Always Wear Joy: My Mother Bold and Beautiful (Paperback)

by Susan Fales-hill (Author) "Breathe in!" my mother commanded in her low, smokier-than-Bacall timbre, as she took a puff on her cigarette and cinched my lean, as yet unblooming..." (more)
Key Phrases: semper fabulous, full makeup, New York, Aunt Diahann, Always Wear (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Josephine Premice, a beautiful and talented performer who never achieved the fame of contemporaries Diahann Carroll and Lena Horne, was equally dazzling as a wife and mother. Fales-Hill recalls the eclectic and effervescent family life spawned by her glamorous Haitian-born mother and a seafaring WASP father, circulating from Italy to New York's Upper West Side to Harlem to a wealthy Connecticut estate, with side trips to Broadway and Hollywood. Premice's career suffered as a result of the thin prospects for entertainers considered too black for the 1950s and not black enough for the opportunities that came later. Fales-Hill, a television producer, had her own struggles with stereotypical images of the black experience, which didn't include her privileged background or personal insecurities about her mixed racial heritage. She idealized her parents' marriage, overlooking her mother's profligacy and her father's philandering. But she fully appreciates the great joy and glamour of her mother--always outfitted in high heels and false eyelashes--as well as other black divas and their gift for living an exuberant life. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
"A daughter's ode to her mother who showed her 'infinity instead of . . .limitations.' This is no Mommie Dearest." (Andre Leon Talley, Vogue )

"A daughter's ode to her mother who showed her 'infinity instead of . . .limitations.' This is no Mommie Dearest." (Andre Leon Talley, Vogue )

"A distinguished memoir as well as an important contribution to black cultural history." (Kirkus Reviews (Starred) )

"[An] extraordinary story." (Essence )

"At last, at last a memoir by a daughter who appreciates and loves her mother, at last." (Bill Cosby )

"A daughter's ode to her mother who showed her 'infinity instead of . . .limitations.' This is no Mommie Dearest." (Vogue )

"A moving tribute from a daughter to a mother [and] a book about the undefeatable spirit of black women everywhere." (E. Lynn Harris )

"Moving and beautifully rendered." (Town & Country )

"This love-filled, uplifting book will gladden your heart, moisten your eyes, and leave you smiling at the end." (Malachy McCourt, author of A Monk Swimming: A Memoir )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (May 4, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060566728
• ISBN-13: 978-0060566722
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #650,006 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars a loving ode to motherhood, May 2, 2003

By	eclectictastes "eclectictastes" (Columbus, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Always Wear Joy: My Mother Bold and Beautiful (Hardcover)

Susan Fales Hill, a writer and producer of such shows as A Different World and Linc's, learned her life lessons from her mother Josephine Premice, a singer and stage actress who never received the acclaim or attention that she deserved. Fales-Hill tries to rectify this situation by writing a loving memoir of her mother. Premice, who made sporadic television appearances here and there during the last decade of her life, always maintained her dignity whatever the situation be it a philandering husband or Hollywood executives full of arrogant ignorance who believed that she wasn't representative of Black women.

Fales interweaves her own struggles as a writer in Hollywood and finds that her experiences parallel her mother's. Along the way, we are introduced to writers and producers who lecture Fales-Hill that characters such as Denise Huxtable are "not Black enough." We also learn of the struggles of Premice's friends including Diahann Carroll who although more successful in her career than Premice also had her share of frustation.

To the Connecticut reviewer, a slight clarification...there is nothing "new" about this Black society which is the point that Fales-Hill continuously makes in her book. The Black middle/upper class has long been in existence but dismissed by those in the media who could help display that side of the African American community. All the more reason a book like this is just as valuable as works about the underclass.

More than anything, this book is celebration of a special woman by her loving daughter.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and Unpredictable, May 1, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Always Wear Joy: My Mother Bold and Beautiful (Hardcover)

Sounds like the Detroit reader below got smashed on a 40 oz. of Haterade.

I am black, not mixed, and I would not lump this book in the "Mixed-Don't-Wanna-Be-Black" bin. People are what they are and if they have a white parent and a black parent, they are not the first and won't be the last so GET OVER IT!

Furthermore, I don't care if you have a black couple or an interracial couple, you don't see many people period speaking and reading 3 to 4 languages in one household, writing parodies of French classics for fun or working with legends like Lena Horne and Bill Cosby.

I highly recommend this book. Especially to black people who are secure enough to read a book by an Ivy-league educated bi-racial woman who steadfastly refuses to dumbdown her intelligence for the benefit of the Black Thought Police.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a joyous read, April 24, 2003

By	Harriet R. Wasserman (nyc, new york United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Always Wear Joy: My Mother Bold and Beautiful (Hardcover)

i loved this book primarily because of its' honesty and the beautiful relationship between mother and daughter. although there were tough times, there were also beautiful memories. her mother imparted very important messages to the author. i remember seeing josephine premice in bubbling brown sugar and thought she was fantastic. it's a shame that her career didn't go as far as it should have, but she did a great job raising her children and had lots of friends and people who loved her. growing up in nyc i'm not surprised about upper class black people. on some of the tv sitcoms that i've watched in the past i'm surprised by how silly they try to make black people look. i think the author's work on some of tv shows she worked on was really much better fare.