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- Hedda and Louella, Ex Libris Rosalind Russell
Hedda and Louella, Ex Libris Rosalind Russell
[Signed, Ex Libris Rosalind Russell] Eells, George. Hedda and Louella, A Dual Biography of Hedda and Louella. First Edition. 1972. Book is in very good condition; dust jacket is in very good minus condition—jacket shows minor edges tears and a slight fading to the spine. This copy is from the library of actress Rosalind Russell, with her embossed bookstamp on the corner of the flyleaf. Laid in is a “With the Compliments of the Author” card signed by George Eells.
A gossip column is mostly smoke and mirrors in which narrative trumps truth. It is seemingly light and fun, but behind that façade, a serious game is taking place in which careers, and even lives, are made or broken. Hollywood scribe George Eells understood that darker undercurrent in this dual biography of the two most powerful women in Golden Age Hollywood. Even so, the candy-pink dust jacket cover is no lie. The book is also a delicious confection, full of inside information on Hedda and Louella the movie stars they built up one day and tore down the next. That former friends Hopper and Parsons became sworn enemies adds an additional layer to the intrigue. Rosalind Russell, to whom this copy belonged, behaved well enough to avoid the frequent poison in their pens, but she does appear four times in this book.
“When Rosalind Russell and Frederick Brisson were arrested for speeding on their way to their wedding, the arresting officer called to tip off the Examiner, and someone there called Louella.”
--George Eells