Product Description
The luminous star of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Shane, and other classic films was, as the subtitle aptly puts it, "the actress nobody knew." Jean Arthur (1900-91) kept her personal life private, disdained the Hollywood publicity machine, and was called "difficult" because of her perfectionism and remoteness from costars on the movie set. John Oller, a lawyer, tracked down kinsfolk and friends never before interviewed to capture the elusive personality of a free spirit best embodied in her favorite role, Peter Pan. Arthur herself might have appreciated his warm, respectful portrait."...[An] insightful, painstakingly researched analysis of Arthur's life and career raises the curtain on the complex, conflicted person behind the screen persona...Captures the special shine of a unique star who turned out to be a genuine eccentric." -Chicago TribuneAmazon.com Review
The luminous star of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Shane, and other classic films was, as the subtitle aptly puts it, "the actress nobody knew." Jean Arthur (1900-91) kept her personal life private, disdained the Hollywood publicity machine, and was called "difficult" because of her perfectionism and remoteness from costars on the movie set. John Oller, a lawyer, tracked down kinsfolk and friends never before interviewed to capture the elusive personality of a free spirit best embodied in her favorite role, Peter Pan. Arthur herself might have appreciated his warm, respectful portrait. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (23)

One of the very best
On sheer talent Jean Arthur ranks with the very best actors in Hollywood history, top five women easily.The reason she is not remembered as well as others like Hepburn and Davis is that she not only didn't play the celebrity game, she abhored the thought of it to the point of being neurotic. Once when asked to do an interview, she responded, "I'd rather slit my throat."

In a Hollywood biography what most people want is a thorough history of the person, an assessment of their work, an understanding of who this person was or is as an individual and good story telling.John Oller did that with Jean Arthur's bio.I came away from this book with an even greater appreciation of her as an artist and with a sadness at how her abject fear of and disdain for interviews and publicity held her back with the public.

I recommend this biography for all those who love stories of Hollywood past and for anyone who likes a good read.

Jean Arthur: an underappreciated actress
John Oller's excellently researched, finely written book on this legendary actress is as relevant today as when it was published in 1997.I saw the book in a store when it first came out and did not buy it then; I regretted that since, because I never found a copy (thinking our library system might have it; they do not).I was surprised to see, considering that it was published 12 years ago, that Amazon still carried a new edition and that I did not have to buy a used copy.It's very informative, with the filmography in the back, which is why I considered buying it to begin with.I've since watched several movies of hers and John Oller's book was more than useful as a guide in that regard.It also fills in the blanks in her life (without being gossipy or overly speculative) as to how she lived between films and during her lengthy retirement.I especially found the section on "Stephanie Blake" fascinating, since I never heard of the show and since many of the co-stars went on to more successful projects.It is a highly recommended book.

Her screen persona and life did not match!
She was a delight to watch in all her films, but it's sad to know life, on the whole, did not bring her the same pleasures.

The last word on the great Jean Arthur
Jean Arthur would seem to be an impossible subject for a biography. The actress, who died in 1991 at the age of 90, was so reclusive she made Garbo look like a party doll. Interviews exist, but not many; fan magazine profiles inevitably puzzled over her, disgusted by an actress who refused to promote her own career. Her autograph is probably rarer than Garbo's, and she left little in the way of writings, no diaries and not much correspondence. Her stage career was based more on quality than quantity, consisting of a mere 17 appearances, some of which were in plays that closed after a single performance.

Fortunately for author John Oller, Arthur made a substantial number of films (89) and, more importantly in trying to unravel this tricky subject, she made a strong impression -- negative, positive, sometimes both -- on practically everybody she encountered, from fellow actors to her stage and film directors to students in her teaching classes to secretaries and stage hands. They've provided Oller with a wealth of history and anecdotal detail. What emerges is a surprisingly detailed, highly readable account of a complex woman whose integrity and perfectionism -- and sometimes pettiness and even arrogance -- both fueled her work and undermined it at almost every turn.

Arthur's high reputation persists on the basis of stage triumphs in Peter Pan and other plays, and supremely of unforgettable performances in screwball comedies like George Stevens's The More the Merrier, Capra films like Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and You Can't Take It with You, and Borzage's dreamy History Is Made at Night. Behind her luminous face and trademark husky voice, according to Oller, was a woman tormented by self-doubt and neurosis who could be charming one minute and a harridan the next. These qualities surfaced quite early in her career before she developed her loathing of the fan magazines. In 1928 she told an interviewer, "I'm hard-boiled now. I don't expect anything" -- harsh words indeed for "a girl of 20," as she said she was. (She was actually 28; like most stars, Arthur wasn't above lying about her age.) Each rejection -- and there were many early on -- was accompanied by crying jags and nervous fits that would only get worse as time went on. Arthur's early films must have been difficult for the highly intelligent, well-read, sophisticated woman Oller portrays; they were mostly horse operas and slapstick comedies, along with walk-ons in bigger pictures. Hollywood didn't know how to use her at first: in Paramount on Parade (1930), the musically ungifted actress performed two numbers.

But Arthur's striking personality shone through by the early 1930s, and she gave memorable performances in a series of films that are remembered today as much for her presence as anything else. In spite of consistent success and critical raves, though, she continued to struggle with anxiety. Capra says she threw up before and after every scene in one of his films (in an inspired phrase he says "those weren't butterflies in her stomach, they were wasps!"). She was as intransigent as some of the Warners women like Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland in fighting the studios' manipulations. Being contracted to Columbia, she had it worse, having to fend off mogul Harry Cohn's capricious career choices and his crude sexual advances. Here her stubbornness paid off in 1938 with a new contract that was one of the body blows to the studios' control over actors.

Arthur's disgust with the machinery of stardom led her inexorably to the stage; more respectable, perhaps, but equally or even more problematic for an actress of her skittish sensibilities. Much of the book is taken up with the wildly dramatic struggle of producers, directors, and friends to get Arthur to go on stage and stay there through the run of a play. This was mostly a vain effort. Arthur gravitated to the counterculture and agreed in 1967 to do a play called The Freaking Out of Stephanie Blake. Riddled with pot-smoking stage hands, props that wouldn't work (one nearly fell on Arthur's head), and actors who didn't show up, the play closed after the first night. Oller's account of these events is hilarious, particularly his description of a crazed Arthur kneeling before an audience begging them to let her leave the stage. She alienated so many of her coworkers that the author probably couldn't list them all without doubling the book's page count. Still, she had her defenders who forgave her endless disappearing act from life, and this was equally due to her winning personality (when she wanted it to be) and her fierce talent.

Her Peter Pan, the best ever according to some observers of the time, made her more enemies than friends but was a huge success while it lasted. It was not a smooth production, however; Arthur nearly crippled it when she came down with one of her many "viral infections" that she seemed able to will into existence in times of stress. Besides the obvious mental relief she got from running away from innumerable commitments, she could spend time indulging her favorite activities: interior decorating, reading, philosophy, and playing with her animals. She found little solace in religion but pursued self-realization through mentors like Erich Fromm. She was also an eloquent observer of politics from the left. "The wrong people are running the country," she said, speaking of Nixon and his cronies. "You only have to look at their brutal faces to know that."

The author doesn't delve too far into Arthur's alleged lesbianism (which writers like Boze Hadleigh have taken for granted). Several things point in that direction: her slightly masculine manner and voice, her lack of interest in motherhood, her almost pathological refusal to wear a dress even when a role demanded it, and most of all the fact that she spent the last decades of her life with devoted "unmarried army nurse" Ellen Mastroianni. But Arthur was so secretive about everything, even with Mastroianni in some areas, that this will probably never be verifiable.

The book attempts some psychoanalysis on his mysterious subject -- perhaps appropriate given Arthur's fascination with therapy and her friendship with Fromm. But these sections are the only labored note here, adding an unnecessarily speculative touch to a book that's well grounded in the topsy-turvy reality of Arthur's life and art.

Excellent Bio
Lots of info about Jean Arthur's life and career. Well researched. But a depressing read. Arthur was her own worst enemy. She had a love/hate thing about her acting career.
I love Jean Arthur on the screen. As a person, she was very screwed up, IMHO. And all the booze didn't help, in her later years.
I read this book, then Rachel Roberts' diaries then a bio of Kim Stanley, one after the other. Afterwards, I felt like shooting myself. Three enormously gifted actresses who had great success. All 3 had drinking problems and ambivalent feelings about their careers. In the end, all 3 kind of threw their careers down the toilet. ... Read more

Product Description
Describes in photographs and brief text the steps involved in making blue jeans ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Great Non-Fiction Book for Young Readers and Pre-Readers
This book is a very interesting short explanation of the processes involved in making blue jeans. It uses simple words, but is not a dumbed-down narrative. It's great for that budding process engineer in your household - the one whose favorite question isn't "Why?", but "How?"

The book is illustrated with a variety of stock photographs, many with children as the focal point. This helps grab and maintain youngsters' interest.

Since blue jeans are a common item in most kids' lives, this overview of where they come from can serve as a springboard for many interesting discussions of where other everyday things come from.

The book does contain some unfamiliar words, but at about one sentence per page, the book will not frustrate newer readers - probably 2nd grade level or advanced 1st grade level. It's also a great book for reading to younger kids.

Highly recommended. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (6)

Do Not Purchase! Kindle Version Incorrectly Formatted!
I was thrilled to see Fowlie's Rimbaud translations available for the Kindle. Unfortunately, something went completely awry in the conversion process, and the French and English are randomly mixed together. It's completely unreadable. Different poems are even mixed together in some cases. Hopefully the publisher can fix this, as this version is not only a huge disappointment, but a complete waste of money.

Amazing and diverse collection!!
I'm so happy a book like this has been made. We've studied many french poets in my French class and Rimbaud seems to have been one of the most exotic and controversial characters in the canon of French poets that were chosen. I'm excited to begin reading them and discovering the kind of thinker Rimbaud was. That his letters have been attached here as well is just icing on the cake. I like to try and translate the original poems on my own but it's always nice to compare the English version supplied to get a better sense of some of the more difficult, shaded French to English translations.

Rimbaud
The book arrived in good condition and in a timely manner.It was a gift.

Poetry's Young Genius
In two words - beyond spectacular. Sheer Genius this is not poetry it is magic. Dark Poetry, but sheer poetical genius. Rimbaud is well beyond the league of Verlaine his famous contemporary and friend. How can you leave this book without being touched by the sheer emotion. Here is the poet's cry from the very depth of the human abyss. I can reread Rimbaud endlessly and yet feel spellbound each time.

Buy it for the orginal French poems, not the translations
I do not know French well enough to read these poems without their translations. That is where Wallace Fowlie's literal translations often come in handy. The only problem with his translations is that they tend not be very poetic. Often, Fowlie rearranges word order unnecessarily, creating more functional English, but losing some poetic impact. This isn't a big problem since the French text is right there, and one can get a sense of the beauty of the original poem.

Sometimes, though, the translation fails utterly, as in "Le dormeur du val", where Fowlie translates the phrase "chante une riviere / Accrochant follement aux herbes des haillons / D'argent" as "a river sings / Madly catching on the grasses / Silver rags". The sentence in Englsh makes no sense whatsoever, and as I don't know French very well, it took me a long time to realize that Rimbaud was saying the river looked like silver rags on the grass. A little more guidance with the translation would have been appreciated.

All in all, I would recommend this book, as it's the only comprehensive collection of Rimbaud's poems I'm aware of that offers you the French version alongside an English translation. Unless you can read French and will be fine with simply a French version, you should get this book so you will have the original to reference, as you are bound to run into problems with any translation. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This bibliography presents an in-depth profile of Jean Arthur--an important but much neglected figure of American film. Along with basic biographical information, the book gives a detailed examination of her career and contribution to the entertainment field. As this bio-bibliography reveals, Jean Arthur found herself a major star during the 1930s with one hit film after another. This book should appeal to both scholar and film historian as well as the casual reader and movie-lover. With its unequalled filmography and complete listing of media contributions, the book will be invaluable as a reference in any film library. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This Book Is In French. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A good overall survey of the work of Sartre
This is a good survey of the work of Sartre by a scholar who knows the philosophical writing well. ... Read more