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Mrs. Ziegfeld: The Public and Private Lives of Billie Burke

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Grant Hayter-Menzies, author of a fine biography of actress Charlotte Greenwood, surpasses himself with this masterful account of the life of Billie Burke, known to most of us from "The Wizard of Oz." After being widowed in the 1930s, Burke became a highly respected character actress appearing in a number of classic films. This book, however, concentrates primarily on two aspects of her life -- her early, substantial stage career, and her up-and-down marriage to impresario Florenz Ziegfeld. It's rare to read a biography written with both rigorous scholarship and intense empathy for its subject. The cooperation of Burke's family members only adds to the richness of this impressive achievement.

As a long-time fan of The Wizard of Oz (1939), growing up, to me, Billie Burke WAS Glinda the Good Witch because that's about the only film I ever saw her in. As I began researching my own book on Olive Thomas, Billie Burke became an integral part of my research because of her marriage to Ziegfeld (Olive's boss in the Frolic and Follies), hence the title of this book - "Mrs. Ziegfeld." I learned a lot more about her as I delved into the life of Ziegfeld for my own project and then the road detoured away from her again. Now, this book fills in all the gaps! What a wonderful life and how beautifully it's told here in this book. One of the best books I've read this year, by far. You will not be disappointed if you buy this book. If you think you know everything about Billie Burke, think again. This is the definitive reference guide to her life and career. Fantastic!

A wonderful bio of actress Billie Burke, known mostly as Glinda the Good Witch in Mervyn LeRoy's "The Wizard of Oz" (1939), it is astonishing that no one has given Billie this much personal detail before now. An interesting view into the early years of stage and screen, the bio really finds itself in the tumultuous marriage between Billie and Flo Ziegfeld; his raging infidelities and bank-breaking spending somehow became part of the glue that kept them together, that and an absolute adoration of each other.

After Flo's death in 1932, Billie was left with enormous debts that had to be paid off - hence her film career. Never really trusting or liking the film medium, she nonetheless went to Hollywood where the money was. A little sad towards the end, when Billie seemed to feel she was disappearing (welcome to Hollywood), the bio is still a triumph and I wonder why her life with Ziegfeld has never received real cinematic treatment. I can see Kate Winslett playing Billie now.

Again, a wonderful bio. In it's closing pages, one feels as if Burke has left the house after a long, fascinating, humorous and poignant visit.

I have been an admirer of Billie Burke since I was seven years old and obsessed with "The Wizard of Oz." I wanted to be Glinda the Good Witch, and later, when I learned who actually portrayed Glinda, I wanted to be Billie Burke. However, as a child I was endlessly frustrated that there was so little about Miss Burke in print. One can only imagine my shock and delight when I stumbled upon this superb book one day on Amazon.com. Reading this biography was like stepping into Billie Burke's world. Grant Hayter Menzies meticulously recreates the eras Miss Burke lived in and the people whom she knew best. From the sooty, cold streets of London to the glittering world of Broadway during the Gilded Age to Hollywood in its early years, Hayter Menzies gives an accessible and intelligent analysis of Miss Burke's place in each of these settings. After reading this book I felt as if I had dined at Delmocio's or the Savoy Hotel with the luminaries who were among Billie's admirers--Mark Twain, Somerset Maugham, Enrico Caruso, and Charles Frohman to name a few. However, I was most impressed with the author's handling of Miss Burke's marriage to flamboyant producer Florenz Ziegfeld. Hayter Menzies provided an affectionate, if tumultuous picture of their marriage, without making it sound like something out of the tabloids. After the Crash of 1929 and Ziegfeld's financial and physical collapse, the author shows the unexpected depth and strength of character Miss Burke possessed. She herself admitted she was a "content and pampered little thing" when she was the toast of Broadway; following her husband's death when she was left with a three milion dollar debt, she wrote in her memoirs that it was the first time she found herself completely on her own. Her perseverance and success in making a life for herself in Hollywood despite the difficulty of finding roles suited for her age is especially inspiring to readers today in our econmically depressed world.
Today Miss Burke is remembered as a scatter-brained society matron with a twittery, bird-like voice immortalized in films like "Dinner at Eight" or the "Topper" series. To know the strong, dignified, and witty woman behind the light weight characters she portrayed on screen, read "Mrs. Ziegfeld." You are sure to feel as if you are losing a close friend when you finish reading it, so intimate and loving of a picture does Mr. Menzies create.