COOPER'S WOMEN

by Jane Ellen Wayne ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 15, 1988

The author of Gable's Women and Crawford's Men now presents Gary Cooper's love life with an even more gossipy, sleazo style than that in the earlier two works, her text rarely troubled by shadows of reference. ""Many of [the stars'] happy and sad tales were related to me by old-timers, some of whom are no longer alive,"" Wayne tells us, as if to justify long dialogues passing as verbatim transcripts of--it turns out--scenes that no one could possibly know about. The sad part about this bask storytelling device of Wayne's--aside from the semi-steamy but dull content of her characters' chitchat--is not that she uses it more cavalierly than any other cele-biographer, but that even critical readers will find themselves picked up and carried along on pure fiction in a book posing as truth telling. In any event, the lip-licking scandal-mongering focuses on Coop's priapic powers and bed-hopping, wherein Wayne has found nothing new and mainly toted up the score-sheet on Coop from other biographies of Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly, Clara Bow, et al. It's Clara Bow who first called him ""Studs"" and told Hedda Hopper that ""Gary's hung like a horse and can go all night"" and is the only man who can satisfy her. Gary was a mama's boy but shocked even her with his well-publicized list of conquests before marriage. Meanwhile, he was a suspected bisexual and lived with a noted high-class gay for three years. After marriage to millionairess Veronia ""Rocky"" Balfe, his more famed passion-lovers included Ingrid Bergman and Patricia O'Neal--but even after one trial separation, he always went back to Rocky and his daughter Maria. Scissors and paste, paste, paste, paste, paste.

Pub Date: Nov. 15, 1988

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Prentice Hall Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1988

Categories: NONFICTION