Loving Garbo: The Story of Greta Garbo, Cecil Beaton and Mercedes De Acosta

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Greta Garbo's enduring legend derives from her incandescent performances as a woman in love in such classics as Camille , Queen Christina and Grand Hotel . For half a century her apparently reclusive existence enhanced her reputation as a remote and enigmatic screen goddess. Now, in this beautifully illustrated book, Hugo Vickers tells the remarkable story of Greta Garbo and of the two love affairs that dominated her life: with Cecil Beaton and the notorious Mercedes de Acosta. It is a highly revealing portait of an exotic world - at its centre, an enthrallign and demanding star who gave little in return. From Library Journal Vickers has capitalized on his position as Cecil Beaton's literary executor to write this account of the relations between Greta Garbo, sometime writer de Acosta, and designer-photographer Beaton. Most of the book consists of previously unpublished entries from Beaton's diaries and letters from Beaton to Garbo, but Vickers does utilize other sources, including interviews (though there are none with his three principals). Interest in this book will likely be limited, as it is more concerned with Beaton than Garbo. In addition, Garbo's (and Beaton's) bisexuality is old news by now. Finally, the book is primarily concerned with the years following Garbo's last film, a period during which, by all accounts (including Vickers's), Garbo's life was mostly unhappy and boring. For comprehensive collections. John Smothers, Monmouth Cty. Lib., Manalapan, Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the hardcover edition. From Publishers Weekly Vickers fails in his attempt to demystify Greta Garbo. Clearly he found more material than he could use while researching Cecil Beaton , his biography of the famed photographer of British royals and other glitterati, but still not enough for a successful Garbo analysis. Over a 30-year period, Beaton sent hundreds of letters to Garbo, preserving carbon copies. "My Darling Sugar Plum," as he once called her, was an elusive and frustrating lover, although they seem to have enjoyed some energetic sexual encounters. "Sunday morning had been put to its ultimate use," Beaton wrote after one amorous encounter. Garbo's off-again, off-again relationship with him is paralleled in this plodding account by a long-lasting lesbian affair. Garbo met playwright Mercedes de Acosta--who dressed only in black and white--in 1931, and their frequently troubled relationship continued until the early '60s. The supporting cast here is full of famous names, all dutifully footnoted, but somehow Greta Garbo succeeds after her death in doing what she did so often in her lifetime: she slips away unobserved. Photos not seen by PW. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the hardcover edition. From Booklist Greta Garbo had it right. She wanted to be alone, and the public was probably better off for it. Otherwise, her fans would have found out even sooner how selfish, obnoxious, and cruel she could be. But this isn't just the story of Garbo. Written by the biographer of celebrity photographer Cecil Beaton, the book draws on Beaton's diaries and other private papers to chronicle a chichi, bisexual society whose members were drawn from theater, film, art, and royal circles and whose frolicking hit its height between the wars but extended even into the 1960s. The most surprising aspect of this account is how tedious that elite world seems. Maybe it was glittering and gay (in both senses of the word) if you were there, but to the reader it seems an endless string of pointless parties and incredible pettiness. Perhaps the most interesting member of the cast is Mercedes de Acosta. As Alice B. Toklas said to Anita Loos, "You can't dispose of Mercedes lightly. She has had the two most important women in the U.S.--Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich." A sometime screenwriter, de Acosta, like Beaton, was caught in Garbo's web, and they often turned to each other for mutu