Little Me : The Intimate Memoirs of that Great Star of Stage, Screen and Television, Belle Poitrine (as told to Patrick Dennis) [Paperback]

Patrick Dennis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2002

Back in print at last! From the author of Auntie Mame: the bawdy, bestselling, bountifully illustrated autobiography of an imaginary diva whose life is one hilarious mishap after another.

For Belle Poitrine, née Mayble Schlumpfert, all the world's a stage and she's the most important player on it. At once coy and coercive, with a name that means "beautiful bosom" in French, she claws her way from Striver's Row to the silver screen. Recalling Belle's career, which ranged from portraying Anne Boleyn in Oh, Henry to roles in both Sodom and its sequel Gomorrah (not to mention the classic Papaya Paradise), Little Me serves up copious quanitites of husbands, couture, and Pink Lady cocktails, with international adventures and a murder trial to boot.

A runaway bestseller that made its way to Broadway, starring Sid Caesar in 1962 and Martin Short in 1998, Little Me is now reprinted--with all of the 150 historic, hysterical photographs depicting the funniest scenes from Belle's sordid life, including cameo appearances by the author and Rosalind Russell. Considered a collector's item, the first edition of Little Me was like a performance in book form. Now this glittering spoof of celebrity is gloriously reincarnated for connoisseurs of all things chick and cheeky.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Enormously funny...Mr. Dennis's dialogue is hilarious, his pages a riot of magnificent absurdities, sly puns, quips, and other verbal buffoonery."
--The New York Times

"A masterpiece of parody."
--The New Republic

"One of the most outlandish collections of narrative and photographic nonsense ever put between hard covers. Only Patrick Dennis of Auntie Mame could have done it."
--Chicago Tribune

From the Inside Flap

Back in print at last! From the author of Auntie Mame: the bawdy, bestselling, bountifully illustrated autobiography of an imaginary diva whose life is one hilarious mishap after another.

For Belle Poitrine, née Mayble Schlumpfert, all the world's a stage and she's the most important player on it. At once coy and coercive, with a name that means "beautiful bosom" in French, she claws her way from Striver's Row to the silver screen. Recalling Belle's career, which ranged from portraying Anne Boleyn in Oh, Henry to roles in both Sodom and its sequel Gomorrah (not to mention the classic Papaya Paradise), Little Me serves up copious quanitites of husbands, couture, and Pink Lady cocktails, with international adventures and a murder trial to boot.

A runaway bestseller that made its way to Broadway, starring Sid Caesar in 1962 and Martin Short in 1998, Little Me is now reprinted--with all of the 150 historic, hysterical photographs depicting the funniest scenes from Belle's sordid life, including cameo appearances by the author and Rosalind Russell. Considered a collector's item, the first edition of Little Me was like a performance in book form. Now this glittering spoof of celebrity is gloriously reincarnated for connoisseurs of all things chick and cheeky.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Broadway (October 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767913477
• ISBN-13: 978-0767913478
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 0.6 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #292,812 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Patrick Dennis is a Comic Genius, March 30, 2004

By 

Danielle Bennignus - See all my reviews

This review is from: Little Me : The Intimate Memoirs of that Great Star of Stage, Screen and Television, Belle Poitrine (as told to Patrick Dennis) (Paperback)

My God - I don't even know where to begin on how great this book is - pure hilarity from start to finish. If you are familiar with the work of Patrick Dennis, than you're in for a real treat. If his writings are new to you, well, you're in for a crash course.

Written with perfect, tongue-in-cheek camp humor, the autobiography of Belle Poitrine is the perfect send-up of the best Hollywood autobiographies - hysterically self-absorbed, condescending and - best of all - full of absolutely hysterical photographs by the great Cris Alexander. Belle's rise to fame from her childhood black sheep status, mid-life trials and tribulations, countless marriages (most often ending in widowhood) and more are all represented - once you're under the spell of her life story, the book is impossible to put down. And, please, do not rush to find out the ending - it's utterly priceless, and worth the wait, but to get the full, hilarious effect, you have to read everything leading up to it.

Read at your own risk - if you do, you'll surely be telling everyone you know about it - the humor is most contagious, and you'll be compelled to share. Enjoy!!!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Belle Poitrine is Auntie Mame without a conscience., September 30, 2003

By 

Portia (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Little Me : The Intimate Memoirs of that Great Star of Stage, Screen and Television, Belle Poitrine (as told to Patrick Dennis) (Paperback)

Let's all raise our martini glasses high in honor of the most famous fake Hollywood star!
I was given this book as a present by my mother, who knows I love "Auntie Mame". I don't think she expected the photographs! Of course, the photographs are half the fun. Perfectly staged (REAL diva-memoir photos wouldn't be half as realistic!) and brilliantly "acted" by theatrical aquaintances of Patrick Dennis (and sometimes by Dennis himself!), "Little Me" is the only Hollywood memoir you'll consider worth reading over and over again.

The richly detailed "biography" tells of Belle's humble beginnings as an actress in a delightful silent short where she had to undress in a "most artistic manner", to her rise to fame in such epic films as "Thou Shalt Not..." and "Forgive Us Our Trespasses" (not to mention "Arabia" and the later, more sucessful "Saudi-Arabia").

But this is not a one-joke book... It is told so directly, with so little attempt at overt exaggeration (the voice is incredibly true to the Diva-Dictating-Her-Memoirs we all know deep down inside) that there probably never was a truer example of "camp".

Look no further for a send up of all things Hollywood. And three cheers for the new edition!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A PAGE TURNER!, August 2, 2005

By 

Alton Y. Welch "GrandeBear_TX" (Sherman Tx) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Little Me : The Intimate Memoirs of that Great Star of Stage, Screen and Television, Belle Poitrine (as told to Patrick Dennis) (Paperback)

So Campy, so Fabulous, so hilarious. Could also be titled "memoirs of a woman who wanted to be a drag queen".
I had seen the stage play of the same name and laughed to the point of near incontinence. The book brings all of the memories back into the present state of mind. Thankyou so much for the pictures too.