The Silver Screen Oasis

That's WONDERFUL! Thank you SO MUCH for posting about this! I love that she just got up and thanked Bette and Tchaikovsky. I am thrilled to hear about their backstage plotting. I LOVE Mary, and I especially love Mary in The Great Lie. I think it's a tour de force. God, I must get her books.

I'm sure you would enjoy it (them), JF. Obviously, she can't write about everything that happened or every film she was in. What we get is a well-balanced pastiche -- more or less chronologically ordered -- that seems to strike a balance between what she wants to say and what we as fans might want to hear about. In a few places she will stop the narrative dead in its tracks and describe in great detail one of the gowns that was made for her. Such details went over my head, but I think you would get a kick out of them.

Then there's the style of her prose. There's something almost experimental about it -- somewhat ahead of its time. She'll go along in an impeccable expository style and then throw in some well-crafted sentence fragments, illustrating something in word-images or capturing some elusive feeling. I think she would be happy to know that she was remembered as a good writer.

You had me at "I like the voice of it, its lack of pretense, its bittersweet sense of humor. She takes you into her confidence as though you are an old friend."

I just bought a copy on ebay! The price was right. If it reads like Mary's voice sounds, then I'm going to love it. Everything you've said so far makes it sound like my cup of tea. I have wanted to read her works ever since I first knew that she wrote books, I just needed the kick in the pants to go look for them online.

I'm glad they didn't have Facebook in Astor's day. "I just had a piece of toast!" "I'm watching Supermarket Sweep!" "I have a burning sensation when I urinate!" LIKE.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh my gosh, red, you gave me the laugh of the day!

I actually enjoy social media. But much of it is so inane! Why would anybody care about that stuff?

I'm with you, I enjoy FB and such, but really...

HooRay!!! There is a Mary Astor Blogathon happening from today, May 3 (her birthday) thru May 10.

here's a link to all the bloggers and the films they will discuss:

http://doriantb.blogspot.com/p/astor.html

Awesome, thanks knitty!