Tallulah!: The Life And Times of a Leading Lady

by Lobenthal, Joel

• ISBN13: 9780060989064
• ISBN10: 0060989068
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications

Summary

In the golden age of American theater, no celestial body shone more dazzlingly than Tallulah Bankhead. Outrageous, outspoken, and totally uninhibited, she was an actress known as much for her offstage vices as for her onstage roles-the cocaine and alcohol, the blistering tirades, and her scandalous affairs with both men and women.In Tallulah!, author Joel Lobenthal has captured the private essence of this most public of Broadway stars, the irrepressible diva who enjoyed intimate relationships with the top entertainment luminaries of her day, from Tennessee Williams and Noël Coward to Marlene Dietrich and Billie Holiday. Here also are the close and personal details of her family life and doomed romances, drawn from scores of exclusive interviews, and previously untapped information from Scotland Yard and the FBI. This is the definitive biography of Tallulah Bankhead, a woman even more complex, more nuanced, and more shocking than her notorious mythology suggests.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. xi
1902-1930
Lace Curtains	p. 3
Debutante	p. 17
Making Her Way	p. 32
"I'm a Lesbian. What Do You Do?"	p. 40
Madcaps in London	p. 53
Naps	p. 64
Risky Behavior	p. 76
Modern Wives	p. 87
Femme Fatale	p. 96
Something Different	p. 105
Skylarking	p. 116
Sex Plays	p. 126
Surveillance	p. 137
Betrayals	p. 146
Constrained by Crinolines	p. 157
London Farewell	p. 166
1931-1939
Paramount	p. 179
Hollywood	p. 190
Gary Cooper and Others	p. 197
"I Want a Man!"	p. 203
Back on Broadway	p. 213
Disaster	p. 220
Recovery	p. 230
Jock	p. 240
Getting Married	p. 253
Cleopatra Pissed	p. 264
Serving Time in Drawing Rooms	p. 274
The Little Foxes	p. 283
1939-1950
Triumph	p. 299
Tilting Her Lance	p. 309
Losses	p. 319
Drama by the Kitchen Sink	p. 331
Multiple Personalities	p. 342
Chatelaine	p. 355
Work and Play	p. 366
Flights of Fancy	p. 372
Bested by Brando	p. 383
Public and Private Lives	p. 390
Skidding	p. 400
1950-1968
Mixed Highs and Lows	p. 419
Stateless	p. 428
Pearls Before Swine	p. 438
The Hallelujah Chorus	p. 446
The Nadir	p. 456
Halloween Madness	p. 471
In Retreat	p. 485
Last Train	p. 497
Home to London	p. 511
Winding Down	p. 522
Notes	p. 537
Bibliography	p. 559
Index	p. 565
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