As we did in 2021 and 2023 and 2024, we're attempting to again increase book coverage in the community. This go round, we're talking to Rebecca about her "bob hope should be a lesson" and to Marcia about her "Shattered Love: A Memoir." Rebecca, you reviewed two weeks ago so let's start with you.
Rebecca: My book was Richard Zoglin's HOPE. It's a book about comedian and actor Bob Hope. Who started out in the theater and became a radio and movie star. Then he moved on to TV. He had a long term contract with NBC that saw a special of him turning 80. He was beloved for his road movies with Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour. His film career gets little attention from Zoglin and when he does give it attention, he often gets it wrong. A popular film is either rendered as a box office disappointment or a bad film that was somehow popular. He's not qualified to write on film -- especially when he thinks he's putting Bob Hope's films in some sort of context. He's a film idiot. Bob's MY FAVORITE BRUNETTE, for example, has impact not just on film noir -- it was a film noir parody -- and it also had impact on Hitchcock films that followed and on later films like the 70s THE CHEAP DETECTIVE. On that film, MY FAVORITE BRUNETTE, he does an especially poor job because it remains one of Bob Hope's most popular films, it is a film Bob also produced for his own company. And? For a book interested in Bob's business abilities, how do you not note that Bob was still alive when the film entered the public domain -- meaning cheap and stingy Bob Hope let the profits slide away on that one? A very disappointing book.
Marcia: Mine was disappointing as well. SHATTERED LOVE: A MEMOIR was supposedly written by the actor Richard Chamberlain. As I noted in my review, he worked with everyone -- Faye Dunaway, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Barbara Stanwyck, Charleton Heston, Raquel Welch, Katharine Hepburn, etc, etc and he has no interesting stories to share. None. He didn't work with Robert Redford but they competed for at least two roles and you get the sense that Chamberlain doesn't like Redford. It's a very dull book. And nothing to recommend about it as I'll go into in a moment. Rebecca and I talked about our books ahead of time and agreed to provide an overview and then do whether we recommend the books or not.
Okay. Rebecca?
Rebecca: I can recommend my book. It's a poorly written book; however, it does capture Bob's politics and refusal to grow. He killed his own career. As Connie Stevens notes, from one of his Vietnam tours, Bob's getting boos on stage in Vietnam from US troops as early as 1968. Bob can't buy a clue. He just moves further and further to the right. Certain idiot male celebrities should buy a clue and do so quickly. If you thought defending Nixon was indefensible, imagine trying to have a career in four years after Trump's out of office. This book needs to be sent to Mel Gibson especially.
Marcia?
Marcia: I can't recommend this 2003 book in any way. When it came out, it was sold and marketed as Richard Chamberlain's coming out story. It's not. He does acknowledge that he's gay. But he spends all the pages on insane therapy sessions -- that had nothing to do with being gay -- and supposed help gurus and life coaches. All those people? You would have thought at least one of them would have told him he can't write about his life without writing about his life. Meaning if you had a 33 year old relationship with another man at some point we at least want to hear about a dinner the two of you had. He says he's gay in the book. But he's obviously still in the closet in that he can't write about his affairs, the men he loved or why he loved them. Grandpa wrote this at 69. What a coward.
Alright thank you both and this kicks off the 2025 book discussios.
