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Scott MacGillivray

Gloria Jean: A Little Bit of Heaven Hardcover – Illustrated, October 11, 2005

by Scott MacGillivray (Author), Jan MacGillivray (Contributor)

15 ratings

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Here is the first book-length biography of Gloria Jean, one of Hollywoods finest performers, who starred in film, radio, stage, nightclub, and television productions. And what a story it is! This is the first in-depth profile of her public and private life.

Youll read about her co-stars, including Bing Crosby, Groucho Marx, Donald OConnor, and Mel Tormégo behind the scenes on the set of Never Give a Sucker an Even Break and meet W. C. Fields, her Uncle Billfollow her memorable show-business career with its breathtaking heights and heartbreaking depths, guidedand sometimes misguidedby the studioenjoy dozens of rare photos from Gloria Jeans personal collectionbrowse vintage posters and lobby cards.

As a special treat for film buffs, youll see actual frame enlargements of never-before-seen screen testsand discover three lost Gloria Jean feature films, documented here for the first time anywhere!

Print length

346 pages
Language

English
Publisher

iUniverse, Inc.
Publication date

October 11, 2005
Dimensions

6 x 0.94 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0595674542
ISBN-13

978-0595674541
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Editorial Reviews

Review

One of the best up-and-down-the-stardom-ladder sagas I've ever read... insights into [W. C.] Fields are the best I've seen anywhere. -- John McElwee, Greenbriar Picture Shows, May 21, 2006

Primarily a biography, it also serves as an excellent history of Hollywood, particularly Universal Studios during the 1940s highly recommended. -- Classic Images, January 2006

[Authors] bring great sensitivity and authority to their subject, and Gloria Jean provides fascinating anecdotes A must-read for film buffs. -- Kirkus Discoveries, December 8, 2005

About the Author

Scott MacGillivray is the author of Castle Films: A Hobbyists Guide, Laurel & Hardy: From the Forties Forward, and (with Ted Okuda) The Soundies Distributing Corporation of America. Jan MacGillivray is an editor and reviewer whose feature articles have appeared in Filmfax Magazine and in newspapers. The MacGillivrays live in Massachusetts.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ iUniverse, Inc.; 0 edition (October 11, 2005)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 346 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0595674542
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0595674541
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.46 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.94 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,083,439 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #25,280 in Actor & Entertainer Biographies
- #34,872 in Women's Biographies

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15 ratings

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MizLynnie

Bought as a Gift

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 25, 2022

Verified Purchase

My BFF has family ties to this lady, and a guest bedroom dedicated to her with a photo of her hanging on the wall.
My friend was very grateful for the book and enjoyed learning more about his woman's interesting life.
The book resides in the Gloria Jean guest room available for visitors to peruse.

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MilnerPassBookLover

A Great Book About a Great Actress

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 1, 2013

Verified Purchase

Unfortunately, there are many classic film stars who have "fallen through the cracks" with modern audiences. Gloria Jean is unfairly one of them. While I have not seen all of Ms. Jean's films, I have recently watched enough to realize just what an amazing talent she was! She could sing and act with equal amount of skill, and never failed to entertain audiences when on screen. In addition to these talents, she also had a wonderful sense of comic timing, and was a natural in comedies!
A Little Bit of Heaven is a wonderful read that breezes right along. The authors certainly did their homework, and had access to the best resource herself: Gloria Jean! As the back of the book points out, much of what you'll read are in the words of Ms. Jean herself, and the book is all the better for it. In fact, it reads so easily, that at times I felt as if I was having a conversation with the actress! There are some great stories, and great memories of Bing Crosby, W.C. Fields (I won't give too much away, but apparently Fields really did drink a lot-it wasn't all an act!), and Groucho Marx.
If you have an interest in classic Hollywood, do yourself a favor and pick up A Little Bit of Heaven. It is a wonderful, insightful biography handled by very capable authors. Mr. MacGillivray is also the author of a book detailing the later lives and career of Laurel and Hardy that I plan on reading in the near future. If it is as good as A Little Bit of Heaven, I'll be in for a treat! In the mean time, check out some of Gloria Jean's movies and discover (or rediscover) a very talented and beautiful entertainer!

One person found this helpful

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Bambi

I'm glad such a simple gesture made her so happy

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 27, 2018

Verified Purchase

My cousin was named Gloria Jean after her. She is 79 years old and had never knew anything about her. I bought this book for her when she shared with me how she was named. She called me in joyful tears when she received the book and is enjoying every page of it. I'm glad such a simple gesture made her so happy. At 79, she finally knows something about who she was named after. Seems GLORIA JEAN was a favorite actor of my aunts.

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Kenneth M. Henderson

A Little Bit of Heaven Gloria Jean Book

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 5, 2006

Verified Purchase

The Story of Gloria Jean, coloratura soprano at Universal from 1939 thru the WW2 and later a few at Columbia is an interesting and well written bopok withe the co-operation of Gloria and her younger sister Bonnie Schoonhover. The author, historically, details all the films and shorts and gives a rundown on the songs and cuts from the scripts he had access to for the original & susequent resissues. I have the Papercover edition and there are a number of good photos in sections in the book. Highly recommended!

FOOTNOTE: Gloria's only color film, Wonder Valley filmed in Arkansas in 1952 at 73mins, is unviewable today due to the producer's copy(all that is known) being badly deteriorated.

3 people found this helpful

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ROBERT C . RICHTER

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 22, 2018

Verified Purchase

enjoyed book on a wonderful singer actress excellent

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 6, 2006

Verified Purchase

This book was a gift and was very well received. Loaded with pictures and information. Recipient enjoyed it very much and indicated she could not put it down until she had read it from cover to cover.

2 people found this helpful

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Gregory

Not bad, interesting book, wish better movies were in print

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 7, 2006

This book is interesting and gives the account of Gloria Jeans film career. It covers and talks about her experiences and goew over the plot of each film taking perhaps 2 to 4 pages per film.

She was in a lot of films, so remarks specific to films cover from 80 to 120 pages in the book.

One thing the reader might regret would be to hear about films that they have never seen. Some of these films are available from sources, well let me refer you to references in the IMDB database regarding her movies. I don't want to advertise videos in this review. But in the end, one problem the reader may discover is that they will wish that they saw the films in a very high quality state, which may not be available any more. Some of these films are lost and not available or a really good copy which would match her talent is not out there to be seen.

That being the case, there is some bittersweet memories or perhaps the lack of being able to even have them, when reading about some movies, if you've never seen them. The author makes every effort to describe the movies in details and the plots of each movie are talked about in detail (with spoilers). This helps the reader understand the movie as well as it could be understood by a written narration. That understanding unfortunately is not as good as experiencing the movie by watching it. So for those who have seen her movies and are her fans the book will have greater value than those unfamiliar with her or her films.

It's interesting and a candid account however from the inside of a movie star who had their ups and downs. And it would appear that the downside was not really due to her own fault or some "personal demon" that you'd read about when reading the accounts of many film stars. She seems to be a real nice girl and lady who kept herself from the corrupting influences of hollywood and her waning popularity was more of a matter of a changes in the movie industry and a focus on different types of actors than anything of her own doing.

This leaves the reader with a feel good feeling about the star rather than some wonderment and awe at how wild a star may be due to their fame. I wrote this review after reading most of her book. I have not read the last few chapters yet, but will finish it soon. Not bad and it would have been nice if she would have gone on in movies for a longer period of time, but these things happen and sometimes the public is the ones who lose when old movies are forgotton or not widely shown. The fickle new public often looses the ability or desire to watch the older treasures from any age and ends up missing something.

Her career really wasn't a tragedy that some might think, she just had an early popular career and it peeked fairly quickly and this was in an age when most stars didn't make a killing with huge movie deals. So when the star ride was over, it was pretty much over and she returned to a normal life. Pretty typical for most child stars, but she had a longer career and wasn't just a child star. Although it seemed that Hollywood treated her as such and didn't appreciate her enough. That's the overall impression I get reading the book.

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