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The was the unofficial empress of Hollywood and she spent a lifetime as the mistress of one of America's richest men. Gathered from tapes recroded a decade before Marion Davie's death, read, in her own words, the story of a fantastic and glittering life, as never told before.
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Customer Reviews (20)

Extremely boring!
I REITERATE---EXTREMELY BORING BOOK.I GAVE UP READING IT AFTER 30 PAGES.IT IS DRIVEL!

A Champagne Bubble Bath of a Book
I once read that Winston Churchill wrote a letter to his wife, Clementine, after having met both, Mrs. William Hearst, Sr. and Hearst's mistress, actress Marion Davies, during an extended visit with publishing czar Hearst. Ever the diplomat, Churchill is alleged to have written, "I have met both Mrs. Hearsts, and they are both charming."

I bought a copy of Marion Davies autobiography from the Hearst Castle gift store, aftercompleting a fourth (or was it fifth?) tour of that absolutely fabulous mountain-top estate. I wanted to know a lot more about this woman who openly lived with still-married Hearst for nearly four decades. So, who better than Davies, to tell her own story?

The book proved to be a very pleasant surprise as Davies' irrepressible "funster" voice transcends time and seduces readers as surely as one tour of Hearst Castle can never be one's last. No wonder "WR" adored this woman! While Davies was in no way Hearst's intellectual peer - and never pretended to be otherwise - she was a disarmingly funny, unpretentious, unstintingly generous, loving, loyal companion, who also happened to be drop-dead gorgeous, in her prime. Honesty may not have been among Davies strong suits - as noted in Orson Welles foreword, she rewrote or embroidered on facts to improve on her stories - but discretion certainly was.

Davies obliquely hinted at the probability she had a daughter, fathered by Hearst - Patricia Van Cleve Lake, who may or may not also have been Patty Hearst's namesake aunt - at several points in this memoir. Hearst descendants have yet to publicly corroborate Lake family claims that Davies' "niece" Patricia was actually Davies child with Hearst, Sr. Nevertheless, the fact Van Cleve Lake was a frequent guest at Hearst Castle, was wed to actor Arthur Lake at Hearst Castle, and was interred (1993) in the same family cemetery plot as her "Aunt Marion" says volumes.

I can only speculate that while Marion Davies didn't mind flouting many of the conventions of her time, she was clearly far more wary when it came to protecting the interests of her only child. Davies lived in an era when the double-standard was tacitly accepted as being an immutable fact of life. So, I'm sure it pained her greatly, in feeling unable to publicly acknowledge her own daughter as other than a niece.

Scandalous circumstances notwithstanding, Davies' unswerving love and life-long devotion to "WR" is, of itself, very touching and inspiring. This grand amour lasted longer than most marriages. And Davies' frank acknowledgement that "Love doesn't always happen in the marriage bed," is both droll and a little sad. The woman took whatever life dealt her as destiny and didn't whine about it, even as she committed a slew of faux pas and dropped big names and malapropisms galore, along the way. You end up loving this woman because she was truly the life of the party.

My copy of "The Times We Had" is dog-eared from multiple re-reads. As escapism into a glamorous bygone era goes, this is perfect. Or where else but at a party hosted by effervescent Davies would you have found reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes consenting to dress up in short Tyrolean lederhosen, or curmudgeonly George Bernard Shaw deigning to have lunch in a Hollywood studio, or Gloria Swanson presiding over a party game of fake marriages?I am so glad Davies tape-recorded her story. Perfect hostess that she was, Davies proved thoughtful to the end in having left only the very best parts of her story to posterity.

The Times We Had is an intimate look at life as the mistresss of William Randolph Hearst by Hollywood Star Marion Davies
The first line of this superficial biography is a lie. Marion Davies (18907-1961) was born in Brooklyn in 1897 not the 1905 year she claims for her nativity!
Marion Davies was a dancer winning applause as a Ziegfield girl. The fetching blonde Marion caught the eye of billionaire publisher William Randolph Hearst in the early 1900s.
Hearst was a kind man difficult to know. He was separated from his wife Millicent who became an habitue of cafe society in New York. The couple had four sons who came to love Marion.
Marion starred in forgettable Hollywood comedies but was a talented performer. This reader became weary of her constantly pooh-poohing her talents through this memoir.The oral memoir was Marion's 1951's reminiscences of Hearst picked up by a trusty tape recorder. This is the genesis of this poorly written book.
Marion and WRH hosted lavish parties at their monumental castle ranch San Simeon on the California coast; Hearst's castle in Wales and Wyntoon which had been WRH's family home.
A Who's Who of Hollywood Royalty such as Clark Gable, Norma Shearer, Irving Thalberg, LB Meyer, Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich, John Gilbert and countless other stars played in this congenial and lavish palace. Politicial figures such as Calvin Coolidge and foreign leaders also enjoyed San Simeon. Much of the book relates anecdotes of Marion's interaction with the celebrities as she reports on her many overseas trips with WRH. Marion was with Hearst until the publisher died in 1951. She dismisses the rumour that Hollywood Director William Ince was murdered on WRH's yacht. Marion's utter worship and loyalty to WRH is on display in these pages though we never get to understand the publishing genius.
Marion was a kind person who gave millions to charity. Her political comments are inane. Marion was no intellectual who knew little of events other than those espoused by the conservative Democrat WRH.
It is widely known that Orson Welles based his classic film "Citizen Kane" on the life of WRH and Marion (seen as Susan Alexander in the film). Welles writes a disclaimer to this in his fine introduction included in this paperback edition.
The best part of the book are the over 100 pictures included in its 300 plus pages. To find a balanced view of Hearst the reader should look elsewhere. I like Marion better than I do this book. An interesting read.

An Intimate Glimpse at Hollywood and famous personalities
I read this book years ago and because of my ongoing interest in WR Hearst and Marion Davies read it again. Marion made some recordings shortly after her long time (30+years) lover W.R. Hearst died in 1951. She then did nothing with them and died in 1961. Two editors in 1975 took these tapes, edited them and the book appeared in 1975. This book is a time capsule of her years with Hearst and the people she met from Carole Lombard to a young Jack Kennedy.

What to know what Charles Limbergh was like personally? G. B. Shaw? What really happened the night Thomas Ince died?

Marion has come back to this world and invites you to sit with her while she tells you how it all was...

Want to know what Orson Wells thought of the comparison of her and Citizen Kane? It is in his forward...

All I can say about this book is WOW.

The Times We Had, Life with William Randolph Hearst
The conversational style of this book shines a light on the personality and character of Marion Davies.I recommend the book be read in conjunction with "The Chief" by David Nasaw and "Marion Davies" by Fred Laurence Guiles--taken together these books present a unique picture of the people portrayed and the times the lived. ... Read more

Product Description
1972 - 1st Edition - McGraw-Hill - Hard Cover - Marion Davies - By Fred Laurence Guiles - With Dust Jacket - 48 Pages of photos - Wonderful Biography - VG-Good Condition - Collectible ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Marion Davies by Guiles
Excellent biography on Marion Davies.Revealed much insight into her character, and her lifestyle.Enjoyed reading about the early history of the motion picture industry.Miss Davies was a true pioneer of that era.Sad that she passed away too soon.Of course, today she wouldn't be here. ... Read more

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Gathered for the first time in this unique volume are plays and documents suggesting that, contrary to traditional thinking, women participated in the theatrical culture of the English Renaissance--as authors, translators, performers, spectators, and even as part-owners of theaters Renaissance Drama by Women includes 4 full length plays--Love's Victory, The Concealed Fancies, The Tragedy of Marion, and The Tragedy of Antonie--along with a fragment of a translation from Seneca by Queen Elizabeth I, an occasional masque written for performance by a ladies' school before Queen Anne, and a collection of historical documents illustration many fascinating ways that women participated in a range of theatrical activity between the 1570s and 1660. ... Read more

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The first feminist edition of these two tales. Wynne-Davies addresses the social and cultural context of the poems' production in a critical commentary to the texts. Also includes a line by line gloss and a historical introduction. ... Read more

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Although women of the Renaissance were expected to be "chaste, silent and obedient", many women poets risked the disapproval of their own society and transcended the strictures of contemporary female behavior in words that still resonate today. Their meditations on the danger and sufferings of motherhood and their descriptions of the vagaries of love, while couched in the formal style of Renaissance poetry, often appear startlingly close to modern experience.

As a consequence, the range of poetry produced by Renaissance women is remarkably broad. In Women Poets of the Renaissance the poetry of these women is collected for the first time in an anthology that offers the twentieth-century reader a fresh and unique approach to literature of the period. ... Read more

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A guide to English literature in which thousands of detailed A-Z entries are combined with a series of essays. The book creates a research network, allowing the user to follow lines of interest, investigate topics, and place them within historical and social contexts. For this edition, the essays have been arranged chronologically, enabling quick reference and providing a sense of the historical progression of all forms of literature in the English language. The text is cross-referenced and bibliographical references have been checked and updated. ... Read more

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Great reference and introductory text
The first 300 pages of the guide includes essays that chart the history of literature in Great Britain. These essays cover a fairly wide range of topics, and give some general insight into the Britain's various movements and figures.Some essay titles include:

1. Political history and sociel context (1066-present day)
2. Contemporary approaches to literature
F.R. Leavis and evaluation
Saussure and Structuralism... etc.
3. Medieval English literature
A context for medeval english literature
Medieval english lyrics
Narrative poetry... etc
11. Enlightenment, Sensibility and Romanticism: poetry 1660-1830

The last 700 pages include individual entries for titles, writers, characters and events.Example of entries:
AaronAbbey Theatre, DublinAbel
AbigailAbse, Dannie Absurd, Theatre of the
Acrostic Achebe, Chinua Act

An example of an entry:
Clerihew
A lightweight epigram, usually in four lines of varying length, so called afterits inventor E. Clerihew Bentley.For example:
Alfred de Musset
called his cat 'pusset'
His accent was affected --
That was to be expected.

This reference book is great if you, like me, often forget what a particular character or concept is about.The entries include references to other related entries, so all those related ideas are at your fingertips.Presumes sufficient knowledge of English Literature, and is probably only useful to a certain kind of interest in. ... Read more

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Much Ado About Nothing and The Taming of the Shrew are two of Shakespeare's most exciting and challenging comedies and the essays collected here offer various ways of interpreting them. The range of approaches covers traditional close reading, feminism, New Historicism, deconstruction, and Marxism, as well as essays on both stage and film productions of the plays. The plays are thus contextualized both historically and in terms of Shakespeare's canon. The introduction discusses the key concepts focused on by the specific essays and offers a way of negotiating the wide array of insightful and scholarly material collected in this new casebook. ... Read more

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Readings in Renaissance Women's Drama is the first significant collection of critical and historical essays on women's essential contributions to the Renaissance stage. It revives the faded Renaissance woman dramatist from obscurity, and brings together important essays on the topic by such notables as Virginia Woolf and T.S. Eliot. Focusing on issues from the contemporary critical reaction to women's drama and the authorship and performance histories of the plays to the longstanding and persistent neglect of successful plays by Renaissance women in the literary canon, this collection promises to rewrite our understandings of the Renaissance and of the history of drama. ... Read more

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MARION DAVIES --ACTRESS!!
For many years Orson Welles and his opus CITIZEN KANE clobbered the career and talent of screen legend Marion Davies. NO MORE. Fred Lawrence Guiles and his superior MARION DAVIES put the star back in the limelight that was robbed from her so long ago.

With careful research and excellent storytelling ability Mr. Guiles unfolds the story of Marion Douras from Brooklyn to Marion Davies icon. The reader sees her rise from the Ziegfeld Follies to the Queen of silent and early talkie Hollywood.

Mr.Guiles has left no stone unturned as he shows that Miss Davies was not at all like her fictional counterpart Susan Alexander in CITIZEN KANE. The one impression that the reader comes away with after completing this book is that Miss Davies was a very gifted comedienne, as was pointed out in the non-Hearst press of the day. Her lover of over three decades, William Randolph Hearst, put her in front of the cameras, but it was a testament to Miss Davies comedic ability that she enchanted the public. There is a wonderful and complete filmography at the end of the book--complete with cast, credits, profit/loss and reviews.

Mr. Guiles also gives great coverage to Miss Davies years as a grand Hollywood hostess at Hearst's castle San Simeon. The "Golden Days" of Hollywood come alive as the author chronicles party after party with guests lists that included Jean Harlow, Norma Shearer, Rudolph Valentino, Charlie Chaplin, Gloria Swanson, Constance Bennett, etc.--great stars all.

The author's portrait of Miss Davies is not all sunshine and roses. Mr. Guiles also covers the actress' alcoholism, her possible affair with Charlie Chaplin (among others) and the old chestnut as to whether Miss Davie's niece Patricia Lake was actually the love child of Davies and Hearst.

There is a certain poignancy in the story as Hearst starts to fade and Miss Davies stands helplessly by as the only man she ever truly loved lay dying. From Hearst's death to Miss Davies own a decade later the story takes on a "Sunset Boulevardesque" tone a Miss Davies seems to be lost in a world that no longer wants her nor cares for her.

This book is a must for anyone interested in silent Hollywood of even movies in general. MARION DAVIES is a movie star biography in the grandest order. Written with sympathy, yet objectivity, it evokes an era that is sadly long gone. More importantly it brings to life one of the most effervescent silent screen stars ever and rights a terrible wrong that was allowed to go unchallenged for decades.
-----Michael J. Powazinik ... Read more

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A study of the internationally renowned author whose works engage with some of the most important concerns of the 21st century, including: feminism, international terrorism, multiculturalism and global warming. ... Read more

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Chapters: Barbara Stanwyck, Eve Arden, Lucia Pamela, Jeanne Eagels, Bessie Love, Paulette Goddard, Louise Brooks, Marion Davies, Olive Thomas, Joan Blondell, Ann Pennington, Mae Murray, Nita Naldi, Susan Fleming, Iris Adrian, Anna Held, Bird Millman, Tamara Geva, Dorothy Mackaill, Billie Dove, Paulette Duval, Yvonne Hughes, Claire Dodd, Irene Hayes, Cecile Arnold, Jean Howard, Helen Gallagher. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 149. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Mary Louise Brooks (November 14, 1906 August 8, 1985), generally known by her stage name Louise Brooks, was an American dancer, model, showgirl and silent film actress, famous for popularizing the bobbed haircut. Brooks is best known for her three feature roles including two G. W. Pabst films: in Pandora's Box (1929), Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), and Prix de Beauté (Miss Europe) (1930). She starred in 17 silent films and, late in life, authored a memoir, Lulu in Hollywood. Born in Cherryvale, Kansas, Louise Brooks was the daughter of Leonard Porter Brooks, a lawyer, who was usually too busy with his practice to discipline his children, and an artistic mother who determined that any "squalling brats she produced could take care of themselves". Myra Rude was a talented pianist who played the latest Debussy and Ravel for her children, inspiring them with a love of books and music. None of this protected her nine-year old daughter Louise from sexual abuse at the hands of a neighborhood predator. This event had a major influence on Brooks's life and career, causing her to say in later years that she was incapable of real love, and that this man "must have had a great deal to do with forming my attitude toward sexual pleasure....For me, nice, soft, easy men were never enough -- there had to be an element of domination". (When Br...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=187904 ... Read more