Anita Loos

A Memoir

The Talmadge Girls

 reads more like a rich, elderly aunt’s reminiscence of her younger years in 20s hollywood, rather than a coherent biography of the talmadge girls as its title suggests. in actuality, the book itself should have been titled something along the lines of 

— seeing as the actual content of the book is more autobiographical than anything. semantic argument aside though, the book is fun to read. the reader gets a lush, albeit, heavily glamorized look into late 1910s to mid 1920s new york, hollywood, and paris through the eyes of miss loos.

loos’s simple, understandable writing style paints a captivating picture of silent era hollywood– from parties, to vacations, to acting/writing, to moving studios across the country, to love, relationships, marriage, sex, and meeting nobility; it seems as though these women had lived through it all in their short years of stardom.

in hindsight, i don’t think i should have expected a serious biography. i went into this book expecting a semi-serious memoir featuring retellings of events from anita’s life and friendship with peg and the three talmadge girls. (a mistake on my behalf simply because i had been previously unfamiliar with anita’s writing style!) instead, it’s a humorous, occasionally frivolous recounting of her life as a writer for (most) of norma and constance’s silent films through the years 1918 to 1925. in terms of a biography, it’s loose. it doesn’t really “follow the rules” which makes it fun to read. not to relate this all to buster keaton but anita’s biography reminds me of buster’s autobiography– lots of laughs and a lot of “things that happened in my life as i remember it, just in chronological order.”

funnily enough, parts of this book tend to read more like a gossip column than a biography or a memoir. the book can oftentimes be rather tell-all as it explains the whos and the whats of silent era hollywood. it’s like anita loos had kept all these dishy details to herself and waited until everybody mentioned (or just about everybody) in this book had passed away so everything could come out. it’s like the spirit of louella parsons took over her for a few chapters.

i’ve mentioned it previously but i was also underprepared for how little norma, constance, and natalie were mentioned in a book that was named after them– natalie especially. compared to constance, norma, and peg there’s basically no mention of natalie (or nate, as she’s called occasionally throughout the book) much to my disappointment. i picked this up in hopes of trying to understand and learn more about her– seeing as there’s not much information about her online (other than her relationships to other people. ) i almost wish she had become a star like her sisters just so we could know more about her, but, alas, it’s clear through these little bits of anita’s writing that a superstar life was just not one natalie was meant to live. maybe one day we’ll know more about the enigmatic natalie talmadge but, for now, she remains in the shadows of her sisters.

 is an entertaining read– even if i wished it was more informative about the subject, rather than its author. i kept finding myself coming back for more even when i’d finished reading for the day. i was hooked by its simple prose and even simpler writing, anita loos managed to scratch that literary itch. (and perhaps that’s why she was so good at what she did!) the book just 

 isn’t perfect by any means but should anybody have really expected that? memories can change or decay over time (much like many of the films anita had mentioned writing for– even the movie she included the script for as a bonus in the back is a lost film!) people can, and will, embellish life events or stories just for the sake of entertainment and i think that’s what anita did here. she tried to tell her story in the most entertaining way possible, and in that sense i believe she succeeded!

eden ☮

anita loos’s the talmadge girls reads more like a rich, elderly aunt’s reminiscence of her younger years in 20s hollywood, rather than a coherent biography of the talmadge girls as its title suggests. in actuality, the book itself should have been titled something along the lines of my life with the talmadge girls, writing for constance and norma, or even the talmadge girls and me— seeing as the actual content of the book is more autobiographical than anything. semantic argument aside though, the book is fun to read. the reader gets a lush, albeit, heavily glamorized look into late 1910s to mid 1920s new york, hollywood, and paris through the eyes of miss loos.

loos’s simple, understandable writing style paints a captivating picture of silent era hollywood– from parties, to vacations, to acting/writing, to moving studios across the country, to love, relationships, marriage, sex, and meeting nobility; it seems as though these women had lived through it all in their short years of stardom.

in hindsight, i don’t think i should have expected a serious biography. i went into this book expecting a semi-serious memoir featuring retellings of events from anita’s life and friendship with peg and the three talmadge girls. (a mistake on my behalf simply because i had been previously unfamiliar with anita’s writing style!) instead, it’s a humorous, occasionally frivolous recounting of her life as a writer for (most) of norma and constance’s silent films through the years 1918 to 1925. in terms of a biography, it’s loose. it doesn’t really “follow the rules” which makes it fun to read. not to relate this all to buster keaton but anita’s biography reminds me of buster’s autobiography– lots of laughs and a lot of “things that happened in my life as i remember it, just in chronological order.”

funnily enough, parts of this book tend to read more like a gossip column than a biography or a memoir. the book can oftentimes be rather tell-all as it explains the whos and the whats of silent era hollywood. it’s like anita loos had kept all these dishy details to herself and waited until everybody mentioned (or just about everybody) in this book had passed away so everything could come out. it’s like the spirit of louella parsons took over her for a few chapters.

i’ve mentioned it previously but i was also underprepared for how little norma, constance, and natalie were mentioned in a book that was named after them– natalie especially. compared to constance, norma, and peg there’s basically no mention of natalie (or nate, as she’s called occasionally throughout the book) much to my disappointment. i picked this up in hopes of trying to understand and learn more about her– seeing as there’s not much information about her online (other than her relationships to other people. ) i almost wish she had become a star like her sisters just so we could know more about her, but, alas, it’s clear through these little bits of anita’s writing that a superstar life was just not one natalie was meant to live. maybe one day we’ll know more about the enigmatic natalie talmadge but, for now, she remains in the shadows of her sisters.

all in all, the talmadge girls is an entertaining read– even if i wished it was more informative about the subject, rather than its author. i kept finding myself coming back for more even when i’d finished reading for the day. i was hooked by its simple prose and even simpler writing, anita loos managed to scratch that literary itch. (and perhaps that’s why she was so good at what she did!) the book just worked in some aspects. the talmadge girls isn’t perfect by any means but should anybody have really expected that? memories can change or decay over time (much like many of the films anita had mentioned writing for– even the movie she included the script for as a bonus in the back is a lost film!) people can, and will, embellish life events or stories just for the sake of entertainment and i think that’s what anita did here. she tried to tell her story in the most entertaining way possible, and in that sense i believe she succeeded!

The Talmadge Girls A Memoir

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