Old Hollywood Autobiographies | Hollywood Yesterday

Wonderful James Garner Memoir: The Garner Files (Review)

November 14, 2021 By Joi

The Garner Files, A Memoir by James Garner

If you’ve ever seen one of my “top 10” favorite actor lists, you already know that James Garner is one of my absolute favorites. Like Lucille Ball (another absolute), James Garner wasn’t just phenomenal on the small screen, he left his mark on the big screen as well. He was masterful at drama, comedy, westerns, romantic films… there simply wasn’t a role this talented actor couldn’t play.

Like a handful of stars from “Hollywood Yesterday,” he has another distinction I believe would make him very, very happy: He’s one of those actors everyone seems to like! Does he make everyone’s list of top 10 favorite movie actors? No… not everyone’s, but that’s only because they’ve yet to see…

Murphy’s Romance
Support Your Local Sheriff!
Victor Victoria
Support Your Local Gunfighter
The Notebook
Marlowe
How Sweet it Is
Duel at Diablo
Etc!

However, everyone LIKES James Garner. He had a wonderful personality, wasn’t involved in embarrassing scandals, and tried to make the world a better place for everyone… not just himself.

Anyone who has seen any of this wonderful actor’s films knows what I’m talking about when I say he had something extra special – a once in a lifetime charisma and likability that came through every scene. Debbie Reynolds, Eve Arden, Jimmy Stewart, Ann-Margret, Jack Lemmon, and James Garner are six stars I think of immediately when I think of this extra special quality.

(Continued below one of my cats, Delilah, clearly a James Garner fan as well…)

James Garner and One of His Adoring Fans, Delilah

As I’ve often said, I read A LOT about stars from old Hollywood, classic television, old music, and old radio shows. Call it a passion… or call it an obsession – either shoe fits. I’ve read about far too many men and women to even begin to count but there are a few who always, always, always stand out as having been almost too good to be true.

James Garner is one of these “too good to be true” stars. He was incredibly talented, outrageously colorful, charismatic, a very GOOD person, a loving family man, and genuinely cared for other people and animals. Civil rights and animals were particularly important to him.

Let’s just go ahead and state the obvious… he was one in a million.

The wonderful book pictured here is The Garner Files: A Memoir (Amazon link) by James Garner and Jon Winokur and it’s one of my all-time favorites. Ever seen an episode of The Rockford Files or one of the best romantic comedies (and a movie I am in love with!) Murphy’s Romance? The book reads as though Jim Rockford or Murphy Jones is visiting with you. Come on… how are you going to beat that?!

Product Description:
Told in the charming and self-deprecating style that has made him one of America’s most beloved celebrities—the real story behind Hollywood legend James Garner, from his Depression-era childhood to his colorful career.

His incredible story, in his own words.

One of Hollywood’s all-time great leading men, James Garner enjoyed a remarkable career spanning six decades, and whether you know him as Bret Maverick or Jim Rockford, his appeal bridges generations. Few know the real story, now told in this intimate memoir of growing up in Depression-era Oklahoma and triumphing in Hollywood.

After physical abuse at the hands of his stepmother, Garner left home at fourteen. He was Oklahoma’s first draftee of the Korean War, receiving two Purple Hearts for combat wounds. Back in Los Angeles in need of a job, Garner reluctantly tried acting and was surprised to find his career taking off. Working with such luminaries as Julie Andrews, Marlon Brando, Steve McQueen, and Clint Eastwood, he became a star in his own right. He threw himself into his work, and despite stage fright and bouts of depression, constant physical pain and epic battles with the Hollywood establishment, he became the acting equivalent of a national monument.

Written with Jon Winokur, The Garner Files is a wry, engaging self-portrait chronicling the vagaries of a screen career along with the cast of personal and professional characters that helped shape a great American life. – From Amazon

James Garner and Sally Field, Murphy’s Romance

“[an] enjoyable memoir…there’s plenty to love in this book. Garner…has a knack for telling a story and finding the perfect quote to tie it all together…charming…[It] resembles a conversation with an old friend who loves to tell colorful stories.” –PublishersWeekly.com

James Garner has been one of my favorite stars for as long as I can remember. When I was a little girl, I watched him on reruns of Cheyenne and Maverick with my dad and then, when it came to The Rockford Files, it was watched and celebrated each week like a University of Kentucky Wildcats basketball game (if you’re familiar with basketball fever in Kentucky, you’ll know how huge this was!).

We also never missed one of his movies. He was my dad’s favorite actor and he quickly became one of mine as well. He still is – right up there with James Stewart, Henry Fonda, and Buster Keaton.

Being such a fan of this actor, I have read countless articles, quotes, and books. Before reading The Garner Files: A Memoir (Amazon link), I thought I knew a great deal about him and believed I had a pretty good mental picture of the actor as a person.

I was wrong. I didn’t even know half as much as I thought I knew. Not until reading about his childhood, career, and much loved family in his own words did I understand the many facets and layers to this wonderful actor and quality human being.

“Garner follows his own heroic dictum: Plenty of self-deprecating, humor, a general air of live-and-let-live, but when it comes down to it, no pulled punches. For Garner fans, ‘The Garner Files’ is catnip…it is a fine, frank and fun collection.” –LOS ANGELES TIMES

James Garner as Jim Rockford

I want desperately to give away fascinating (and often as juicy as a summer peach!) details and quotes, but (as I often say with my book reviews and movie reviews, too, for that matter), I want future readers to come across the treasure as unexpectedly as I did.

Suffice to say, you will laugh and you will cry. He was, by all accounts, as likable, honest, and funny as the many lovable characters he brought to life.

“Garner tells his life story with the same wry, self-effacing charm that characterized his classic TV characters: the laidback cowboy Bret Maverick and the down-on-his-heels gumshoe Jim Rockford…Garner comes across as likable on the page as he does on screen.” –“Kirkus Reviews”

I hope you’ll grab a copy of The Garner Files: A Memoir (Amazon link) as soon as you can and dive right in. James Garner was all class and even more entertaining and charismatic than all of his characters combined. Yes, even including Murphy and Jim!

About the Author
Jon Winokur is the author of various nonfiction books, including The Portable Curmudgeon, Zen to Go, and Advice to Writers. He lives in Los Angeles.

James Garner has starred in numerous television shows and films, from Maverick and The Rockford Files to The Great Escape with Steve McQueen and Victor Victoria with Julie Andrews.

One of the Best Old Hollywood Biographies I’ve EVER Read: June Allyson’s Autobiography

October 21, 2019 By Joi

June Allyson by June Allyson

My husband has a passion for BBQ that is, in my opinion, completely unrivaled. The man can smell a BBQ restaurant three miles away – when he locates one, we either visit it right away or, if we’ve recently eaten, he instantly make plans for when we WILL be back.

Sometimes he even tells it, on the way by, that we’ll be back.

When he has a plate of BBQ in front of him, it’s quite the production. JUST the right amount of sauce is added (after first tasting it to see how much will be required), the perfect amount of onions and perfect number of pickles are invited to the party, the napkin placed in his lap and… he dives in without a care in the world. It’s one of his greatest passions and seeing him “BBQ happy” makes me happy.

This is very much how I am with cats, chocolate, strawberry sundaes, fried catfish, old movies, classic tv and radio, and old Hollywood biographies/autobiographies. Fortunately, for cats, I only eat three of these passions.

As I’ve often said in my Hollywood Yesterday Book Reviews, I am always, always, always in the middle of at least 3 books at any given time. I can’t help myself, I just love them that much.

I recently read one that is, now, officially one of my all-time favorites: June Allyson by June Allyson.

First, a few words about how I feel about June Allyson. She’s my Doris Day. Is that a strange thing to say? Well, stick with me, kid, you’ll get used to it. I say a lot of strange things – sometimes within one sentence.

Doris Day is sunshine, personified to many people. Perhaps they were going through a rough patch in their life when they saw her in a movie and her rays of sunshine broke through their clouds. Or, maybe they didn’t have any dark clouds to break through – maybe she simply caused the sun to seem brighter.

I have nothing against the wonderful Doris Day, mind you – but June Allyson is MY personal Doris Day.

Except she’s my June Allyson.

I warned you about me.

June Allyson and Her Beloved Husband, Dick Powell

My parents both died far too young. My dad was just in his 50s (after a long illness) and my mom was in her early 60s (complications from diabetes and heart disease – both of which are monsters). June Allyson movies were like medication on both occasions.

Recently, one of my beautiful daughters had a high-risk pregnancy that had this mother hen beside herself. I can’t even begin to tell you how many June Allyson movies I watched!

Naturally, I watch June Allyson even when my world isn’t turned upside down. I just adore her and everything about her. Whether she brings Van Johnson or Dick Powell with her into my den, it doesn’t matter -she is always, always, always welcome.

Her wonderful autobiography, June Allyson is as sunny, honest, and unpretentious as she was. It was an absolute joy to read every single step of the way.

In fact, I did something after finishing this one that I have never done before. Instead of placing her on one of my Old Hollywood book shelves, I turned back to page one so I could enjoy the journey through her life one more time.

I say “one more” but there will be other journeys – and plenty of them.

June Allyson pours her heart out in this poignant autobiography. She takes us inside her early days in Hollywood with wonderful stories about Mickey Rooney, Van Johnson, and her very close friend Judy Garland. As is the case with all exceptional memoirs, you meet household names along the way and, in this case, you get to enjoy their presence as well as June’s adorable instances of being starstruck.

Stars you’ll meet along the way: Lucille Ball, Dick Powell, Judy Garland, Claudette Colbert, Joan Crawford, James Stewart, Van Johnson, JFK, Peter Lawford, Jane Wyman, Ronald Reagan, Alan Ladd (oh boy, is there some Alan Ladd content), Merle Oberon, Rita Hayworth, Susan Hayward, Joan Blondell (who happened to be Dick Powell’s glamorous wife, then ex-wife during the course of the book), Charles Boyer, Mary Pickford, Jack Benny, Ronald Colman, Gracie Allen, George Burns, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Margaret O’Brien, Gloria DeHaven, Louis B. Mayer, Kathryn Grayson… and more.

Reading about the movie “The Conqueror” (the deaths of John Wayne, Dick Powell, Susan Hayward, Pedro Armendariz, and Agnes Moorehead have all been tied to the making of this film) was unsettling and interesting at the same time.

Most compelling (for me, anyway) was the love story between her and Dick Powell. Their marriage lasted 17 years – until his death. When she lost her soulmate, she had a horrifying downward spiral – understandably. Her book tells how her friends helped her find her way out of the devastating darkness.

With a personality few stars could even hope to rival, spending time with June Allyson, the author, is as joyful as spending time with June Allyson, the actress.

While you journey through the valleys and mountaintops with this wonderful lady, you can’t help but be awestruck how she survived it all. One of the things I love most is that it all ends on a mountaintop with her husband Dr. David Ashrow. It may sound like a Hallmark greeting card but there’s only one way to put it: He helped her find happiness again.

As I often say, one of my greatest and perhaps guiltiest pleasures with autobiographies and memoirs is hearing about the other stars. When an actor or actress tells about their experiences with fellow stars, you learn a lot about the stars they are referring to as well as the one doing the reminiscing. Katharine Hepburn, June Allyson, and Fred Astaire are three that come immediately to mind when thinking about stars who were kind to other stars.

There are one or two stars who June Allyson doesn’t shine an especially favorable light on, but it isn’t, shall we say, an unflattering light we didn’t already know about!

Overall, she is extremely positive about everyone she knew along the way and I love that about her.

I can’t say enough wonderful things about June Allyson (the book or the actress!). Every word is a delight – whether it makes you feel warm, happy, shocked (two words: Alan Ladd), or sad. You’ll laugh out loud in places and probably swipe at a few tears in others (I certainly did). You’ll come to love stars you already loved even more (for me: Judy Garland, Lucille Ball, James Stewart, Rita Hayworth, Van Johnson, Ronald Reagan, Susan Hayward, John Wayne) and you’ll become a fan of stars you didn’t know much about before but want desperately to know them better now (for me: Alan Ladd, Alan Ladd, Alan Ladd, and Alan Ladd).

You’ll also find that some of your favorite stars were as complex and multi-layered as you always suspected (for me: Joan Crawford, Joan Blondell). I love that June doesn’t attempt to judge anyone – she knows something I always preach: Everyone fights their own battles in their own ways. Period.

In addition to the wonderful writing and priceless memories and stories, the pictures in this book are extra wonderful. I have been a huge fan of June Allyson and Dick Powell for years and there were many pictures I have never seen.

Read more about June Allyson by June Allyson on Amazon. As for me, I’m going to kick back and read another chapter right now. Yes, for the second time. What can I say… she’s my Doris Day.

Love, Lucy by Lucille Ball (An Autobiography You Can NOT Put Down)

September 24, 2019 By Joi

Love, Lucy by Lucille Ball

One of my greatest obsessions in this world? Well, you’re looking at her – the talented, beautiful, one-of-a-kind, they-broke-the-mold legend, herself, Lucille Ball. As I’ve often said on this very blog, I collect anything and everything connected to this lady.

As I said, she is an obsession and I offer no apologies. She has brought so much laughter and joy into my life over the (many) years and continues to do so each day.

What a legacy… to bring joy to countless people even after you’re gone. Does not get much better than that.

Over the years, I have read and reread this particular autobiography – as I do my absolute favorite books. I mean, if once through is wonderful – why not want that experience as many times as possible??!

After Lucille Ball died in 1989, this autobiography (written prior to 1964) was discovered among her papers. In these memoirs, she describes a childhood deeply affected by her father’s death and her mother’s withdrawal from her life.

Lucille was raised by her maternal grandparents and, over the years, developed a fiery, determined, larger-than-life personality and temperament that would help her years later as she made a name (and legacy) for herself.

Lucille Ball – oddly enough – was not an overnight sensation. Personally, I don’t know how everyone in Hollywood kept from falling all over themselves for her – but boy did they manage. I don’t think they knew quite what to make of her because there had never (and would never) be anyone quite like her. It took years of plodding and B movies to make herself a household name. Along the way, she met and usually befriended some of the top names and faces in Hollywood.

One of the funnest things about this autobiography is the same as the others – “meeting” a seemingly endless cast of stars and getting to know them through another star’s eyes. In this case, Lucille’s beautiful wise blue eyes.

The many photographs are a real treat, as are her very humorous accounts and stories. The early pages pull at your heart’s strings as you realize how overwhelming everything must have been for such an innocent little girl.

My favorite parts of the book, however, are the ones which include her soulmate, Desi Arnaz. Yes, it can be frustrating to realize that these two couldn’t remain together – downright sad, actually. But, during the time they were together, they made the best kind of magic together. What’s more, even after they no longer shared rings or even a home together, the love was ALWAYS there.

Her chapters dealing with her and Desi are absolutely breathtaking. Actually, the entire book is. If you’re a Lucille Ball fan, you are going to love Love, Lucy by Lucille Ball as much as we all love Lucy.

Ginger Rogers Autobiography: One of THE Best Old Hollywood Biographies, Period.

June 4, 2019 By Joi

Normally, as soon as I finish reading an Old Hollywood autobiography or biography, I begin writing my review immediately.

Normally.

The same is true with movies. Once I’ve seen a film, I’m anxious to share it with everyone else. Particularly if I loved it – I want everyone else to have a chance to love it as well.

Movies OR books, the “pull” I feel to share this joy usually propels me straight to my computer chair with instructions to, “Get busy, girl!”

Usually.

As you’ve guessed by now, there are exceptions. There are movies or books that are so bad, I think it best to pretend the whole thing never happened. I guess it hearkens back to, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” If I can find at least something positive to highlight, I do so (For example, I’m not a fan of the film The Bride of Frankenstein but I am a fan of the performances).

Other times (as is the case with Ginger Rogers’ outstanding autobiography, Ginger: My Story), the book or movie is so completely wonderful, I have no idea where to begin.

Ginger Rogers was FULL of personality. I mean, the lady was packed with it – from her beautiful head to her talented feet…. she had enough personality and charm for herself and at least 25 other people. It comes through in her photographs, in her movies, in her interviews, and in every single word in her autobiography.

I lost track of the number of times throughout the book when I stopped, looked Heavenward and thanked her for leaving us this treasure.

To compound the situation, we get to know Ginger’s equally colorful and mesmerizing mother Lela. Seriously, the daughter, herself, made my job impossible – to add in her beloved mother (also a real character) seems unfair.

Ginger Rogers Autobiography – Ginger: My Story

From the Back Cover:

She was born Virginia Katherine McMath, but the world would come to know her—and love her—as Ginger Rogers: Broadway star, Academy Award-winning actress, and the ultimate on-screen dancing partner of the inimitable Fred Astaire. In Ginger: My Story, the legendary entertainer shares the triumphs of a remarkable career that began when she won a Texas dancing contest at age fourteen; the joys and heartbreaks of her five marriages; her relationships with some of Hollywood’s major leading men, including Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, and damaged daredevil billionaire Howard Hughes; and the strength of her religious convictions that got her through thick and thin.

Lavishly illustrated with rare photographs from the author’s personal collection, Ginger is an enthralling, behind-the-scenes tour of Hollywood life during the Golden Age of movies by one of its most enduring stars.

I am obsessed with Old Hollywood biographies – as you can tell if you’ve read Hollywood Yesterday for any length of time OR have been in my home and seen my bookshelves and books lying around with bookmarks sticking out of the top – patiently waiting for me to pick up on our conversation. I am always, always, always in the middle of at least two biographies or memoirs at any given time.

I have dozens of books I have read that I haven’t reviewed on the blog yet. I’m actually re-reading a few to refresh my memory and to pull quotes from.

So… yes, you could say I’m very familiar with the species. I say all of this simply to familiarize you with my history of reading Old Hollywood books. Why? Because when I say that Ginger: My Story is one of the best Old Hollywood books I’ve ever read, I want you to understand that she is standing out in a very large crowd.

But if you bear with me, I can go one further.

While I have bookshelves packed with Old Hollywood books and biographies, I also have shelves packed with other genres…

Inspirational and Spiritual Books
American History Books (LOVE history!)
Ancient Egypt Books (Cleopatra is a special fascination)
U.S. President Biographies
U.S. First Lady Biographies
Agatha Christie Mysteries (Can you say obsession? She is actually the only fiction I read.)

In addition to always being in the middle of at least two OH biographies, I always have at least two from the list above going at all time. For about 12 years, I have always been in the midst of an Agatha Christie mystery as well… I read and re-read these delicious books!

Okay, so now you know what sort of a book addict you’re dealing with here. I feel like the stage (and the lighting) have been set, so I can tell you that Ginger Rogers’ fascinating autobiography isn’t just one of my favorite “star” biographies one of my favorite “old Hollywood” books… it’s one of my favorite books I have ever read.

One of our numbers was set in a public park gazebo. I had been horseback riding but found refuge in the park’s gazebo when it started to rain. Fred finds me and starts to sing “Isn’t it a Lovely Day (TO Be Caught in the Rain)?” During rehearsals, Fred suggested that for the second chorus I get up from my seated position and follow him around the gazebo. I in turn suggested that I copy whatever Fred was doing with his hands; if he puts his hand into his left pocket, I would follow suit. I thought my “shadowing” of Fred’s movements added another dimension. Mimicry aside, neither Fred nor Hermes could come up with a way to close the number. I proposed that we go to the edge of the gazebo, reach out to feel the rain, sit down, and shake hands. End of number. Hermes and Fred also liked the idea. I had plenty of input in our routines and got to be known as the “button finder.” In show business parlance, that means the one who puts the last word or the finishing touch on a scene.

Attribute it to the energy of her personality, the light of her persona, or her delightful sense of humor. Attribute it to palpable confidence and laudable boldness (during a time when women were pretty much expected to be pretty much… well… pretty and not much more!). Attribute it to the charismatic, colorful, vibrant people she knew in her little world (one whom she knew as her mother and another she saw in the mirror each day), attribute it to the fact that she knew how to tell a spellbinding story as well as anyone who has ever put on the title “author…” heck, attribute it to all of these or none of these – the woman wrote an absolutely unforgettable book.

As I said a while back in my Barefoot to the Chin review (about Sally Rand), I wish someone would make a Ginger Rogers biopic – her life, from childhood to adulthood was unbelievably fascinating. As I say in all of my reviews (movie or book), I refuse to give anything away – I want others to have the experience of uncovering hidden treasures as I did. Suffice to say, her life was as interesting and eventful as most movies.

I absolutely and positively love Ginger: My Story and reading it has made me an EVEN bigger fan of the wonderfully gifted actress. She was a strong, independent lady who also had a soft and very, very loving and giving side. She adored her fans and her family and is a wonderful role model in so many ways. I love that she not only shares her experiences with stars and individuals she thought a lot of but others as well! She never gets “gossipy” and certainly is never mean-spirited (I’m all but certain she didn’t have a mean bone in her graceful body) BUT…. well, you’ll see sides of stars you never new existed and, trust me, it’s all over-the-moon fun.

Her personality and gift of gab make for a book you never want to put down and leaves you searching for opportunities to pick it up again. Once, while I was midway through the book, I picked it up and said (out loud), “Okay, Ginger… what are we going to get into today?!”

Of course I talk to my books. I mean, they spend so much time talking to me, it’s the least I can do.

If you are a fan of Ginger Rogers or, truth be told, aren’t too familiar with her, I hope you’ll get your hands on a copy of her exceptional autobiography as soon as possible.

Wonderful book. Wonderful lady. You’re going to love her.