Customer Reviews

Kiss Hollywood good-by

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A fantastically quick read, Anita Loos combines wit with fine storytelling in this autobiographical piece. She zips all around her life and tells about famous names like Marion Davies, Douglas Fairbanks, D.W. Griffith, Irving Thalberg, Clark Gable, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, and other comtemporaries. Even if one has not heard of these people before, which is the case in several bits, a detailed portrait of them will be painted by the time the book is through. Most vivid of these portraits is her husband, nicknamed "Mr. E," a manic depressive with a severe need to perform better than his famous wife.

Loos lived for quite a long time, so not only does one read about her experiences during the Roaring Twenties, but also about her more modern experiences. What does she think about her films being shown in schools? What about modern Hollywood? You'll find it all out here and probably find yourself agreeing with her.

Anita Loos: the Betty Boo of the flapper generation - without the tissues. But with the literary talent to break down the barriers of twenties Hollywood and preceed notions of reactionary feminism by over thirty years.

This is the book you thought you would never read. A pamphlet-thin romp through the studio era of early Hollywood is counterweighted with a poignant disection of love and alcholism. Loos reveals the pain of hopeless devotion with the soft touch of a suggestive glance. A bedtime story for cool adults.