Entertainment plus as Gabor recaps her nine marriages and names apparently every man who ever slept with her—an epic list. Whatever her image as a high-fashion featherbrain relentlessly pursuing diamonds and fresh husbands, Gabor comes through as a lively storyteller with a fabulous life to disrobe, from her glorious deflowering at 15 by president of Turkey Kemal Ataturk to an alleged rape-through-extortion by Frank Sinatra. She avoids the zingers of her usual public humor and zeroes in on romance: ``Porfirio Rubirosa was machismo incarnate...We were like two children: pleasure-seeking, hedonistic, perhaps spoiled and selfish, but full of an unquenchable lust for life....'' Meanwhile, her true love, third husband George Sanders, burst through her French windows with two detectives. ``In shock, I jumped out of bed, forgetting that all I was wearing was my diamond earrings, and stood there, stark naked. George, who hadn't seen me in months, couldn't take his eyes off me. Rubi, also naked...locked himself in the bathroom.'' The trio left. ``Then Rubi came out of the bathroom, we made love, and I knew that, despite George, my passion for Rubi remained undimmed.'' Highlights amid the highlights include Greta Garbo coming on to young Gabor: ``Then she kissed me straight on the mouth. And I couldn't help kissing her back because she was so overwhelmingly strong and so beautiful.'' Turned down are Jack Kennedy, who chased her for years, Elvis, John Huston, Henry Fonda. Absolutely marvelous: Richard Burton. Superb: Sean Connery. Long-termers: Conrad Hilton, J. Paul Getty. Near miss (called to the White House at the penultimate moment): Henry Kissinger. Page after delicious page of a lifetime scorecard. The mind reels. (Thirty-two pages of b&w photographs—not seen.)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-385-29882-X
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1991
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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