World Famous Comics: Scarlett O'Hara's Younger Sister: My Lively Life in and Out of Hollywood
Scarlett O'Hara's Younger Sister: My Lively Life in and Out of Hollywood
By: Evelyn Keyes Publisher: Lyle Stuart Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Lyle Stuart Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 318 Publication Date: 1977-07
Gone With The Wind I liked this book which capably describes a bygone era in Hollywood (Evelyn recently passed away at the age of 91 and was one of the last surviving actors of "Gone With The Wind.") Her fame my not have been equal to other leading actresses of her time, but she met and travled in the company of world famous people and relates her encounters here. If you are interested in the older era of Hollywood, then this book will give some understanding and insight to the time, the place and the personalities. There is no doubt she lived a full and exciting life.
"Tell it like it is" Being a "guy" and not into reading books authored by women {I'm a throw back, what can I say} usually, I was interested in Ms. Keyes' book for three reasons; one, she was married to my favorite director John Houston. Two, she was in the Jolson story. And three, she was "there" in the Hollywood heydays, all of which I wanted to read more about.
I was surprised that she actually sounded and acted like the women I have known the otherside of the 1970's. Many of whom have these "pistol", one of the guys, take as good as you get qualities that makes their men loved them all the more because of their accessibility. And she was definitely all that and still is because as of this writing she is still with us! She walks the walk and talks the talk, and holds back nothing in the bedroom stories. Or anywhere else for that matter.
But one comes away feeling that she never really found herself. This was an interesting read and enlightening too, from the point of view that perhaps none of us really find out who or what we are as human beings ulitmately, and that central to our "dis-ease" in this world is that haunting feeling that we don't know actually where we stand in the scheme of things. An inner dissatisfaction and insecurity that after some psyhco therapy the psychologist points out that the goal of therapy is to find out that everybody else is just as unhappy as we are.
If anything the reader will walk away knowing that "whatever glitters is not gold", and that is especially true of Tinsel Town, and the ones that come looking for gold that isn't there!
well written Ms. Keyes is a surprisingly good writer, and her autobiography is honest and interesting. You get a real sense of her as a person, and you also get to know her husbands (especially John Huston and Artie Shaw). The only disappointment is that she says so little about what it was like to be an actress on the set of great movies like Gone With the Wind -- instead the book focuses on her many romances. Still, it's one of the best Hollywood biographies I've read. And it made me want to see more of her as an actress. Well, done, Ms. Keyes.
SURPRISE SURPRISE! I ABSOLUTELY LOVED LOVED LOVED THIS BOOK. I CONSIDER MYSELF TO BE A HOLLYWOOD HISTORY BUFF BUT AFTER READING THIS BOOK I REALIZED HOW LITTLE I ACTUALLY KNOW ABOUT THAT FABLED TOWN. I THOUGHT THE BOOK MIGHT BE INTERESTING BUT I REALLY ONLY PICKED IT UP TO HELP KILL TIME. WELL LET ME TELL YOU, I WAS MORE THAN ALITTLE BIT SURPRISED AT HOW JUICY AND STEAMY A LIFE MS. KEYES HAD LEAD. TO ME SHE WAS A LITTLE KNOWN ACTRESS BUT BOY DID SHE LEAD AN EXCITING LIFE. I WOULD HAVE GIVEN IT FIVE STARS BUT HEY ANYTHING CAN BE IMPROVED UPON. THIS IS A MUST READ.
Interesting Reading I never had any desire to read this book until I found out that Evelyn Keyes had been married to Artie Shaw and wrote about their marriage in her book. Artie Shaw was the handsome big band leader during the 1940s, and early 1950s, who played a mean clarinet. His band leader days were over by the time they married though. It should have made Ava Gardner feel better to know that Artie Shaw was a jerk to every woman he was married to, not just her.
The rest of the book is interesting also. Her first husband committed suicide when she left him, and she said she never left another man again. She made them leave her. And the marriage to John Huston - they got married on a whim, but it was more her whim than his. I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did. Through Huston, she knew and liked Bogie and Bacall, she adored Paulette Goddard, resented Vivien Leigh in later years when she felt Leigh still treated her like a "bit player." Good dish.
Anything Goes Trivia
Last Kiss
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Trevor
