Customer Reviews

Tallulah, Darling: A Biography of Tallulah Bankhead

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

do not read this garbage if you want to learn anything about tallul as a person . this book basically tells the same oft repeat stories and quotes, and to be honest the author writes about tallul in a way that makes the reader not like her at all, she seemed to be way to childish and her tales of the way she shocked people with her nudity just made her seem to be a big bore- will someone please write a good book about tallul that ignores her wild stories and gets to core of who this woman was?

Here we go again with another book obviously trying to make money off the antics of Tallulah Bankhead, while ignoring the brilliant acting talents, and unique personality that made her one of the most unique personalities of the last century. Tallulah was brought up as a Belle of the Old South by one of the most politically influential families in Alabama. Throughout her life, she tried to live up to these standards, and was the first to admit her mistakes when they occurred. Certainly there was the bizarre behavior, but this is only a part of her life! What personality was behind the public mask known as Tallulah Bankhead is sadly missing in this book. Miss Bankhead was a charmingly elegant, unpredictable personality. She spoke at political rallies for Harry Truman, and Adlai Stevenson during the 1940's and 1950's. She charmed London, and even the Prince of Wales during her 8 years as a successful Stage Actress in Great Britain in the 1920's! She worked with Meredith Willson of The Music Man fame on her famous Radio Show, The Big Show from 1950 until 1952. The Big Show was the last great successful show on Radio prior to the advent of television. Alfred Hitchcock picked her specifically to star in his World War II movie Lifeboat. She was David O Selznick's first choice for Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With The Wind. She was the influence of countless famous plays from such writers as Tennessee Williams, and was the influence for such films as Morning Glory which garnered Katharine Hepburn her first Oscar for Best Actress. Her work on Broadway paved the way for Bette Davis to have some of her most successful movies, most notably, The Little Foxes. The character of All About Eve was patterned on Tallulah Bankhead. Bette Davis went so far as to dress in a similar fashion to Miss Bankhead, and even used the same hair style for the motion picture, which earned Bette Davis an Oscar nomination. Tallulah Bankhead covered every medium from Silent Film, Motion Pictures with sound, Broadway and London Stage work, Radio, television work, speaker at political rallies, recorded songs on record and still available today on CD, to a very successful Las Vegas Nightclub Act. Not many people are this varied in their acting spectrum! You will find little of this in this compilation, designed to malign rather that really get at the heart of Alabama's greatest actress, known affectionately as The Alabama Foghornl