- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: University Press of Mississippi (Mar 1 2011)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1604739797
- ISBN-13: 978-1604739794
- Product Dimensions: 14 x 21.6 x 1.9 cm
- Shipping Weight: 440 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,271,408 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Book Description
Alice Faye A Life Beyond the Silver Screen By Jane Lenz Elder 328 pp., 25 b&w halftones 1578062101 (9781578062102) Cloth $30.00T Cloth, $30.00 The biography of 20th Century Fox's beloved, velvet-voiced beauty Alice Faye's sweet demeanor, sultry glances, and velvety voice were her signatures. Her haunting rendition of "You'll Never Know" has never been surpassed by any other singer. Fans adored her in such films as Alexander's Ragtime Band, Rose of Washington Square, Tin Pan Alley, Week End in Havana, and Hello, Frisco, Hello. In the 1930s and 1940s she reigned as queen of 20th Century Fox musicals. She co-starred with such legends as Shirley Temple, Tyrone Power, Carmen Miranda, and Don Ameche and was voted the number-one box-office attraction of 1940, placing ahead of Bette Davis and Myrna Loy. To a select cult, she remains a beloved star. In 1945 at the pinnacle of her career she chose to walk out on her Fox contract. This remarkable episode is unlike any other in the heyday of the big-studio system. Her daring departure from films left Fox mogul Darryl F. Zanuck and the rest of the movie industry flabbergasted. For years she had skirmished with him over her roles, her health, and her private life. His heavy-handed film editing of her fine work in Otto Preminger's drama Fallen Angel, a role she had fought for, relegated Faye to the shadows so that Zanuck could showcase the younger Linda Darnell. After leaving Fox, Faye (1915-1998) devoted herself to her marriage to radio star Phil Harris, to motherhood, and to a second career on radio in the Phil Harris' Alice Faye Show, broadcast for eight years. She happily gave up films in favor of the independence and self-esteem that she discovered in private life. She willingly freed herself of the "star-treatment" that debilitated so many of her contemporaries. In the 1980s she emerged as a spokeswoman for Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, touring America to encourage senior citizens to make their lives more meaningful and vital. Before Betty Grable, before Marilyn Monroe--Alice Faye was first in the lineup of 20th Century Fox blondes. This book captures her special essence, her work in film, radio, and popular music, and indeed her graceful survival beyond the silver screen. Jane Lenz Elder, a librarian at Southern Methodist University, is the author of Across the Plains to Santa Fe and The Literature of Beguilement: Promoting America from Columbus to Today. She is co-editor of Trading in Santa Fe: John M. Kingsbury's Correspondence with James Josiah Webb, 1853-1861.
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First Sentence
The showers that had fallen off and on throughout the day were the only reliable harbinger of spring in the sea of tenements on the Manhattan West Side neighborhood known as Hell's Kitchen. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
The showers that had fallen off and on throughout the day were the only reliable harbinger of spring in the sea of tenements on the Manhattan West Side neighborhood known as Hell's Kitchen. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Only complete biography,
By Robert B. Makinson "Robert B. Makinson" (Brooklyn New York United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Alice Faye: A Life Beyond the Silver Screen (Hardcover)
This is the only complete biography of Alice Faye written since her death in 1998. To those who admire Alice Faye it is a very well researched and interesting book covering her entire life. But the pictures in the book do not do her full justice. The best book there is The Alice Faye movie book,
5.0 out of 5 stars
An All-Round Interesting Book,
By A Customer
This review is from: Alice Faye: A Life Beyond the Silver Screen (Hardcover)
Good things do happen to good people! In Ms. Elder's comprehensive biography of Alice Faye's we experience a young girl who emerges from a broken and impoverished home unscarred and loving. Her dreams of becoming a dancer place her in an atmosphere of traveling bands and their leaders, one night stands, and the New York night club scene, and in this atmosphere where so many others lost their ideals, she enjoys the friendship and respect of all her co-workers, male and female, as well as success.. She enters the Hollywood movie arena of the 40's and 50's, where Mr. Zanuck and moguls of the movie studios try to dictate movie roles to her, yet she holds fast to what she inherently knows is correct and triumphs. And when she knows the time is right for her to quit show business and begin a private life, she does so and has many happy years with her family in a good marriage.Ms. Elder's excellent writing maintains a balance between the career of Ms. Faye and the social and business environment in which she found herself. Indeed, this book gives splendid insight into the world of show business, from the early night club scene in New York to the developing Hollywood movie business with its contract players, radio broadcasts, and the early days of television. Of particular interest is the role of the newspaper reporters and the film magazines, as well as the role of the movie studios' publicity departments. This is an all-round interesting book, well researched and documented. I felt I really knew Alice by the end of the book, and admired her strength and values.
5.0 out of 5 stars
More Than Just A Biography,
By A Customer
This review is from: Alice Faye: A Life Beyond the Silver Screen (Hardcover)
Alice Faye was an ordinary woman who led an extraordinary life. In this well researched, lucidly written biography, Jane Lenz Elder explores the many contradictions of Alice Faye: her struggles with stage fright and poor self image despite her enormous stage presence and success, her commitment to marriage and family despite a busy professional life, and her courageous willingness to act in her own best interests in a day when performers were expected to conform to the rigid codes of the Hollywood contract system.But this book is more than just another biography of a silver screen legend. Ms Elder's background as a historian is evident in the detailed background provided. The reader will learn about the difficulties of life in Hell's Kitchen in the early years of the 20th century, how Prohibition created the night club milieu in which Faye developed her skills, and how business was conducted during the heyday of the great Hollywood studio chiefs. The result is a rich story about a simple woman during one of the most interesting times in Hollywood history.
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