Customer Reviews

James Stewart: A Biography

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have read many books about the life of Jimmy Stewart and found that this one is the most thorough and balanced. Mr. Dewey details Jimmy Stewart's life from all angles but never resorts to smarmy or tabloid-like tactics. While he does not sugar coat Stewart, he doesn't blast him either; he leaves the reader to draw his/her own conclusions. This is the book I would recommend to anyone who wished to find out as much as possible about one of the greatest actors and intriguing personalities of the 20th century.

I wanted a full life biography of James Stewart, the great, quintessentially American actor. I found it in Donald Dewey tome, 512 pages worth. It was available in the unabridged audio version. Mr. Dewey spends quite a bit of time on Stewart hometown of Indiana, Pennsylvania. It is rather unremarkable except as the birthplace of Stewart & Mr. Dewey spends too much time on it & the townsfolk. Stewart himself rarely returned after he left. Stewart was the product of a middle class family in small town America. Unlike most celebrities,his upbringing was entirely normal & perhaps even boring. He idolized his father & the love was returned. They were always close & His father remained the most important influence on Stewart's life. That life was tightly controlled by his father with apparently little opposition until he set out on his own after Princeton. The book chronicles every movie Stewart made. His career is clearly divided into two distinct chapters: before & after World WarII. Before the war he was already a major star. After many supporting roles, he broke through with one of the defining roles of his career, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. It raised a political firestorm & was condemned by many in government who wanted it banned. It spoke of corruption in government & the corrosive influence of power on elected officials & their unelected cronies put into positions of power. Other lighter fare Such as Destry, Shop Around the Corner & The Philadelphia Story were made in 1939-40. He was the all American boy, single, good looking & as was said in Hollywood, "a good catch". There was very little scandal attached to Stewart but he certainly was not a monk. The war changed everything. He grew up. He had enlisted early & was a decorated bomber pilot seeing considerable action. He did very little movie making aside from PSA's for the military, of which he was very fond. He hated the word hero, feeling it was overused then as it certainly is now. It has lost most of its value. He rarely talked about the war & did very few movies about it. The tone of his movies now became a bit darker as did movies in general post war. One his favorite movies was Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life & Mr. Dewey spends some time taking about this, possibly Capra's as well as Stewart,s most well known movie. I think Stewart's personal favorite was Harvey from 1950. The story about an invisible rabbit that only Stewart's character could see. He did the movie, & performed it several different times on stage & also a tv version. Mr. Dewey ponders long & hard on why this was. There are so many great movies. He was such a good hardworking professional actor. He didn't particularly care about the movie-star part but was always repectful to fans, never forgeting who got him there. He liked doing biographies. He insisted on doing The Spirit of St. Louis. He was playing Charles Lindberg at 25 when he was actually twice that age. Not bad, but it is maybe one movie that could use a remake. His conservative politics started to show in movies such as the propaganda pieces, The FBI Story & Strategic Air Command. Both are good entertaining movies for their time. By 1965 his best acting days were gone & his politics hardening more along the way. The author teases us with the possibility that he not Ronald Reagon could have run for govenor of California. They were great friends & Stewart had helped Reagan out with guest appearences on several of Reagan's tv shows in the early 60's. Most interesting was the lifelong friendship Stewart had with Henry Fonda. Two more politically opposite men you could not find. A right wing reactionary vs a left wing-nut. Apparently they didn't discuss politics but were friend from their days as struggling actors in the 1930's. Stewart was with Fonda in the middle of filming
The Cheyenne Social Club in 1970 when the greatest tragedy of his life occurred: The death of his son in Vietnam. It tore him apart given his strong support of that war. He seldom spoke of him again. A great source of strength was his wife Gloria. He married rather later in life & when she died before him, I think he felt his life was over. The charges he was a racist are a little hard. Prejudiced, perhaps, inability or unwiilingness to change, definitely. We need to have big biographies on important figures of the 20th century & in the field of cinema, James Stewart is a giant. This biography is okay, but could have used a little more pi-zazz.

The memory of Jimmy Stewart suffers not at all in this well-researched biography. A nice touch is the brief summary and review of each movie in which Stewart appeared over the course of his lifetime, and the impact, for better or worse, that each had on his career. However, the author's prose style is dry as toast and lacking in any humor whatsoever. What could have been an outstanding work is, in the end, only a competent treatment of his subject.

James Stewart was a giant in the film world, beloved by audiences and peers alike. It should be that this book would be like the man himself, but I was wrong.

Instead what we get a mess of a book that contains some very useful information along with some very glaring errors. One of the good parts of the book is that we do get a good look at Stewart's professionalism as well as a summary of every film performance he ever gave. However this does not prepare for those other parts.

1. The book is so unbelievably boring. The writing is dry, humorless and slow. Dewey spends a lot of time on trivial issues and uses a roundabout way of expressing his ideas. In short, he hints at things, but never actually says them.

2. There are some inaccuracies involving Henry Fonda. Stewart and Fonda were life long friends and political opposites, and at one time had a fist fight over the issue. The fight led to an agreement that they would never discuss politics again. Dewey does not accept this, and seems to think that in 1947, Stewart and Fonda did have another, bitter fight over Fonda's involvement in the trip to Washington D.C. to protest against HUAC along with Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Danny Kaye and Paul Henreid etc. Well, how come no one knows about this political argument? Fonda never spoke about it in his book, and according to Dewey, they never spoke about it to other people. Oh and one more thing, Fonda did not travel to Washington to protest against HUAC. Photographs do not show him there, nor do the commentaries of those present ever mention Fonda.

3. Dewey claims that Stewart and Bette Davis did not get along while filming RIGHT OF WAY. Every account other than this book tells a completely different story. According to co-workers, the two stars were total professionals and loved working with each other. Both stars always spoke fondly about one another.

4. The most controversial element is the charges of racism. These allegations have done a little damage to Stewart's reputation, but nothing major. Dewey makes a critical mistake by accepting the very slim evidence of racism as fact without investigating further. Hal Kantor was the first to make the accusations in 1971 when he revealed that Stewart had fired black actor Hal Williams from his tv series. Williams has denied the story and still has nothing but respect for James Stewart.

Dewey also makes the point of referencing the incident on the set of THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE when John Ford accused Stewart of hating Woody Strode because he was black. Did it occur to Dewey that Ford was not someone to be taken seriously? Did it also occur to Dewey that Woody Strode also has nothing but good things to say about Stewart?

And what of the idea that Stewart was uncomfortable around blacks? Why is it then that he was able to associate with Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington if he were so uncomfortable?

Read this book for some interesting background information concerning Stewart's films and home town, but dismiss these other part.

Being a huge fan of both classic movies and Jimmy Stewart, I was thrilled to come across this book in my public library. However, some of my enthusiasm died off when I actually attempted to read the book, which began with a lengthy and uninteresting account of the building of the Jimmy Stewart museum.

I decided, however, to skip over these pages and give the book another try, but I really should not have bothered. This book reads like dry, witless highschool essay and offers no insight into the real Jimmy Stewart. With most biographies, I am able to put them down once I have read them and say, "I now know a little more about the true essence of this person". Not so for this book. It bored me to tears, I skipped over at least ten chapters and I didn't bother to read the last chapter.

I do not reccomend this book to anyone. I found myself less interested in Jimmy as the book wore on, which is not a good thing. If any of you should come across this book in YOUR local library, do yourselves a favour and DON'T check it out.

I thought this was supposed to be a biography about Jimmy Stewart. I learned so little about him that I quit reading the book. The author, Donald Dewey, spent a vast amount of time on the town of Indiana, PA's quarrel over a museum. Mr. Dewey also spent more time writing about other people. I forgot who the book was about. I am so glad there are other biographies about Jimmy Stewart. His movies are such great entertainment, it would be a shame if this were the only biography to read.

Author Donald Dewey deliveres a very detailed description of James Stewart, but the book is not pure-it has a spin. Particular events in Mr. Stewarts life are amplified and opinionated with the author's twist. After reading the first 2 chapters of this book, it is clear to see that we are seeing the life of James Stewart through the eyes of Donald Dewey.

I do not know why, but I have always liked "classic films" especially those of Cary Grant, Janes Stewart, Elizabeth Taylor and Dorothy Dandrige....I was very young when I first read this book-I think about 15 yrs old a few years after it first came out-and you would not believe my shock when about three quarters of the way through the book I find out that Stewart was pissed at the changing movie business, because apparently African American's were "taking over" the business.....now, was this Jimmy on a bad day? Or the real Jimmy coming out to play?

Ever since then, whenever I look at a Stewart film, I appreciate the acting, but the whole "I am nice boy from a small town" schtick is just a Hollywood facade that of which he actively participated in.

When I knew nothing of Stewarts's career, this book provided the "basic" info I needed but based on that comment made towards the 1970's decade of his career, I am glad that I don't know more.