Customer Reviews

My Fifteen Minutes: An Autobiography of a Child Star of the Golden Era of Hollywood

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How often now are you going to get to read the real skinny about the Golden Age of Hollywood from one who starred opposite AL JOLSON and has plenty to say about him! Sadly most of his real life co-stars have passed away long ago but the children who knew him still remember him. Little Sybil Jason was a British charmer who made sixteen movies for Warner Brothers and Fox way back when (in the 1930s) and her memoirs are outstanding!

You owe it to yourself to read her account of making her very first American movie LITTLE BIG SHOT (1935) with Glenda Farrell and Ward Bond! As she tells the story, Michael Curtiz set one of the scenes at a real life Hollywood orphanage and, in the interests of realism, recruited real orphans to mingle with the child actors. Thus did you know that little Marilyn Monroe can be glimpsed in LITTLE BIG SHOT a dozen years before her first "officially recognized role"? It's just one of hundreds of startling facts you'll find in this book.

Little Sybil had her favorites, and she's not afraid to name names if someone hurt her back then. She has some beuatiful tributes to Jack Warner, Roddy McDowall, Peggy Ann Garner, Judy Garland, etc. She was there when, after starving herself all day, Judy was denied food at a Hollywood party by a MGM flunky who was assigned to take food out of her hands if she should try to eat something! No wonder Judy G. was troubled. Barbara Stanwyck comes off as self-absorbed, Errol Flynn as charming, even to children.

William Dieterle was the type of director a child feared, and Bogart thought of a way to punish him for his many cruelties! In this book Sybil Jason reveals that during a scene together Bogart unbuttoned his flies and hauled out his "equipment" while the cameras were rolling just to prevent William Dieterle from filming him when he was not ready. Poor Sybil, I think, saw an eyeful that day and she wasn't even 10 years old.

That film footage would be interesting viewing today.

Shirley Temple's mother ruined poor Sybil's career, merely by telling Fox bosses that it was either Sybil or Shirley. After Sybil ran away with the notices for THE LITTLE PRINCESS and THE BLUE BIRD, Ma Temple made sure that Sybil never worked again!

Sybil was also very good playing Kay Francis' artistically inclined daughter in the superb James-Wong-Howe-lensed COMET OVER BROADWAY. She makes you laugh and makes you cry, often within a single frame.

I loved this book. Sybil Jason tells her story in such charming and forthcoming style. She was a real star, but also a real person.And still is I am told. Her recollection of her life as Warner Brothers kid star includes neat stories about some of the great personalites of her era, which was the 1930s. Her relationship with the great Al Jolson is a story that pictures the entertainer as a caring and positive role model for Sybil when she appeared in the popular movie The Singing Kid. She charmed the pants off Jolson, stealing scene after scene. Jolson looks as though he loved it. If you could find that movie, get it. Shirley Temple, although a charmer herself, could not get close to Sybil's performance there, singing to Jolson. Her book is also a scene stealer, involving the likes of Judy Garland, Ann Rutherford, Joan Leslie, Pat O'Brien, a young Humphrey Bogart, and recounts backstage stories and vignettes of the sixteen movies she made. She co-starred with Shirley Temple in The Bluebird and The Little Princess, and appeared with Jack Oakie,Claude Rains, Jackie Cooper, Fred MacMurray, Ginger Rogers-the list goes on and on including just about every major star in one way or another. Sybil Jason was a true child star and well loved.This book is so honest and sincere directly from the mouth of Sybil Jason.You come away cheerful and become an insider to her career.It is not the typical Hollywood brag.The Enquirer would never be interested. It is clean and wholesome and carries a nice spirit.I really liked My Fifteen Minutes

Sybil Jason was Warner Bros.' first child star. Friend of Humphrey Bogart, Roddy McDowall. Freddie Bartholomew, Shirley Temple and dozens of other Hollywood stars, her fan club is still international. Her captivating story is enriched with over 100 rare photos from her personal collection. - from book's back cover

I think the short title of this review just about says it all. Sybil Jason isn't quite as well known as a few of the other child stars. Neither did she have to suffer quite so much from having ambitious family members directing her life to further their own agendas. She was a good little actress and a fine talent in kid style "song and dance". Her actual star "career" wasn't that extensive but her association with the movie industry was long and she has the stories and anecdotes to prove it. Don't expect dirt to be "dished out" in this autobiography. She has stories about actors and directors that emphasize their kindness and humanity. Sybil was a fine woman, wife and mother and a life-long friend to many. This isn't a detailed biography of a "star". Its a compilation of stories and rememberences collected during the life journey of a polite, talented, warm individual. Thanks, Sybil!

Sybil Jason is most likey remembered as Shirley Temple's friend in The Little Princess. At Warner Brothers, Sybil was Warner's answer to Shirley Temple. Her portrayal of the poor child Becky in Little Princess was stunning. it's sad that so few of her pictures as a child are in general distribution. A very good read.

What a delightful book! You don't have to read it in fifteen minutes--take your time to savor it!