Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful Hollywood
Review: There should be more books like The Golden Girls of MGM.It's one you want to keep in your library. Maybe we are familiar with the likes of Judy Garland, Ava Gardner, Greta Garbo and the other glamorous MGM actress, but they are put together in one book with ease and humor. I own all of Jane Ellen Wayne's books about Hollywood. She has a writing style that makes one read on and on. And she doesn't miss a trick.She can be critical, but that's what life in Hollywood is all about. I've lived here all my life and I can tell you Ms. Wayne captures the Golden Era with gusto. Read it!
Rating: 
Summary: Typical Tabloid Trash
Review: This book, in my opinion as a long time reader of MGM/Golden Age stars-related books and other material, is not deserving of much praise. The book is filled with the same old tabloid-inspired foundation for its statements. Both the author and the publisher know that sex, scandal, gossip and innuendo are what sells. The bibliography is very weak, (and brief considering the people being examined and the shear amount of material connected to them)and consists of some of the least respected Hollywood-oriented books. For example, I have read EVERY book on Judy Garland, yet this author chooses to use the least respected, least factual and most inacurrate books on the star for her information. She uses a Garland bio by one author that is so reviled and so poorly done, that the author was sued Big Time for his inacurrate work. Another Garland bio she chose to use was also heavily laden with speculation, innuendo and unattributed stories. And that's just two of the sources in this book. The rest are hardly worth mentioning. Also, the author states often, "According to reliable sources..." well, just who are they? If they are so reliable, state who they are. That is the common foundation for books such as this one, the use of anonymous, unattributed sources and qualifying modidiers (perhaps, could be, suggest, probably.) This book is a rehash of popular myth, gossip, innuendo and speculation in a truncated form which allows for no historical perspective for anyone involved, nor adequate mention of their overwhelming good qualities and achievements. However, you cannot blame anyone involved, because they were only following the time-old money-trail necessary to make it in the world of celebrity biographies.
Rating:
Summary: How do books like this get published?
Review: This is nothing more than a cut-and-paste job, gathering the most salacious factoids from far and wide with no regard for accuracy. The author's lack of command of the facts is astonishing. You know you're in trouble by the first chapter when she has Jeannette MacDonald's honeymoon cruise ship docking at "the pier in Pasadena." And it goes downhill from there. If you want a quick, trashy read and don't mind poor research, inept writing and utter disregard for the facts, this is your book. But if you want to learn something significant about these women and their careers, you will do far better elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: SUPER!
Review: WHAT A GREAT BOOK! I LAUGHED AND I CRIED AND I COULDN'T STOP READING.MS. WAYNE DOES A GREAT JOB DISHING THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY FACTS ABOUT THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE BUT THROUGH IT ALL, YOU LOVED THESE FAMOUS ACTRESSES WHO WERE MARRIED MANY TIMES BUT ALWAYS LOYAL TO GOOD OLD MGM.
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