Charlotte Chandler

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charliechaplinfan
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Charlotte Chandler

Post by charliechaplinfan »

I've been reading quite a lot lately, renting a few books out of the library at a time and having the chance to compare variuos authors. Charlotte Chandler has puzzled me for a long time, doing a simple search on the internet reveals a large list of books on a large range of stars. I was anxious to read her book about Joan Crawford after Casey recommended it here, yet I felt let down. There's no source notes in the back and she appears to have knocked 2 years off Joan's age. She does however include an interview at the back of the book by Joan's daughter Cathy who has some lovely personal reminisciences. So she's obviously trusted as a respectful pair of hands. I've also read Donald Spoto's book on Joan at the same time which again was respectful and had full source notes to back up and I felt was better researched. Both authors dealt with Mommie Dearest head as the work of a jealous young woman out to destroy her mother's image.

Does anyone know anything about Charlotte Chandler as the book I've hired doesn't even include notes about the author.
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Re: Charlotte Chandler

Post by Gary J. »

I didn't care for her book on Groucho that she wrote around the time of his death and everything else she has cranked out since has never held my attention.
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Re: Charlotte Chandler

Post by moira finnie »

Don't know much about Charlotte Chandler, except that in her books the author has referred to having a professional connection to the New York Library for the Performing Arts, The Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, located at Lincoln Center and that her name is the pseudonym of Lyn Erhard. She has written for Ms. Magazine, Vanity Fair, and The Guardian and has been churning out a steady stream of these conversational "personal biographies" for several years, which sound like the people they are based on, conveying their warmth, frostiness and hauteur quite well.

Ms. Chandler is also the author of a play called Confessions of a Nightingale (with the late actor Ray Stricklyn, who appeared as Gary Cooper's son in Ten North Frederick, among other films) which was centered on an imagined evening with a loquacious Tennessee Williams. I do know that people who write about classic films have often wondered about Ms. Chandler's background--a lot.

It's possible that all these storied people knew and told her all, but just as the autobiography tells us more about a person's perception of their life's events rather than anything like an objective account, perhaps her books should be approached with the same wariness as those bios from years ago which were presented as "King Kong: The Whole Shocking Story as told to Joe Hyams."

I have read three of Chandler's books (Bette Davis, Marlene Dietrich, Fellini) and parts of some of the others, though I haven't found anything very new in them. I do find that some of the very long quotes arouse the skeptic in me, and when one of her subjects describes a dream now and then or a love affair long ago, I am a bit leery of the story. Chandler quotes liberally from confidential conversations she seems to have had with her subjects sometime between 1965 and now. I am always concerned if no notes and sources are included in a book and the fact that Ms. Chandler appears to be unknown to others (even the people who are related to her subjects), the cynic in me is awakened.

On the plus side, Charlotte Chandler presents the people who created classic films to a largely uninformed reading public in a fresh and engaging way. If her books lead one person to learn more about a Hitchcock, Dietrich, Billy Wilder and Fellini or the others whose ramblings she has transcribed into books, it is all to the good. The other upside of her work is that she may make it more attractive to publishers to print more memoirs, (many go unread and unpublished--especially if they are not deemed commercially appealing aka scandalous).
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Re: Charlotte Chandler

Post by Lzcutter »

I totally agree with Moira's analysis of Ms. Chandler. I tried to read Ms. Chandler's book on Ingrid Bergman and gave up less than a 1/3 into the book. Ms. Chandler would like me to believe that she while she was at lunch or other events with various stars and directors, while she couldn't take notes, she relies upon her memory when writing her books.

Having read enough books about George Cukor, Bette Davis, Ingrid and others to know that they would have frowned upon Ms. Chandler taking notes at luncheons and dinners that weren't media related, I have come to the conclusion that she has the most amazing memory. Ever.

That conclusion and her writing style led me to decide I don't enjoy her books.

But, I realize others do and so it's best to leave it at that.
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Re: Charlotte Chandler

Post by charliechaplinfan »

You've been most enlightening, I'm not keen on the 'as told to' style unless that's exactly what the book is, I don't like assumptions about how her subjects were thinking. Surprisingly I rated Donald Spoto's book as a better read, he is a biographer I've been unsure about in the past but his work on Joan and his earlier work on Ingrid Bergman I've enjoyed and can't really fault. Perhaps he's matured from his earlier works, he's not always my first choice of biographer but he's reliable.

What is nice about Charlotte's book on Joan is the section at the end which gives Cathy's recollection of her life with Joan, perhaps Cathy chose Charlotte Chandler because she presents her subjects in a good light and is quite prolific in her output. There's no doubt that Joan's family were wounded by Christina's awful book and really want to reset the balance and present their Mommie and Jojo in the light she deserves.

Reading these two books, I've come away a much bigger fan of Joan Crawford than I was, she is a star in the greatest sense of the word and a formidable woman with a kind heart.
Failure is unimportant. It takes courage to make a fool of yourself - Charlie Chaplin
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