SWANSON, Gloria[535] pp.1980First Edition9 1/2" x 6 1/2" Fine/ FineProvenance: Ex-Libris George Cukor (bookplate)The star of the screen throughout the 1920s presents a candid look at her long life, chronicling the story of her six husbands and many lovers and her experiences with studio heads, Zukor, Lasky, DeMille, and Schenck Dust jacket illustration by René Bouché.In her final performance, Swanson played herself in Airport 75, one of those disaster films that were all the rage in the mid-1970s. In it, she frantically attempts to finish her life story before the jet on which she is a passenger crashes. Unfortunately, for the Kennedys, there was no midair mishap to derail Swanson’s actual memoir. This book was a sensation when it was published. She met just about everyone and had been everywhere and wasn’t afraid to talk about it. She tells all and names names. Her story takes hold in Hollywood, lands in England for a marriage into the minor nobility, makes a stopover in Boston for a scandalous affair with Joe Kennedy before finally returning to Hollywood for a memorable drive down Sunset Boulevard. “I’ve given my memoirs far more thought than any of my marriages. You can’t divorce a book.”--Gloria Swanson
