Dream Factory - Hardcover

Leigh, Janet

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1551668742 ISBN 13: 9781551668741

Publisher: Mira, 2002

Synopsis

Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: Mira (February 1, 2002) Language: English ISBN: 1551668742 Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches From the venerable star of Hitchcock's Psycho comes a saccharine, painfully overwritten roman clef spa"

About this title

About the Author

Jeanette Helen Morrison was thrust into the fantastic world of Hollywood when she was discovered by motion picture legend Norma Shearer at a ski lodge in northern California. Overwhelmed by the young woman's beauty, Shearer immediately contacted MGM studios, who sent for her, changed her name to Janet Leigh and signed her to a film contract. Before the ink was dry on her contract, she was shooting her debut film, The Romance of Rosy Ridge. She flourished instantly, and it was the beginning of a very successful career in film.

Leigh was born and raised in Merced, California. She studied music and psychology at the College of the Pacific, where she had her first experience performing in musicals. Most memorable among her more than fifty films, which include several musicals, are Bye Bye Birdie, Touch of Evil, My Sister Eileen and Little Women. Leigh also starred in such films as Holiday Affair, The Naked Spur and The Manchurian Candidate, opposite Frank Sinatra. She is most noted, however, for her role in Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 classic thriller, Psycho, which landed her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in 1960, as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best Performance.

Reviews

From the venerable star of Hitchcock's Psycho comes a saccharine, painfully overwritten roman clef spanning Hollywood's golden heyday from the late 1930s to the early 1970s. Although it is designed to have film buffs guessing who's who among the cast of studio bigwigs and film actors, this wooden kiss-and-tell disappoints. Opening in 1972 in a hospital emergency room where powerful movie mogul Eve Handel arrives in the throes of a heart attack, the prologue refers to her scandalous secret journal in which she's been "free, free to verbalize, to expose her naked innermost emotions... no matter how sordid or how foolish or how romantic those innermost thoughts might be!" that could destroy the careers of many cinema figures. The story flashes back to 1934 to begin the pulpy saga of Eve, the precocious daughter of an affluent Chicago family who wins a scholarship to the London School of Dramatic Art at age 17. From this early moment, the narrative blurs into a run-on account of the exploits of the Teflon-coated young woman as she gouges out a place for herself in the old boys' network of Hollywood power brokers. Along the way, a myriad of cameos will titillate readers to try matching them with their famous counterparts. (One character bears a striking resemblance to one of the author's former husbands, an iconic film hunk.) Sadly, Leigh's campy, jejune second take on Tinseltown (after House of Destiny) is more Pollyanna than All About Eve, as the author barely scratches the surface of what could have been a veritable gold mine of trashy behind-the-scenes melodrama. National advertising. (Feb.)Forecast: Leigh's name and promotional dollars will have to sell this one, as positive reviews seem unlikely.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Mira
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1551668742
• ISBN 13: 9781551668741
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384