Customer Reviews

The Glamour Girls

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This is an excellent book - you do feel you get to know the different
personalities of the actresses written about. While I question a couple
of the "Glamour Girls" - Vera Hruba Ralston??? and Audrey Hepburn (more
"gamine" than "glamour"). With the exception of Audrey Hepburn, who made
it through on sheer talent and Yvonne De Carlo who was confident and
promoted herself, all of them were pushed by power brokers in the industry.
I found it fascinating reading. Even though Joan Bennett had a pretty good
career as a blonde, it was Walter Wanger and his vision of her as a Hedy
Lamar lookalike that gave her glamour and a whole new career. Rita Hayworth's
first husband Ed Judson, a man old enough to be her father, magically
transformed her - the chapter on Hayworth implies that she would have been
more than happy leaving films and getting married to a nice, ordinary guy.
With Kim Novak it was Harry Cohn who was annoyed at what he thought was
Rita Hayworth's independence and wanted to teach her a lesson by making
a star out of a complete unknown - he definately succeeded!!! Vera Hruba
Ralston I thought was not only not glamourous but quite unattractive.
In her chapter Parish says something about "beauty being in the eye of the
beholder". Anyway her husband was Herbert Yates, boss of Republic Studios,
who spent their marriage trying to make her a star.
The only quibble I have with the book is the exclusion of two of the most
glamourous stars (in my opinion) Ann Sheridan and Hedy Lamarr.

It seems James Parish churns out far too many books. However, his series of books dealing with films and stars of the Golden period of Hollywood are absolutely indispensible for movie buffs.

Anyone old enough to remember the old (now defunct) film magazine, ''Films in Review'', will recall the magazine's monthly career article on stars which covered their films in detail. The article was followed by a filmography and many photos.

The Glamour Girls is in similar vein. It covers the careers of female stars who were known for their beauty and glamour - stars like Joan Bennett, Yvonne De Carlo, Rita Hayworth, Audrey Hepburn, Jennifer Jones, Maria Montez, Kin Novak, Merle Oberon and Vera Ralston.

The great thing about this book is that all of the stars' films are covered in detail along with details about their personal lives (each chapter is like a mini book). At the end is a detailed filmography and a section on photos.

Anyone interested in old stars should immediately add this great book to their library.