My Lucky Stars, Signed by Shirley MacLaine to Elizabeth Taylor
[Signed Presentation to Elizabeth Taylor] MacLaine, Shirley. My Lucky Stars, A Hollywood Memoir. First Edition. 1995. Book and dust jacket are both in very good condition. On the flyleaf, the book is warmly inscribed, “Darling Elizabeth Taylor, A beacon of survival for me. A light to uphold always. And a human being with unlimited capacity to love. I miss you and cherish you—Love, Shirley.” Laid in is an item description and tag from “The Lifestyle of Elizabeth Taylor” sale held at Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills, California.
Given Shirley MacLaine’s well-established interest in metaphysics, a reader might be forgiven for assuming the “lucky stars” in the title refers to the author’s astrological charts. Instead, this book (and its author) remain firmly grounded on earth. The title is a pun, but the lucky stars are the performers and directors with whom MacLaine has worked with over the years. They are presented in a series of vignettes in which MacLaine discusses her roles, political activism, family, and the struggle of remaining human in the make-believe world of Tinseltown. One of the friends whom MacLaine devotes multiple pages (241 to 243) is Elizabeth Taylor. Taylor is perhaps the best example Hollywood has yet produced of the type of celebrity MacLaine idealizes—a person who was embodiment of the glamorous film star but without sacrificing either her courage or humanity.
“[T]o me, power is finally the courage and audacity to believe in yourself, to believe you have something important to say, and to see to it that you have the stamina to follow it through.”
--Shirley MacLaine