The
Golden Girls of MGM by Jane Ellen
Wayne
Carroll & Graf
January 2003 432 pp. 26.00
Copyright ©
Steven E. Alford
Early on in The Golden Girls of MGM, author Jane Ellen Wayne says that
“there were two prime interests in Hollywood: movies and gossip.” The same can
be said of this tattle-fest about the more sordid events in the lives of
Jeanette MacDonald, Norma Shearer, Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford,
Lana Turner, Judy Garland, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, and
other stars of the studio era in Hollywood.
Golden Girls devotes a
chapter each to these ladies, tracing their unhappy poor-and-anonymous origins
to their unhappy wealth and fame, which they achieved primarily either through
their spectacular appearance or the skill of MGM's beauty technicians and
lighting directors.
Two men loom large in these stories, Irving
Thalberg and Louis B. Mayer. They developed MGM into the premiere
Hollywood studio that for decades controlled the lives of their stars and,
perhaps equally important, the local police.
Wayne notes that “In its prime, MGM's empire consisted of 117 acres, 6 miles of
road for their 4,000 employees, 25 sound stages, a police force, hospital, fire
department, and their own telephone exchange. It was a kingdom with its own
rules and morals.”
One assumes Wayne is using the
term “morals” ironically.
Consider Ava Gardner's defense of
her own love life: “I married three exciting men, all very talented, and
fascinating to the ladies, and, I might add, vice versa. But it’s not all
entirely my fault, when you consider that my three husbands have had a
collection of twenty wives.”
Why the level of activity that
would make a colony of rabbits blush? The men wanted sex, and the women wanted a
Daddy. “How many MGM starlets were looking for a father figure? Lana, Ava,
Grace, Liz and Joan.” Indeed, it's depressing to read chapter after chapter of
young girls abused, abandoned, and otherwise mistreated by their biological
fathers, whose only refuge is a mother intent on turning the child into a meal
ticket.
The fear of and need for a father
may also account for the remarkable number of these gorgeous women who married
gay or bisexual men. L. B. Mayer himself sought to limit the number of gay
actors at MGM, given the difficulty of covering up their sexual orientation. The
most famous and well-liked, Billy Haines, was given a choice between his career
and his boyfriend. Haines chose love.
In addition to sex, alcohol and
drugs are on parade. Judy Garland's manager and beau, Sid Luft, “was fairly
successful in limiting her pill intake that had escalated to 25 amphetamines and
45 Ritalin a day.” Elizabeth Taylor's physical problems, many brought on by
substance abuse, resulted in health problems. By the time she hooked up with
Burton, she had had 27 operations “with more to follow.”
For anyone acquainted with
Hollywood and its stars, these stories will have the slightly tedious ring of
familiarity. Most everything in this volume, it seems, comes from already
published sources, but it's often difficult to tell. For example, Wayne claims
“Legend has it that Tracy did not divorce Louise because they were Catholic, but
the real reason was blaming himself for [their son] John's deafness.” This
important correction to the Tracy-Hepburn relationship may be true, but no
evidence is offered.
It's amusing to hear about
Richard Burton's romantic references to Liz immediately prior to their first
wedding (“Where is that fat little tart?”) and to discover that Katherine
Hepburn “took up to eight showers a day” However, 400 pages of questionably
sourced dirt on people not around to defend themselves grows tiresome.
In addition, the book is oddly
repetitive, suggesting that the chapters were written separately and never
compared. Here are two quotes, from two separate chapters. “L. B. Mayer was busy
with his racehorses and the courtship of a new young wife. Dore Schary was
brought in as production head to put MGM in the black again after a $6,500,000
deficit.” “L. B. Mayer … who was paying more attention to his racehorses and the
courting of his new young wife than MGM's $6,500,000 deficit.” This happens too
often, suggesting that either a revision or a more attentive editor would have
helped. (For comparison, look at Jeanine Basinger's excellent Silent Stars.)
Maybe this is mere carping to
those seeking deep dish. As Esther Williams said, “Romances with beautiful
leading men don't last forever, but don't knock it until you've had one.” For
those of us unlikely bed a movie star, The Golden Girls of MGM might be
diverting for an evening or three.