Rating: 
Summary: The Dangers of Being Famous
Review: Anyone who has read Maureen Orth's writing in Vanity Fair is well acquainted with most,if not all of the subjects in this book. The chapters have brief introductions dissecting the various aspects of fame as we know it today. Orth looks at what constitutes "famous" and how media and curiosity seems to spew out an endless stream of "Famous".Orth's interviews first appeared on the pages of Vanity Fair. People we read about and see on TV, Madonna, Karl Lagerfield, Laci Peterson, Michael Jackson, Tina Turner,Margaret Thatcher all share bits and pieces
of themselves. Orth has a keen eye for subtleties and is very detail oriented. Often, quotes from her pieces are reprinted in mainstream press, hailed as news,such as Margaret Thatcher's admission she felt her life was "fractured" upon leaving 10 Downing Street. The same may have very well been first said by Fleet Street, but it is given legitimacy when it is reported by Orth. A very few subjects are admirablesuch as Tina Turner and her return from abuse and debt. Most are "famous" because the media have made a practice of writing about them. They seem more impressed with themselves than warrented, and live lives that express contempt for the morals and laws we commen mortals live by. They do not look better under closer scrutiny...they seem decayed and grotesque.Almost all of the subjects of this book have done their time in a less than favorable spotlight.....leading me to think it would have been better titled ..."the Dangers of Being Famous".
Rating: 
Summary: Is This A Joke?
Review: A fun read. Maureen Orth opens the door to the surreal world of celebrity and invites us in. The world she describes places most celebrities and others enjoying their "15 minutes" in their own personal Wonderlands, places most often resembling cuckoo's nests. Thanks to Orth, those curious about famous lives can push aside the curtains of wealth and power and then withdraw--thankful that most of those profiled are not part of our lives. Orth's contention that so many of the famous became newsworthy due to the media's insatiable need to provide coverage 24/7 gives us permission to avoid the news occassionally in the interest of tuning down the fame volume.
Rating: 
Summary: Fame Defrocked
Review: A fun read. Maureen Orth opens the door to the surreal world of celebrity and invites us in. The world she describes places most celebrities and others enjoying their "15 minutes" in their own personal Wonderlands, places most often resembling cuckoo's nests. Thanks to Orth, those curious about famous lives can push aside the curtains of wealth and power and then withdraw--thankful that most of those profiled are not part of our lives. Orth's contention that so many of the famous became newsworthy due to the media's insatiable need to provide coverage 24/7 gives us permission to avoid the news occassionally in the interest of tuning down the fame volume.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and Informative..
Review: I am the lucky mom of a lovely 14 year old daughter who has been training since kindergarten to embrace singing as a career. Aside from allowing her to do local talent shows, competitions and musicals I have not encouraged her to aim for celebrity. Not my goal to see her become a has been at a tender age as so many talented youth do as they enter the Hollywood wheel. BUT she has been pushing to parlay her youth, beauty, perfect TV size 0 body and ability into a career now! She will last she says and singing is what she will do. No ifs ands or buts.
Not being blessed with ANY connections ie Goldie Hawn for a mom or Hulk Hogan for a dad or Jessica Simpson for a sister..I figured I'd best figure out how to approach the Hollywood thing.
Hence my reading of "The Importance of Being Famous". Basically this is Orth's indepth look at a number of celebrities she reported on for Vanity Fair. It includes protrayals of stars and folks who became celebrities due to circumstances that were beyond their control. Maureen profiles the Laci Peterson case, Tina Turner, Denise Rich, Woody Allen, Mohamed Fayed and more. What becomes so very, very clear is that fame is not about talent but is about SELF-PROMOTION. The ability to get yourself noticed and continually stay in the public eye.
This ability is ever present in the big names like Madonna, Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor and others who are continually shocking us by redesigning their face, marrying again or in some other way becoming news worthy.
In a nutshell covered in the 372 pages I realized that Orth was saying that there is a fine line between infamy and fame - that today's news is over in a flash as tomorrow's news occurs and the next big story is lurching close by. So to succeed long-term you must fascinate.
So I summed it up for my daughter. "When you are ready, if you still want to be a well-known singer you are going to have to continually surprise to stay on top."
"Yes mom" she said "I am going to have to keep people interested by reinventing myself." Guess she doesn't need to read the book. Now if I only had a cousin or knew somebody who knew somebody who was in the music industry!
Rating:
Summary: Is This A Joke?
Review: I had high hopes for this book, but It is nothing more than a tabloid junkie. It gives false details about Michael Jackson Case, articles taken from tabloids.I advise you to buy this instead:
" Redemption: The Truth Behind the Michael Jackson Child Molestation Allegations "
Rating:
Summary: God bless Maureen Orth
Review: I have never read 23 pages of any book, and suddenly wanted the author to sign my copy, but that's what happened to me today. I started reading, and by page 23, I was almost in tears, so grateful that Ms. Orth has the clarity, courage, and gorgeous writing skills to proclaim the emperor naked. It takes Great Big Ones to buck the established media, of which she's a respected member (I've always loved her Vanity Fair pieces), and she's got them. Finally, someone willing to write about how the "news" gets so distorted, and how the rest of the media, knowing they're being manipulated, just pile on, ignoring the fact that THERE IS NO STORY THERE!!! Gertrude Stein would be proud. Plus, I have the same sunglasses as the model on the cover. Seriously, this is a smashing read, just wonderful. I already don't want to finish it, but I know I'll do it, and quickly, because Maureen Orth's writing and reportorial skills, as well as her blessedly vital and straightforward take on what's going on, make me feel like I'm breathing sweet air after a deadly rainstorm. Do it again, M. O.
Rating:
Summary: Our Culture Isn't
Review: I loved the phrase coined by Orth, " The Celebrity-Industrial Complex. " Note that media news are now 24/7, talking heads proliferate on TV and the quickest way of getting your leg broken is to get between a camera and Gloria Allred. We do know, don't we, that if every celebrity on the planet were to die tomorrow 'The Complex' would replace them with a new crop by next week? There's no way The Enquirer is going out of business. For that matter, the author notes that the trend is catching and irreversible: " One need not look further than PAGE ONE of the distinguished New York Times to see how far celebrity coverage has come . . it has featured such previously unthinkable stories about the deaths of singers Aailayah and Celia Cruz, not to mention the mauling of Las Vegas liontamer Roy...and an analysis of the career of Britney Spears. " I don'tunderstand the negative reviews, unless they were expecting a 'how to ' achieve fame book, or, as implied, they've read all Vanity Fair articles for the last ten years between memorizing The Summa Theologica and The Encyclopedia Brittanica. Whatever. Now name a better critique on our pop-culture. For my money, " Bobos in Paradise " is excellent but it's not in the same ballpark. BTW, have you notied that when Columbine, 9/11 or other major public tragedies occur that reporters, when commenting on the bravery of some of the victims or rescuers involved, inevitably mention something to the effect that these were ordinary people who acted with extraordinary valor due to extreme circumstances? Why doesn't anyone hazard the opinion that these were extraordianry individuals who acted with characteristic valor and decency under extreme circumstances? Gee, could it be that by "ordinary" we DO NOT mean that they weren't Mozart or Einstein. Could we mean that what we're really saying is that they were firefighters or schoolteachers instead of Pop-Celebs? Almost non-persons. Oh, yes, I forgot, there's a word for them: Nobodies. God, or somebody , help us! Outstanding book. As funny as it is painful.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing rehash of Vanity Fair articles
Review: I wanted to like this book but was very disappointed that all it included was a mish mash of Vanity Fair articles from 1990-2002 with follow up paragraphs that appear to be right out of People magazine.
Rating:
Summary: The Importance of Being Famous
Review: Orth is an excellent writer: witty, intuitive and discerning in her judgments. She writes some of the best leds in the business. "Did you see the wee fox?" ... set up the whole Gerry Adams profile. You may have a strong opinion about Adams but Orth manages to introduce you to a person you were unacquainted with. Woody Allen must wince when he reads the chapter on his behavior. Orth is not a celebrity writer; she is a writer who introduces nuance into chapters about well-known people who are revealed in new ways.
Rating:
Summary: The Swamp of Fame
Review: PEOPLE AS PRODUCT The brilliantly witty and ascerbically perspicacious Mauren Orth shows us what victims we have become - fame junkies and celebrity pluckers, who fall for the manipulative packaging and venal PR campaigns we are force fed daily by the Media, then run out to buy the crap these famous or notorious shills are selling. They are PRODUCT, sold to us by wholesalers and promoters with the ever-so-willing aiding and abetting by the terminally voracious well known. Michael J and Vladimir Putin, Madonna and Princess Di, Elvis and Arnold. They're all here, and never more nakedly revealed.
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