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A Life of Barbara Stanwyck #1
A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907-1940
The first book in Victoria Wilson's two volumes of books on Barbara Stanwyck's life and career.
Frank Capra called her “The greatest emotional actress the screen has yet known.” She was one of its most natural, timeless, and underrated stars. Now, Victoria Wilson gives us the first full-scale life of Barbara Stanwyck, whose astonishing career in movies (eighty-eight in all) spanned four decades beginning with the coming of sound, and lasted in television from its infancy in the 1950s through the 1980s—a book that delves deeply into her rich, complex life and explores her extraordinary range of motion pictures, many of them iconic. Here is her work, her world, her Hollywood.
We see the quintessential Brooklyn girl whose family was in fact of old New England stock . . . her years in New York as a dancer and Broadway star . . . her fraught marriage to Frank Fay, Broadway genius, who influenced a generation of actors and comedians (among them, Jack Benny and Stanwyck herself ) . . . the adoption of a son, embattled from the outset; her partnership with the “unfunny” Marx brother, Zeppo, crucial in shaping the direction of her work, and who, together with his wife, formed a trio that created one of the finest horse-breeding farms in the west; her fairy-tale romance and marriage to the younger Robert Taylor, America’s most sought-after— and beautiful—male star.
Here is the shaping of her career with many of Hollywood’s most important among them, Frank Capra, “Wild Bill” William Wellman (“When you get beauty and brains together,” he said, “there’s no stopping the lucky girl who possesses them. The best example I can think of is Barbara”), King Vidor, Cecil B. De Mille, and Preston Sturges, all set against the times—the Depression, the New Deal, the rise of the unions, the advent of World War II—and a fast-changing, coming-of-age motion picture industry.
And here is Stanwyck’s evolution as an actress in the pictures she made from 1929 through the summer of 1940, where Volume One ends—from her first starring movie, The Locked Door (“An all-time low,” she said. “By then I was certain that Hollywood and I had nothing in common”); and Ladies of Leisure, the first of her six-picture collaboration with Frank Capra (“He sensed things that you were trying to keep hidden from people. He knew. He just knew”), to the scorching Baby Face, and the height of her screen perfection, beginning with Stella Dallas (“I was scared to death all the time we were making the picture”), from Clifford Odets’s Golden Boy and the epic Union Pacific to the first of her collaborations with Preston Sturges, who wrote Remember the Night, in which she starred.
And at the heart of the book, Stanwyck herself—her strengths, her fears, her frailties, her losses and desires; how she made use of the darkness in her soul in her work and kept it at bay in her private life, and finally, her transformation from shunned outsider to one of Hollywood’s—and America’s—most revered screen actresses.
Writing with the full cooperation of Stanwyck’s family and friends, and drawing on more than two hundred interviews with actors, directors, cameramen, screenwriters, costume designers, et al., as well as making use of letters, journals, and private papers, Victoria Wilson has brought this complex artist brilliantly alive. Her book is a revelation of the actor’s life and work.
“Wilson’s book is indeed a monument of research. . . . A Life of Barbara Stanwyck will unquestionably remain the biography of record; beyond Wilson’s excavation of so much that would otherwise have been lost, her book has a deep sensitivity to the seriousness and subtlety of Stanwyck’s craft. This is the biography not of a Hollywood phenomenon but of a serious artist.”
(Geoffrey O'Brien BookForum)
"Victoria Wilson's biography of Barbara Stanwyck is monumental in every sense. It is a sweeping and authoritative work, written with verve and with great empathy and relish for her subject. The author loves Barbara Stanwyck, but she is also shrewd about the actress's complexity and human limitations. Wilson knows all the facts, but she is never overwhelmed by them, and, throughout, she is smart about the films and about the history and business of Hollywood in the Golden Age. Not the least of her achievement is leaving the reader eager to read volume two."
(Foster Hirsch, author of The Dark Side of the Cinema; A Method to Their Madness and)
"I was blown away, absorbed, riveted. What great smooth style, what brilliance, what depth. I collect celebrity biographies and this one is transcendent. This is huge and wonderful and rich. What an achievement!"
(Anne Rice)
“What you have done is extraordinary. It is an amazing book, brilliantly written, enhancing the whole life, Barbara’s life, happenings around her—people of the industry, people in the theater and in politics. The way you have shown her life to include other ...
Frank Capra called her “The greatest emotional actress the screen has yet known.” She was one of its most natural, timeless, and underrated stars. Now, Victoria Wilson gives us the first full-scale life of Barbara Stanwyck, whose astonishing career in movies (eighty-eight in all) spanned four decades beginning with the coming of sound, and lasted in television from its infancy in the 1950s through the 1980s—a book that delves deeply into her rich, complex life and explores her extraordinary range of motion pictures, many of them iconic. Here is her work, her world, her Hollywood.
We see the quintessential Brooklyn girl whose family was in fact of old New England stock . . . her years in New York as a dancer and Broadway star . . . her fraught marriage to Frank Fay, Broadway genius, who influenced a generation of actors and comedians (among them, Jack Benny and Stanwyck herself ) . . . the adoption of a son, embattled from the outset; her partnership with the “unfunny” Marx brother, Zeppo, crucial in shaping the direction of her work, and who, together with his wife, formed a trio that created one of the finest horse-breeding farms in the west; her fairy-tale romance and marriage to the younger Robert Taylor, America’s most sought-after— and beautiful—male star.
Here is the shaping of her career with many of Hollywood’s most important among them, Frank Capra, “Wild Bill” William Wellman (“When you get beauty and brains together,” he said, “there’s no stopping the lucky girl who possesses them. The best example I can think of is Barbara”), King Vidor, Cecil B. De Mille, and Preston Sturges, all set against the times—the Depression, the New Deal, the rise of the unions, the advent of World War II—and a fast-changing, coming-of-age motion picture industry.
And here is Stanwyck’s evolution as an actress in the pictures she made from 1929 through the summer of 1940, where Volume One ends—from her first starring movie, The Locked Door (“An all-time low,” she said. “By then I was certain that Hollywood and I had nothing in common”); and Ladies of Leisure, the first of her six-picture collaboration with Frank Capra (“He sensed things that you were trying to keep hidden from people. He knew. He just knew”), to the scorching Baby Face, and the height of her screen perfection, beginning with Stella Dallas (“I was scared to death all the time we were making the picture”), from Clifford Odets’s Golden Boy and the epic Union Pacific to the first of her collaborations with Preston Sturges, who wrote Remember the Night, in which she starred.
And at the heart of the book, Stanwyck herself—her strengths, her fears, her frailties, her losses and desires; how she made use of the darkness in her soul in her work and kept it at bay in her private life, and finally, her transformation from shunned outsider to one of Hollywood’s—and America’s—most revered screen actresses.
Writing with the full cooperation of Stanwyck’s family and friends, and drawing on more than two hundred interviews with actors, directors, cameramen, screenwriters, costume designers, et al., as well as making use of letters, journals, and private papers, Victoria Wilson has brought this complex artist brilliantly alive. Her book is a revelation of the actor’s life and work.
“Wilson’s book is indeed a monument of research. . . . A Life of Barbara Stanwyck will unquestionably remain the biography of record; beyond Wilson’s excavation of so much that would otherwise have been lost, her book has a deep sensitivity to the seriousness and subtlety of Stanwyck’s craft. This is the biography not of a Hollywood phenomenon but of a serious artist.”
(Geoffrey O'Brien BookForum)
"Victoria Wilson's biography of Barbara Stanwyck is monumental in every sense. It is a sweeping and authoritative work, written with verve and with great empathy and relish for her subject. The author loves Barbara Stanwyck, but she is also shrewd about the actress's complexity and human limitations. Wilson knows all the facts, but she is never overwhelmed by them, and, throughout, she is smart about the films and about the history and business of Hollywood in the Golden Age. Not the least of her achievement is leaving the reader eager to read volume two."
(Foster Hirsch, author of The Dark Side of the Cinema; A Method to Their Madness and)
"I was blown away, absorbed, riveted. What great smooth style, what brilliance, what depth. I collect celebrity biographies and this one is transcendent. This is huge and wonderful and rich. What an achievement!"
(Anne Rice)
“What you have done is extraordinary. It is an amazing book, brilliantly written, enhancing the whole life, Barbara’s life, happenings around her—people of the industry, people in the theater and in politics. The way you have shown her life to include other ...
1044 pages, Hardcover
First published September 17, 2013
103 people are currently reading
1571 people want to read
About the author
Victoria Wilson
1 book33 followersVictoria Wilson is a vice president and senior editor at Alfred Knopf. She was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the US Commission on Civil Rights and has served on the boards of PEN American Center, the National Board Review of Motion Pictures, the Writing Program of the New School of Social Research, and Poets & Writers. She lives in New York City and upstate New York.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 142 reviews
February 6, 2014
Finally! Ugh, what a slog. I really, really wanted to like this book, since I love Barbara Stanwyck. But good lord, this book needs an editor. Or another editor. Or ten editors. It reads as though the author, literally, dug up every piece of minutiae ever published about Babs, her family, and anyone who ever associated with her peripherally or tertiarilly (fake word!) and then narrated it chronologically. Seriously, we don't need to know about movies she never made. We don't need the bio of a playwright who wrote one not-very-famous movie she did. We don't need every soundbite ever fabricated on her behalf in fan magazines. Throughout the deluge of unnecessary info, the book also veers between topics, with sections and even sentences barely related to each other at times. It really reminds me of essays I'd write in school where I was systematically going through sources, stripping out any useful stuff, and sticking it into paragraphs without much concern for how the entire thing flows. This is where that editor would come in.
It's too bad, since she deserves a book that doesn't make reader(s) want to throw it across the room. 860 pages, and she's barely 30 years old! If I start reading part two, whenever it arrives, please, somebody stop me!
It's too bad, since she deserves a book that doesn't make reader(s) want to throw it across the room. 860 pages, and she's barely 30 years old! If I start reading part two, whenever it arrives, please, somebody stop me!
January 5, 2021
I wish I could recommend this, I really do. Stanwyck fans have waited 15 years for this but for me it was monotonous and filled with non-essential information. Pages upon pages on scripts and plotlines of films Stanwyck never appeared in. Twice the plot & circumstances of the film Holiday were covered. Holiday which started Katharine Hepburn. Why? How could Stanwyck's life be so mundanely told ? For the Die-hard fan only who can sort thru 1,000 pages for the pearls. The fact that the author is a widely renown editor is shocking. perhaps she edits well other people's stuff but not her own.
February 18, 2014
I didn't finish. I was game to read it all, and only slightly daunted by the book's 1056-page length, because I think Barbara Stanwyck is an interesting figure and classic Hollywood is my jam. Perhaps the fact that I just finished reading the expertly written "The Entertainer" by Margaret Talbot made the wide gulf between this book and beautifully crafted prose all the more painful. This book needed a good edit -- a line-by-line edit, if you ask me.
Too often, sentences seem to be missing something.
Or they include way too much (none of it about Stanwyck).
Then on page 55, Ruby goes to “pictures such as…Sally, Irene, and Mary [starring] Constance Bennett, Sally O’Neil, and Joan Crawford.” Though no connection is made between that chorus girl Lucille LeSueur mentioned ten pages earlier and this movie star Joan Crawford, fans of old Hollywood will know that she is one and the same. Shouldn't that be mentioned here? Maybe there's a big reveal later, but I've lost patience.
Too often, sentences seem to be missing something.
Mabel and Harold Coehn, good friends of the Merkents’ who lived two blocks north of their home at 2586 Bedford and agreed to let Ruby live with them. (page 23)
Or they include way too much (none of it about Stanwyck).
Lucille LeSueur from San Antonio, Texas, with wide blue eyes, generous mouth, clean freckled face, and frizzy auburn hair, who danced in the chorus at Detroit’s Oracle Terrace for eight weeks and made “end girl,” was new in town, dancing at the Winter Garden in the Shubert musical Innocent Eyes, which starred Mistinguett, the unrivaled star of the French musical, who was making her debut in America at age forty-nine.(page 44)
Then on page 55, Ruby goes to “pictures such as…Sally, Irene, and Mary [starring] Constance Bennett, Sally O’Neil, and Joan Crawford.” Though no connection is made between that chorus girl Lucille LeSueur mentioned ten pages earlier and this movie star Joan Crawford, fans of old Hollywood will know that she is one and the same. Shouldn't that be mentioned here? Maybe there's a big reveal later, but I've lost patience.
February 10, 2014
Wow!!!! This is one of the most comprehensive biographies I think I've ever read - and this is only Volume One! Not only is this a compelling and thoroughly drawn portrait of the very private, inscrutable, often baffling but utterly fascinating Stanwyck, but it is also an in-depth look at the movie industry and the era that framed her early career. Sometimes the book goes a bit deep into the weeds and even gets a bit too dry and rote. (Spoilers below - so please do not read unless you don't mind that sort of thing.)
....................
And I can't help being a bit heartbroken to realize that a great many of my cinema heroes (Stanwyck, Taylor, and Frank Capra - FRANK CAPRA????) were arch conservatives and very anti-FDR. Finding out that my favorite golden age director who churned out such wonders as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, You Can't Take it With You, Lost Horizon, Meet John Doe and It's a Wonderful Life was an early admirer of Benito Mussolini and that Barbara, while friendly to the crew would think nothing of crossing picket lines and had no interest in willingly supporting the actor's union, was for me, a huge disappointment. Also sobering was her perplexing blind loyalty to her first husband Frank Fay, who was evidently all that and a bag of chips in his day but I can honestly say from the first description of him my hair stood on end and I was begging Stanwyck back through time to just. walk. away. Then there was the unsettling, ridgid and rather cool relationship beginning to form with her adopted son.
Of course, like everyone else on the planet, past, present and future, Barbara Stanwyck is a human being with flaws and foibles and her childhood experiences helped shaped her life and was instrumental in making her the great and disciplined actress and the often heartbreaking and somewhat damaged individual she was. She was also capable of great kindnesses and was the consummate professional. I cannot wait for Volume Two and the second half of this amazing woman's life!
....................
And I can't help being a bit heartbroken to realize that a great many of my cinema heroes (Stanwyck, Taylor, and Frank Capra - FRANK CAPRA????) were arch conservatives and very anti-FDR. Finding out that my favorite golden age director who churned out such wonders as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, You Can't Take it With You, Lost Horizon, Meet John Doe and It's a Wonderful Life was an early admirer of Benito Mussolini and that Barbara, while friendly to the crew would think nothing of crossing picket lines and had no interest in willingly supporting the actor's union, was for me, a huge disappointment. Also sobering was her perplexing blind loyalty to her first husband Frank Fay, who was evidently all that and a bag of chips in his day but I can honestly say from the first description of him my hair stood on end and I was begging Stanwyck back through time to just. walk. away. Then there was the unsettling, ridgid and rather cool relationship beginning to form with her adopted son.
Of course, like everyone else on the planet, past, present and future, Barbara Stanwyck is a human being with flaws and foibles and her childhood experiences helped shaped her life and was instrumental in making her the great and disciplined actress and the often heartbreaking and somewhat damaged individual she was. She was also capable of great kindnesses and was the consummate professional. I cannot wait for Volume Two and the second half of this amazing woman's life!
January 14, 2014
This book has a lot going for it. Stanwyck is a fascinating subject and it's about time she received the attention she deserves. There's a whole barrel full of information here to satisfy fans of classic Hollywood, and while lengthy, it's certainly quite readable.
That being said, Victoria Wilson, an editor at Alfred Knopf, has never written a book before, and whoever was in charge of this tome at Simon & Schuster seems to have assumed that she would have edited the book herself and that they didn't need to read it before they published it.
Contradictions, misspellings and simple factual errors are littered throughout. It boggles the mind. On Page 597, I reached my favorite error, in which Wilson writes that John Arnold, head of MGM's camera department in the 1930s, had "started cranking his camera back in 1903, when he worked for Thomas A. Edison, and had since shot more than a billion feet of film."
Shooting a billion feet of 35mm film at 24 fps would take over 1,200 years.
Another amazing error is her referring to the Production Code Administration by its correct name, and then later, in the same paragraph, referring to it as the Picture Code Association. There are many, many, many more, in addition to all the information that is repeated needlessly, as if the reader wouldn't remember from the page, or several paragraphs, before.
There's a lot to forgive here to get through this book. Whoever was the editor of this book at Simon & Schuster should really take a step back and consider a change of profession. This is readable and interesting, however, if you approach this as a first draft.
That being said, Victoria Wilson, an editor at Alfred Knopf, has never written a book before, and whoever was in charge of this tome at Simon & Schuster seems to have assumed that she would have edited the book herself and that they didn't need to read it before they published it.
Contradictions, misspellings and simple factual errors are littered throughout. It boggles the mind. On Page 597, I reached my favorite error, in which Wilson writes that John Arnold, head of MGM's camera department in the 1930s, had "started cranking his camera back in 1903, when he worked for Thomas A. Edison, and had since shot more than a billion feet of film."
Shooting a billion feet of 35mm film at 24 fps would take over 1,200 years.
Another amazing error is her referring to the Production Code Administration by its correct name, and then later, in the same paragraph, referring to it as the Picture Code Association. There are many, many, many more, in addition to all the information that is repeated needlessly, as if the reader wouldn't remember from the page, or several paragraphs, before.
There's a lot to forgive here to get through this book. Whoever was the editor of this book at Simon & Schuster should really take a step back and consider a change of profession. This is readable and interesting, however, if you approach this as a first draft.
July 1, 2019
Let my adoration for Stanwyck remain untested. I anticipated this biography, bought it the first day, delighted to begin reading. But the lengthy digressions that pad this biography assume that the reader knows nothing about Hollywood. Do we need a whole disquisition on Capra's career unrelated to Stanwyck? I think not.
I'm still going to slog through this, but only because of my allegiance to Stanwyck. The fact it's been on my "currently reading" list for 18 months is not a good sign.
As a classic-movie-loving friend commented to me: "900 pages? She's not Churchill, you know!" And that in sum is why I dislike Wilson's (over)treatment, for it's Stanwyck's reputation that suffers, not Wilson's. Try Madsen or Lambert's biographies instead. Read this only if you have never heard the word Hollywood before in your life.
I'm still going to slog through this, but only because of my allegiance to Stanwyck. The fact it's been on my "currently reading" list for 18 months is not a good sign.
As a classic-movie-loving friend commented to me: "900 pages? She's not Churchill, you know!" And that in sum is why I dislike Wilson's (over)treatment, for it's Stanwyck's reputation that suffers, not Wilson's. Try Madsen or Lambert's biographies instead. Read this only if you have never heard the word Hollywood before in your life.
December 19, 2013
About halfway through this one and it's getting to be a slog. There are seemingly endless digressions in which we learn things that have nothing to do with Stanwyck; I think I now know, for instance, what every single person in Hollywood was getting paid at any given time. There are diversions to everyone from Mae Clarke to John Ford, with endless details about what they were all up to, until we eventually swerve back to Stanwyck in what feels almost like an "oh, yeah, meanwhile back at the ranch" kind of way.
I'm starting to skim. A lot.
Okay, finished, and sadly my opinion is unchanged. I skimmed A LOT towards the end after getting stories repeated, detailed synopsies of films Stanywck was going to be in but wasn't, tales of other actresses and their journeys to stardom, etc etc etc. This book is quite the doorstop, and it doesn't have to be. There's also some weird writing... it's not always clear what the writer means because her sentence structure is sometimes peculiar. So it's not clear is she's just mistaken about when, for instance, the big search for Scarlett O'Hara was taking place, or whether it's just worded oddly.
Some interesting stuff about Stanwyck's early life, especially. Most of Stanwyck's actual later quotes seem to be taken from fan magazines, so it's debatable whether she actually said all or any of them -- they're written in that flowery fan-magazine way in which no real human speaks, so my guess would be that someone else wrote the quotes, as happens with fan mags.
All in all, interesting enough to get me to the end of the book, but I'm not sure I'll pick up the next one... wading through this much extraneous detail did me in.
I'm starting to skim. A lot.
Okay, finished, and sadly my opinion is unchanged. I skimmed A LOT towards the end after getting stories repeated, detailed synopsies of films Stanywck was going to be in but wasn't, tales of other actresses and their journeys to stardom, etc etc etc. This book is quite the doorstop, and it doesn't have to be. There's also some weird writing... it's not always clear what the writer means because her sentence structure is sometimes peculiar. So it's not clear is she's just mistaken about when, for instance, the big search for Scarlett O'Hara was taking place, or whether it's just worded oddly.
Some interesting stuff about Stanwyck's early life, especially. Most of Stanwyck's actual later quotes seem to be taken from fan magazines, so it's debatable whether she actually said all or any of them -- they're written in that flowery fan-magazine way in which no real human speaks, so my guess would be that someone else wrote the quotes, as happens with fan mags.
All in all, interesting enough to get me to the end of the book, but I'm not sure I'll pick up the next one... wading through this much extraneous detail did me in.
December 31, 2020
Let me start by saying I ADORE Barbara Stanwyck and am currently on a mission to read every biography and book written about her. I'm slowly making my way through watching all of her movies -- she has a lot, so it'll probably take some time -- and I simply want to know more about one of my new favorite Old Hollywood actresses.
I've read a lot of history and biography books in my past. I'm not scared to read a thick book, even if it does have a lot of background information that doesn't necessarily feel as relevant. To me, it's almost like it helps frame the world and the time that I'm reading about.
But for the life of me, I couldn't manage to truly get into this book and had to shelve it by 100 pages. It's 800+ pages, and I was down to finish it all. But I just can't.
A lot of other reviewers have the same thoughts as me: there's a lot of specific background information that doesn't need to be there about people that are in NO WAY connected to Barbara Stanwyck (I kept waiting for them to reappear... only for them never to), and there are instances where it greatly needed to be edited (bad sentences, missing words, etc). I also realized that there were weird instances early on where Ruby (Stanwyck's real name) would be switched to Barbara for only one paragraph, only to then again be called Ruby not soon after. What's the point in using two names unpredictably?
There were just too many inconsistencies. For example, close reading would find that Millie (Stanwyck's older sister) is said to be married before she really took off in acting/dancing. But two to three pages later, there's a paragraph about how she's engaged to a man. Did she get divorced? Is there a mix up in dates? A paragraph or sentence excluded/not included that would accurately explain this?
I fully think this could've been a WONDERFUL biography, as the writer very clearly did extensive research on Stanwyck, and I in no way want to disregard that. That's amazing and incredibly hard work that takes SO much time! I just feel she could've used a better editor who could've helped trim this down, line edit, and check dates/timelines.
I've read a lot of history and biography books in my past. I'm not scared to read a thick book, even if it does have a lot of background information that doesn't necessarily feel as relevant. To me, it's almost like it helps frame the world and the time that I'm reading about.
But for the life of me, I couldn't manage to truly get into this book and had to shelve it by 100 pages. It's 800+ pages, and I was down to finish it all. But I just can't.
A lot of other reviewers have the same thoughts as me: there's a lot of specific background information that doesn't need to be there about people that are in NO WAY connected to Barbara Stanwyck (I kept waiting for them to reappear... only for them never to), and there are instances where it greatly needed to be edited (bad sentences, missing words, etc). I also realized that there were weird instances early on where Ruby (Stanwyck's real name) would be switched to Barbara for only one paragraph, only to then again be called Ruby not soon after. What's the point in using two names unpredictably?
There were just too many inconsistencies. For example, close reading would find that Millie (Stanwyck's older sister) is said to be married before she really took off in acting/dancing. But two to three pages later, there's a paragraph about how she's engaged to a man. Did she get divorced? Is there a mix up in dates? A paragraph or sentence excluded/not included that would accurately explain this?
I fully think this could've been a WONDERFUL biography, as the writer very clearly did extensive research on Stanwyck, and I in no way want to disregard that. That's amazing and incredibly hard work that takes SO much time! I just feel she could've used a better editor who could've helped trim this down, line edit, and check dates/timelines.
November 14, 2017
If you read this book be prepared to skip - a lot. It's a long hard slog. There is a lot of material on Stanwyck's movies and contemporaries - even the ones that played no part in her life - and pretty much no examination of her personality or motivations. It is a film history centered around one person's accomplishments rather than a biography. All of which would be fine if it was advertised appropriately and if Wilson were a more fluid writer. Unfortunately her timelines are messy, she goes back and forth for the sake of a person who appears for 300 words and never appears again, she interchanges stage names with real names confusingly, makes small errors and and goes off on unrelated tangents. All of which make this an unenjoyable read. It's too bad, Stanwyck deserves a great biography.
October 17, 2013
I received A Life of Barbara Stanwyck as part of a Goodreads giveaway.
This first volume tells the tale of the first 33 years of Stanwyck's life. At nearly 900 pages, Wilson's research is broad and deep, and very impressive. The book begins with a brief family history, then moves into an account of her childhood--essentially an orphan, she was bounced between the homes of her older siblings and family friends. As a young teen, she got her start on the New York stage, gaining a reputation as a skilled stage actress before making the jump to Hollywood. In the midst of all this, the book explores her personal relationships: her first abusive marriage to stage performer Frank Fay, the adoption of their son Dion, her tumultuous divorce, and her second marriage to heartthrob Robert Taylor, not to mention her friendships and working relationships with Frank Capra, Zeppo Marx, and others.
Great research aside, I think there's something to be said for a good editor. To be honest, I'm not an expert on or aficionado of Stanwyck or Old Hollywood in general, so I came into this book as a relative novice. I think too much time was spent in long drawn-out explanations of the backstories and plots of her various films (as well as those of her two husbands, Frank Fay and Robert Taylor). At times, I felt the thread of the narrative--Stanwyck's life--kept getting lost.
Finally, the more I read, the more I just didn't like Stanwyck herself--for example, her refusal to receive a lower salary during the Great Depression--I'll grant she had a case by the letter of the law (her contract), but when behind-the-scenes laborers were getting their much smaller salaries cut dramatically, it came off as a bit diva-like and greedy to me. Also, I wasn't particularly impressed by her treatment of her son Dion. I'm guessing that the second volume will include more on their relationship, but sending a six year old to military school because he's plump doesn't give the best early impression.
While I give Wilson credit for the pure amount of information she has found, organized, and disseminated, this one just didn't grab me. Fans of Stanwyck or of this era of Hollywood cinema may very well disagree, however.
This first volume tells the tale of the first 33 years of Stanwyck's life. At nearly 900 pages, Wilson's research is broad and deep, and very impressive. The book begins with a brief family history, then moves into an account of her childhood--essentially an orphan, she was bounced between the homes of her older siblings and family friends. As a young teen, she got her start on the New York stage, gaining a reputation as a skilled stage actress before making the jump to Hollywood. In the midst of all this, the book explores her personal relationships: her first abusive marriage to stage performer Frank Fay, the adoption of their son Dion, her tumultuous divorce, and her second marriage to heartthrob Robert Taylor, not to mention her friendships and working relationships with Frank Capra, Zeppo Marx, and others.
Great research aside, I think there's something to be said for a good editor. To be honest, I'm not an expert on or aficionado of Stanwyck or Old Hollywood in general, so I came into this book as a relative novice. I think too much time was spent in long drawn-out explanations of the backstories and plots of her various films (as well as those of her two husbands, Frank Fay and Robert Taylor). At times, I felt the thread of the narrative--Stanwyck's life--kept getting lost.
Finally, the more I read, the more I just didn't like Stanwyck herself--for example, her refusal to receive a lower salary during the Great Depression--I'll grant she had a case by the letter of the law (her contract), but when behind-the-scenes laborers were getting their much smaller salaries cut dramatically, it came off as a bit diva-like and greedy to me. Also, I wasn't particularly impressed by her treatment of her son Dion. I'm guessing that the second volume will include more on their relationship, but sending a six year old to military school because he's plump doesn't give the best early impression.
While I give Wilson credit for the pure amount of information she has found, organized, and disseminated, this one just didn't grab me. Fans of Stanwyck or of this era of Hollywood cinema may very well disagree, however.
March 19, 2014
I love Stanwyck and wanted to love this book. I didn't. Stanwyck's life is drowned in the details that the author added for context. It would seem people who breathed in Stanwyck's vicinity get a paragraph or three. While it is quite obvious the book was a labor of love, it was a labor to read and really needed a machete to edit it down to the subject at hand.
January 4, 2016
What's odd is a senior editor at Knopf (and Vice President) would have such uneven editing. I get it the book is huge and took 15 years (makes you rather wonder how much longer it will be until the second volume comes out) but something like this, which is a Proustian labor of love, needs to have careful readings. Careful readings preferably by someone who is familiar with old movies.
This book is on Barbara Stanwyck, but might be more honest to be titled The World of Barbara Stanwyck, since there are many digressions and precis of most of the people she worked with/the studios, so it's a rich background for what was going on in her life during those 33 years. Sometimes, this overreaches. There are several pages for example of the Simpson/King scandal that are pretty much unnecessary. The author ties it in with Stanwyck because of one quote saying Robert Taylor was in the news almost as much as the King was. The book itself almost seems to be like a Wikipedia blackhole, where you start off looking up one thing and then next you know an hour has gone by and you are on a totally different topic. You can feel the author forcing themselves back on track at times, which is where the imperfect editing comes into play. A lot of the paragraphs at parts seem to not be in the right order for example.
I think this could work, and the book has moments of brilliance--where it does suck you in with the minutia and Stanwyck is a great actress to be in the center of such a book, since how she set up contracts had her working at almost every studio, with every major director and actor. And she is a fantastic actress, in my opinion the best ever--she was able to do comedy and drama with equal flair and she easily passes my other personal test--able to be evil (Double Indemnity among others) and good (Stella Dallas/the Capra films) with equal breathtaking performances. Besides being an interesting actress, she was an interesting person too.
A survivor of rape (her brother-in-law's brother), whose own sister shrugged it off, an orphan basically abandoned by her family, a rapid rise from chorus girl to leading lady, a battered wife (the Frank Fay years), to bonafide movie star marrying the most popular actor of the day (Robert Taylor), which is when this book ends. The book never really analyzes anything though. How did she react to her sister's "eh" reaction to the rape? Did she continue to support them (the book seems to indicate yes), did it strain family relations in the future? The book opened up a number of questions which I posed on a fan site, so let's see if they get answered:
1) Did Barbara ever reconnect with Mae Clarke? It seemed pretty crappy how she dropped her friendship when she went to Hollywood.
2) Anyone else think the relationship she had with women was a little whitewashed in the book? It was never even mentioned at all, though I guess you could read between the lines a bit.
3) Al Jolson attacking and burning Barbara with his cigar backstage until she passed out from the pain. Later on they wind up at same studio and next door neighbors. Did nothing come from that? Did they socialize?
4) George Brent! I have never EVER heard this before. Any validity? “cold, black Irishman and a predator with women”
The book also for example has a fondness of referring to famous people like Joan Crawford as Lucille LeSeuer, but not mentioning the later name change. Only film fans would probably know that Rita Casino changed her name to Rita Hayworth. But if you look at the index in the back (thank heavens a book of this size has one), you'll see Crawford, Joan entries and LeSeuer, Lucille ones. And yeah, there is NO mention of a Joan/Barbara romance, whatsoever even though Stanwyck's secretary is on record saying there was one and there a large number of Crawford confidants with same quotes.
There is actually zero mentions of any female liasons in the book with Stanwyck, which is again odd, considering her reputation (the biggest star in the closet after Rock Hudson). There are parts that seem to hint, like in the 20s as a chorus girl she only wore a riding outfit in her personal life, because that was the only way you could get away with pants and several quotes saying she was only seen with women in public, never men. It is to the point where one begins to wonder if the author has an agenda--even if after her 15 years of research into Stanwyck, you would think she would at least address the rumors and reports but it's not mentioned at all in this 1,000 book.
Still a hefty addition to anyone's film library and I'm glad I got it in hardback and will get the second volume when it's released.
This book is on Barbara Stanwyck, but might be more honest to be titled The World of Barbara Stanwyck, since there are many digressions and precis of most of the people she worked with/the studios, so it's a rich background for what was going on in her life during those 33 years. Sometimes, this overreaches. There are several pages for example of the Simpson/King scandal that are pretty much unnecessary. The author ties it in with Stanwyck because of one quote saying Robert Taylor was in the news almost as much as the King was. The book itself almost seems to be like a Wikipedia blackhole, where you start off looking up one thing and then next you know an hour has gone by and you are on a totally different topic. You can feel the author forcing themselves back on track at times, which is where the imperfect editing comes into play. A lot of the paragraphs at parts seem to not be in the right order for example.
I think this could work, and the book has moments of brilliance--where it does suck you in with the minutia and Stanwyck is a great actress to be in the center of such a book, since how she set up contracts had her working at almost every studio, with every major director and actor. And she is a fantastic actress, in my opinion the best ever--she was able to do comedy and drama with equal flair and she easily passes my other personal test--able to be evil (Double Indemnity among others) and good (Stella Dallas/the Capra films) with equal breathtaking performances. Besides being an interesting actress, she was an interesting person too.
A survivor of rape (her brother-in-law's brother), whose own sister shrugged it off, an orphan basically abandoned by her family, a rapid rise from chorus girl to leading lady, a battered wife (the Frank Fay years), to bonafide movie star marrying the most popular actor of the day (Robert Taylor), which is when this book ends. The book never really analyzes anything though. How did she react to her sister's "eh" reaction to the rape? Did she continue to support them (the book seems to indicate yes), did it strain family relations in the future? The book opened up a number of questions which I posed on a fan site, so let's see if they get answered:
1) Did Barbara ever reconnect with Mae Clarke? It seemed pretty crappy how she dropped her friendship when she went to Hollywood.
2) Anyone else think the relationship she had with women was a little whitewashed in the book? It was never even mentioned at all, though I guess you could read between the lines a bit.
3) Al Jolson attacking and burning Barbara with his cigar backstage until she passed out from the pain. Later on they wind up at same studio and next door neighbors. Did nothing come from that? Did they socialize?
4) George Brent! I have never EVER heard this before. Any validity? “cold, black Irishman and a predator with women”
The book also for example has a fondness of referring to famous people like Joan Crawford as Lucille LeSeuer, but not mentioning the later name change. Only film fans would probably know that Rita Casino changed her name to Rita Hayworth. But if you look at the index in the back (thank heavens a book of this size has one), you'll see Crawford, Joan entries and LeSeuer, Lucille ones. And yeah, there is NO mention of a Joan/Barbara romance, whatsoever even though Stanwyck's secretary is on record saying there was one and there a large number of Crawford confidants with same quotes.
There is actually zero mentions of any female liasons in the book with Stanwyck, which is again odd, considering her reputation (the biggest star in the closet after Rock Hudson). There are parts that seem to hint, like in the 20s as a chorus girl she only wore a riding outfit in her personal life, because that was the only way you could get away with pants and several quotes saying she was only seen with women in public, never men. It is to the point where one begins to wonder if the author has an agenda--even if after her 15 years of research into Stanwyck, you would think she would at least address the rumors and reports but it's not mentioned at all in this 1,000 book.
Still a hefty addition to anyone's film library and I'm glad I got it in hardback and will get the second volume when it's released.
August 18, 2015
This book is so over-inflated. I should've taken heed from the other reviews about it. And since this book is only the first section of a multi-volume bio, it did not even cover my favorite Stanwyck movies. Oh, gawd!
It is so problematic to write a bio on a celebrity; it's even more challenging to write something on a celebrity who guarded her privacy with an iron grip.
But here we have this book's author, VP and Sr. Ed at Knopf, and she is publishing through Simon and Schuster. What's going on there? And obviously, given her title, no one had the guts to say to her, "Lady, your book is full of unnecessary crap. Trim it down," because Ms. VP Sr. Ed wouldn't like hearing it. She'd probably fire anyone who would dare mention the idea. Granted, I understand how much time and research was put into this, and how maybe a bajillion people assisted our well-connected author in her search for information.
But here I am, fan of Barbara Stanwyck, still wanting to know MORE about her--and this is ridiculous seeing that this biography is OVER a Thousand pages Long. The true glimmers of interest are obscured by random passing comments on what the Entirety of Hollywood was doing during these events in Barbara Stanwyck's life. I want to read something better-written.
It is so problematic to write a bio on a celebrity; it's even more challenging to write something on a celebrity who guarded her privacy with an iron grip.
But here we have this book's author, VP and Sr. Ed at Knopf, and she is publishing through Simon and Schuster. What's going on there? And obviously, given her title, no one had the guts to say to her, "Lady, your book is full of unnecessary crap. Trim it down," because Ms. VP Sr. Ed wouldn't like hearing it. She'd probably fire anyone who would dare mention the idea. Granted, I understand how much time and research was put into this, and how maybe a bajillion people assisted our well-connected author in her search for information.
But here I am, fan of Barbara Stanwyck, still wanting to know MORE about her--and this is ridiculous seeing that this biography is OVER a Thousand pages Long. The true glimmers of interest are obscured by random passing comments on what the Entirety of Hollywood was doing during these events in Barbara Stanwyck's life. I want to read something better-written.
March 5, 2014
This is a remarkably compelling, detailed and well-researched portrait of a Hollywood legend, filled with fascinating insider knowledge. Barbara Stanwyck was not a typical starlet, a fact that makes her story all the more intriguing. She came across as a strong, feisty, independent woman decades before it was fashionable for a female to display such qualities. Victoria Wilson delves into Stanwyck's background exploring her tragic childhood in which the future star learned to fight on the streets of Brooklyn in order to survive, after being virtually orphaned.
Her career in films is carefully documented and the the golden age of Hollywood is vividly brought to life through the experiences of Stanwyck herself, and her colleagues. The book is very well-written with insight, history and quotes from Stanwyck and those who knew her, seamlessly woven together in a well-paced and engaging bio that draws the reader in and holds their attention, which is rare for such a thorough and in-depth biography.
I highly recommend this book to fans of Barbara Stanwyck and to classic film enthusiasts.
Her career in films is carefully documented and the the golden age of Hollywood is vividly brought to life through the experiences of Stanwyck herself, and her colleagues. The book is very well-written with insight, history and quotes from Stanwyck and those who knew her, seamlessly woven together in a well-paced and engaging bio that draws the reader in and holds their attention, which is rare for such a thorough and in-depth biography.
I highly recommend this book to fans of Barbara Stanwyck and to classic film enthusiasts.
March 11, 2019
4.5 out of 5
I greatly enjoyed this book! I read it three days straight, totally immersed in the early life of one of my favorite actresses. The author does a fine job of providing insights into the character of Barbara, and also a masterful job describing the early days of cinema. I found myself going to Google constantly to learn more about some of these now forgotten movers and shakers of movie history.
I did not give the book 5 stars because:
1. Some of the detail was excessive and unnecessary. Do I really care about the life of the architect who built Barbara’s house? Um... NO.
2. Sometimes the narrative seemed a bit choppy, and bits of information were suddenly thrown in out of context, leaving me shaking my head and saying, ‘huh?’
3. I realize this is meant to be a two voume study of Barbara’s life and the author had to end part one at some point, but I was surprised by the abrupt ending of the first volume.
In spite of this, I loved the book and am eagerly awaiting the second volume. But for Pete's Sake, it has already been five years since the first volume was published. How long do we have to wait?!
I greatly enjoyed this book! I read it three days straight, totally immersed in the early life of one of my favorite actresses. The author does a fine job of providing insights into the character of Barbara, and also a masterful job describing the early days of cinema. I found myself going to Google constantly to learn more about some of these now forgotten movers and shakers of movie history.
I did not give the book 5 stars because:
1. Some of the detail was excessive and unnecessary. Do I really care about the life of the architect who built Barbara’s house? Um... NO.
2. Sometimes the narrative seemed a bit choppy, and bits of information were suddenly thrown in out of context, leaving me shaking my head and saying, ‘huh?’
3. I realize this is meant to be a two voume study of Barbara’s life and the author had to end part one at some point, but I was surprised by the abrupt ending of the first volume.
In spite of this, I loved the book and am eagerly awaiting the second volume. But for Pete's Sake, it has already been five years since the first volume was published. How long do we have to wait?!
March 4, 2014
This ginormous book about Barbara Stanwyck ends abruptly with a speech delivered by Joel McCrae in the film Foreign Correspondent, a movie in which Barbara did not appear. It was typical of this book. The author did a tremendous amount of research, and just couldn't leave anything out. There's a lot of interesting material here, but it got buried in the lists of movies, plays, actors, etc. There were things that might have gotten more attention, such as just how she got into all thst trouble with the IRS. All in all, I can't recommend this book. What a shame. I always liked Stanwyck.
February 1, 2014
http://xoxoxoe.blogspot.com/2014/01/b...
"Barbara Stanwyck and her career is certainly worthy of biography. One just wishes that she and her films could have been approached in a more critical and more concise manner."
"Barbara Stanwyck and her career is certainly worthy of biography. One just wishes that she and her films could have been approached in a more critical and more concise manner."
March 22, 2014
A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907-1940 by Victoria Wilson is an amazing work. 1,000 pages-860 pages of narrative-and this is only part one. I have been a huge fan of Barbara Stanwyck since I was 16 and in a small way this is a dream come true for me. The book tracks Stanwyck's life from her sad childhood-her mother killed in a trolley accident when Ruby Stevens (Stanwyck's original name) was four years old and her father's subsequent desertion to the sea, young Ruby's many childhood homes and early work career, her determination and will and work on the New York stage, her ill-fated marriage to the mercurial (alcoholic) Frank Fay, her film stardom, her abuse and Fay's hands and final divorce, her adoption of son Dion and her re-marriage to younger film star Robert Taylor. Along with all this is a fascinating history of the New York theater and the film industry.
I am exhausted but excited at the prospect of another volume. However, despite the enormous quantity of information, Stanwyck remains a stranger. I have no sense of knowing her any better now than I did before. I have a wealth of information filling out the outline that I did have and as a theater and movie lover I loved learning more about each but Stanwyck the woman remains elusive. Seen as warm and cold, tough and vulnerable, always talented and amazingly professional, she remains a celluloid image to me.
Maybe being a star does that to people. Maybe Stanwyck the woman became so identified with Stanwyck the actress that there was no more to be known about her than what we see in her work. But I wish I had a little more sense of her than I do.
I will, however, be running to get the next volume as soon as it appears. And the pictures are wonderful.
I am exhausted but excited at the prospect of another volume. However, despite the enormous quantity of information, Stanwyck remains a stranger. I have no sense of knowing her any better now than I did before. I have a wealth of information filling out the outline that I did have and as a theater and movie lover I loved learning more about each but Stanwyck the woman remains elusive. Seen as warm and cold, tough and vulnerable, always talented and amazingly professional, she remains a celluloid image to me.
Maybe being a star does that to people. Maybe Stanwyck the woman became so identified with Stanwyck the actress that there was no more to be known about her than what we see in her work. But I wish I had a little more sense of her than I do.
I will, however, be running to get the next volume as soon as it appears. And the pictures are wonderful.
November 7, 2013
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
In the 1930s, Hollywood was essentially the world's most glamorous factory town, Actors and actresses would be hired by the major studios (MGM, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, ect) and make pictures. Barbara Stanwyck was one of those actors, and became revered for her emotional honesty and toughness. Stanwyck's toughness was not an act, she grew up in Brooklyn New York and was a chorus girl by the age of 15.
Victoria Wilson's book expertly explores the first half of Barbara's life, from her days a Ziegfield girl, to her Broadway and motion picture stardom and her abusive relationship with Frank Fay. Wilson also gives a compelling snapshot of Hollywood during the 30s, making it come alive. Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, and Joan Crawford come alive.
The book is long, and almost becomes a biography of Robert Taylor in the last half, but Taylor's story ultimately serves the narrative.
This is not just a book about an old actress, it is a story of an American industry in its infancy. If you are a student of American History, you should check this book out.
In the 1930s, Hollywood was essentially the world's most glamorous factory town, Actors and actresses would be hired by the major studios (MGM, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, ect) and make pictures. Barbara Stanwyck was one of those actors, and became revered for her emotional honesty and toughness. Stanwyck's toughness was not an act, she grew up in Brooklyn New York and was a chorus girl by the age of 15.
Victoria Wilson's book expertly explores the first half of Barbara's life, from her days a Ziegfield girl, to her Broadway and motion picture stardom and her abusive relationship with Frank Fay. Wilson also gives a compelling snapshot of Hollywood during the 30s, making it come alive. Clark Gable, Carole Lombard, and Joan Crawford come alive.
The book is long, and almost becomes a biography of Robert Taylor in the last half, but Taylor's story ultimately serves the narrative.
This is not just a book about an old actress, it is a story of an American industry in its infancy. If you are a student of American History, you should check this book out.
May 3, 2022
There are very few hills I'm willing to die on, but one of them is that Barbara Stanwyck is the greatest actress America has produced. But I don't know a lot about her life story, so I was excited to dive into this volume, knowing only that it covered the first part of her life.
And boy howdy was I disappointed--even more than when I got a German chocolate cake for my seventh birthday party. I only made it through the first 100 pages or so -- and I NEVER give up on a book once I've begun. Until today, that is.
This book is an utter mess. "Rambling" doesn't do justice to Wilson's lack of focus; "superfluous" can't begin to describe the page after page of irrelevant and unnecessary material here. And the ridiculous thing about it is, Wilson is an editor -- AN EDITOR! -- at Knopf. Physician, heal thyself.
Avoid this book at all costs. And go watch "Double Indemnity," "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers," "Stella Dallas," and "The Lady Eve" instead.
And boy howdy was I disappointed--even more than when I got a German chocolate cake for my seventh birthday party. I only made it through the first 100 pages or so -- and I NEVER give up on a book once I've begun. Until today, that is.
This book is an utter mess. "Rambling" doesn't do justice to Wilson's lack of focus; "superfluous" can't begin to describe the page after page of irrelevant and unnecessary material here. And the ridiculous thing about it is, Wilson is an editor -- AN EDITOR! -- at Knopf. Physician, heal thyself.
Avoid this book at all costs. And go watch "Double Indemnity," "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers," "Stella Dallas," and "The Lady Eve" instead.
February 1, 2016
This thing. Well done. Combination Stanwyck bio, history of an industry, history of an era. Stanwyck is used almost as a case study instead of just another bio subject. So good at making a life happen in context instead of in a pile of interviews/letters/diner receipts. Assumes you'd like information without assuming you're either ignorant or already well-versed - a difficult tightrope for a biographer. That's the reason it's 860 pages long, but that's also the reason they're 860 pages without a lull.
January 7, 2014
Very detailed... And not in a good way
August 15, 2022
Victoria Wilson’s classic biography A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel True (1907-1940) is a gift for film fans. Exhaustively researched, the book is an epic-yet-intimate portrait of one of Hollywood’s most iconic stars, Barbara Stanwyck.
Yes, at 860 pages, the book is quite an undertaking in its length, but it’s so well written: you soon realize that this biography is a page-turner.
Wilson is up to the challenge of covering the complex topic of Stanwyck’s life
And what a fascinating life.
This first volume expertly takes its time in exploring her troubled childhood, hard-fought Broadway career and trailblazing entry into film.
Orphaned at an early age, Stanwyck grew up with a fiery independence and drive that fueled her ambition to become a dancer, and soon-after, an actor. But it was that inner strength layered with a vulnerable fragility that made her such a compelling actor for audiences to see and immediately made her a success in her first professional acting role on Broadway.
Director Frank Capra, who worked with Stanwyck in her early film roles, saw this unique combination of strength and vulnerability and worked with Stanwyck to bring that unique persona into her roles, particularly in early films like LADIES OF LEISURE and THE MIRACLE WOMAN.
As an actor, Stanwyck never gave the impression you were watching a performance. She was truthful and authentic, which made a huge impression on critics and audiences.
Wilson also carefully explores the people and relationships that came into Stanwyck’s life. Her early collaborations with Capra and William Wellman; her early abusive marriage to comedian Frank Fay; and her second marriage to actor Robert Taylor.
This classic first volume covers the first half of her life through the year 1940. Wilson covers a lot of ground in her writing and one can sense the huge amount of research and work she put into the book.
In addition to her role as writer, Wilson is also her own editor. And if the book has a weakness, it’s that certain facts and quotes are sometimes repeated a few pages apart from each other, almost as if she forgot those pieces of information had already been used.
I’m eagerly awaiting the second volume that will deal with the latter half of Stanwyck’s life and work. I’m excited as both a fan of Stanwyck and as a new fan of Wilson’s excellent writing.
Based on this biography, I know I’ll be in good hands.
Yes, at 860 pages, the book is quite an undertaking in its length, but it’s so well written: you soon realize that this biography is a page-turner.
Wilson is up to the challenge of covering the complex topic of Stanwyck’s life
And what a fascinating life.
This first volume expertly takes its time in exploring her troubled childhood, hard-fought Broadway career and trailblazing entry into film.
Orphaned at an early age, Stanwyck grew up with a fiery independence and drive that fueled her ambition to become a dancer, and soon-after, an actor. But it was that inner strength layered with a vulnerable fragility that made her such a compelling actor for audiences to see and immediately made her a success in her first professional acting role on Broadway.
Director Frank Capra, who worked with Stanwyck in her early film roles, saw this unique combination of strength and vulnerability and worked with Stanwyck to bring that unique persona into her roles, particularly in early films like LADIES OF LEISURE and THE MIRACLE WOMAN.
As an actor, Stanwyck never gave the impression you were watching a performance. She was truthful and authentic, which made a huge impression on critics and audiences.
Wilson also carefully explores the people and relationships that came into Stanwyck’s life. Her early collaborations with Capra and William Wellman; her early abusive marriage to comedian Frank Fay; and her second marriage to actor Robert Taylor.
This classic first volume covers the first half of her life through the year 1940. Wilson covers a lot of ground in her writing and one can sense the huge amount of research and work she put into the book.
In addition to her role as writer, Wilson is also her own editor. And if the book has a weakness, it’s that certain facts and quotes are sometimes repeated a few pages apart from each other, almost as if she forgot those pieces of information had already been used.
I’m eagerly awaiting the second volume that will deal with the latter half of Stanwyck’s life and work. I’m excited as both a fan of Stanwyck and as a new fan of Wilson’s excellent writing.
Based on this biography, I know I’ll be in good hands.
September 15, 2023
I've had this nice fat biography for a while but got thoroughly tired of waiting for the second volume to land. It's been 10 years since Volume 1 for God's sakes! (Is Victoria Wilson the next George R.R. Martin?). This one only goes to the start of World War II so there's lots more to the story but I can pick that up from some other biography of her. Some reviewers have complained about all the detail but I love detail in a biography (I loved the two-volume James Kaplan Biography of Frank Sinatra). There's a wealth of background stories about all the other characters she meets along the way from stage to screen and I adore that history so this was great for me. Felt like I got the whole story on this part of her life and that's all you can ask. Great stuff! - BH.
March 4, 2017
I am shocked that author Victoria Wilson is a VP and senior editor for Knopf!! Author......edit thyself! This book could easily be 1/3 shorter than its 860 pages of story, and 184 pages of notes and appendix. And this is only half of Stanwyck's life! Volume II is currently being written.
Barbara Stanwyck is one of the great actors of her era. She deserves a thorough and detailed biography, and I found much of this one fascinating. 1920s-30s New York, Broadway, and early Hollywood is such rich material, with this rapidly changing generation of entertainment. I love all of Wilson's anecdotes of how Stanwyck made it to the top through talent, hard work, and luck. There is so much great information here, but boy oh boy it gets buried in the endless minutiae, lists, repetitions, etc.....
Wilson describes every play and every film and every radio program Stanwyck is in. Fine. But then lists every film she was considered for but didn't act in, every actor who was also considered for the part she won and which actresses actually played in the ones Stanwyck didn't star in; all 1 to 8 writers who may or may not have worked on that film, the salaries of the writers and director and 5 players of that film, what the actors' popularity ranking was that year, why the cameraman was picked, who starred in a similar film that year and why; the whole plot, the plot of the play that the film was based on, how the plot was changed, etc etc etc...... You get the point! For EVERY film she is in or considered for. WHY? If an actress or actor or director is mentioned in a remote connection, then Wilson launches into what his/her salary is, what films they made that year, the name changes for all their films, etc.... And the radio broadcasts too! Lists and lists and lists. A lot of this could have been edited out.
Thirty pages for Stella Dallas! Why?! It was exhausting reading through all of this. The constant listing of the popularity ranking of stars each year was particularly annoying. Who didn't show up for one event or another because of a surgery or prior engagement. Do we need to know Loretta Young missed the opening of a horse race because she was volunteering somewhere that day.....? It's as if Wilson researched for years and just could not bring herself to leave out one single detail. But all this doesn't neccessarily add up to a thorough or poignant shaping of Stanwyck as a person. We don't get a full picture of her as a person. She gets lost among the millions of details.
We get dozens of pages describing Stanwyck's husband Frank Fay's comedy routine, in great detail. Then it is repeated several times, then when she helps him out with his act, and that routine gets repeated several more times. Several obvious typos and mistakes throughout also indicate not much editing happened here.
Great detail of Stanwyck's sisters and brother, and their husbands but it is all muddled and hard to follow, skipping back and forth, and then once she is in Hollywood, we hardly hear about them at all. The bits and pieces of her relationship with son Dion is heartbreaking and makes her seem cold and unfeeling, but we never get enough information to make a complete picture of them together.
I enjoyed most of this, but feel so overwhelmed after finishing. I hope Wilson edits her second volume and we get a more holistic view of Stanwyck as a person. There wasn't much summing up or analysis of her motivations, her son, or Robert Taylor. (We are only in 1940 at the end of this first exhaustive volume).
Barbara Stanwyck is one of the great actors of her era. She deserves a thorough and detailed biography, and I found much of this one fascinating. 1920s-30s New York, Broadway, and early Hollywood is such rich material, with this rapidly changing generation of entertainment. I love all of Wilson's anecdotes of how Stanwyck made it to the top through talent, hard work, and luck. There is so much great information here, but boy oh boy it gets buried in the endless minutiae, lists, repetitions, etc.....
Wilson describes every play and every film and every radio program Stanwyck is in. Fine. But then lists every film she was considered for but didn't act in, every actor who was also considered for the part she won and which actresses actually played in the ones Stanwyck didn't star in; all 1 to 8 writers who may or may not have worked on that film, the salaries of the writers and director and 5 players of that film, what the actors' popularity ranking was that year, why the cameraman was picked, who starred in a similar film that year and why; the whole plot, the plot of the play that the film was based on, how the plot was changed, etc etc etc...... You get the point! For EVERY film she is in or considered for. WHY? If an actress or actor or director is mentioned in a remote connection, then Wilson launches into what his/her salary is, what films they made that year, the name changes for all their films, etc.... And the radio broadcasts too! Lists and lists and lists. A lot of this could have been edited out.
Thirty pages for Stella Dallas! Why?! It was exhausting reading through all of this. The constant listing of the popularity ranking of stars each year was particularly annoying. Who didn't show up for one event or another because of a surgery or prior engagement. Do we need to know Loretta Young missed the opening of a horse race because she was volunteering somewhere that day.....? It's as if Wilson researched for years and just could not bring herself to leave out one single detail. But all this doesn't neccessarily add up to a thorough or poignant shaping of Stanwyck as a person. We don't get a full picture of her as a person. She gets lost among the millions of details.
We get dozens of pages describing Stanwyck's husband Frank Fay's comedy routine, in great detail. Then it is repeated several times, then when she helps him out with his act, and that routine gets repeated several more times. Several obvious typos and mistakes throughout also indicate not much editing happened here.
Great detail of Stanwyck's sisters and brother, and their husbands but it is all muddled and hard to follow, skipping back and forth, and then once she is in Hollywood, we hardly hear about them at all. The bits and pieces of her relationship with son Dion is heartbreaking and makes her seem cold and unfeeling, but we never get enough information to make a complete picture of them together.
I enjoyed most of this, but feel so overwhelmed after finishing. I hope Wilson edits her second volume and we get a more holistic view of Stanwyck as a person. There wasn't much summing up or analysis of her motivations, her son, or Robert Taylor. (We are only in 1940 at the end of this first exhaustive volume).
November 18, 2013
“A Life of Barbara Stanwyck” by Victoria Wilson, published by Simon & Schuster.
Category – Media Publication Date – November 12, 2013
If you are a movie fan you will be absolutely delighted with this book. It is about a complete biography of Barbara Stanwyck that can be written. Keep in mind, that this is the first of a two volume set; this covers her life from birth to 1940.
Barbara Stanwyck, born Ruby Stevens, began her life in show business as a dancer in vaudeville and moved from there to Broadway plays. She had great success on Broadway and met her first husband, Frank Fey, who was one of the most sought after and highly paid performers of the time. In fact, Barbara gave him credit for her acting abilities. Reluctantly, Barbara was wooed away from Broadway to the California movie scene. She always thought she would return to Broadway as she did not like Los Angeles or the lifestyle of the movie stars. She found herself in such demand that she became rooted in the movie industry. The tragedy in her life was her husband who was an alcoholic who was very demanding and controlling. To her credit, Barbara did everything to keep the marriage together but finally realized that divorcing him became the only option. Her life took a turn for the better when she started dating the then heartthrob of the movies, Robert Taylor.
An excellent read for the movie buff, but be warned that it does contain WTMI (Way Too Much Information). The book goes into great detail when discussing her plays and movies, often providing information on the Directors, other actors, and a short synopsis of all the plays and movies. I thought the book would have read better if it concentrated on just her life, but for those who are big into movie stars and movies this will be a gold mine for you.
Category – Media Publication Date – November 12, 2013
If you are a movie fan you will be absolutely delighted with this book. It is about a complete biography of Barbara Stanwyck that can be written. Keep in mind, that this is the first of a two volume set; this covers her life from birth to 1940.
Barbara Stanwyck, born Ruby Stevens, began her life in show business as a dancer in vaudeville and moved from there to Broadway plays. She had great success on Broadway and met her first husband, Frank Fey, who was one of the most sought after and highly paid performers of the time. In fact, Barbara gave him credit for her acting abilities. Reluctantly, Barbara was wooed away from Broadway to the California movie scene. She always thought she would return to Broadway as she did not like Los Angeles or the lifestyle of the movie stars. She found herself in such demand that she became rooted in the movie industry. The tragedy in her life was her husband who was an alcoholic who was very demanding and controlling. To her credit, Barbara did everything to keep the marriage together but finally realized that divorcing him became the only option. Her life took a turn for the better when she started dating the then heartthrob of the movies, Robert Taylor.
An excellent read for the movie buff, but be warned that it does contain WTMI (Way Too Much Information). The book goes into great detail when discussing her plays and movies, often providing information on the Directors, other actors, and a short synopsis of all the plays and movies. I thought the book would have read better if it concentrated on just her life, but for those who are big into movie stars and movies this will be a gold mine for you.
May 23, 2014
This book had me drooling the second I heard about it. I have been waiting for the moment I could get my hands on it and I will tell you, I relished every page. This is a biography, folks. The type of biography normally reserved for politicians, historical figures and religious figures. Incredibly researched, full of unseen and rare photos and with the most extensive and amazing indexes that I have ever seen. I adore Barbara Stanwyck--it's pretty hard not to. She was a spectacular actress, an unusual beauty and a fascinating person in general. I read one biography on her before this that was more of the standard bio, quite a good deal of unsubstantiated gossip and innuendo, lots of glossy but common photos and reliance mostly on books that had already been written. That is not the case here. The author worked very hard going through so much information--traveling, truly getting to the heart of the subject. There is no feeling of bias here, just mountains of information and yet somehow, it stays so entertaining that nearly 900 pages flies by. The best part is that this is only the first half---Ms. Wilson is working on the second half of the book and I for one am doing the pee-pee dance waiting for the next volume to come out. This book really captures the complexity of one of the most complex and in some ways mysterious film stars that ever was--not an easy task to do. Kudos to Ms. Wilson and I cannot recommend this one enough. Clearly will be the definitive biography.
December 14, 2013
This book should have been called “Barbara Stanwyck: Her Life and Times.” In addition to documenting Stanwyck’s rise from Brooklyn-born hoofer to Hollywood heavyweight, the author provides fascinating sidebars into the history of vaudeville and the early days of talking films; the conservative politics that shaped Stanwyck’s views and those of her inner circle; and even the fad amongst Hollywood’s elite for building stud farms that fueled the racetrack industry. Much as I like film history, a lot of time is spent outlining the plots of Stanywyck’s earliest films, which are simply too old and too melodramatic to resonate. But the character studies of Barbara and her colleagues are riveting. She was close friends with Joan Crawford, so often vilified in other books, and she clicked with crusty directors like William Wellman, who appreciated her discipline and integrity. The weirdest and bleakest chapters are about her much-older first husband, monologist Frank Fay, who mentored Barbara, broke her heart, and set a pattern of her being drawn to younger men whose careers she could cultivate so as never to be a victim again.
June 19, 2024
Short Version: I love Barbara Stanwyck; she deserves better.
Long(er) Version:
This is the first of a purported two-volume biography of Barbara Stanwyck (1907-90), not only one of Classical Hollywood's most gifted actresses, but also one who still holds up today. I say "purported" because given that it's been over a decade since the first came out, I doubt we'll ever see the second. Reviewers debate whether she's a worthy subject for such a long study (volume one is over 800 pages), and there is some truth to this. Stanwyck didn't introduce a new style of acting (as Marlon Brando did); she's not an instantly recognizable icon (as Charlie Chaplin is); she's not symbolic of some larger cultural moment and mythos (as John Wayne is). But, she's important in terms of industry (as one of the very few successful freelance actors during this era), genre (her Double Indemnity ignited Film Noir and Phyllis is the definitive femme fatale), acting (as one of the very few actors who could convincingly play both comedy and drama, callous and caring, and was successful in a number of diverse genres, mediums, and eras), and representation (her female characters are strong and today she is a lesbian icon). Unfortunately, because this volume ends in 1940, we see almost none of this.
As you can tell from the title above, I did not like this book, but I'll start by mentioning its (few) positives. First, I'm a huge Stanwyck fan; therefore, the subject was always going to interest me. Second, Ms. Wilson interviewed many people who knew her subject intimately (son, nephew, close friends, and colleagues) -- few of whom are alive today. Third, as someone who teaches film and theatre, I enjoyed the background on projects and people (though I agree that many are tangential to Stanwyck's life). Fourth, the author deftly analyzes Stanwyck's film performances (though she knows nothing about film style: a tilt is not a pan). Finally, she provides an exhaustive filmography, which I found useful.
But the book is poorly written in terms of both form and content. To begin with the former, Ms. Wilson is a weak writer: her prose is declarative, almost pedestrian; it reads like a straight-reportage newspaper article. In addition, her style is disjointed as few sentences logically lead into the next and she provides no transitions (as I just did). Example:
The content is equally problematic. With the exception of the film performances (her reading of Golden Boy made me rethink that movie), Ms. Wilson provides little analysis of her subject. Stanwyck describes her "black shanty-Irish gloom" and we're told that she often went nights without sleeping when she was shooting, but nowhere does the author comment on this (perhaps Stanwyck was bi-polar). She rarely had an appetite and was often-underweight, but nowhere does the author comment on that (perhaps Stanwyck was borderline anorexic). She stopped seeing her friends after marrying Frank Fay, but not until hundreds of pages later does the author venture to guess that perhaps this was due to her über-controlling husband, who, like many abusive partners, isolated his wife from her friends (one would think Ms. Wilson would make a connection between this and the fact that Fay beat her, but no). Ms. Wilson is nearly oblivious to the contradictions in Stanwyck's character that reveal a tension between individual exceptions and larger socio-political beliefs (she protected a prop boy when he was about to get fired, but crossed picket lines without a second thought; she mentored young actors, but resisted joining SAG; her closest friends were Jewish, but she and her two husbands were anti-semitic). Finally, large questions remain unanswered: it's never clear, for instance, why her two settled, married sisters couldn't or wouldn't take her and her brother in when they were effectively orphaned as young children. Stanwyck's abortion as a pre-teen is completely glossed over. And Wilson doesn't address the rumors that life-long best friends Barbara Stanwyck and Joan Crawford had a deeper relationship.
Finally, I want to comment on one aspect of the book that I really objected to and that some reviewers here agreed with. Ms. Wilson implicitly critiques Stanwyck for demanding a salary raise during the early, worst years of the Depression: "Columbia Pictures was to pay Barbara $20,000 for her next film...This at a time when more than thirteen million Americans had lost their jobs." Yet, the author is silent when she notes that "Jack and Harry Warner refused to take pay cuts and told the press about it." Just so you know -- it's never labor who makes outlandish amounts of money; it's management.
2 1/2 stars. Goodreads doesn't allow half stars so I'm giving this 2 for three reasons. First, as an editor for a well-respected publishing house, Ms. Wilson should know the basics of clear writing (transitions, for instance). Second, her own editors have done her no favors by not encouraging her to focus more on her subject (Stanwyck often plays second-fiddle in her own book). Finally, I'm appalled at all the good reviews for this book, particularly since none mention the prose problems. These include Kirkus Reviews ("should whet readers' appetites"), The New York Times ("glittering"), USA Today ("it's worth the journey"), and Indie Wire (when the reviewer disclosed that Victoria Wilson was the editor for one of her own books, I was not surprised when she gave this one a glowing review: what a conflict of interest). All of this is Reason #738 for why I don't trust critics. Many of the GR reviews on here are much more discerning.
Long(er) Version:
This is the first of a purported two-volume biography of Barbara Stanwyck (1907-90), not only one of Classical Hollywood's most gifted actresses, but also one who still holds up today. I say "purported" because given that it's been over a decade since the first came out, I doubt we'll ever see the second. Reviewers debate whether she's a worthy subject for such a long study (volume one is over 800 pages), and there is some truth to this. Stanwyck didn't introduce a new style of acting (as Marlon Brando did); she's not an instantly recognizable icon (as Charlie Chaplin is); she's not symbolic of some larger cultural moment and mythos (as John Wayne is). But, she's important in terms of industry (as one of the very few successful freelance actors during this era), genre (her Double Indemnity ignited Film Noir and Phyllis is the definitive femme fatale), acting (as one of the very few actors who could convincingly play both comedy and drama, callous and caring, and was successful in a number of diverse genres, mediums, and eras), and representation (her female characters are strong and today she is a lesbian icon). Unfortunately, because this volume ends in 1940, we see almost none of this.
As you can tell from the title above, I did not like this book, but I'll start by mentioning its (few) positives. First, I'm a huge Stanwyck fan; therefore, the subject was always going to interest me. Second, Ms. Wilson interviewed many people who knew her subject intimately (son, nephew, close friends, and colleagues) -- few of whom are alive today. Third, as someone who teaches film and theatre, I enjoyed the background on projects and people (though I agree that many are tangential to Stanwyck's life). Fourth, the author deftly analyzes Stanwyck's film performances (though she knows nothing about film style: a tilt is not a pan). Finally, she provides an exhaustive filmography, which I found useful.
But the book is poorly written in terms of both form and content. To begin with the former, Ms. Wilson is a weak writer: her prose is declarative, almost pedestrian; it reads like a straight-reportage newspaper article. In addition, her style is disjointed as few sentences logically lead into the next and she provides no transitions (as I just did). Example:
Barbara was getting ready for The Mad Miss Manton. Leigh Jason was directing the picture.
Barbara watched as the careers of those actors and actresses denounced in the Theatre association's ad suffered the effects of being called "box-office deterrents."Finally, the chronology is, at times, confusing: at one point, Stanwyck's oldest sister, Millie, marries, but we don't know the name of her husband or what happened to him; suddenly, we find out she's married a second time.
The content is equally problematic. With the exception of the film performances (her reading of Golden Boy made me rethink that movie), Ms. Wilson provides little analysis of her subject. Stanwyck describes her "black shanty-Irish gloom" and we're told that she often went nights without sleeping when she was shooting, but nowhere does the author comment on this (perhaps Stanwyck was bi-polar). She rarely had an appetite and was often-underweight, but nowhere does the author comment on that (perhaps Stanwyck was borderline anorexic). She stopped seeing her friends after marrying Frank Fay, but not until hundreds of pages later does the author venture to guess that perhaps this was due to her über-controlling husband, who, like many abusive partners, isolated his wife from her friends (one would think Ms. Wilson would make a connection between this and the fact that Fay beat her, but no). Ms. Wilson is nearly oblivious to the contradictions in Stanwyck's character that reveal a tension between individual exceptions and larger socio-political beliefs (she protected a prop boy when he was about to get fired, but crossed picket lines without a second thought; she mentored young actors, but resisted joining SAG; her closest friends were Jewish, but she and her two husbands were anti-semitic). Finally, large questions remain unanswered: it's never clear, for instance, why her two settled, married sisters couldn't or wouldn't take her and her brother in when they were effectively orphaned as young children. Stanwyck's abortion as a pre-teen is completely glossed over. And Wilson doesn't address the rumors that life-long best friends Barbara Stanwyck and Joan Crawford had a deeper relationship.
Finally, I want to comment on one aspect of the book that I really objected to and that some reviewers here agreed with. Ms. Wilson implicitly critiques Stanwyck for demanding a salary raise during the early, worst years of the Depression: "Columbia Pictures was to pay Barbara $20,000 for her next film...This at a time when more than thirteen million Americans had lost their jobs." Yet, the author is silent when she notes that "Jack and Harry Warner refused to take pay cuts and told the press about it." Just so you know -- it's never labor who makes outlandish amounts of money; it's management.
2 1/2 stars. Goodreads doesn't allow half stars so I'm giving this 2 for three reasons. First, as an editor for a well-respected publishing house, Ms. Wilson should know the basics of clear writing (transitions, for instance). Second, her own editors have done her no favors by not encouraging her to focus more on her subject (Stanwyck often plays second-fiddle in her own book). Finally, I'm appalled at all the good reviews for this book, particularly since none mention the prose problems. These include Kirkus Reviews ("should whet readers' appetites"), The New York Times ("glittering"), USA Today ("it's worth the journey"), and Indie Wire (when the reviewer disclosed that Victoria Wilson was the editor for one of her own books, I was not surprised when she gave this one a glowing review: what a conflict of interest). All of this is Reason #738 for why I don't trust critics. Many of the GR reviews on here are much more discerning.
May 19, 2014
I've been fascinated by Barbara Stanwyck since the mid-'60s and saw her standing in a Detroit theatre lobby in a long gown, her hair prematurely gray. She was beautiful and elegant. I was captivated and began to watch as many of her films as possible.
This book was painstakingly documented. (I'd heard Wilson spent a lot of time with Stanwyck's estranged son before his death.) I appreciated the details about Stanwyck's young life and first marriage, as well as insights into her talent. Also, I was gratified to learn about the eclectic group of friends surrounding her. (Who knew Stanwyck was so chummy with Zeppo Marx and Jack Benny?)
My one quibble is that, as others have noted, Wilson could have omitted some of the minutiae. Do we really have to be privy to the details of every radio show Stanwyck did? But the book succeeds in humanizing Stanwyck. The moment I finished reading it, I turned on Turner Classic Movies and was glad there was a Stanwyck film playing. I felt I could watch it with a more discerning eye.
This book was painstakingly documented. (I'd heard Wilson spent a lot of time with Stanwyck's estranged son before his death.) I appreciated the details about Stanwyck's young life and first marriage, as well as insights into her talent. Also, I was gratified to learn about the eclectic group of friends surrounding her. (Who knew Stanwyck was so chummy with Zeppo Marx and Jack Benny?)
My one quibble is that, as others have noted, Wilson could have omitted some of the minutiae. Do we really have to be privy to the details of every radio show Stanwyck did? But the book succeeds in humanizing Stanwyck. The moment I finished reading it, I turned on Turner Classic Movies and was glad there was a Stanwyck film playing. I felt I could watch it with a more discerning eye.
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