Betty Grable

THE authoritative, comprehensive biography of the woman whose pin-up provided the inspiration for American soldiers to win World War II. (Oh, and she was a very talented dancer, actress & thespian as well.)

Betty Grable: The Reluctant Movie Queen is a fascinating and intimate account of the famous star who was for many years the highest-paid woman in America and a favorite pin-up all over the world. Filled with fascinating and intimate accounts from many who knew her well, this publication is a well-documented and eminently readable biography of the sparkling, complex personality of one of the best-loved stars in Hollywood's history.

This is a biography of the musical comedy star who epitomized the wholesome yet sexy girl-next-door during WWI and the post-war era. Sadly, her real-life was in stark contrast to that image. Her ambitious stage mother abandoned her marriage and firstborn, taking Betty to Hollywood at age 12, where she lied about the girls age, falsified documents, and kept her out of school in order to make her a star. Betty Grable was well-liked by co-workers and treated directors and cameramen with respect, but her tirades were known and feared. She always claimed that she felt more at ease with "ordinary people" and would often befriend fans, chorus performers and strangers alike, which is one reason why her fans adored her so much. Despite being worshipped by thousands of lonely G.I.s, reigning as the number-one box-office draw in the world, and her standing as highest-paid entertainer in the United States during the 40s, the smiling saucy pin-up girl was a fiction, with an on-screen attitude that has been copied ever since.

A compilation of urban fantasy tales by some of the genre's leading practitioners features works by Roberta Gellis, Dave Freer and Eric Flint, Diana Paxson, Mercedes Lackey, and Rosemary Edghill.

Now, Voyager, Stella Dallas, Leaver Her to Heaven, Imitation of Life, Mildred Pierce, Gilda…these are only a few of the hundreds of “women’s films” that poured out of Hollywood during the thirties, forties, and fifties. The films were widely disparate in subject, sentiment, and technique, they nonetheless shared one dual purpose: to provide the audience (of women, primarily) with temporary liberation into a screen dream—of romance, sexuality, luxury, suffering, or even wickedness—and then send it home reminded of, reassured by, and resigned to the fact that no matter what else she might do, a woman’s most important job was…to be a woman. Now, with boundless knowledge and infectious enthusiasm, Jeanine Basinger illuminates the various surprising and subversive ways in which women’s films delivered their message. Basinger examines dozens of films, exploring the seemingly intractable contradictions at the convoluted heart of the woman’s genre—among them, the dilemma of the strong and glamorous woman who cedes her power when she feels it threatening her personal happiness, and the self-abnegating woman whose selflessness is not always as “noble” as it appears. Basinger looks at the stars who played these women and helps us understand the qualities—the right off-screen personae, the right on-screen attitudes, the right faces—that made them personify the woman’s film and equipped them to make believable drama or comedy out of the crackpot plots, the conflicting ideas, and the exaggerations of real behavior that characterize these movies. In each of the films the author discusses—whether melodrama, screwball comedy, musical, film noir, western, or biopic—a woman occupies the center of her particular universe. Her story—in its endless variations of rags to riches, boy meets girl, battle of the sexes, mother love, doomed romance—inevitably sends a highly potent mixed message: Yes, you women belong in your “proper place” (that is, content with the Big Three of the women’s film world—men, marriage, and motherhood), but meanwhile, and paradoxically, see what fun, glamour, and power you can enjoy along the way. A Woman’s View deepens our understanding of the times and circumstances and attitudes out of which these movies were created.

This is a newsy, respectful, affectionate tribute to a trouper...-- Booklist Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

This reference work provides a comprehensive record of the life and career of Betty Grable. The book begins with a biography that presents and discusses the most significant events in Grable's life. The chronology that follows summarizes her career in capsule form. The succeeding chapters provide a detailed account of Grable's performances in various media, including films, television, radio, stage, nightclubs, videos, and records. The entries in these sections succinctly present the facts concerning each of Grable's performances and offer insightful commentary. The volume concludes with a list of Grable memorabilia, a section of miscellaneous information, and an annotated bibliography of books and articles containing extensive or unique material about Grable and her career.