Customer Reviews

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

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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!!!

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!

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.

I discovered this book thanks to a friend back in the dim, dead 80's (thanks ever so, Blanche!) and have jealously guarded the copy of it I found in a used bookstore in Milwaukee's General Mitchell airport shortly after. Now that it is back in print, I can finally give this book out.

Utterly hilarious, without being overtly vulgar (unlike the recent "My Lush Life"), this is a perfect parody of the lady-like memoirs of most of the stars of Hollywood's Golden Age. The amoral, boozy, trampy Belle Poitrine presents her life story of booze, trampiness, and general pervi-ness in such laughably lady-like prose that you will literally be shaking with mirth. A true must have.

Mr.Dennis had much more than a fertile mind, as this book will show to those already familiar with his characters from Auntie Mame. He was a genius of social satire.
This book is a must read, especially if you love rags-to-riches-to-rags-to-riches-to-rags-ect. stories. This book was much before it's time, but quite similar to every has-beens' autobiography of the 50's, and every lifetime movie or mini-series of recent history. Although a little wordy, it has several laugh-out-loud moments, and will leave a smile of absuridity on your face. The photos are worth a giggle, too.

I first came across this book years ago on my parents' bookshelves. I thought it was a real autobiography when I was eleven, and I still thought it fascinating and funny. As I got older, I began to "get the joke", and LITTLE ME remains one of the most hilarious creative excercises I have ever encountered. The folks helping author Dennis and photographer Alexander to put this pioneering "mockumentary" of a book together must have had a great time! I am envious of their experience, but also delighted to share it with them vicariously through the pages of LITTLE ME, the "adventures" of Belle Poitrine. The world is emptier for her never having really lived, but fuller for the efforts of Alexander and Dennis to bring her to life in this delightful book. Now it is again in print, and all is right with the world!

When I first read "Little Me," I hadn't read Susan Sontag's
"Notes on Camp." Afterwards, I didn't need a definition. Patrick Dennis' tour de force, accompanied by Cris Alexander's photographs, simply leaves no room for doubt what a camp classic is.

Any "actress" who wishes to write her "memoirs" (thank you, Patrick, for all those hilariously unnecessary "quotation marks") should read "Little Me" before writing (or dictating) Chapter One.

Don't miss Eric Myers' equally marvelous "Uncle Mame," the biography of Patrick Dennis, for the back story on how this book was cobbled together with the help of the New York City Ballet and seemingly half of the wittier folks in New York. Most of the models received a silver dollar and all the liquid refreshment they could hold, according to Myers. But to read what they told Myers, being part of this classic romp was a landmark in their lives. Rightfully so!

I shouldda sued Mr. Dennis way back - about three - four decades ago - a suffy public library - I'm this spotty kid thumbling through this seemingly 'innocent' tome - then giggle, rumble, gales of laughter later I'm vaguely but sternly banished from the public reading room - fortunately with this little tome firmly ensconced in my clutches.

What a treat for the blues - and those photographs!

[Movie version please - not the musical though .....]

Another great gem and a MUST HAVE - especially during the "Joyous Season'

Can be quite 'lethal' if you're not prepared - but don't read this one in a Public library - quite a hazard!

This "memoir" was totally hysterical. Sometimes it's difficult to describe the term "camp" tho those who don't already know what it is. Now my explanation will be easy... I'll give them this book. The photographs are priceless.

If Belle can make it out of the gutter, then there's hope for all of us.

When it comes to the "classics" of gay/camp literature, I always seem to find myself behind the curve. My friends can praise and recommend a camp classic year after year and I just can't muster enough enthusiasm to read it. In fact, it wasn't until the early 1990s that I finally read the entire TALES OF THE CITY oeuvre - blasphemy in gay circles, and considerably beyond the heyday of 28 Barbary Lane. I guess I just need to come to the gay classics in my own time and can't be lead to them by other people's tributes, no matter how emphatic. Anyway, it was just yesterday that I finally read LITTLE ME by Patrick Dennis (circa 1961- making the book only slightly older than me): this, despite the fact that this novel was re-released and embraced by a third generation of gay men as recently as 1989. And I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it, laughing out loud on nearly every page - all the while asking myself why I didn't read this one sooner. Maybe then I could have appreciated and participated in some of the jokes and one-liners that were all the rage among my circle of friends back in the late 80s and early 90s. This is my punishment, I guess, for always feeling like I have to boycott the latest gay trend. On the bright side, reading LITTLE ME now has given me an opportunity to remember my old friends from that bitter-sweet period in gay history - many of whom are no longer with us. And finally, I can laugh along with them, even if only in spirit. For others out there like me who have not yet picked up a copy of LITTLE ME ... if you don't want to read it for yourself, read this one for your friends! And for the newest generation of gay/camp devotees, read this one together with YOUR circle of friends ... you'll be glad you did.