Customer Reviews

James Stewart: Behind the Scenes of a Wonderful Life: Cloth Book

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

 

 

I saw this book and got excited because I didn't know there was a biography out about Jimmy Stewart. Had I known of Mr. Quirk's reputation for sensationalistic biographies, I would not have gone near this book and I'm sorry I did. He continually and unabashedly from page one infers that Mr. Stewart was as at best a bisexual and he implies much worse. He derides his values, his war record and his movies. I guess since there has never been a hint of scandal about the man, Mr. Quirk decided to invent some. Of course, AFTER Mr. Stewart is no longer with us to defend himself. He spends a paragraph in the last chapter trying to say that Jimmy more or less gave him permission to write a book about him. I doubt this is what he would have in mind. He makes fun of his later movies, primarily it seems because they were "family films". He blisters him for a book of poems he released not even mentioning how well it did or how his reading one in particular about his dog brought the usually unemotional Johnny Carson to tears on THE TONIGHT SHOW in the late 1980's and Johnny showed it every year thereafter on his anniversary shows. I could say much more but the bottom line is if you want to read something real about Jimmy and you don't like wasting money, avoid this book like the plague. I wish I had.

I fortunately did not spend any money on this piece of garbage. I do find it amusing that this author, who claims (in several lines on the back cover) to have spent "years researching the true story," and had "many interviews with the family and the man himself," never bothered to learn the correct spelling of Mrs. James Stewart's maiden name! Everywhere throughout the book is Mrs. Gloria McLean Stewart's name and the names of her 2 sons misspelled! Surely with all of the biographies written (both worthwhile and mediocre reads) Mr. Quirk could have glanced at the spelling. We are talking about the one great love and the two sons in this superior actor and father's life! What an atrocity to attempt to mar the image and memory of such a fine, giving, and reputable man. Shame on you, Mr. Quirk. You obviously have done nothing worthwhile in this life and must degrade the work and life of another to boost youself. Post Script: I would have given this zero stars had that been an option.

I agree with the other reviewers opinions on this book. No person or celebrity is perfect but this is pure defamation of character. Hopefully someone has written something better.

I kind of liked this book and it does give a fairly thorough account of James Stewart's life and career. However, the author does seem to be obsessed with sex and homosexual innuendo. I haven't read any of his other books so cannot say if this is a theme with all his writing. You really have to ignore a lot of rather marginal theorizing about the sexual urges of Henry Fonda, Stewart and Margaret Sullavan who Mr Quirk seems to have a quirk about. Aside from that annoying theme, I did enjoy the biography and the discussion of the various movies and plays he made. I've read it twice but don't know if I would recommend it to someone looking for a less sensational version of the story. Until I read the other reviews, I wondered if it was just me that was annoyed by this stuff.