The Women of Warner Brothers: The Lives and Careers of 15 Leading Ladies with Filmographies for Each (Performing Arts) [Paperback]

Daniel Bubbeo (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0786411376 | ISBN-13: 978-0786411375 | Publication Date: October 2001

The lives and careers of Warner Brothers’ screen legends Joan Blondell, Nancy Coleman, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Glenda Farrell, Kay Francis, Ruby Keeler, Andrea King, Priscilla Lane, Joan Leslie, Ida Lupino, Eleanor Parker, Ann Sheridan, Alexis Smith, and Jane Wyman are the topic of this book. Some achieved great success in film and other areas of show business, but others failed to get the breaks or became victims of the studio system's sometimes unpleasant brand of politics. The personal and professional obstacles that each actress encountered are here set out in detail, often with comments from the actresses who granted interviews with the author and from those people who knew them best on and off the movie set. A filmography is included for each of the fifteen.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A fun read on tough cookies of filmdom...dirt and delightful dust about the likes of filmdom’s famous females" -- Newsday

"The personal and professional obstacles that each actress encountered are set out in detail...deserves space on your bookshelf" -- Classic Images

"Useful as a one-stop source for longer profiles of its subjects and their films than can be found elsewhere" -- Bright Lights Film Journal

About the Author

Freelance writer Daniel Bubbeo is a classic film scholar who currently works on the editorial staff of Newsday. He lives in East Meadow, New York.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: McFarland & Company (October 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786411376
• ISBN-13: 978-0786411375
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,126,280 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well- written and well-researched book on classic actresses, June 14, 2002

By 

A Reviewer (Bethesda, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Women of Warner Brothers: The Lives and Careers of 15 Leading Ladies with Filmographies for Each (Performing Arts) (Paperback)

The book is well-written and well-researched. It presents entertaining chapters on 15 leading WB actresses from the 30s and 40s. I learned about stars I was previously not familiar with like Nancy Coleman. The book presents interesting information not previously published about many of these stars. I would have liked to see the chapters on each actress be somewhat longer. Some of the more interesting aspects of the actresses' lives could have been more fully developed, especially their private lives as opposed to their film careers. Instead, "snippets" are presented in some cases. I would have liked to see more about the lives of the stars in their later years. However, I understand that the publisher limited the length of the book.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A mixed bag, alas, February 14, 2008

By 

Gary Morris (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Women of Warner Brothers: The Lives and Careers of 15 Leading Ladies with Filmographies for Each (Performing Arts) (Paperback)

It's hard to take too seriously a book of this title that includes Nancy Coleman but not the actress whose early '30s work for Warners (Three on a Match, Strange Love of Molly Louvain, etc.) is among that studio's best, Ann Dvorak. Clearly an effort by the author to remind us of the existence of these talented, spirited stars at a time when cultural memory threatens to forget them, The Women of Warner Brothers covers the 1930s and '40s and includes such well-known stars as Olivia de Havilland and Ann Sheridan, along with lesser lights such as Glenda Farrell and Andrea King.

The writing is workmanlike, if sometimes too casual in the manner of movie zines (starting a sentence with "Oh yeah" may not endear the author to all of his readers). There's nothing particularly new here, but the book is useful as a one-stop source for longer profiles of its subjects and their films than can be found elsewhere (excluding stars like Bette Davis whose careers have been written up in exhaustive detail). And the lack of Dvorak is at least partially compensated for by the inclusion of such vanishing worthies as Joan Leslie, Andrea King, Eleanor Parker, and Alexis Smith. Fans of these actresses will find this a diverting read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Women Are Lacking!!, May 1, 2010

By 

HP Cohen "HP Cohen" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Women of Warner Brothers: The Lives and Careers of 15 Leading Ladies with Filmographies for Each (Performing Arts) (Paperback)

The title is intriguing and even more intriguing is that there are some ladies that are rarely written about. Those ladies include Eleanor Parker, Alexis Smith, Andrea King, Nancy Coleman, Priscilla Lane, Glenda Farrell and Joan Leslie. But this is an expensive book that lacks good pictures of the ladies and almost nothing new about the ones that have previously been written about. The Warners ladies missing include Patricia Neal, Ruth Roman, Janis Paige, Faye Emerson, Dorothy Malone, Virginia Mayo and a whole lot more.

Each lady is given one picture (in some cases not even a good picture) with the exception of Ann Sheridan, who rates three photos. The stories of their careers rarely flesh out their lives away from the camera. There is very little about them after their film careers ended. I never got a feel for what each lady was really like other than "she worked with (so and so) and liked (so and so) and her favorite movie was (so and so)", etc.

The filmography for each lady includes a little bit of TV work. It would seem that if the author is going to name TV credits, then why not all the work the lady has done, not just a scattering of titles. It's interesting that Andrea King is included when she only was at the WB studio for 18 months and others who worked for the Warner Brothers for many years are left out.

This book is lacking in so many areas--a major disappointment. There is no in-depth story of any of these fifteen WB ladies. I guess it's better than nothing, but not nearly as good as it could have been.