Amusing morsels from various memoirs and biographies

I'll start...

Reading Delia Ephron's memoir. (It was available at the library, what can I say?)

Anyway, her husband died and apparently some bitchy queen(s) that knew her husband sent her a nasty note, saying she was a fame whore and didn't care about anyone who wasn't a celebrity.

WHICH ONE OF YOU BITCHES DID THIS?

Who?

I have to refresh my memory but there was a fair amount of cunty gossip in Carole Bayer Sager's memoir.

In Susan Strasberg’s autobiography - she remembers one night when she was a teen ager she woke up and saw Marilyn Monroe crawling down the hall on her hands and knees and scratching at her (Susan’s) parents bedroom door - the door silently opened and Marilyn crawled in. no one noticed Susan watching.

Liz Renay described "sex" with Jerry Lewis — he wanted her to walk up and down in high heels, wiggling while he jerked off onto a small piece of white shag carpet he carried in his pocket for such occasions. This was his way of staying "faithful" to his wife.

"This is the most honored piece of carpet in the world," he told her when it was over.

So bizarre that it must be true.

Ultra Violet claimed she idiotically tried to make out one night with Andy Warhol, who was shocked and tried to get away. While they were tussling, she discovered his wig was kept in place by a metal snap he had installed into his scalp.

Debbie Reynolds was extremely close to Agnes Moorhead. After Agnes died, she used to try to communicate with Agnes's spirit, and claims she once heard Agnes respond back, "Honor Thy Father." She took this as a sign she should pray more.

Esther Williams autobio overflows with fun gossip as does Carol Bayer Sanger’s .

Speaking of Esther Williams, Kenneth Tynan’s diaries has a hilarious account of his night out with Ava Gardner, where Ava directed him to pick up a drunken, sobbing Esther Williams…and the night unfolded from there.

Linda Lovelace's husband/pimp Chuck Traynor was a violent homophobe.

When Hefner screened "Deep Throat" at the mansion, Linda wrote that Sammy Davis Jr. went down on Traynor to test his own deep throat skills. Traynor was furious and mortified but could not do anything because he worshipped Hefner and didn't want to create a scene. Linda was thrilled!

R5 If Lewis’ wife was British he’d still be guilty of having a shag.

From Christopher Ciccone's book on his sister, Madonna: 1. When she sends emails, she never bothers to put anything in the subject box. she figures that when the recipient sees that it's from her, they are going to open it and read it no matter what. 2. During her 80s/90s heyday when they went party hopping, as soon as someone was outshining her and getting more attention than she was, they'd leave and move on to another party. 3. When she attends big family gatherings in Michigan, it's understood amongst her brothers and sisters—who show up with husbands, wives, partners, kids etc—that if there are not enoiugh chairs for everyone, this is how it's prioritized: Their dad, Madonna. After that it's a free-for-all.

I mentioned this elsewhere on DL before but it bears repeating.

Franchot Tone shaved off Barbara Payton's pussy hair and then ate it.

According to Dominic Dunne, in her later years Jennifer Jones had full make-up and hair done by her stylist every evening at home before she went to bed.

In case she was ill and had to go out in an ambulance during the night.

In the Jacqueline Susann biography LOVELY ME, Barbara Seaman wrote that the otherwise hetero Jackie developed a torrid crush on Ethel Merman. At some point Merm had gone to a party and a drunken, desperate Jackie was pounding on the front door, crying out for her.

Merman told the other people at the party "That woman is a dyke."

Apparently the Helen Lawson character in VOTD was Jackie's revenge.

Ethel Merman - who was not Jewish - was invited to a Seder at Irving Berlin's apartment. She brought a ham sandwich with her for dinner.

As a teenager, Elaine Stritch could drink more than her father.

And, r16?

Bobby Darin's "older sister" Nina was his mother. He was 32 when he found out he'd been raised by his grandmother thinking she was his mother.

It fucked him up.

One weekend in 1962 when she was in DC to get an award from B'Nai B'rith and Jackie was horseback riding in Virginia, Marlene Dietrich was JFK's date (and fuck) in the White House. Kennedy's top aide (and pimp) Dave Powers did the honors getting her in an out of the mansion.

When they were done, they both fell asleep until Marlene woke with a start and jumped out of bed to get dressed. Kennedy motioned her back to bed but she had to refuse him: "I can't stay, Jack. I'm late and there are 3000 Jews waiting for me at the Hilton."

When Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin were married and she was drinking and they were bickering - he would be performing in Vegas - standing in the wings while his intro music was playing - she would hiss: “Your toupee is crooked!!”

The high point of Klaus Kinski's memoir is where he has sex with a woman in Pakistan whose vagina is as big as a horse's head.

back in the 1950s Anne Bancroft and Henry Fonda starred opposite each other on Broadway in “Two for the See Saw.” Lee Grant was broke and in a bad marriage and some of her old colleagues were involved with the show. so she could get an income , they made Lee Anne Bancroft’s understudy. Lee figured that she would never have a chance to go on and since she was in a depression she procrastinated on memorizing the script. Then one night - very early in the run she got a call - Bancroft was very sick - get to the theater ASAP. In her book Lee Grant talks about how mortified she was to have to go on opposite Henry Fonda while she was totally unprepared. She said that Henry Fonda was fantastic and got her through the show. She stayed with the show a long time - playing opposite Fonda often and later Hal March then Dana Andrews.

Jack Valenti -Adviser to Lyndon Johnson and head of the motion picture association. I thought there would by juicy stuff about shenanigans in Washington and Hollywood but it was dull as dishwater. I guess he was worried he would p*ss somebody off and burn his bridges.

Ozzy Osbourne claimed he once snorted a line of live ants to one-up someone from Motley Crue doing something shocking at a party.

In [italic]My Lucky Stars,[/italic] Shirley MacLaine said co-star Debra Winger purposefully farted In her face on the set of [italic]Terms of Endearment.[/italic]

Alec Baldwin HATES Harrison Ford. It's all because Ford used his clout to "steal" Patriot Games from Baldwin. He talks about how Harrison Ford has zero charisma and zero chemistry with other actors, something about how his muffled voice sounds as if it's coming through a door. It was such a thorough takedown that it changed how I look at Ford. He also said Kim Bassigner is a cold, socially awkward person and all of her friends are on the payroll.

Belinda Carlisle kept an apartment in Marina Del Rey into the early 2000s just so would have a place in LA to do coke away from her husband and son

Selma Blair went to a very expensive private school in Michigan and when she was in 10th grade, the married dean of her school called her to his office to give her a birthday present and while hugging her, put his hand down her pants

George Jones, on his alcohol and cocaine use , in his autobiography [italic] I Lived to Tell It All [italic]:

No-one could any longer deny the descent of George Jones, because I often refused to be George Jones. I took on two additional and dominant personalities. I even named them. One was "Deedoodle the Duck", and the other was the "Old Man". I quacked like the duck while speaking English, and I moaned like the old man, again in English. I went on for hours, and occasionally for days, unable to speak in my natural voice. I instead spoke only as Deedoodle and the old man. I was a person possessed. The duck sounded like Donald Duck and the old man something like Walter Brennan. They had personalities and passionate convictions of their own. Neither would take shit off the other. Sometimes I drove down the road and the duck's voice began to come forward, antagonizing the old man. He'd call him a bad name, and the old man would fire back.

"What the hell do you know?" the old man would say. "You're only a young duck."

"I'd rather be a young duck than a useless old fart," the duck would insist. Their voices would rise until they were shouting at each other. Their language was hard and aggressive. I'd try to steady the wheel. At times the car would veer under my shaking hand because the two voices were screaming so loudly and violently. They leaped out of me, and I trembled in vain to control them.

I read both the Tammy Wynette and George Jones autobiographies. Tammy said that George would get drunk, trash the house, and pass out. Tammy and her sister would clean up the house before George regained consciousness. One day, she and her sister got tired of cleaning up George’s messes and, after one of George’s drunken episodes, the sisters left the house for George to deal with.

George, in his book, admits to getting drunk a lot. He said Tammy would hide all the car keys. One night, he was drunk but had run out of alcohol and needed to get to a liquor store. He searched the house for keys, could not find any, but looked at his riding mower and saw keys dangling from the ignition. He drove the mower to the liquor store.

George also claims that, one night, Tammy and her sister got drunk and trashed the house.

IMO, George trashed the house and that was the night that Tammy & her sister decided not to clean up after him. George was used to waking up from a stupor to find a clean house. Not this time, so he blamed the mess on Tammy & sis.

When Molly Shannon asked her dad if he'd ever dated a man after he told her he realized he was gay, he said his only experience was blowjobs at truck stops

Is this the dad who was drunk driving and mom was killed?

You know it was, r31. No need to act sanctimonious since Molly Shannon herself doesn't seem to hold it against him too much.

Molly's book was great but it had SO many things in it where she's either had great therapy or really is a childlike person who sort of protects herself from hard truths/bad news.

Her father was charming to everyone in later years, according to her book. But also a knock down drag out drunk who killed half his family in a DUI crash.

[quote]No-one could any longer deny the descent of George Jones, because I often refused to be George Jones. I took on two additional and dominant personalities. I even named them. One was "Deedoodle the Duck", and the other was the "Old Man".

Well, that explains why Michael Shannon suddenly started imitating Donald Duck in an episode of George & Tammy.

IIRC June Allyson in her memoir writes about having lunch with Joan Crawford and Christina. Christina was silent throughout the meal and Joan explained how her daughter was in trouble for some unstated reason. June was nauseated by Joan's planned punishment of Christina where she had to sit in a party dress for the duration of the party she had been invited to but was not allowed to attend, holding the present she was going to take.

When asked the best way to get to Hollywood, Bette Davis said, “Take Fountain.”

Blanche Wiesen Cooke’s biography of Eleanor Roosevelt mentions the childhood travels of her father’s family. (Eleanor’s father, Elliott, was the brother of Theodore Roosevelt and died of alcoholism when Eleanor was a child.) While visiting Europe, the Roosevelts prompted local children to chant “Three cheers for the USA” and rewarded them by throwing coins for the kids to collect.

R27 highly amusing.

Great idea for a thread, OP! Perfect for this rainy Virginia afternoon.

Betty Grable was an abusive parent who on occasionally intentionally burned her daughters with lit cigarettes. Betty’s husband was such a checked out dad he didn’t give a shit. Ironically, while at Joan Crawford’s house with one of her daughters, Joan took them on a mini tour to check out Christina’s closet of clothes (iirc). Betty’s daughter saw the contraption Joan used to strap Christopher to the bed each night and looked at her mother with alarm. Betty told her to keep her mouth shut. Child abuse was a verboten subject in Hollywood back then.

If her mother was watching a television programme she didn't like, Princess Margaret would offhandedly switch channels without asking

From Craig Brown biography of Princess Margaret Ma’am Darling.

He also has a great book, One on One, where he recounts improbable celebrity encounters, some very funny.

Priscilla Gilman in "The Critic's Daughter":

"One day I glanced at the sign-in sheet for my step aerobics class and saw the name Wendy Wasserstein. My heart dropped to the floor. Wendy had been one my father's [Richard Gilman's] Yale Drama School students, and he'd often mocked the way she'd show up in class wearing pajamas and eating Mallomars. More recently he'd inveighed against her as overhyped and overrated: he found her plays vapid, pandering, the dreaded 'middle-brow.' I knew how cruel and contemptuous he could be! After taking a number of my classes, Wendy did figure out that I was Richard Gilman's daughter, but she couldn't have been lovelier."

According to Debbie Reynolds, Mayer had forced Gene Kelly to have her as his co-lead in Singin’ In the Rain. She had no training in dance or singing, so she had 6 weeks (iirc) of intensive training before shooting began. During filming whenever Debbie would make a mistake Gene would unload harshly on Donald O’Connor instead calling him “stupid” etc. Later, Donald told her Gene did that because he was at times very frustrated with her, but he knew he couldn’t yell at her or she would fall apart. Gene knew Donald could handle the verbal tirades without getting upset.

June Havoc, sister of Gypsy Rose Lee, was very bitter about the musical Gypsy. It turned Gypsy into a legend and a very sympathetic figure whereas she was nothing like the character in the musical. Gypsy had grown up tough and shrewd like their mother whereas June was softer and more like the Gypsy character in the movie. Plus, June resented being basically cut out of the story which was based on both their childhoods, not just Gypsy’s.

June was just as tough and shrewd as Gypsy, whatever she said.

There was a DL thread about autobiographies that made you think less of the writer. I'm not going to link bc I can't be bothered.

Rick Springfield said there were topless women giving bjs or something during the recording of 'Jessie's Girl'. The whole thing seemed so fucking lame and cringeworthy.

I may be misremembering his words of wisdom. I do remember him being aware that he was a prick. And, yes, he was a prick.

I remember Rick wrote very briefly-like a line or two—about dating Linda Blair (she was 15 at the time, I think). Blair on the other hand has gushed about him in the past as her first real love.

Wasn't that what happened in Melissa Gilbert's and Rob Lowe's autobiographies? Melissa had an entire chapter about Rob. Rob had a sentence about Melissa.

Ethel Merman had just a chapter number with no content for her marriage to Ernest Borgnine.

I think Ernest Borgnine did the same thing. Had a blank chapter about Ethel Merman. He did it first, I think. They were married for about a week.

On his Private Screenings interview Ernest says he saw the Ethel Merman book with the blank page.

Arlene Francis’s memoir had two hair-raising anecdotes involving her pubic hair.

First, in the 30s when she was in a Broadway show and dating Martin Gabel, she and another actress decided to surprise their sweethearts dor Valentines Day by going to a salon and having their pubic hair shaved into the shape of a heart and dyed red. Later the other woman flashed the cast backstage, but Arlene kept her bush for Martin’s eye only.

A later anecdote took place in the late 50s or early 60s when Arlene was in a play somewhere in the tri-state area, I believe. It wasn’t Broadway. She decided to not wear underwear under her dress or robe or whatever it was and commented that the people in the first row could tell that the carpet didn’t match the drapes so to speak. I wish I could remember what play it was. The story seemed a little unbelievable for the time period.

You are incorrect, r49.

They should have had the person who shaved and dyed Arlene's pubic hair as a contestant on "What's My Line?"

Suzanne Somers was inspired to create her own patented products after her Dad installed a device that would ring a bell whenever she wet the bed

This is niche, but Phyllis Chesler's memoir was dishy in parts. She said Gloria Steinem was insecure, and Andrea Dworkin's husband (John Stoltenberg, a gay man) was controlling, and she had traded one abusive husband for another.

Belle Poitrine said that Magdalena Montezuma was the meanest "spic" in pictures.

Elizabeth Taylor aborted hers and Frank Sinatra's embryo.

Eddie Fisher blabbed that in his biography "Been There, Done That".

He said that Sinatra was the only person he ever saw Taylor kiss-ass to.

The term "magic pussy" is thrown around here a lot, but, Sinatra must've had a magic dick. He had every female in Hollywood.

I believe it was Ava Gardner who said "Frank only weighs 119 pounds but 19 pounds of it is cock."

R55 I can’t tell if that’s true or not.

What a positively soporific anecdote, R57!

[quote] They should have had the person who shaved and dyed Arlene's pubic hair as a contestant on "What's My Line?"

R54 I can hear it now: Dorothy Kilgallen asks the contestant, “Is the result of your service something that would be visible to others if Miss Francis were walking down 5th Avenue?” and the contestant answers, “Sometimes.”

Ann Miller writes about a camel doing its business over the dress of Sally Eilers on the set of Tarnished Angel.

Jackie O trying to be the bigger person when a married Madonna was running around with JFK jr, inviting Madge to her apartment for a social event. Ruined when Madonna came in and signed the guestbook Mrs. Sean Penn.

Aretha saying how shocked she was that Gladys Knight wrote in her book that Rees mother abandoned her. Then Aretha saying that she understood because Gladys was in a deep depression due to career disappointments and that she would pray for Gladys.

In La Toya's book Growing up in the Jackson Family (1991) she wrote about how Michael was the sentimental type, even saving their newborn nieces and nephews' first soiled diapers.

She also wrote about visiting Phil Spector's house and him pulling a gun on her.

In Charles Higham's biography of Errol Flynn, he says that either Louella Parsons or Hedda Hopper (can't remember which) wrote something bad about him in her column. Flynn went to her house and ejaculated all over the door knob on her front door. Higham is known to be very reliable.

R47 I think it was more than a chapter. Melissa went on and on and ON about their relationship. He was basically like "We dated"

Debbie Reynolds and Elizabeth Taylor (who famously shared a husband) were both in NYC on the evening of September 10, 2001 to see Michael Jackson perform at Madison Square Garden.

Debbie was staying downtown, smelled smoke in the morning and fled uptown to the Pierre to Ms Taylor's suite where she and Liz watched the Towers collapse on TV.

Fuck Eddie Fisher.

Whoa, r32, I didn't. I knew I'd heard/read about a troubled comedian in that situation with a parental death. I couldn't recall who, thinking Tracy Morgan at first because, shitty comedians, ya know, And what should we think now?

R69 impressive story. From a bio of Debbie’s?

[quote] Aretha saying how shocked she was that Gladys Knight wrote in her book that Rees mother abandoned her. Then Aretha saying that she understood because Gladys was in a deep depression due to career disappointments and that she would pray for Gladys.

Good thing Gladys didn't write about Aretha's father allegedly impregnating Aretha when she was 12.

Aretha and a famous opera singer almost got into a brawl outside of the White House during the Clinton administration because the opera singer made a joke about Aretha's low-cut dress. Of course, this was after Aretha made a catty remark about the singer's younger escort for the evening.

But security had to separate the two and both ladies flipped each other off as they were quickly ushered away.

Good times!

"One afternoon, Russian actor Ivan Lebedeff paid a call on Miss Crawford and was invited into her stage dressing room. In ten minutes Ivan came pelting out, white of face. As I happened to be close by and knew him, he rushed over to me. In shock, he blurted out, 'Poor Joan! She's just told me that after her tragic life with men, she can no longer find sexual satisfaction unless she is tied to a bedpost and whipped!' He staggered away, hands against his ashen face. I could only chuckle. I had read the same chapter in Psychopathia Sexualis, too! Joan's imagination was on the dramatic side...and she obviously was an inspired conversationalist."

[quote]Ivan Lebedeff paid a call on Miss Crawford and was invited into her stage dressing room.

Pray tell, r75, when did Joan *ever* do theatre?

Mary Astor's second autobiography--Mary Astor; a Life on Film--is pretty discreet, but she does describe being invited over to producer's house in the 1930s. Dinner was fine, but afterwards, the producer and his wife completely disrobed and the wife began giving her husband a blowjob. The producer continued talking about film and after a bit suggested that Astor might want to join in and his wife would be happy to perform a similar service. Astor politely said she'd stay as she was. I'm sure she was considered game for anything after the big scandal over her diary and its purple prose about her fling with George Kaufman.

June Havoc's second bio describes over-bleaching her pubes during a marathon dance session after she wasn't allowed to take a bathroom break to wash out the peroxide.

Ned Wynn was Keenan Wynn & Evie Wynn’s son. Evie Wynn was the one who married Van Johnson. They were in the neighborhood with Judy Garland and Sid Luft. Van and Evie would have big parties with lots of singing around the piano. Judy and Sid almost always wound up fighting publicly. Teen age Ned remembers more than one night waking up in the middle of the night with Judy sitting in the dark on his bedroom floor chain smoking for hours……. He said that other days she could be found sound asleep on their living room sofa the day after a party. Van would panic and try to silently get out of the house without Judy waking up - emotional; crying, angry or needy

𝐋𝐮𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

𝑅𝑜𝑦 𝐶𝑜ℎ𝑛 𝑢𝑠𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡.

Jack Martin remembered the time George Barry, the top man at Fabergé, got married and Roy and friends flew to Las Vegas to help the happy couple celebrate. After the nuptials and the merrymaking, the newlyweds and their well-wishing friends spent the night at Caesar's palace, Roy sharing a room with a handsome young fellow. 'They were all to rejoin in the lobby of Caesar's Palace the following morning,' Jack related. 'I was there first. Then Mr. and Mrs. Barry came down, and Roy and the boyfriend on the elevator were the last to arrive. The elevator opened and Roy was carrying a paper shopping bag, which was his luggage, off of which, the minute the elevator door opened and he started to cross the lobby, tumbled what can only be described as an industrial-sized jar of Vaseline. It rolled, took on a life of its own, and made its way to the feet of the bride. Roy did not acknowledge this at all. He looked skyward and wistful or something, and I scooped up the Vaseline and put it in my flight bag. I didn't know such a size existed.

'Subsequently, on the Fabergé jet, I extricated this jar from my luggage. I noticed that it was down to its last drop. I said, "Roy you dropped this," and this man, the enormously generous Roy, said, "Oh you can keep it."'

𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑁𝑖𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑠 𝑣𝑜𝑛 𝐻𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑚𝑎𝑛, 𝐶𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑛 𝐶𝑜ℎ𝑛 (1988)

- Excerpt from Patrick Higgins, 𝐀 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 (The New Press, NY, 1993), pg. 167.

R76, I'm assuming she meant Joan's portable dressing room on the soundstage.

R14, Susann was probably bisexual, because she had affairs with other women, most notably Carole Landis (Jackie modeled the VOTD character of Jennifer on Landis). And allegedly Jackie attended that party and was making out with Ethel on the couch. Jackie followed Ethel to her house, pounding on the door and screaming "Ethel, I love you!" until Merman threatened to call the cops, lol.

Soundstages are stages with dressing rooms

from Marlene Dietrich's ABC:

Greenland ("Should be called Iceland. See ICELAND.")

Iceland ("Should be called Greenland. See GREENLAND.")

I dont know them.

In his book Mr S. Sinatra's masseur George Jacobs tells that when he was giving a naked JFK a rub down when he flipped him over Mr President had a roaring erection. "Don't worry George this always happens". Kennedy said. Suspect he gave his POTUS the customary "happy ending"

Nick Nolte on meeting Henry Willson in the early 60s in "Rebel":

A Rolls Royce slowed to a stop one day as my buddies and I were punking steel at the intersection of Beverly Glen and Sunset. A well-dressed, chinless man rolled down the car's window, caught my attention, and asked "Are you an actor?" If I wanted to be one, he informed me, he could help; he promised to put me in the movies because he was a Hollywood agent. He continued his introduction by handing me his card with his home address scribbled on the back and inviting me to come to dinner that night to discuss possibilities for stardom. I couldn't refuse.

He answered the door at his Bel-Air house a few hours later and the two of us had drinks and dinner, and yes he was absolutely certain that I could be a big star. When I agreed that the prospect intrigued me, he excused himself and returned wearing only a silk dressing gown. "Hello cuddle-bunny!" he said, and suddenly I understood. I was outta there.

R86 That is absolutely delicious.

A lot of these should be taken with a grain of salt, especially from the celebrities who tend to lie like mad about themselves (hello Debbie R!), but some are just very funny and believable - Mary Astor, for example.

Mary Tyler Moore (in her first book) looked back and cringed at some of her behavior in the early seasons of The Dick Van Dyke Show. Since she was only around 22 and everyone else was so much older she would act a little “hoity toity” to appear older. She said in early episodes she was channeling a young Katharine Hepburn in her speaking pattern and “Hello Dah lings!” …. She also enjoyed being witty and joking and kibitzing with everyone on the set - everyone was always laughing and joking on set. One day a crew person ran onto the set and called out,”The President has been shot!!” Mary automatically blurted out “GOOD!!” She was horrified that she said it - she had been joking around and took it too far. She said that after that she dialed back her constant kidding around………. In much later years when she lived in New York while divorcing Grant Tinker, she bought a blender and got drunk by herself on margaritas every night. She would take the phone off of the hook at 6 each night so anyone calling wouldn’t know she was drunk. …. When she DID have a drinking partner it was usually Hope Lange a fellow alcoholic who played Dick Van Dyke’s wife in his second sitcom.

In Diana Ross' 1993 memoir "Secrets of a Sparrow", she told the readers how hard it is to travel when you have a lot of hair. I've never forgotten that, which is why I went bald.

Has MISS Helen Lawson had a book out?

Can't wait for Streisand's book to come out in November. THAT will be filled with juicy morsels, for sure.

I read Bacall's autobiography and remember practically nothing except: 1) she and Boogie named their son Steve after the To Have and Have Not character, and 2) she called Burgess Meredith "Buzz."

I love Bacall but found her memoir so dry I couldn't even get through half of it.

[quote] Can't wait for Streisand's book to come out in November. THAT will be filled with juicy morsels, for sure.

I am praying to the Gods of the Memoirs that she includes a lot about her early days. Greenwich Village in the 1960s is what we want to hear about.

There was an anecdote she told one time. She was an usher for The Sound of Music and she used to keep her head down because she knew she would be a star and she didn’t want anyone to remember she was an usher.

Oy, Barbara! That’s the third time this week that you’ve sat people in the wrong row. Look where you’re going!

^^^ We're talking Streisand. You must mean "The Goddesses of Memoirs".

As for The Sound of Music story, she will change that to something much more prestigious, like "King Lear". She was an usher at "King Lear".

I read Patti Labelle’s biography, two things:

1. Jackie Wilson and an accomplice tried to rape her 2. When she was young, she used to go down in her basement and lick the floor. She said to this day, she has no idea why but I loved her for admitting something so bizarre

[quote] 2. When she was young, she used to go down in her basement and lick the floor.

Now we know how she got diabetes.

Ree always called it "the sugar diabetes."

Joan Fontaine's autobiography had juicy barbs, aimed at her sister.

Joan threw a party for Olivia, in her New York apartment. Before the party, Olivia sent her regrets. She didn't attend, but sent a large floral tree.

Joan didn't have enough time to cancel the party. Also, the tree was so large; it could only fit in the center foyer.

The Guests arrived, and had to maneuver around the tree. It filled the foyer. They asked about Olivia. Joan said, "here's Olivia" and pointed to the tree.

Per Joan, they agreed that Olivia never looked more lovelier.

Barbara Payton wrote that she was turning $5 tricks toward the end of her life, but would not accept money from the black men she fucked: "I never charged a Negro."

Neither do I, r100.

Joan Fontaine had a feud with the gossip columnist, Hedda Hopper. Their mutual friend brought them together, to hash it out.

Hedda told her: "You have no humility, Joan."

Joan responded: "Fuck you, Hedda."

Hedda backed off.

"Per Joan, they agreed that Olivia never looked more lovelier."

Oh, dear

[quote] Can't wait for Streisand's book to come out in November. THAT will be filled with juicy morsels, for sure.

I predict Barbra's book won't be very juicy. She is always going to put herself in the most flattering light, figuratively and literally. She also doesn't have a sense of humor about herself.

In the 1940's, Olivia de Havilland and the author, Marcus Goodrich, were newly married.

The press called Joan Fontaine for a comment, about her new brother-in-law.

Joan said: "All I know is that he wrote one book and has three ex-wives. It's too bad it isn't the other way around."

Of course, that deepened the animosity between the sisters.

All true Dataloungers have of course read THAT GIRL AND PHIL, the hilarious tell-all from Marlo Thomas' former majordomo "Desmond."

My favorite amusing morsel is in the appendix to the paperback edition: on Desmond's book tour, he collected all the terrible Marlo stories people told him on the tour and fashioned them into one last chapter. Waiters, assistants, the hoi polloi each sharing their awful Marlo encounters.

It was the cunty cherry on a very cunty cake.

Negative review of the book

This book comes across as a low-integrity "author" trying to make a buck at a famous couple's expense. It's poorly written and poorly organized, just from a book standpoint. If you read between the lines, Marlo Thomas was more than fair with Desmond Atholl and some of the other spoiled servants, who were obviously paid very well - more than they deserved, based on some of the shenanigans they played during working hours. In one section, Atholl claims Marlo broke the covenant of the employer-employee relationship when she rebuked him for leaving the Thomas-Donahue household without notifying a soul, so that he could (supposedly) see his mother off on a plane trip out of New York. In my view, Thomas should've fired Atholl for that. You can't just abandon ship without at least letting someone know at any workplace, so they can pass the message along to the owner(s). I mean, that takes all of five seconds. I think Marlo Thomas's relentless charity work for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and the high character, integrity and talent she has displayed over the years says it all. Most of the things Atholl writes in this book sound like sour grapes and exaggerations/distortions. I also salute Marlo's feminist activism over the years. She's always been classy about that, too, never "bitchy" as some sexists say.

One of my favorite juicy cozy books was by Doris Shapiro, Alan Jay Lerner’s secretary. Alan Jay Lerner was married seven times. Doris had to be able to play dumb with each current wife and not give away the fact he was already courting the next wife. Lerner felt that his wife Nancy Olson betrayed him because she didn’t like wearing make up at home if she wasn’t working. ….. Lerner’s long time writing /composing partner Fritz Loewe had a heart attack during Camelot and didn’t want to work anymore, leaving Lerner to search for a new partner. ….. Lerner got hardcore HOOKED on the amphetamine shots that Dr Max Jacobson aka JFK’s Dr Feel Good was doling out - he took them several times a day while writing On A Clear Day You Can See Forever and preparing JFK’s inaugural . He was having a hot affair with Jean Kennedy Smith. …. Because the shots were always called “vitamin shots” Lerner got his secretary Doris hooked on them also so she could keep up with his erratic pace and hectic schedule. Sometimes when Dr Max was in Washington DC to take care of JFK, Lerner and Doris would visit his office a- which was always packed - and Dr Max’s flunky assistant would prepare and give the shots. His flunky was unemployed actor Felice Orlando - husband of Alice Ghostly. ….Lerner wound up sending Doris to a sanatorium to kick the shots. He bitchly told her she could not work for him any longer - he couldn’t’t be associated with a junkie.

R106 Oh wow 106 - I know I have that book somewhere - I have to dig it out! I remember reading it years ago and really enjoying it! The only thing I remember about it was that she was really into the macrobiotic diet and was always running around with a thermos of miso soup!

R108 I am 108 - not Orlando - Felice Orlandi

Ellen Burstyn (then Edna Rae Giloolley) said she had moved to Dallas from Chicago- on a whim, out of the blue- and was very hungry and wandering around a department store, broke. An older woman approached her and offered to buy her lunch. She was so grateful she never forgot the gesture.

Has anyone read Jennifer O'Neill's autobiography? She seems bonkers. Married 9 times to 8 men, attempted suicide at 14, shot herself with a gun on the abdomen, and became a born again Christian in the 1980s. This all from skimming her wiki page. Scanners (1981) was on tonight.

Still love this Joan Crawford quote from "My Way Of Life" about husbands of career women:

" But the fact is that when a woman feels she’s done a good job and accomplished something, she’s charged. She’s ready for sex. Maybe he’ll be too tired that night. And maybe he’ll get raped!”

I believe every cunty word of the Marlo Thomas book. I've been friends with one of her former assistants, as well as someone who toured with her in the 90s in Six Degrees of Separation, and both complained long and loud about what a massive cooze she was.

If anyone is interested in reading about the music scene in the 70’s Bebe Buell’s autobiography “Rebel Heart” is a good one. She is utterly lacking in self-awareness throughout and it makes for a fun and amusing read. Less so towards the end when the party is pretty much over for the party girl.

Some reviewers for the book on Amazon were turned off by how frequently she describes herself as beautiful, but the fact is, she really was! It opened a lot of doors for her which she acknowledges.

Bebe Buell couldn't recognize the truth if it was a 10" dick in her mouth.

Elizabeth Ashley's long out of print book Actress is a fan fucking tastic read if you can ever get your hands on it. A shame she never got around to doing the sequel like she was supposed to at one point. But what a wild ride. Two things stand out:

1.) Her marriage to George Peppeard was dysfunctional to put it mildly, crazy to be honest. He demanded she give up acting (though she didn't really seem to want it by that point anyway) and made it clear he resented her career. Many brawls, including one in which he smashed her in the face with a frying pan. The two of them also pulled guns out on each other a couple of times.

2.) A lengthy expose in to the making of 92 in the Shade during which Liz was in a three way relationshp with a married Tom McGuane and his wife. Ashley shades the shit out of Margot Kidder (only referring to her as "The Starlet") after Kidder fucks Tom in Ashley's house. Ashely smashes Tom's head in with a lamp when she finds out. The wife runs off to fuck the movies co-star Warren Oates and Tom eventually marries Margot. Ashley is livid because the McGuane's and her wanted to create a new kind of relationship and break common rules. Both couples break up the following year.

And Ashley sitting in on auditions for the movie where she watches a woman who decides to masturbate her audition for the role.

I love Just Kids, the Patti Smith book. It’s quite embellished and paints a few of her friends in a much more flattering light than they deserve (Mapplethorpe mainly, she worshipped him despite him treating her like trash) but it’s such an immersive portrait of an long gone NYC.

I like her story about how Allen Ginsberg bought her a sandwich and coke because he thought she was a young twink.

R117 A book like that would never make it to print today. Ashley would have to cry about being an abuse victim rather than just being a nutjob who married and fucked fellow nutjobs, as most of these stories actually go.

I have a fond memory of Elizabeth Ashley. Years ago when I worked for Caedmon Records (spoken word recordings) she was scheduled to come in and read. She was late; it turns out she was late because the towncar our office had sent for her either had come late or didn’t show up at all (it’s so long ago I don’t remember which.) The car company was called Fugazy.

I remember her showing up and instead of throwing star fits about someone screwing up, she yelled good-naturedly “BOOO on Fugazy!!” with a grin on her face. I was a lowly office drone so that’s as close as I got to her. I just remember smiling at her taking it all in stride.

I googled Elizabeth Ashley+Caedmon Records because I couldn’t remember what she had come in to record—it was “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”

I loved the Caedmon titles. I have the Anne Sexton one on vinyl.

I remember this fun tale from Franco Zeffirelli's autobiography: Anna Magnani was quite a nympho and once had an affair with a much younger married stud - every time he would come over to fuck her she would give him a piece of furniture in return. One day his wife came over to La Magnani's place and started screaming below her window: "Bitch, you fucked my man and you didn't even give us the ENTIRE furniture set!"

In Sharon Gless’s autobiography, she goes to visit Rosie O’Donnell and asks her if she thinks she (Sharon) could be a lesbian.

Rosie tells her, “No.”

Sharon's memoir was good....a bit sad but good.

It doesn’t really fit the topic because the whole book was excellent but I just want to put in a plug for the best autobiography I’ve ever read, by Alison Arngrim, the girl who played Nellie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie. It is funny.

…Now whatever you do, don't say anything, because no one must know that Liberace is gay." "Excuse me?" I said. "I'm eight. I know he's gay." I thought they had to be kidding. No grown-up person really thought this guy was straight, did they? [...] If I thought hiding Liberace's gayness was a ludicrous proposition before I saw the show, I was absolutely in hysterics afterward. (Alison Arngrim, Confessions of a Prairie Bitch

This is the best thread.

In her memoir, Wait For Me, Deborah Cavendish, the Duchess of Devonshire tells a funny story about herself and Bunny Mellon. Apparently, they were friends, but not best friends. Bunny heard that Deborah regularly collected used clothing to donate for some cause or another so she be began sending her old clothes all the way to England so Deborah could donate hers too. When the boxes of clothes arrived it was like it was filled with treasure. Inside were barely-worn Balenciaga and Givenchy haute couture. Deborah confesses that she would invite her famous Mitford sisters over when these shipments arrived and they would raid the boxes, taking the clothes they wanted and replacing it with pieces of their own clothes they no longer wanted. The Cavendishes were still busy paying off the death taxes after her father-in-law died, so haute couture was NOT in the duchess’ budget. One time Deborah ran into Paul wearing Bunny’s old coats and she was terrified he would notice. He didn’t seem to!

"I predict Barbra's book won't be very juicy."

I concur! The best memoirs are written by people who have a sense of humor and an interest in other people, and well. This is Babs.

Hey, everybody, say let's give a big "HELLO, BITCH" to Miss Marlo Thomas at R107!

From Princess of Wales forthcoming auto-bio:

" But the fact is that when a Princess feels she’s done a good job and accomplished something, she’s charged. She’s ready for sex. Maybe he’ll be too tired that night. And maybe he’ll get pegged!”

Princess Diana supposedly spent 3/4 of the premiere screening of The Whales of August fiddling with an earring on her lap. Seen by director Lindsay Anderson who sat next to her.

^ I spent 1/2 of it asleep.

When he was filming "Lifeboat" with, among others, Tallulah Bankhead and William Bendix, Alfred Hitchcock was deluged by complaints from cast and crew that in scenes where Miss Bankhead was being lowered by a rope into the lifeboat it became clear she wasn't - as was her custom - wearing underwear.

Hitchcock was perplexed: "Do I refer this to make-up or the hairdressing department?"

John Waters is usually kind to the guest stars in his memoirs, but not to Joey Heatherton and Susan Tyrrell in CRY-BABY.

Apparently Joey was so out of it she refused to put down her real-life purse on the set. They finally had an assistant stand next to her out of frame. Joey would pass it to him, say the line, and take it right back.

I don't know why Waters didn't like Susan Tyrrell. Her nickname was Su-Su and he refused to call her that despite her asking him to do so. They would seem kindred spirits; Su-Su's famous line about meeting with Hollywood producers was "They all told me I had the pussy of a twelve-year-old!"

I don't trust anyone who didn't love Su-Su.

Towards the end of his life and according to his then-wife, Peter Lawford hated the sight of Nancy Reagan so much that when drunk or high (a state he managed pretty much 24/7 at that point) that he destroyed a couple of televisions. When the First Lady would appear onscreen, he'd pee on the TV set.

In Debbie Harry’s FACE IT she claims in the earlier days of Blondie her and Chris Stein were robbed at gunpoint while leaving a NYC recording studio with some equipment. The thief cornered them into a room, tied Chris to a bed, then raped Debbie in front of him. He then took off with some of their guitars. Debbie seems non-plussed about the sexual assault, and claims she was far angrier about losing some of their best guitars than she was about the rape. In her words, “He fucked me.”

Barbra's book will only get nasty about a few people who challenged her fabulosity like the director of A Star is Born or political figures like Richard Nixon and Trump.

[quote]Debbie seems non-plussed

Oh, dear!

Mitzi Gaynor's memoir has yet to surface but she has been quoted as saying I never worked with a stinker. However in an Ethel Merman biography it says Merm and Gaynor bonded over There's No Business Like Show Business and they both hated Marilyn. Later Gaynor has gushed about Monroe's supposed genius but during the film she would do imitations of her to amuse Ethel.

Bob Thomas in his book on Ethel recounts the dirty joke she told Mitzi on meeting her. Mitzi has been coy in her re-telling of it but here it is. Two maid were sitting on a porch. One asked do you remember the minuet. The other replied Hell I don't even remember the men I fucked.

[quote]Has anyone read Jennifer O'Neill's autobiography? She seems bonkers. Married 9 times to 8 men, attempted suicide at 14, shot herself with a gun on the abdomen, and became a born again Christian in the 1980s.

Yes. But it’s so colorless I don’t remember much about it.

She does say the producers originally wanted an actress older than she was for SUMMER OF ‘42.

Sinatra's valet George Jacobs wrote that Laurence Harvey was a frequent visitor to the Sinatra house. He regularly made passes at Jacobs. Although Sinatra referred to Harvey as a "fudgepacker," he didn't seem to be bothered by his homosexuality, saying:

[quote]“He has the handicaps of being a homo, a Jew, and a Polock*, so people should go easy on him.”

Mitzi Gaynor was intensely envious of Marilyn. At the end of production on There's No Business Like Show Business, Fox announced that they would cancel everyone's contract except MM's, who they continued to build up. What Marilyn had, Mitzi couldn't spell.

R140, if that's the only reason you're "Oh dear-ing" the use of "non-plussed" in that situation, then I have a big OH DEAR for you.

Shirley Schrift chose the name Shelley Winter for her career in Hollywood (Winter was a surname from her mother's family). But at some point someone added an 's' and that was that; she became plural.

Per Shelley Winters biography, she auditioned for Harry Kohn, for a Columbia Pictures contract. She recited "The Waltz", by Dorothy Parker. She was hired.

A few years later, Shelley ran into Dorothy Parker in an elevator. It was near Christmas, and a department store Santa Claus, was in the elevator with them.

Dorothy Parker ripped into Shelley, over using her story, to audition for Harry Cohn. Dorothy HATED him. Shelley defended herself, and exclaimed that Dorothy was her favorite writer.

Dorothy shot back, and told her:

"If I'm your favorite writer, then you're practically illiterate!" Then she attacked the Santa Claus by saying, "I know you, you're that Santa Claus that molests children, when they sit on your lap!" The Santa Clause was stunned.

Shelley was hurt, because she was trying to improve herself, intellectually. It didn't help, that she had a hamburger with an onion. Her onion breath stank up the elevator.

R148, I've heard of an Oxford comma, but I believe what you've got there is the dreaded "Sheboygan little mark." They breed like termites, and you clearly have an infestation.

Didn't Lee Israel forge a load of Dorothy Parker letters?

R149, how would you correct my post? If it's in error, I'd like learn from it.

In the new Elizabeth Taylor biography, it is revealed that Sinatra knocked her up in the waning days of her marriage to Michael Wilding and Frank had one of his goons drive her to Mexico for an abortion.

Yours:

Per Shelley Winters biography, she auditioned for Harry Kohn, for a Columbia Pictures contract. She recited "The Waltz", by Dorothy Parker. She was hired.

A few years later, Shelley ran into Dorothy Parker in an elevator. It was near Christmas, and a department store Santa Claus, was in the elevator with them.

Dorothy Parker ripped into Shelley, over using her story, to audition for Harry Cohn. Dorothy HATED him. Shelley defended herself, and exclaimed that Dorothy was her favorite writer.

Dorothy shot back, and told her:

"If I'm your favorite writer, then you're practically illiterate!" Then she attacked the Santa Claus by saying, "I know you, you're that Santa Claus that molests children, when they sit on your lap!" The Santa Clause was stunned.

Shelley was hurt, because she was trying to improve herself, intellectually. It didn't help, that she had a hamburger with an onion. Her onion breath stank up the elevator.

Corrected (ONLY because you asked):

Per Shelley Winters biography, she auditioned for Harry Kohn for a Columbia Pictures contract. She recited "The Waltz" by Dorothy Parker. She was hired.

A few years later, Shelley ran into Dorothy Parker in an elevator. It was near Christmas, and a department store Santa Claus was in the elevator with them.

Dorothy Parker ripped into Shelley over using her story to audition for Harry Cohn. Dorothy HATED him. Shelley defended herself and exclaimed that Dorothy was her favorite writer.

Dorothy shot back:

"If I'm your favorite writer, then you're practically illiterate!" Then she attacked the Santa Claus by saying, "I know you, you're that Santa Claus that molests children when they sit on your lap!" The Santa Claus was stunned.

Shelley was hurt because she was trying to improve herself intellectually. It didn't help that she had a hamburger with an onion. Her onion breath stank up the elevator.

Robert Wagner wrote in his autobiography that he once walked in on Errol Flynn receiving a blow job from a starlet on her knees in Errol’s Warner Brothers dressing room.

Eddie Fisher wrote in his autobiography that Edie Adams once walked in on Ann-Margret giving him a blow job in his Las Vegas dressing room.

Nancy Davis (later Reagan) gave Errol Flynn and Peter Lawford blowies in the front seat of a Buick Roadmaster convertible driving from LA to Palm Springs in the early 50's.

It's been said she was exceptionally talented in that regard. No mention of swallowing, though.

Roxanne Gay is a cousin of the next President of Harvard, Prof. Claudine Gay.

Who's not nearly so exhausting.

Chronic loser Joan Rivers was in a play in New York in someone's attic, co-starring high school student Barbra Streisand. When it closed after a few days Joan was despondent and asked Barbra, 'What do we do now?...'. Barbra said, "I have exams".

Debbie Reynolds wrote of attending a party in Malibu with Hugh O’Brian where they witnessed two young men underneath Shelley Winters’ peasant skirt performing cunnilingus on her.

Debbie would know.

r153 left a comma splice. Would someone clean it up?

Isn't correcting a stranger's writing fun? NOT.

R157, I thought I read Barbra said, "I'm sorry, miss, but I've got my own problems!"

I also forgot to correct the spelling of Harry Cohn's name, R160. And again, I would never do that unless someone asked me earnestly, which it seemed like the poster did.

To clean up R153 's clean-up:

[quote] Per Shelley Winters biography, she auditioned for Harry Kohn for a Columbia Pictures contract....

Per Shelley Winters' biography, she auditioned for Harry Kohn for a Columbia Pictures contract....

[quote] A few years later, Shelley ran into Dorothy Parker in an elevator. It was near Christmas, and a department store Santa Claus was in the elevator with them.

A few years later, Shelley ran into Dorothy Parker in an elevator. It was near Christmas and a department store Santa Claus was in the elevator with them.

[quote] Shelley was hurt because she was trying to improve herself intellectually....

Shelley was hurt because she was trying to improve herself, intellectually.... [I think the comma after "herself" did belong.]

I disagree about the comma after "herself" R163. As for the comma after "Christmas," I think we are both correct, as an Oxford comma is a choice, but using or not using it are both fine.

Regarding the possessive of Winters, you are indeed correct, but I must admit that I was not even looking for those, only the commas. I also noticed the glaring misspellings so I corrected those just for fun.

[quote] A few years later, Shelley ran into Dorothy Parker in an elevator. It was near Christmas, and a department store Santa Claus was in the elevator with them.

R164, I don't think that was an Oxford comma. I thought an Oxford comma was:

[quote] a comma used after the penultimate item in a list of three or more items, before ‘and’ or ‘or’ (e.g. an Italian painter, sculptor, and architect ).

(The comma after "sculptor" would be the Oxford comma.)

My mistake if so. I was told the Oxford had more than one "use," but when I think of who I learned that from, it wouldn't surprise me to hear it's incorrect. : )

That was a horrible thing to accuse Santa of, was Dorothy drunk?

It's just a comma.

[quote] It's been said she was exceptionally talented in that regard. No mention of swallowing, though.

It's been said that Nancy was exceptionally talented because she could actually disengage her lower jaw as she took in cock, like a boa constrictor eating a goat.

Dat's da suck job. And a talent.

Shelley's books are quite, uh, embellished. She gets plain old facts and dates wrong, not just tiny details most people would forget. But they are a great deal of fun.

In another thread, posters were talking (favorably, "juicy") about "Ticking Clock" by Ira Rosen of 60 Minutes. I borrowed it from the library (audio book) and have been listening to it. So far, it's mostly about Mike Wallace. So far, I haven't found it to be that juicy, more disgusting (re: Mike Wallace). But if I hear a good anecdote, I'll post it.

R153, thank you. I greatly appreciate your help.

Let's clear up the Nancy thing for once and for all. No way would she ever do oral. She seems like a total Pillow Princess who'd carp, "Now don't mess-up my hair". And if she had blown so many influential men, she'd have had a better career.

You are very welcome, R148. And I was just teasing you in my original comment. It wasn't meant as an insult. It actually took me a lot longer than I care to admit to remember certain rules, and clearly I still have things to learn as evidenced by my schooling on the Oxford comma today!

: )

I'll always love Grace Slick's anecdote in her book that her car caught on fire and a person in the neighbor hood called the cops to assist her. When the cop showed up he asked her what seems to be the problem? She responded what the fuck does it look like! He arrested her.

[quote]In another thread, posters were talking (favorably, "juicy") about "Ticking Clock" by Ira Rosen of 60 Minutes. I borrowed it from the library (audio book) and have been listening to it. So far, it's mostly about Mike Wallace. So far, I haven't found it to be that juicy, more disgusting (re: Mike Wallace). But if I hear a good anecdote, I'll post it.

I enjoyed it. When Chris Wallace followed in Mike's footsteps Mike took particular thrill in stealing his own son's scoops and rubbing it in. Someone (I forget whether it was Rosen) finally told him he wasn't going to have a son in his old age if he kept it up that viciously.

But the correspondent Rosen couldn't stand was Steve Kroft — he comes out and calls him an alcoholic, a philanderer, and a hack. After reading that I looked at pictures of Kroft unfiltered by the 60 Minutes lens and his face is basically one huge broken capillary.

He also didn't like Katie Couric, saying something like "she was lazy and disengaged and thought she was better than the rest of us." Also said Katie was a big buck-passer when a story didn't work out and it was her fault.

R174, I agree. In Nancy Reagan's era, no upper class, respectable, morally upright young lady would ever perform fellatio. After marriage, sex was for procreation, and a wifely duty.

[quote] Let's clear up the Nancy thing for once and for all. No way would she ever do oral. She seems like a total Pillow Princess who'd carp, "Now don't mess-up my hair".

[quote] I agree. In Nancy Reagan's era, no upper class, respectable, morally upright young lady would ever perform fellatio. After marriage, sex was for procreation, and a wifely duty.

You guys ... naive. Nancy was not conventionally pretty or beautiful enough to even be a pillow princess. Grace Kelly, maybe, could have been a pillow princess (yet was rumored to have played ball).

Also, this was Hollywood, the movie industry. If a woman didn't want to play ball, she probably would have had to change career.

R177, OK, I'll keep reading ("Ticking Clock"). Rosen keeps skipping around, time-wise. I wish he would just go chronologically.

When Tennessee Williams was in Hollywood in the 50's, he and his lover Frankie Merlo were at a party where Jack Warner asked Merlo, "What do you do, young man?" and Merlo answered, "I sleep with Mr. Williams."

OK, reporting back on "Ticking Clock." Still not done reading it. But the chapter on Diane Sawyer: author calls her "two-faced." She and Barbara Walters really disliked each other but would act like buddies.

Now, I'm on the chapter about Steve Kroft.

In high school, I read “Past Imperfect” by Joan Collins. (How did I turn out gay???) In it, she discusses getting raped by a date and then walking home in the wee hours through a seedy part of London. She writes she figured the odds of her being raped TWICE in one night were low. For some reason, that has always stuck with me.

By her first husband, R183 - Irish actor, Maxwell-something?

She described him as wearing winkle-picker shoes, an image I just couldn't summon, somehow. And yet I did, below:

R184, At one point in their marriage, Joan claims Maxwell attempted to sell her to some sheik.

When she married Percy, her current and considerably younger (30-something years younger) husband, Dame Joan was asked if she could stand the pace: "What about the age difference?"

Her reply: "If he dies, he dies."

In one of Warhol's books he said that Jerri Hall told him that she gave Mick a blowjob every time he left the house.

R186, A line stolen from George Burns, who said it when he began dating much younger women after Gracie Allen died.

R187 Mick's dick must have stank

R187, I wonder if Jerry Hall also did that for husband Rupert Murdoch.

Pretty sad, really. Jerry did that, hoping Mick wouldn't be so horny for other women. Then he invalidates their marriage and impregnates others, anyway.

Oh, well, that's the life of a high-end gold digger, I guess.

R187 At his advanced age, it’s very unlikely.

*I meant R190

[quote] When Tennessee Williams was in Hollywood in the 50's, he and his lover Frankie Merlo were at a party where Jack Warner asked Merlo, "What do you do, young man?" and Merlo answered, "I sleep with Mr. Williams."

Tennessee Williams’ autobio is a hoot.

A trick came home with him and never left. He moved out and left the landlord to deal with the trick.

He referred to the Hotel Elysee as the Hotel Easy Lay.

While taking a dip in the pool at the Cipriani Hotel during a vacation in Venice in the early 1950's, Tennessee Williams found himself chatting with a legendary socialite—Marguerite Littman, the Louisiana-born wife of the deputy chairman of British Steel. Calling Williams' attention to a grotesquely skinny girl, Marguerite whispered, "That is Anorexia Nervosa."

"Oh, Marguerite, honey" Tennessee replied, "you just know everybody."

Towards the end of her life in the late 1930's, Humphrey Bogart's widowed mother Maud was alone in New York City after her husband died in 1934. Concerned about her, Bogart moved her to Los Angeles and into an apartment at the Chateau Marmont. In the early 1900's Maud Humphrey was a famous artist and illustrator and while gregarious she was possessed of a regal demeanor.

Without much to do and slowly slipping into dementia, Mrs. Bogart would spend her days wandering Sunset Boulevard dressed in her Edwardian finery talking to strangers, letting them know she was Humphrey Bogart's mother. For the longest time, nobody believed her.

r115, Bebe Buell used to post on alt.gossip.celebrities back in the 90s. She was a mess, but so much fun!

[R197] She got the Rock Groupie message board shut down after they called her out one too many times about her delusions. Even her ex Coyote Shivers chimed in, roasting her. That forum had great stories, like the time Warren Cuccurullo took a shit in a bathtub while in it with a groupie.

From Hollywood Mother of the Year by Sheila MacRae

[quote]Showing up without a masquerade, he saw the disappointment in my eyes He kissed me lightly on the cheek and with a chuckle said, “Never mind, my darling Sheila, I shall wear one of your delightful dresses.” He paused for thought. “That stunning striped number,” he declared with twinkling eyes. “The one with the matching turban.”

[quote]As we were sitting down to dinner, Joan Crawford nodded toward Hunt and whispered, “Sheila, that looks like your dress.”

[quote]"It sure as hell does," grumbled Gordon. "Who is that?"

[quote]"Hunt Stromberg,” I answered.

[quote]“A man in a dress?” Gordon gasped. “He shouldn’t come to our house in a woman s clothes, even if it is Halloween.”

[quote]“Oh, Gordon, Hunt dresses like that all the time,” Joan laughed. “He’s a transvestite! Didn’t you know?”

R199, Also in that memoir, Sheila described in detail how inventive and athletic Gordon was in bed.

Who the fuck is Gordon?

My husband, of course, Gordon (the lush) MacRae.

At first i read that Gordon was the trans. Thank goodness no cos he was hot.

In the gossipy "No Pickle, No Performance," by Harold J. Kennedy, writer, director and producer in theater, movies, and television, as well as friend to many stars, wrote that one night after an evening performance Tallulah Bankhead invited the entire cast of the play back to her apartment in Manhattan.

He relates, "One of my most vivid recollections of Tallulah is her sitting on the couch at the end of that evening after most of the guests had gone, holding court, stark naked, legs spread far apart, and giving the most brilliant scholarly discussion of the relative values of Orson's Falstaff and that of Maurice Evans . . . "

Wow, I see my old paperback is now worth at least $49.99.

R204, Ginger Rogers and her then husband, William Marshall, do not come off well in that book.

Neither does Renee Taylor, who inspired the book’s title.

R204 Burgess Meredith recounts in his memoir of being invited to a party by Tallulah Bankhead. She answered the door stark naked and spent the entire evening naked with nobody batting an eye. Maybe it was the same party.

r206, I can see Demi Moore cast in that role, Imagine the bush would require second billing.

[quote] Burgess Meredith recounts in his memoir of being invited to a party by Tallulah Bankhead. She answered the door stark naked

Tennessee Williams said that when he visited Tallulah, if she was telling a story and had to go to the bathroom, she’d make him come into the bathroom and sit on the edge of the tub while she finished her story on the toilet.

Tallulah had no boundaries!

I read a book about Tallulah back in the day. She liked being naked, but the author said that when she got older and nature began to take its toll, she'd leave her bra on and walk around bottomless.

Whaddya think, textbook case of Histrionic Personality Disorder?

"The man best known for toilet meetings was none other than President Lyndon B. Johnson. Historian Robert Dallek’s biography, Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1961-1973, describes Johnson’s “abuse of aides, shouting at them in public and calling them into the bathroom” while he sat on the toilet. In a C-SPAN appearance, Doris Kearns Goodwin described the bathroom meetings as “a matter of course, bizarre as it was.” "

Carol Matthau (who acted and wrote under the name Carol Grace) wrote a very sensitive memoir called “Among the Porcupines.”

She said Walter’s first wife was very uptight and shy. They initially lived in a shabby NYC apartment with a bathroom that was shared with other tenants in the hall.

Once Walter absolutely HAD to poop and the bathroom was occupied. So he did it in a paper bag, and wifeypoo trotted it down to the street to throw it away. But a mugger sped by and snatched the bag from her hands.

She returned to the apartment devastated - wondering WHAT the mugger would think of her. WHY would this woman be waking around with a bag of poop??

She was afraid he’d see her again some day and recognize her - SO embarrassing!

I went to a party that Tallulah Bankhead gave. My friend Julie said I had to be naked. I walked in and everybody gasped. I think it was the smell, to be honest.

My friend Julie is such a cunt!

R209, dahling, if you consult the DSM at your library you will still see my photo under the diagnosis, the only one in full color in the whole damned tome!

The actor Brian Cox in "Putting the Rabbit in the Hat":

I was teaching an English class at UCLA on "Othello," when I looked to my left and there was Eva Marie Saint. I couldn't help myself. I stopped. "I'm terribly sorry everybody, but I've just recognized one of your classmates, and I'm completely blown away by the fact that here I am giving a lecture and there is Eva Marie Saint sitting there." We actually became friends after that and stayed in touch for a while.

R211, LOL. Gives new meaning to "wifeypoo."

It is funny to think of the mugger opening the bag.

He stops in a shadowy alley to examine his score. What is in here?? Is it groceries? Is it dry cleaning? Is it… [bold][italic]AAAAAUUUUGGGHHHHH ! ! !

In 1960, JFK had settled on Stuart Symington as his running mate. Symington had been asked, and he had agreed. The announcement was to be made that evening.

Later that day, JFK was seen red faced coming out of a meeting with LBJ. He was heard to say "That goddamed son of a bitch!" That night, Johnson was announced as his running mate, leaving Symington wondering what the hell happened.

Seems J. Edgar Hoover gave LBJ access to some information about Kennedy, which he used to his advantage to get on the ticket.

Could have been all sorts R217 that man was a hound dog!

And what J Edgar had on JFK (plenty, going back to Inga Arvard and the early days of WWII) must have been better than what Kennedy had on LBJ.

LBJ was no slacker when it came to scoring. Cruder, no doubt, but what would you expect from a guy who named his dick “Jumbo” and showed it to men and women alike at the drop of a hat. Or rather, his zipper.

Was LBJ ever a looker?

R217, whose biography was that from?

Another Mitz story from her last interview. She would not allow her dancing boys to wear makeup. She said people assumed they were gay so wearing makeup just confirmed it. She wanted to keep the illusion that they were straight and had the hots for her when she flirted with them on stage.

“It is rumored that JFK and socialite Durie Malcolm eloped after a drunken party in Palm Beach in 1947. But John's father, Joseph P. Kennedy squashed the marriage and possibly even made the records disappear.”

Journalist Linda Ellerbee has lots of tidbits in her book And So It Goes. Perhaps my favorite is that the chapter on women in broadcast journalism is entitled “Leave It To Beaver”.

"Was LBJ ever a looker?"

No. He wasn't even cute as a baby! Seriously, here he is looking like a smug mofo who's got some dirt on you and is about to squeeze some voting blocs out of you, while still in diapers.

A memoir by Pia Zadora would really be something!

Lee Siegel in "The Draw" on working in a women's shoe store in a New Jersey mall in the late 70s:

The erotic atmosphere of buying and selling was a fill blown reality at Fit to Be Tied. Anthony, an Italian American with a muscular pot belly and perpetual stubble, and Patrick, Anthony's slight, handsome Irish American pal, sometimes had sex with customers in the stockroom in exchange for shoes. Women love shoes, Anthony said to me with a self-satisfied smile. Having sex with customers was part of the culture of the place. You should try it, Anthony said. I don't think anyone is interested in me, I said. We'll fix you up, he said. I told him I was shy. Shy? he repeated. The expression on his face was about to tip over into derisive disdain. They felt some high-minded disapproval in my demurral and could not tolerate it. Still, the sexual atmosphere was so present and so intense that I sometimes disappeared into the men's room to masturbate. Afterward I felt drained and exhausted. It was a while before I could look people in the eye while talking with them.

Suzanne Somers doesn't like dogs.

At the end of WW II director Billy Wilder was sent to Europe to make, under the command of Col. Bill Paley, the head of CBS, movies of the liberation of Dachau, Auschwitz and other concentration camps to be shown to the German population so they could no longer say they were ignorant of what was going on under Hitler's murderous regime. As was Hollywood practice, when the first cut was shown to sample audiences, they gave out comment cards for the German civilians watching to complete at the end of the showing.

At the end of the film the audience members in Berlin didn't complete and hand in even a single comment card, whether from shock, shame, or complicity about what they'd just seen.

But they stole all the pencils.

In Tim Reid's biography, he's open about the fact that he moved in with Della Reese as her kept man in the 1970s before he had success. Imagine plowing Della as your job.

R230, Dirk Benedict moved in with Gloria Swanson early in his career.

Dirk and Glo . . .

[quote] In Tim Reid's biography, he's open about the fact that he moved in with Della Reese as her kept man in the 1970s before he had success. Imagine plowing Della as your job.

Now, that's interesting Venus Flytrap from WKRP and Della Reese from Touched by an Angel.

[quote]Now, that's interesting Venus Flytrap from WKRP and Della Reese from Touched by an Angel.

It's from the book "Tim and Tom" (Tom is Tom Dreesen, they were best friends).

In the 60s and 70s, French singer Jean-Paul Vignon had an growing American audience. To promote his Las Vegas show, his manager suggested he pose for Playgirl magazine, which was just six months old. Jean-Paul saw other celebrities didn't go entirely full-frontal, so in order to dissuade his manager, Vignon said he would only do it if it was full-frontal. He thought the magazine would deny his request, so it would take the heat off of him.

His manager told him the magazine agreed to the idea, so Vignon was forced to do it. The shots were taken on the stage of a showroom in Vegas. The lights were blinding and he thought the photographer and he were alone. When the lights were turned off, Vignon saw that the waiters and waitresses were setting the tables for dinner, and that they saw him the entire time he was naked.

He was proud to say he was the first Playgirl centerfold who showed everything.

A second shot:

[quote]Now, that's interesting Venus Flytrap from WKRP and Della Reese from Touched by an Angel.

So Tim Reid was inappropriately touched by an angel?

R230, Hopefully, that was before Della crashed through that glass door and required hundreds of stitches.

Keith Richards did it with Marianne Faithful, too?

Gossip Columnist Liz Smith also had a Shelley Winters Christmas story:

[quote]Another one I met early on was a girl named Shelley Winters. Modern Screen assigned me to go around with her in New York while she bought Christmas presents. Every store we stepped into, Shelley would take these expensive things and head for the door. The shops were horrified, but they were afraid to ask her to pay. So I really disliked her after that.

[quote]r115 Some reviewers for the book on Amazon were turned off by how frequently Bebe Buell describes herself as beautiful, but the fact is, she really was!

Agreed. Of course Liv Tyler’s mom is going to be gorgeous. What else COULD she be?!

In Helena Rubenstein’s bio, she talks about bitter rival, Estée Lauder.

When someone told Estee that Elizabeth Arden’s thoroughbred had bitten the tip of her finger clean off while feeding him an apple, she said,

“Well, is the horse ok?”

I got Jack Valenti and Jack Gilardi mixed up. I thought Annette was married to that prick.