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Mgm Girls: Behind the Velvet Curtain

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The preface states that any book focusing on Hollywood's past as informed by the personalities, is burdened by gossip, speculation, and outright lies - a source described by Norman Mailer as "factoids". This book has jumping chronology, splintered focus, occasional repetition, and there is no attempt to present the full biographies of these ladies, but the Browns have the knack of presenting trash on a silver tray. It all started with Louis B Mayer. After he had established his studio he saw that audiences were more captivated by women than men, so he set about finding star actresses. Unable to borrow Gloria Swanson or Mary Pickford, he devised a battle plan where he would create his own stars - Daddy's little girls, who were thirsty enough to "drink from his goblet of temptation". This is how the careers of Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford were launched. Crawford's rise is paralled with the downfall of Mae Murray, who re-made herself after extensive plastic surgery into a Jazz age baby with bee-stung lips at the age of 39. Although Mayer grew impatient with her demand for extravagance, and she battled with director Erich Von Stroheim on The Merry Widow, she was the number one box office attraction in the world. But it all ended when she ran off with a phony Russian prince, and ended up sleeping on a park bench. It is thought that Crawford's feud with Norma Shearer began when Joan's first film appearance was one line with her back to the camera, while Shearer acted. Crawford was shrewd enough to see Murray's example and play the obedient employee, agreeing to a regimented diet not unlike the one imposed on Judy Garland, and in a Faustian gesture, trading happiness for fame. Mayer imparted a strict moral over his stars. It was one thing to perceive onscreen dalliance when he thought the "dirty dancing" employed by Gene Kelly and Judy Garland in The Pirate's Voodoo number revealed Garland's interest in Kelly, with her own husband directing proceedings, and ordered the scene deleted from the film (though later we are told the tale of Garland's drug-induced paranoia that left the number incomplete). It was worse when the stars made offscreen love. A case in point was Crawford and Clark Gable, both married at the time, though Gable at the time was not yet the star he would become. Mayer used this as leverage and since Gable prized his career over his love for Crawford, Mayer won. Some stars had the opposite problem. It is said that Garbo's erotic kissing of Robert Taylor's face in Camille is due more to her frustration of his fear of touching her. Garbo is said to have poured over every magazine and gossip column that mentioned her "in a manner that would have made an adolescent girl blush". The world's fascination with her was ironic because in private she was shallow and the owner of "a chilly soul". The myth of her reclusiveness was created to cover her public incompetence. Her sets were closed, she was even separated from her crew, and the studio wasn't even told her home address! Her agent Harry Eddington devised the Garbo drag of sacklike clothes, large hat and dark glasses and her private life became as much as performance as those in her films. It is said that Hitler was responsible for the end of her career, by throwing Europe into war and cutting off the distribution channels for American movies. Her European box office is what kept her a star, though I understood that Ninotchka was a hit for her in America. Marion Davies is described as a butterfly "with glue on her wings" referring to her lover, William Randolph Hearst. We are told that Mayer ordered the studio doctor's prescription of sedatives and stimulants for Judy Garland but arranged it so that Judy's mother was the one who gave them to her. Mayer's agenda was greed and any extra poundage Judy might put on required new costumes, retakes, special editing and continuity nightmares. Her body clock had been established when as a child in vaudeville, she worked late at night and slept until 12 the next day. However the stories of Garland on Annie Get Your Gun are clearly untrue and unnecessarily cruel in light of the surviving footage and soundtrack. Other "tragic muses" covered include Barbara LaMarr, who was known as "the girl who was too beautiful" and became addicted to morphine after the studio prescribed it for a sprained ankle; Alma Rubens, another studio-created drug addict; and Jean Harlow. Mayer invented the legend that Paul Bern was impotent and had shruken genitals when it was initially thought that Harlow would be indicted for his murder, as a way to protect the studio by throwing Jean to the wolves. Friday's Child Lana Turner and the Johnny Stompanato killing is raised with nothing new apart from the studios low opinion of Lana's taste in men; and at the height of the Liz/Debbie/Eddie saga, MGM tactfully cast Liz as a whore in Butterfield 8. She got the last laugh when she won the Oscar. Connie Francis may qualify as a latter MGM girl, but she is remembered more for her albums than her films, and perhaps even more for her 1974 rape and ensuing depression. The last of the breed, like Ann Miller, Debbie Reynolds, Jane Powell and Cyd Charisse survived by performing on the road, in Las Vegas and regional theatre. Others like Lucille Ball and Ann Southern did television, but only Liz would last in films and even her time was finite. Mayer had been fired and was dead, MGM closed, the backlots demolished and artifacts like Dorothy's ruby slippers auctioned. The advent of New Wave movies, TV, and the collapse of the studios had made the MGM stars dinosaurs.

I picked this book up at the public library. On page 174, it states Judy Garland's voice was drifting off key dozens of times when singing "I Got Lost in His Arms" from Annie, Get Your Gun! That's a really amazing "fact," especially since Judy NEVER recorded it for the film. It was from the original stage production, but never recorded or considered for use in the film. Another "fact" that I found to be a joke was when the authors wrote "I Got the Sun in the Morning" is virtually unplayable. The song is all right. Where did these two idiots get their information?

Now I realize that the book was published back in 1983, but The World of Entertainment: The Arthur Freed Unit at MGM by Hugh Fordin was on the scene at the time. The songs recorded and even dropped like "Let's Go West Again" were carefully listed. My point is: when authors can't check on easy to find information (like Sheridan Morley's horrific Judy bio Beyond the Rainbow), how can we trust any of their information is correct?

I am very pleased with the book it is as advertised in excellent condition, I would not hesitate to purchase other items from this seller.

Thank You for your prompt delivery and accurate description of the product.