BOGIE AND ME: A LOVE STORY

THOMPSON, Verita. [With Donald SHEPHERD]

Published by St. Martin's Press, NY, 1982

About this Item

Very Good (covers nice; contents clean & tight with little browning front endpaper); very minor wear d/j. 8vo., cloth & boards in dust jacket; 240 pages First Edition, first printing. Signed presentation from Thompson on the front endpaper: "June 24, 1983. To Dick & Chubby- two of my dearest friends. We shall never forget Paris- All my love, Verita Thompson." Inscribed to movie producer Richard Goldstone and his wife, Patricia. Goldstone [1912-2007] was a producer and writer, who started at MGM and then producing several key films noir, including "The Set Up" and "The Tall Target". In the 1950's, he worked at 20th Century Fox and then segued into television. Verita Bouvaire-Thompson [1918-2011] was an American actress turned hairdresser who reputedly had a 14-year affair with actor Humphrey Bogart. After graduating from high school and coming second in the 1935 Miss Arizona Pageant, she was discovered by a Hollywood talent scout and signed a contract with Republic Pictures. During the filming of her first movie, she fell off a horse and broke her arm. Back in Mexico she met a hairdresser and wig maker with whom she formed a partnership. Upon returning to Hollywood her patrons were Charles Boyer, Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, George Raft and, eventually, Bogart. According to Thompson, her association with Bogart started in 1942, when he was still married to his third wife, Mayo Methot, in a union noted for its stormy, sometimes physically violent arguments. In 1949 she became his personal hairdresser and worked on all but four of Bogart's last 18 pictures. In a 2011 Bogart biography, the relationship is mentioned and labeled as unverified, though under the premise that Bogart had quietly begun to seek the company of other women, including his ex-wife Helen Menken and his personal hairdresser, "a spirited little brunette named Verita Thompson." The author then quotes Thompson as saying that, "'Often he'd stay the night usually leaving for the studio around five in the morning." Others confirm that a relationship began in 1942. While the fact of the extramarital affair is downplayed, the fact that she was his hairdresser is well established. Seller Inventory # 57295

Bibliographic Details

Title: BOGIE AND ME: A LOVE STORY

Publisher: St. Martin's Press, NY

Publication Date: 1982

Binding: Hardcover

Illustrator: Illustrated

Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

Edition: 1st Edition