Uncommon Knowledge

Rating:
Summary: What A Shame
Review: An odd thing happened while reading this book: my respect for Loretta Young the businesswoman, Catholic values standard-bearer, responsible citizen and dignified person increased. Long before I reached mid-point of the book, I felt sad for her daughter -not because she couldn't crow about being related to "The King of Hollywood" earlier in her life- but because she seems to have so little insight, depth of understanding or charitable comprehension of her own shortcomings as well as those of the truly extraordinary (by her own account) family into which she was born. If Judy Lewis was a victim, it was of therapists who evidentally supported her in her sense of being "cheated" and who encouraged her to "claim her identity"; they forgot to tell her how sad, immature and hollow her "dream" of public recognition was and neglected to point out what a treasure she had already that needed cherishing: that complicated and magnificent woman who called her "my daughter".

There are scenes in this book that are poignant and affecting yet the player in them who is cruel isn't Loretta Young. I'm thinking of the night in 1966 when Judy learned the full story from a mother who -even while being hounded- asked first how Judy would feel if it were all true. Or the Mother's Day 1986 when Judy saw how distressed her mother was by the ongoing threat of hers to write an expose based on that intimate conversation of 28 years before.
In a book called "Forever Young" published after Loretta Young's death in 2000, the author points out that it was Loretta who reached out to Judy to heal the wound caused to them and their family by "Uncommon Knowledge". But then, based on Judy's own accounting, perceptive readers could have anticipated that.
What a shame this book is for all concerned.

Rating:
Summary: The King's Daughter
Review: Having seen many of her films, I've long considered myself a fan of Loretta Young. I always found her to be a gracious and benevolent presence. Imagine how my curiousity was peaked when I read that Ms. Young was the mother of an illegitimate child with none other than the King of Hollywood himself, Clark Gable. Of course I was first intrigued by the idea of a secret "love child" hidden in plain view as the adopted child of a famous and beautiful movie star. But with each turn of a page I discovered that this was not Loretta Young's story, neither was it Clark Gable's. It was the story of Judy Lewis, the little girl with the big ears who grew up wondering why everyone stood whispering in corners when she entered a room. Ms. Lewis is both funny and tragic in telling the story of her life as Loretta Young's "adopted" child. I couldn't help but be moved by her vivid word pictures when she tells how she often felt alienated and cast off by her famous mother. But in telling her story she doesn't attack Ms. Young; it's very clear how much she continues to love her mother. She is frank, forthright, and endearing as she claims what was long overdue: her birthright as the daughter of Hollywood royalty. This book is a great read. I couldn't put it down!

Rating:
Summary: Uncommon Knowledge
Review: I saw Judy Lewis years ago in soap the Secret Storm and I noticed how much she resembled her mother Loretta Young. Therefore, I was very surprised when I read back then she was an "adoptee." I later read rumors here and there that she was a "love child" of Clark Gable and Loretta Young. I was not surprised by her revelations: anyone looking at her can see she was Loretta Young's natural daughter and there is a resemblance to Gable also. This is a story that needed to be told and it is good that Ms. Lewis did find out the truth about her roots. It also is an insightful look at the images of the stars back in the 1930s where someone having a child out of wedlock would be ruined. Today, there would be no problem revealing by a film star an out of wedlock pregnancy. This book is a must read for anyone interested in the Golden Age of Hollywood and for fans of Ms. Lewis and her natural parents, Loretta Young and Clark Gable.

Rating:
Summary: The Deciet of a Mother
Review: I was totally appalled by the truth of Judy Lewis' life. To not be told of some one as important as your fathers identity is horrible, but to not be told when your father was as famouse as hers was and that eveyone knew but her was totally unacceptable! I'm just glad that the truth finally did come out and that everyone found out the truth about Loretta Young. My views have changed so much by reading this book that I'm very skeptical of today's Hollywood Images. My heart goes out to Judy Lewis and her hardships. I urge you to read this book and discover the truth!!

Rating:
Summary: Judy Lewis - a gentle star in her own right
Review: Judy Lewis did such a phenomenal job of writing this book. I could not put it down until I'd reached the last page. Unfortunately, it's a story of great sorrow. Loretta Young was always one of my most favorite actresses. Her life seemed shaped by her family history, by her devout Catholicism, the Hayes morality codes and her chosen career. Fear of being found out seems to have permeated her life to the point where when she was confronted by her daughter Judy regarding Judy's parentage, she actually became physically ill. Throughout the book Judy displays a deep devotion and love of her mother, but undoubtedly was terribly confused regarding Loretta's attitude towards her. Although Loretta was a devoted Catholic, knew all the Catholic rules and abided by them, she failed to show genuine Christian love. It broke my heart that Loretta failed to see how her husband Tom Lewis treated Judy, how Judy despised one of her caretakers and was terribly frightened of her, and how Mary Coney after 37 years of working for Loretta was turned out of the house when she was sick and dying. For all Loretta's charity work, she really needed to start her charity at home. I was glad to know that Judy and Loretta reconciled in 1997, three years prior to Loretta's death at 87. I have since often wondered how Loretta's two boys by Tom Lewis have faired in life and if they were treated similarly by their mother.

Judy Lewis was a beautiful child, and is a beautiful woman. She had a terribly difficult childhood despite being the offspring of two wealthy and powerful Hollywood figures. She made her own way however, and succeeded in becoming a most lovely and talented woman without the help of her parents. I'd say this is the result of a determination on her part and perhaps the genes she inherited. I certainly wish she'd write more, her book was a wonderful read.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful Person - Beautiful Book
Review: Judy Lewis is a tower of strength. She was treated, in my opinion, like a second-class citizen in her own home by her own mother,stepfather and half-brothers.

She should have been treated like a queen. She was the daughter of Clark Gable and this information was cruelly hidden from her. Instead, she was treated like an "intruder" and was "not one of us" according to her stepfather. Judy's "staged" adoption by her real mother, Loretta Young was supposedly caused by her mother's fear of the Catholic Church and the studio bosses who might have blackballed her for having an illigitimate child in 1935.

It seems that Clark Gable had wanted the child and Loretta hid the infant from him at first. He finally saw the baby after he insisted. Years later, he visited his daughter,Judy, at her home when she was 15. Judy did not know he was her father and was awestruck as anybody would be to have Clark Gable in her living room. She had seen him in "Gone With The Wind". He sat and talked with her for a long time.

At that time, Loretta was married to a man named Tom Lewis, who, like Judy, also didn't know Judy's father was Clark Gable. He thought Judy was adopted by Loretta from an orphanage. Loretta could have told Tom Lewis and Judy about Clark Gable and allowed Judy an opportunity to love and know her real father.

Sadly, many of Judy's friends, whose parents were Hollywood stars, knew her real father was Clark Gable and Judy's highschool boyfriend knew it too, but they were afraid to say anything.

Loretta finally confessed to Judy that Clark Gable was Judy's father after Judy was an adult, had years of psychotherapy and confronted her. But she still denied her daughter her birthright and the legitimacy she craved by refusing to acknowledge this publicly.

Rating:
Summary: Not the usual movie star's offspring memoir
Review: Over the last few decades of the 20th century, several children of the Kings and Queens of Hollywood have stepped forward and write stories of what it was truly like to grow up under a famous shadow. Some have revealed horror stories of horrid abuse, neglect and alienation.

A person could be tempted to lump "Uncommon Knowledge" with the rest. But that would be doing Judy Lewis and her story a grave injustice. Unlike other Hollywood children, Judy Lewis entered the world in shadow circumstances that are still debated to this day.

In 1935, a blue eyed, blonde baby girl was born to Gretchen Young and her married former lover. Gretchen was better known to the world as the film star Loretta Young and her former lover was the smoldering Clark Gable. Compelled to save her career and image at any cost and her strong Catholic faith barring abortion, the young mother chose to hide her pregnancy and child from the world.

Judy Lewis was the baby girl. To the world, she was the adopted daughter and beloved daughter of Loretta Young. To the film world, she was Gable and Young's secret love child, the truth of her heritage stamped on her face. Lewis herself never knew the truth until adulthood.

Written without the consent of her mother, Judy Lewis builds a strong case for her story. The photos scattered throughout the text show a young woman to an adult, her resemblance to Clark Gable radiating in every pore. Other photos reveal her close resemblance to the Young family.

Like many other Hollywood children, Lewis was subjected to more nannies than time with her mother. And the complete silence from Young in regards to Judy's "adoption" and who she "truly" was left a heartwrenching void in Judy's life, one that even years of working as a family counseler can not erase.

Rating:
Summary: Not Just One Autobiography
Review: This is a very interesting book. It does not just tell the story of Judy Lewis, the illegitimate daughter of Clark Gable and Loretta Young, it also tells the story of a family over several generations. Judy had to dig into her mother and father's past to understand just what made them do what they did on that mountain in Baker, Washington that led to her being born. She tells about the histories of Loretta's parents-her mother virtually orphaned at the age of five- mother of five by the age of 28; a father who constantly cheated on his wife and left her raising five children all under the age of 10. As well as the history of her father, who's mother died at the age of 10 months, whose father never wanted Clark to be an actor because it was "sissy". Clark the man who married two women old enough to be his mothers.
She also describes the hardships they had to deal with when Loretta found out that she was pregnant. How the public knowing she had a baby by a married man would make her and Clark loose their jobs. Judy describes the acrobatics that Loretta did to make sure that the press never found out about her pregnancy and then what Loretta did to hide the fact that Judy was hers after she "adopted" her.
Judy goes on to describe her life after her mother married Tom Lewis. How Tom went from treating Judy like a princess to treating her like the hired help after his sons Christopher Paul and Peter Charles were born. Judy describes the years of emotional abuse that Tom meted out to her until the day when she was in her mid 20's and she heard him telling Christopher and Peter that because she was adopted she was not their sister.
Judy goes into detail about some of her friends and childhood adversaries. She tells about her friendship Daniel Mayer Selznick (the son of David O. Selznick and grandson of Louis B. Mayer.) She also tells about her friendship with people like Bucky Hearst (the grandson of William Randolph Hearst and cousin to Patty Hearst), and the children of Bing Crosby and Irene Dunne. Some of her adversaries were the children of other Hollywood Bigwigs who would make fun of Judy because of her big ears (a trait she inherited from her father and pasted on to her daughter and grandsons.) The teasing got so out of hand that Judy wanted to have surgery to get rid of them. Though she thought that the surgery was her idea it was really her mothers who did not want any evidence about the parentage of her "adopted" daughter because as long as Judy still had those "Dumbo" ears people would know that she was Clark Gables daughter.
Judy describes her early boyfriends like Robert Dornon and Jack Haley Jr. as well as the relationship she had with her fiancé Russell Hughes, whom nobody in her family liked. She goes into detail about her husband Joseph Tinney and their rocky relationship, which produced daughter Maria Tinney Dagit, and two grandchildren.
In the book, Judy also describes her on again off again relationship with her mother. She tells about when she was younger and her mother was very loving to her, but would not want to be asked about Judy's adoption to the scene after Judy was married and Judy finally confronted her mother about being her and Clark Gable's biological child to the fight that they had Mother's Day 1986 when the pain and anger Judy had about her childhood as well as the fact that her mother the movie star said that she did not have enough money to get a dress and pay for a plane ticket to Pennsylivania to go see Maria get married to Daniel Dagit.
All in all this is a very good book, and I recommend it to anybody interested in old Hollywood.