -- she played Walter Matthau's wife.

Despite all my carping, this isn't a bad book. The problem is that it was such a damned good idea so abominably handled, and that makes it appear so much worse than it is.

For those of you who like to skim, here's the short review: cheesy, self-promoting "nudie" stars mixed with actresses we've all heard too much about. "Glamour" has nothing to do with it, only a woman's breast size (every bio includes a woman's measurements).

And for those looking for, as cheese-ball Steve would put it, "mammarian satisfaction", look somewhere else: the pictures here are terrible, small and silly. Any other review that says otherwise was probably written by a friend of the publisher. Look for better information on many websites.

For those of you, like me, who picked up this book thinking you would actually learn something about glamour girls (maybe get some movie recommendations)--wow, no chance. Here's the world according to Steve: Audrey Hepburn gets this rating: 96. He comments: "[she substituted] a delicacy masking inner strength in place of sex appeal". What a wonderfully backhanded comment. Kitten Natividad, on the other hand, has a ranking higher-than-Audrey ranking of 62 (as does other classless, un-glamour girls like Heather Locklear and Pam Anderson(!)). His comments on Kitten: "The essential quality that endears [her] is not her seductive face or epic-scaled breasts; it is her utter joy in performing." Um, yeah, *that's* what you're selling.

The writing is hackneyed, and the constant references to his other books weigh the whole effort with the smell of despiration. I'm not even going to sell this book or give it away--it goes right in the trash.

This book is the book of books when it comes to showcasing the world's most beautiful women. It lists all of the luscious ladies from our world of media, showing women from the Adult Industry, Hollywood Starlets, Exotic Dancers, Pop Stars, Supermodels, Printmodels-- every pretty female from every branch of entertainment. That is what lends this book its special place in the annals of female encyclopedias!

Sullivan is brilliant. Each woman is listed and ranked according to her beauty and how she/they mesmerized the male species. Generations of girls are shown and all of them deserve to be listed some place within the book. Yes, Jenna Jameson and Christy Canyon are just as important in beauty as Stella Stevens and Halle Berry, Barbara Eden, Meryl Streep, Barbara Streisand, Jennifer Lopez, Penelope Cruz and all the other greats! What makes the book work is the index located at its end. This index is alphabetical but also gives the numerical rank of the girl in question, thereby allowing the reader to zip right to that point inside the book where her written bio is presented. There is also a considerable-sized section of text dedicated to up and commers. Girls like Britney Spears and Christina Auguilera are included there. Fantastic foresight from a brilliant man who shares my hometown. Mr. Sullivan, please write a sequel! I'll buy it at any price.

I highly recommend this book. Another one of its great aspects is it's illustrated with great photographs of the pretty girls in question. Where there are no pictures one can add their own. This works as I was able to clip a photo of Adult Star Kylie Ireland and slip it right next to her bio without affecting the other bios and/or pictures (Along With Many Other Added Photos). If you are a man who loves the female form you must buy this exquisite book. I promise that you won't be disappointed.

A. Nathaniel Wallace, Jr.

I really was looking forward to this book. On the positive side, the author did do a lot of research into the pre-1950 glamour pin-ups of which most of us today are not familiar. On the negative side, the artwork is entirely disappointing - small black & white images do not capture glamour very well. In addition, he puts too many models in the book with insufficient detail to each. Rather than doing a sad overview of the top 1,000 - he should have done a nice portrayal of the top 500. As it was, he was getting pretty desperate to get to 1,000. Elvira (the horror film commedienne), Nichelle Nichols (Star Trek's Lt. Uhuru)and Lily Munster are all fine actresses/characters - but glamourous - not at all. Finally, amazingly, he left out some modern superstars like Emme. Save your money and avoid this one.

First, the good news. Steve Sullivan introduces the reader to (or reminds him of) such legendary glamour girls as Clara Bow, Jean Harlow, Marilyn Monroe, and Jayne Mansfield. In addition, Mr. Sullivan hasn't neglected such less well-known lovelies as Barbara Nichols.

Now, for the bad news, which outweighs the good. There aren't 1,000 glamour girls -- one would be hard pressed to find 100 truly worthy of the title. Equally misguided is Mr. Sullivan's gratuitous and hopelessly arbitrary attempt to rate these women in descending order. Why not just list them chronologically? Last, but not least, Mr. Sullivan's assessment of what glamour is leaves an enormous amount to be desired. For example, what on earth is Madonna, that apotheosis of vulgarity, doing in a book about glamour girls? And what's with including porn stars, who are the very antithesis of glamour?

Too bad, because it could have been so good.

Someone mentioned Caroline and Janet Munro. The late actress Janet Munro is not actress Caroline Munro's mother. This bit of misinformation has been around for decades and Caroline Munro has been refuting it for years. They are not related. Just ask her.