Customer Reviews

Killer Tomatoes: Fifteen Tough Film Dames

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

In the world of Hollywood Biographies, you will find tons of books on Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe. But everyone else seems to have been forgotten. That is why "Killer Tomatoes" is such a wonderful book! It brings back to life the forgotten stars like Lynn Bari, Marie Windsor, Ida Lupino, Ann Dvorak, Gloria Grahame, Jean Hagen, Adele Jergans, Joan Blondell, Claire Trevor, Mercedes McCambridge and my favorite....Ann Sheridan. It also tells about more known (but still not as talked about) actresses like Jane Russell and Barbara Stanwyck. The book also presents the very well known Lucille Ball. With Lucille Ball, Laura Wagner reminds us that she was something BEFORE "I Love Lucy". This book is well researched and annotated and is just generally a fun read! Both Ray Hagen and Laura Wagner are to be complimented on presenting each of these ladies and not telling their stories in an overly fawning fashion (like some bios do) or whitewashing the stories. It's a great addition to anyone who collects books on Hollywood history. It's a real breath of fresh air in a stale Hollywood biography climate.

I highly recommend this book to any classic movie lover. It is well-researched, informative, and entertaining. Unlike several other books of its kind, the two authors, in addition to covering the actresses' personal lives, also take the pains to explore and discuss the characters whom these women portrayed. In several instances, they lift direct dialogue from the films themselves to elaborate on their roles. What is the end result after reading this volume? Like me, I think you may find yourself trying to see as many of these films as you can! I anxiously await future writings from both Laura Wagner and Ray Hagen.

I've always been partial to the so-called dames rather than the ladies in movies. Don't get me wrong I love Katharine Hepburn and other ladies, but for my money the brassy dames of the films always gave as good as she got--and then some. This book includes some of my all-time favorites: Jane Russell, Lucille Ball--yes, it's important to remember that before Lucille became "Lucy" she was one of the best tough broads in pictures in films like "Dance, Girl, Dance" and "The Big Street", Joan Blondell, Ida Lupino and especially Barbara Stanwyck--I can't think of an American actress who combined so well toughness on the outside with a thick layer of vulnerability on the inside. The profiles are wonderful and I even learned a few new facts that I never knew before. I highly recommend these Killer Tomatoes.

A boring read? Afraid to talk about the stars' private lives? Someone is either not paying attention or has an axe to grind.

This interesting, throughly entertaining, book tackles fifteen amazing women. The authors deal with the films AND the lives. Jane Russell and Jean Hagen's battles with alcohol are discussed, in detail, and Marilyn Maxwell insatiable appetite for men is bravely set forth. Laura Wagner's chapter on Maxwell does not shy away from her affairs with Frank Sinatra and, especially, Bob Hope. Even Jimmy Durante is involved. Boring? I was on the edge of my seat. Also discussed: Gloria Grahame's obsession with her face; Ida Lupino's fierce determination & personal relationships; Lynn Bari's problems with Sid Luft; Ann Dvorak's bad career choices and her first husband's control over her; and Ann Sheridan, via Ray Hagen's personal interview with her from the `60s, talking about her studio battles. All this (and more) is a lack of private details? "There is absolutely no new information in this book"? That is just not correct, considering that there are new INTERVIEWS contained within and new info on Ann Dvorak & Adele Jergens, among others. "Very few photos"? Each chapter, except for the Gloria Grahame which has more, contains five photos each. 80 photos in a book of this type is more than okay.

I say the authors did an incredible job maintaining a balance between the films and the lives. There are exclusive interviews in here with Mercedes McCambridge, Ann Sheridan and Jane Russell. New details are available on Ann Dvorak and Adele Jergens, and Lucille Ball is finally shown to be an ACTRESS, not just the star of "I Love Lucy."

The authors delve deep to come up with compelling portraits of these women and I think they did an amazing job. Gossip for gossip's sake? No, you won't find that. If you are looking for dirt, and many people are these days, you won't find it here. This book is respectful, but honest. The authors know and acknowledge the actresses' faults, but don't try to tear them down.

People who enjoy the dismantling of Hollywood should stay away. Those are the kind of people who feel threatened by good, responsible books like this one.

I loved this book, and to the authors I say, "bravo"!

The chapters of "Killer Tomatoes: Fifteen Tough Film Dames" are not only a Who's Who line-up of some of the brassiest broads to grace the silver screen, the profiles, written alternately by Ray Hagen and Laura Wagner, jump off the page with as much snap and sizzle as the attitudes and dialogue that earned these ladies their saucy reputations. We learn how these actresses came to play the parts that classified them as Tough Film Dames, and we also learn what about their lives and personalities enabled them to do it so well, on and sometimes even off the screen. I bought this book primarily to read about Ann Sheridan but quickly found myself starting from page one and not stopping until way past reasonable lights out in order to devour each tantalizing Tomato. I had so much fun reading it that I'm not sure how much actual information my brain retained the first time around, but revisiting it again (and again) will not be a hardship.

In the style of James Robert Parish, this volume provides interesting essays on 15 stars. A few, like Barbara Stanwyck, have been subjects of other volumes but others like Ann Dvorak and Marie Windsor are much rarer subjects.

Each essay combines details of each star's career with their personal life in reasonable detail for the level at which the volume is pitched. The personality of every lady is evident. There are some great photos too. Some of the ladies were still alive when the volume was published so the book benefits from direct quotes whenever possible. The gem is the transcript of a lengthy interview with Ann Sheridan.

Of its type, this book is as good as any others.

This is one of the best books I've read on the tougher ladies of old movies. I publish books for a living, and I'm sorry I missed getting my hands on this one for publication! The photos are pristine, as are the choices for sheer entertainment value. The biographies aren't the straight, boring "and then she played in this" kind. Thoughtful, well-researched and layered with a humor that doesn't go out of its way to be funny. Well done!

I've had just about enough of Amazon becoming a forum for grievances --- and "Dan Dan"'s so-called review did it! The bad reviews of "Killer Tomatoes" here on Amazon are based solely on Laura Wagner's negative reviews in "Classic Images." Never mind that she's good at reviewing books and she's always fair - friends of the authors she pans are taking revenge by writing lies about her book.

Dan Dan's only other review on Amazon is E. J. Fleming's "The Fixers," which Miss Wagner gave a deserved bad review to in CI. Hey, Dan Dan, how's your friend E.J.? You can tell him that you wrote that review and everyone is marveling at it.

First off, Dan Dan NEVER read the book. "Its bad enough when 'writers' rewrite stories with nothing new to add. There is absolutely nothing new in any of these stories." If you read the book, Dan Dan, you would see that the writers interviewed not only some of their subjects, but also people close to them. Are you telling me that Jean Hagen's tragic story has been told before? Ann Dvorak's? That first-hand interviews are "nothing new"?

"Its worse when important parts of the stories are left out." What, the sex lives of the women? Gay RUMORS?

Jane Russell's foreword was nice, not rambling. Ray Hagen, within the book, interviewed her at length - and there was nothing wrong with her memory. If you have to pick on a foreword, for crying out loud, you are really stretching it.

Another so-called reviewer here complained about the title, like that's basis for panning a book (stretching, stretching, stretching). Does that person see the title's cleverness? It's a play on words. Get the joke! This same reviewer, before Miss Wagner panned E. J. Fleming's books, loved and raved about "Killer Tomatoes" on her Yahoo Group and website. I saw it with my own eyes. Now, of course, she's singing another tune.

Still another complained that the subjects were B movie actress. This sounds like a dig to Miss Wagner, who said in a recent review (not maliciously) that Carole Landis (a book also by Fleming) was a B movie actress. Barbara Stanwyck, Jane Russell, Ida Lupino, Gloria Grahame, and Ann Sheridan were NOT B movie actresses, folks. Lucille Ball started in the Bs, but she's a superstar now. Mercedes McCambridge is an Oscar winning actress.

And how about this: "The gals are all portrayed as saints and victims and you are only given a glimpse into their private lives. I would have like to have learned a lot more about who they dated, who they hated, who was addicted to what!" Um, another "reviewer" who didn't read the book? The authors candidly talk about Jean Hagen's and Jane Russell's alcoholism and Marilyn Maxwell's affairs. I guess because this isn't a lowbrow gossip book, these reviewers - who champion books like "The Fixers" - have a problem with authors who are trying to tell a real story that isn't based solely on sex lives.

The photo crack is ridiculous. Like most McFarland books, the pictures are clear and look good. Grainy? Get better glasses.

So, I say, stop using Amazon to air your dirty laundry. These reviewers haven't read the book and can't honestly review it. The CI reviews are fair and Miss Wagner shouldn't have to be subjected to people who can't handle it when she points out their misinformation. She actually gives more good reviews than bad, it's just the bad ones that attract the nuts.

(By the way, I do not personally know Miss Wagner or Mr. Hagen, but I read "Classic Images" regularly. I also love this book.)

This book is pure pleasure--it is a pleasure to read about some of the most neglected talents, i.e., Ann Dvorak, Jean Hagen, Mercedes McCambridge, as well as some who have rated more print like Claire Trevor and Gloria Grahame--two of the best noir ladies of the movies. Ida Lupino, Ann Sheridan and Lucille Ball were all top stars of the forties and fifties, but not that much has been written about Sheridan and Lupino. All of the stories were well written and some were most revealing.

May I suggest to these two writers that they maybe think about a second volumn. Many terrific ladies were left out. Beautiful Lizabeth Scott has had so little written about her--she was a top tomato, as well as the other sensational noir lady, Audrey Totter. She was a tough cookie in so many great forties and fifties films.

To add to the list there are June Havoc, Jan Sterling, Glenda Farrell, Marie MacDonald, Jane Greer, Alexis Smith, Vivian Blaine and not to be forgotten--Iris Adrian and Veda Ann Borg (two of the best of the character ladies), Yvonne DeCarlo, who tangled with the likes of Burt Lancaster, Clark Gable, among others--and the two most beautiful tomatoes the screen has probably even known--Gene Tierney and Ava Gardner.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a good ride getting into the lives of a number of very appealing ladies who all made their mark in films (and TV). And we can only hope that maybe someday there will be a sequel!!

This contains fascinating information about 15 terrific actresses who deserve to be better known. The summary approach on each subject works fine. My problem is that the two authors have completely different styles and approaches. This does not have to be a bad thing, but, in this case, it is. Ray Hagen does his work objectively and allows the reader to come to conclusions about each actress and her body of work. Ms. Wagner, on the other hand, uses an actresses biography to sarcastically confront how she feels about other actors and actresses, as well as their films, who have nothing at all to do directly with the person she is writing about. For instance she refers to one of Marilyn Maxwell's films as a Jerry Lewis dud, then proceeds to scathingly dismiss Lewis's singing. Fine, if you do not care for Lewis or his singing, but what does that have to do with Marilyn Maxwell?? She cannot resist the urge to spout her opinions when she needs to stick to the research and present the facts. She opines profusely in each chapter she is assigned about people and movies which have had no direct impact on the actress being discussed. I feel this book would have been better in Mr. Hagen's capable hands, alone. That is why I can only give this book 3 stars, or better yet, 2 1/2. The facts ma'am, just the facts.