Natural Blonde [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Liz Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 19, 2000

"Americas top gossip columnist spills the beans as she traces five decades of battling press agents and editors and landing celebrity scoops." (Variety)

From Tallulah Bankhead to Joan Crawford to the Kennedys and Madonna, the ultimate insider, Liz Smith has hobnobbed, air-kissed, and lunched with just about everybody who's been anybody over the last half century and then rushed to tell the world all about it. Now, in this candid, down-to-earth autobiography, she tells all about herself, and does it with the kind of style and warmth that has made her one of the most widely read columnists in history. But she wasn't always famous, and in Natural Blonde she reveals how a young woman from rural Texas came to New York hell-bent on making something of her life. From her salad days as a small-time reporter, typist, and proofreader to her triumphs at the Daily News, Newsday, New York Post and her 1995 Emmy for reporting, Liz tells what it's really like to be seen and heard by millions of people every day. One of the most quoted people of our time, she offers a rare, private peek into the real person behind the witty quips and media coverage. Certainly one of the most eagerly anticipated autobiographies in years, Natural Blonde will give Liz Smith readers the item they've been waiting for the ultimate inside scoop from the "Grande Dame of Dish."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

What golden-haired gossip queen is rumored to dish to the max in her forthcoming autobiography, including some inside dope on her own sexual leanings? That's right, and Smith starts right off with the sort of wink-wink revelationDjuicy enough to raise eyebrows but not so wet as to shockDthat's made her reputation (and her fortune as the world's highest-paid print journalist): the golden locks on this gossip gal were once anything but. The good humor and honesty that Smith displays by letting her fans in on what only her hairdresser knew for sure grace this entire memoir, and that's a particular plus in the earlier chapters, where, after a prologue that makes a valiant defense of the value of gossip, Smith talks about her childhood, then college years, in Texas. These passages necessarily are of less interest to readers looking for tattle about the rich and famous, but Smith does drop one personal bombshell here about her passionate love for a married woman. When Smith moves to Manhattan in 1949, the names begin to glow: Tallulah Bankhead and Joan Crawford make appearances, then entire constellations of stars. Along with getting down about celebs, Smith offers a unique history of gossip reporting during the past five decades, emphasizing the ascendance in columns of film stars over bluebloods. But it's dish that will draw most readers to this congenial book, and Smith doesn't disappoint, with (sometimes naughty but never tasteless) inside stories on the Kennedys, Sinatra, Katharine Hepburn, Rock Hudson, Liz Taylor, Malcolm Forbes, Donald Trump, Milton Berle, Woody Allen and many, many more. The book's one commercial drawback is that Smith, who's in her late 70s, discusses many people who are no longer household names to younger readers. She has so many current fans, though, and gives them just what they want, with such high spirits, that this book's future on bestseller lists is no rumorDbut sure as fact. (Sept. 18)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

"Gossip is news running ahead of itself in a red satin dress," says celebrity columnist Smith, who reads her own work. After 50 years in New York, and now in her late 70s, she still speaks with a touch of a Texas accent, remnants of her growing-up first in Fort Worth and then in Gonzales. Smith remembers her family with fondnessDher father, a cotton broker and inveterate gambler; her mother, a Southern Baptist and a genteel lady; and her two brothers, whom she adored. From childhood she was fascinated by movies and movie stars. In 1943 she dropped out of Hardin-Simmons College to marry an Army pilot, but the marriage didn't last long; divorced, she entered the school of journalism at the University of Texas. Smith's career includes printD Cosmopolitan, Sports IllustratedDand televisionDCandid CameraDand, ultimately, her own syndicated column and TV spot. Along the way she has met and reported on show biz personalities and socialites. There are few deep insights here, but there are some interesting portraits of the rich and famous. For public library collections.DNann Blaine Hilyard, Lake Villa Dist. Lib., IL
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; First Edition edition (September 19, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786863250
• ISBN-13: 978-0786863259
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,270,675 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars OK, but don't expect major dish., October 23, 2000

By 

Pajamazon (Illinois) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Natural Blonde (Hardcover)

I do enjoy Liz Smith's column and like the fact that she is not nasty in print, unlike some of her compadres. She does divulge some personal secrets in this book, and gives a good account of her early years, her infatuation with movies and movie stars, and the beginning of her career in the media.

The book tends to skew after that, and I never really got the point of why Liz became so famous; something to do with the fact that, although the stars confided in her, she didn't always spill the beans in her column, much to her chagrin. There seemed to be lots and lots of alcohol and sexual mischief as Smith becomes a gadfly in the jetset herself. Almost all mention of her family in Texas stops, as if they've fallen off the face of the earth. I did not understand this, although Smith remains likeable. There are several vingettes at the end of the book, featuring some major stars -- Taylor and Burton, Sean Connery, Warren Beatty, Madonna, Bette Davis-- but nothing beyond what you'd find in any good Vanity Fair article.

Interestingly, Smith mentions Arthur Laurents several times, whose "Original Story By" has also just been published. I read that book too and like Smith's better. Laurents' book gave me the impression that he did nothing but sleep with people, or wonder who wanted to sleep with him, or who other people were sleeping with. Snore...

All in all, Liz Smith's book is a pretty good rendering of the long career of a highly likable character who, as another reviewer put it, never overshadowed the celebrities she was covering. Still, I'm left with the feeling that there was more to be told that she didn't...perhaps there's enough for a sequel!

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great fun, November 27, 2000

By 

W. Oliver (Alabama) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Natural Blonde (Hardcover)

If you learn anything about Liz Smith from her book, it would be that she is extremely well liked by the people she writes about. What a career! - invitations for great weekend getaways with the rich and famous, staying at luxiourious hotels and riding on private jets, dinners during the week with her close friends Barbara Walters and Joel Schumaker. When you get to the chapter where she reveals that she has been Katharine Hepburn's guest at Fenwick on several ocassions, the average reader may feel that their own life is pretty drab. Liz Smith does not reveal that much about herself but her engaging personality comes through in her writing. It is apparent that she is fair, honest, and extremely likable. When she does dish the dirt on a few famous names (and this happens only a few times), it is because they actually deserve it. Lee Radziwell and theater critic John Simon, for example, have been exposed by others in the press as mean spirited individuals, and Smith's quoting of their comments really comes as no surprise. What is surprising are the people that I didn't really expect to like (like Ivana Trump) and Smith allows you to see them in a different light. Smith sometimes make you wonder if she herself is somewhat snobbish toward the common people - she is irritated to find that Roy Cohn has invited a lowly tv repairman to dine with them and Barbara Walters. And one of the things that she dislikes about ballooning is the fact that you sometimes have to share a brandy with the farmer in who's field you have landed. Well, I suppose she can't be perfect. Her book is a very entertaining read and recommended for those who are curious about the private lives of the rich and famous.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Natural Blonde, September 23, 2000

By 

Barbara Kaster (Destin, Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Natural Blonde (Hardcover)

This book is a fabulous read! Liz Smith recounts her childhood in Texas, her adventures during World War II and in college. Her sense of humor and good sense served her well as she worked her way up the ladder of celebrity journalism from a copy editor for movie magazines, a producer for radio talk shows, ghostwriter for columns until, through amazingly hard work and true grit, she becomes the most famous celebrity journalist in the world, more famous than most of the folks about whom she writes. She knows everyone, retains friends for a lifetime, and shares with us funny, evocative and sometimes deeply moving stories about the rich and famous. Don't miss this. No wonder people love her so much.