Customer Reviews

Tallulah!: The Life and times of a Leading Lady

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

 

 

Several biographies appeared in the decade following Tallulah Bankhead's death (1968) but since then, her light has diminished rapidly. It is thus exciting to see a brand new biography published in 2004. This 500+ tome is probably the most detailed ever but most of the information here focuses on her career and works. Every play and film is analyzed in minute detail. This is so much a "career biography" that the wild antics and hilarious persona of the woman herself often seems to be hiding in the background and we never get a sense of this fascinating woman's personality. Although I admire the research that went into this book, I cannot say that it was a "fun" read and not nearly as entertaining as Lee Israel's 70s biography "Miss Tallulah Bankhead". Also, as other reviewers have noted, only a handful of photos are included.

She's been dead for nearly 40 years and she's still controversial. There were certainly bigger stars, but there was one Tallulah. In my childhood I remember her as a deep-voiced woman who carried a long cigarette holder and called everyone "dahling." I had no idea that she had at one time been considered a great actress. She originated two of the great roles of the 20th Century American theatre: Regina in Lillian Hellman's THE LITTLE FOXES and the Sabina in Thorton Wilder's THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH. She received the New York Film Critics Award as Best Actress for her performance in Alfred Hitchcock's LIFEBOAT. Opinon was always divided on whether she was truly a great actress or merely a strong charismatic personality. Her professional achievements were overwhelmed by an oversized caricature of herself she popularized on radio. Rumors of her offstage behavior did not help matters. There have been several other biographies of Tallulah since her death. They have tended to focus on the sensational aspects of her life. Joel Lobenthal has subtitled his book, THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A LEADING LADY. He examines the life of the artist and the context in which she lived and worked. This is a detailed work. He gives synopses of every play Bankhead ever appeared in and lets us know how critics, public and co-workers assessed her performances. He does not neglect the seamier side of Tallulah's life. Her alcoholism, drug usage, exhibitionism, numerous sexual escapades with members of both sexes are all recounted, often in more detail than previously reported. But the main focus is on the artist. Lobenthal has great respect for his subject's artistry, and that is very refreshing. The detail of this book may bore some people, but for those with a strong interest in the English speaking theatre of the 20th Century, this book will prove informative and provocative.

Joel Lobenthal's book is a remarkable feat. He has rescued Tallulah Bankhead from her fans.

I can't understand the horrid reviews this book has gotten from others on the site. I found his work utterly compelling and a vast improvement on every other book I've seen (all of which I've enjoyed by the way). It's just that Lobenthal has done something no other biographer has attempted-he has gone back and attempted to recreate the actual performances that she gave, by various means, including locating fellow castmates, some of them of extreme age but all of them with amazing, never before heard memories and anecdotes. They build up a picture of Bankhead as being the exact opposite of the coke-addled personality-driven dilettante we have been used to for a long, long time.

And Lobenthal's research has deep roots! He worked on this project for close to 30 years, and it shows. He seems to know everything about Bankhead, but about American and British theater throughout the 20th century. Plus, he has persuaded his witnesses to spill all the beans and you'll find things out in this book which you never imagined about all of your favorite actors, writers and directors.

What a roller coaster ride Bankhead had for a career. Things looked pretty bleak for her by the mid 1930s and then in rapid succession she landed a series of parts which put her once again in the thick of the theatrical action and even returned her to movies. As Regina Giddens in Lillian Hellman's THE LITTLE FOXES, she brought her Southern gentility into play, and got out the claws. As Lily Sabina in Thornton Wilder's THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH, she brought European expressionism onto the Broadway stage during World War II. Philip Barry's FOOLISH NOTION, though not a commercial success, was an amazing dream play in which Bankhead's character imagined herself acting out alternative scenarios a la Pirandello. She made a personal success out of Noel Coward's PRIVATE LIVES, eclipsing the memories of Gertrude Lawrence and replacing them with a raw wit that attracted many gay fans.

These fans, who stuck with her thick and thin, responded to something about her-both her emotional fragility and her perdurability. When she came to play Blanche in STREETCAR for Jean Dalrymple, in the 1950s, this claque dismayed her by hooting and carrying on as though they were watching Dame Edna. Bankhead's attempts at shading Blanche with vulnerability founding purchase in the wall of knowing laughter that greeted her every speech.

Soon we will have the first DVD of LIFEBOAT, a propitious moment for those of us who, intrigued by Lobenthal's account of her acting, want to see it first hand. (We also have the late products FANATIC-a/k/a DIE! DIE! MY DARLING! and the animated THE DAYDREAMER, for which Bankhead provided a character voice.) Let's get those early Paramount films available, and A ROYAL SCANDAL, and number one on my want list MAIN STREET TO BROADWAY, in which she apparently plays herself, advising a young playwright on breaking into the writing biz.

He is a master biographer, the theatrical equivalent of a Robert Caro or a Leon Edel. If he decided to write the life of his cat I'd line up for a copy.

Unexpectedly finding a new biography of Tallulah Bankhead was a joy. Reading it, however, proved arduous. The author manages to take one of the 20th century's most interesting lives and make it stultifyingly dull. Choosing to rehash play plots in detail and to death, the author takes the spotlight off of the woman while trying to illustrate her.

It was a bad choice.

The author has obvious affection for his subject, but at the clear cost of his objectivity. Not a chapter goes by where he doesn't sound like an apologist for her most outrageous behaviors or take umbrage with her most scathing reviews.

This is a tough read, but a significant one. The author succeeds in an area I would have thought impossible.

He makes Tallulah Bankhead boring.

Sexy, funny and extremely well researched. A pleasure to read, this is both a rollicking tale of a tough, talented temptress and an education in theatre from the twenties to the fifties.

....and none of the dazzle, which pretty much makes the life of a changeling like Congressman's Bankhead's little girl a dull read. While the author's research is impressive -- and some of the new information he provides genuinely insightful -- it's buried in far too many plot synopses and sniffily disapproving asides on his subject's (mis)behavior. In the end, he gives the impression of one who would far rather have written about a dutiful, intellectual, sobersided performer -- Helen Hayes? Jane Alexander? -- than one of the most tempestuous, maddening, bewitching figures in the American theatre.

Also -- and really quite shocking -- the photographs that are included, while mostly unfamiliar, are also almost uniformly startlingly unflattering. It's hard to get a sense of why people found Tallulah so fascinating when the visuals are so thoroughly un-enchanting. Everyone takes a bad photo now and then, and certainly no retoucher ever had a better friend than TB, but with so much richness available, why stint?

If you're hoping for that "dishy," tell-all, spicy account of Tallulah's life, this ISN'T it! That bio is still to be written. This attempt at capturing the essence of the grande dame suffers from two fatal diseases: tedium and barely tolerable--lethal combinations in any dose. And, there are glaring errors of fact. Someone fell asleep at the research table! Better to view some of la Bankhead's films than try to wade through these waters. Anyone got a Lifeboat?!!!

Intelligent, funny, remarkably well-researched, and for once, a biographer who shows respect for Tallulah as an actress. I've seen many of her film performances, but had never realized till I read this book how talented and versatile an actress she was.

The only reason I did not give this four stars is--as one other reviewer mentioned--not enough photos, and not enough good photos. I know they cost a lot to print, but they really ARE necessary.

If you're looking for dish, this biography on Tallulah Bankhead, is not for you. Granted there is dish here, but this is a scholarly, well reseached biography that tries (perhaps too hard) to establish Tallulah as a talented actress of her time, rather than concentrate on her offstage antics. Using her autobiography, memoirs and interviews of people who worked with her, reviews and letters, this book is exhaustively researched. I did find some of the text rather dry, especially the background and plots of her various plays, but there is so much new material here one can forgive the author his occasional lapses. Sadly, the real Tallulah still remains somewhat of a mystery (even to herself) when one finishes the book. A talented, beautiful actress whose personal excesses led to an early death (she was only in her mid 60's) and trapped her in her later years as a caricature who no one took seriously anymore. In many ways, she was her own worst enemy. The chapters on her final years are especially sad. The definitive Bankhead biography has yet to be written, but in the mean time this one will do very nicely!

This superb book is not your average Tallu-as-one-liner biography. The author is serious about bringing out the human being, but he also doesn't shy from the delightful dastardly Tallu that lives through memory and legend.

His investigations yield exciting clues to the woman behind the bravado, but the information is not presented as apologetic. I found Lobenthal's tone and approach to his compelling subject to be neighter judgemental nor 'icon-izing.'

I loved his presentation of the plays she was in. Remember, some were not published for the public, presenting them revives a bygone day in theater history. And they conveyed the times, the sensibilities, in which Tallu was living. I read them as a sort of backdrop, although they also served the purpose of conveying her professional range.

This is a rich and layered read about a woman who has often been reduced to stereotypes -- marvellous ones yes, but two-dimensional nonetheless. This book shows how much more daring and destructive and determined and divine she actually was.

All the naughty fun of Tallulah here, but it's part of the complex and sophisticated mix of an actual person. Lobenthal has given a great gift to Tallulah lovers and theater lovers and to the grand dame herself.