I reviewed this absolutely wonderful book for Rogerebert.com.
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My high school senior play was “Little Me,” the musical ‘as told to’ bio of a golden age Hollywood star. During an early rehearsal the director, Mr. D, was explaining the lyrics to us, since they were full of by-gone pop culture references. Especially baffling was this stanza from “ The Truth”:
‘…With the areas I’ll expose / I’ll annihilate Gypsy Rose / As for practically Proustian prose / Mary Astor, Meet your master / Stack me up with all three Gabors / I’ll reduce ’em to cut-rate stores / And Louella, dear, you’ll get yours…’
Mrs. S, head of the English Department and a big fan of musicals, chimed in here to let us know there were actually FOUR Gabors (“Mama Jolie should not be overlooked!”), that Gypsy Rose Lee was an actress who was also “an occasional novelist,” that there was an ongoing feud between Louella & Hedda (???), and what ‘Proustian’ meant, more or less.
Linda A: What’s ‘Mary Astor, meet your master’ mean?
Mrs S: Nothing. They needed the rhyme, that’s all.
Mr. D: Well, back in the thirties-
Mrs. S: (giving Mr. D. the Mother of All Stink Eyes) THEY NEEDED THE RHYME.
Then there was a ten minute break, followed that night by a tip from my Uncle Doug, followed a few days later by a trip to the Passaic Book Center to pick up a used copy of “My Story” for 35 cents.
Which was good, but not purple diary good.
Ha!! Oh Jeff what a great story.