DON'T FALL OFF THE MOUNTAIN

by Shirley MacLaine ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 26, 1970

Pleasantly and loosely written and all on her own -- which is the way Miss MacLaine does things -- an autobiography of the appealing gamine screen presence who turns out to be a very different kind of person altogether. Not that when young she wasn't given to the beau jest: leaving the limited gentility of her home in Virginia at eighteen, she went on to ballet dance on the road and in Swan Lake performed in a white tutu with her front teeth blacked out, smiling sanctimoniously from head to pointed toe. A little later understudying for Carol Haney in The Pajama Game she met Steve (""the world came alive"") and was picked up by Hal Wallis and was on the way. But Steve had to make his success in Japan and sent her back to Hollywood (""Go back and work"") and thus began the East-West marriage all staked out on the principle a woman first, a wife second, a mother third. In the last years Miss MacLaine has extended her personal boundaries traveling alone a great deal; she was the only one admitted to a little kingdom very high up in the Himalayas where karma was rudely jolted by a political blow-up and she had to make a fast and parlous getaway. Miss MacLaine has told her story (anyway part of it) in a way to both disarm and surprise.

Pub Date: Oct. 26, 1970

ISBN: 0393331342

Page Count: -

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1970

Categories: NONFICTION