Kirkus Reviews QR Code
NO MOTHER TO GUIDE HER by Anita Loos

NO MOTHER TO GUIDE HER

By

Pub Date: March 28th, 1961
Publisher: McGraw-Hill

Told by Elmer Bliss whose life is devoted to protecting the good reputation of Hollywood, this is his version of Viola Lake's life which deludedly denies her more lurid past. His view from Utopia, via the booster route, sees Viola, a star before TV, as innocent of drugs, marriage to a murderer, and divorce; his infatuation for her leads him into a ""prophylactic"" campaign to remove the smears from her name; and he is even able to be firm in the face of his Mom's dreadful anger. Though, in his myopic championship, he is the means of saving a murder's life, though, through his broadcasting, he becomes the ""Czar"" of the case and is able to stave off the effects of the trial on southern California's tourist trade -- he is left with an empty success for Viola walks out on him -- and proves Mom right. Here is his recall of the golden days of the moving picture -- in a deadpan distorting mirror where Miss Loos misses no chance to rig the background and the attitudes of the era. A spiked spoof.