ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, July 14, 1996 TAG: 9607120009
SECTION: BOOKS PAGE: 5 EDITION: METRO
IDA LUPINO. By William Donati. University Press of Kentucky. $24.50.
While this perhaps is one of the less sensational biographies of a Hollywood legend, the little-known facts uncovered by William Donati are well researched, although related in somewhat stilted narrative. Scandal is kept to a minimum and handled with class and style, much like Ida Lupino herself.
Lupino was virtually "born in a trunk," as a daughter of the Lupino theatrical dynasty, Great Britain's counterpart to America's famous Barrymore family. She did not arrive in the United States until the early 1930s. She and her sister, Rita, performed with their parents, Stanley and Connie, on the British stage as children and teens. Lupino's rise to fame was meteoric as she jumped from musicals to films during England's pre-World War II years. She then became the ultimate blonde ingenue, a hit with the boys and just enough "femme fatale" to be intriguing.
In the United States, after shedding nearly 20 pounds and darkening her hair, Lupino was typecast as a hard-drinking, fast-talking "broad," the perfect type to share the screen with the likes of Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart. Soon after her American successes, she was labeled "the poor man's Bette Davis." But her talents would soon prove to be much more.
In spite of her fine acting (or perhaps because of it), Lupino gained most of her fame as one of the first female directors in Hollywood, and as writer and producer of early television shows in the late 1940s and early 1950s that would now be classified as "independent." Lupino was greatly concerned about the issues facing young people of her day, and many of her productions were banned because of subject content (rape, teen pregnancy). Lupino stuck to her guns and fashioned scripts to suit her needs and still satisfy censors.
Fledgling actors spoke emotionally of her compassion and guidance in helping them launch careers. She was legendary for her ability to bring productions in well under time and budget. (Her last film as director was the big-budget "The Trouble with Angels" in 1966 which starred Rosalind Russell.)
Though her professional reputation was impeccable, Lupino suffered from what is now termed "borderline personality disorder." This is a mental imbalance causing immediate contrasts in personality, depression, extreme rage and high emotions. In her attempt to medicate herself, Lupino drank a great deal, and toward the end of her life in 1995, was a virtual recluse. Many well-meaning friends attempted to draw her out, but eventually even they pulled away from the pain of seeing their colleague self-destruct. Nor did Lupino's three failed marriages help matters. (Her third was to actor Howard Duff, with whom she had a daughter, Bridget, in 1952.)
It would appear from Donati's work that Lupino indeed led a charmed life. Though she never quite achieved the mega-stardom that Bette Davis enjoyed, Ida Lupino was greatly loved and respected throughout Hollywood. Perhaps this reverence and appreciation was her true reward.
Chock-full of little-known facts about one of Hollywood's unsung heroines, this is the book for fans of movie trivia and admirers of Lupino's extensive body of work.
Diane Salyer is an actress and writer.
Movies ponder life's moral quandaries
Reviewed by MARSHALL FISHWICK
SEEING AND BELIEVING: Religion and Values in the Movies. By Margaret Miles. Beacon Press. $25.
As Americans believe less and less, they want to see more and more. But what if the old proverb is still true - that seeing is believing? Does what we see in our movies reflect the state of our religion and cultural values as the 20th century staggers over the finish line?
That is the question which Margaret Miles, a professor at the Harvard Divinity School, sets out to answer. Her goal is neither to choose films that treat religion positively, nor to judge the values represented in the 15 films she analyzes. Her premise is that films supply the historian with an incomparable resource for describing, and prescribing for, today's problems.
Film has had a strong relationship with religion from the beginning. Photographic film was invented by an Episcopal priest, Hannibal Goodwin. The first photographic film show, on Jan. 31, 1898, dealt with the passion and death of Jesus.
Fifteen years later, the first motion picture theater opened on Broadway. By 1916 there were 21,000 in the United States. Film, like the religious drama of earlier ages, has always figured large in popular culture, focusing on the desires not only of individuals, but of societies.
Miles' knowledge and understanding of history stand her in good stead. She points out that the rise in popular media - including radio and film - coincided with the decline of church control and authority over public life. Magazines, videos and billboards added to our image saturation; computers and MTV multiplied it.
We have seen "congregations" give way to "audiences," and worship to entertainment. With the rise of televangelism, religion seems to have become entertainment. The Little Red Church in the Vale has given way to the Crystal Cathedral. There is more talk of the Internet than of Interfaith.
But Miles does not lapse into the usual condemnation of the boob tube and Tinseltown. She gives us new insight and new hope. We gather around television screens and go to movie theaters to ponder the moral quandaries of American life. Many of our movies are flawed, but they do, in one way or another, ask the essentially religious question: "How should we live?"
There is no more important question.
Marshall Fishwick's latest book is "2001+: The Future of the Millennium."
Brett Butler tells her story
Reviewed by BARBARA M. DICKINSON
KNEE DEEP IN PARADISE. By Brett Butler. Hyperion. $22.95.
To publish one's autobiography before reaching the age of 40 is uncommon if not unheard of. To have lived through enough remarkable events before 40 to write about is even more unusual. Yet that is exactly what Brett Butler has done in "Knee Deep in Paradise."
Despite all my inner storm-warnings and prejudices I found myself wading, not wallowing, through the pages of reminiscences and photographs. And when I turned to the final paragraph I cheered the young author for having lived through the life she's lived and for having the courage to write about it.
For the over-40 set who may not have heard of Butler, she is the comic and star and executive producer of ABC's "Grace Under Fire," an award-winning situation comedy. She has traveled many miles in her 30-something years, and I do not merely refer to the distance between Montgomery, Ala., her birthplace, and Los Angeles, where she lives now. Her childhood alternated between love and abuse, a series of stepfathers and the natural bickering between four younger sisters. Her first 20 years, she admits, were spent "waiting for two men I was reasonably certain would never come back - my daddy and Jesus Christ." After she concluded this waiting period, she was ripe for the disastrous marriage that she willingly entered.
More trauma, a sick but steadfast mother, the mystery of her long-disappeared father, lucky breaks, good connections in the television world: such is the stuff of this book. This is great beach fare. One cannot help but be impressed with Butler's true grit.
Barbara M. Dickinson enjoys her new role as a grandmother.
BOOKMARKS
Reviewed by JILL BOWEN
RIDING SHOTGUN. By Rita Mae Brown. Bantam. $22.95.
Set in Nelson County, this latest book from Rita Mae Brown gives a fascinating insight into Virginia life in the late 17th century as well as today.
The story opens in 1995 and concerns Pryor Deyhle Blackwood - "Cig", a recently widowed, 40-year-old mother of two teen-agers, who is desperately struggling to pay the bills by working as a real estate agent. At the same time, Cig runs a successful livery stable, gives riding lessons and is the local master of foxhounds.
On a beautiful October morning, Cig and her family, including her beautiful younger sister, Grace, take off on a hunt. At the end of a spectacular run, the field pauses to draw breath, and Cig notices that several of the hounds are missing. Cig and one of the hunt members, Harleyetta, return to the woods to see if they can find the hounds. During the search, Harley lets slip the truth about the circumstances surrounding the death of Cig's philandering husband, Blackie. Harley reveals that he had in fact died in the bed of Cig's sister, Grace.
Upset by this discovery, Cig rides deeper into the woods. She is suddenly enveloped in a thick fog which is full of strange noises from past events. When Cig finally emerges from the woods, she is lost.
After riding some distance she arrives at a plantation home where, to her amazement, she is greeted as being her ancestor, Pryor Deyhle, returning from London in the year 1699. The warm, close, uncluttered life the colonists live make Cig question things about herself and the 20th century as well as her feelings about her late husband and her sister. In due time, Cig returns to the present where her newfound serenity is quickly challenged.
Having grown up in a fox-hunting family, I was pleased to find that Brown's descriptions of the chase were very accurate. This is only to be expected as Brown lives near Charlottesville and is herself master of foxhounds of the Oak Ridge Fox Hunt Club in Nelson County. This aspect of the book will appeal to those who fox hunt, while history buffs will find her descriptions of life on a tobacco plantation during the late 17th century equally fascinating.
Jill Bowen, a veterinarian, lives in Blacksburg.
Books in Brief
THE RANTS.
By Dennis Miller. Doubleday. $21.95.
Have you had a hard day at work? Need to let off some energy while thinking about the plight of America? Read "The Rants," Dennis Miller's best-selling collection of masterfully hyperbolic opening monologues from his Friday night HBO talk show, "Dennis Miller Live."
The former "Saturday Night Live" cast member's collection of witty, forthright and cathartic musings concerns topics ranging from inefficiency in public service industries to the need to spend more money for elementary and secondary education to a dynamic, shoot-from-the-hip discussion of the O.J. Simpson trial.
Miller fans will be delighted to read this collection of Miller's spicy musings made over the last two years while new readers should appreciate Miller's unique style and his courage to discuss in print what others often only think about. |- SUSAN TRENT
INFAMOUS.
By Joan Collins. Dutton. $23.95.
"Infamous," dubbed a novel of betrayal, by Joan Collins, is a tired, cliche-ridden excuse for a novel about an aging television star who is betrayed by the men she loves, exploited by the TV industry and abandoned by everyone else. Through it all, this raven-haired beauty (sound as if you know who she is?) carries on valiantly and even prevails.
Actually, the major betrayal in this novel is the one the author (?) perpetrates against her readers (if any) who try to plow their way through this sticky, turgid mess. |- JUDY KWELLER
Susan Trent lives in Roanoke.
Judy Kweller is a free-lance writer and special events coordinator.
LENGTH: Long : 213 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Ida Lupino on the cover of Movie Star magazine.|by CNB