Michelle Morgan (1)

The Ice Cream Blonde: The Whirlwind Life and Mysterious Death of Screwball Comedienne Thelma Todd by Michelle Morgan is a 2015 Chicago Review Press publication.

Thelma Todd’s career started during the silent movie era, progressing beyond into the 1930s. She had a great comedic talent and managed to work steadily as an actress, with various ups and downs along the way.

This biography is organized and thorough, giving the reader insights into the movie business during Thelma’s tenure as an actress, as well as painting a portrait of Thelma, her spunk, moral code, and approach to life.

I enjoyed hearing about her films and who she had the opportunity to work with- but unfortunately, the delivery here is very dry at times.

About halfway through, though, the pacing seemed to pick up as the author moved toward the mystery of Todd’s death.

Thelma was only twenty-nine years old when she died of carbon monoxide poisoning. The question, though, was whether it was accidental, suicide or murder.

The author lays out a compelling argument for all three possibilities. It is up to the reader as to which conclusion one chooses. For me, I have had all the conspiracy theories I can take these days and feel the most likely scenario was the simplest- a sad tragedy- yet there is still just a niggling of doubt- considering the people who were moving around in Todd’s orbit.

Though dry in places, this is an interesting biography. I was familiar with Todd but had forgotten about her over the years. In fact, it seems that many of the stars from the silent movie era- save Charlie Chaplin, perhaps, have slipped into obscurity. So, it is nice to see that Todd is still remembered. Sadly, it is her notoriety that survives more than her body of work.

Overall, I’m glad I stumbled across this one. I didn’t have much luck finding clips of Todd’s work- even on YouTube- again more concerned about her untimely death than her acting- except for one pre-code clip- of course. I’ll have to keep my eyes peeled for any TCM shorts I can find. With the fragile future of old films at stake I fear many actresses like Thelma and great old movies and shorts will be lost to us forever and that’s a real shame.

In her short life, Thelma Todd lived gusto. Although she never managed to break through to super stardom, her contributions are notable and should be remembered.

3.5 rounded up.… (altro)

Although not really a fan of Marilyn Monroe - and probably guilty of judging the actress by her screen persona - I felt I had to learn more about her after reading an unnecessarily cruel characterisation in a trashy novel about Jackie Kennedy. And now I feel drawn to Marilyn, the brave and ambitious screen idol who fought the movie industry for her independence but could never escape her insecurities.

Covering the height of Marilyn's career in the 1950s, from The Seven Year Itch to The Prince and the Showgirl and her divorce from Joe DiMaggio and marriage to Arthur Miller, author Michelle Morgan, who has written many books about Marilyn, suggests that Marilyn's desire to control her own career by forming Marilyn Monroe Productions with photographer Milton Greene and divorcing Joe DiMaggio to concentrate on perfecting her craft makes her an 'unlikely feminist'. Proud of her femininity and far from ashamed of her body - she posed nude before her acting career took off and weathered the publicity storm when the photographs resurfaced years later - Marilyn was physically the ideal woman of the 1950s, keen to care for her husband(s) and start a family, but she remains a role model for twenty-first century women by owning her image and her controlling her business.

Morgan might be slightly biased but by the end of the book, I could understand why (and I haven't even watched Marilyn's whole back catalogue yet!) Marilyn was a beautiful woman inside and out, but her legacy seems to focus on her mental health issues - 'She was particularly vulnerable, easily hurt, and often brought to tears or anger through perceived rejection or betrayal' - and tragic death.

I am definitely now one of the 'many want to learn what Marilyn was really like', from biographies and of course her luminous presence on screen that no amount of rumours and misconceptions can ever tarnish.… (altro)

Loved books about her. She had a rough life and try her best to survive her issues and fulfill her dreams. She wasn't taken seriously as an actress and was treated like she had no talent. She was a beautiful woman and she was very smart and talented. She only wanted to be a good actress and to have a family. To be loved because she wasn't loved when she was a child. Lived in too many orphanages and with different families, never had a steady home. She got married so she wouldn't go back to another orphanage because she was still young. It's really hard to see how she encountered so many issues growing up and lived a life that i could not imagine living as a young girl. She went through so much and still had the will to be wonderful. A sick mother that could not take care of her and a father that never wanted her or recognize her as his child. I admire her and also sympathized with her. Her life was nothing but easy.… (altro)

This book has an intriguing title, but no substance. The author never really delivers on the promise of the title. The author does go into detail about why Marilyn Monroe broke with Twentieth Century Fox and formed her own production company, but it does not detail why that production company broke apart or how it really worked. Instead it became more of an apologetic for Marilyn Monroe's life, but it never dug down into the why's of her behavior. It has presentations of being a scholarly work with end-notes and a bibliography, but it never backs up its arguments in a definitive way. It is what I would call it a lightweight work of narrative nonfiction.… (altro)