Status
Publication
Description
"1936 looked like it would be a great year for the movie industry. With the economy picking up after the Great Depression, Americans everywhere were sitting in the dark watching the stars--and few stars shined as brightly as one of America's most enduring screen favorites, Mary Astor. But Astor's story wasn't a happy one. She was born poor, and at the first sign that she could earn money, her parents grabbed the reins and the checks. Widowed at twenty-four, Mary Astor was looking for stability when she met and wed Dr. Franklyn Thorpe. But the marriage was rocky from the start; both were unfaithful, but they did not divorce until after Mary Astor gave birth to little Marylyn Thorpe. What followed was a custody battle that pushed The Spanish Civil War and Hitler's 1936 Olympic Games off of the front pages all over America. Astor and Thorpe were both ruthless in their fight to gain custody of their daughter, but Thorpe held a trump card: the diaries that Mary Astor had been keeping for years. In these diaries, Astor detailed her own affairs as well as the myriad dalliances of some of Hollywood's biggest names. The studio heads, longtime controllers of public perception, were desperate to keep such juicy details from leaking"--Back cover.… (more)
Similar in this library
User reviews
The focus of The Purple Diaries is the custody dispute between Mary Astor and her second husband Franklin Thorpe over their young daughter Marylyn. The story is not a particularly happy one, but the independence and strength Mary Astor showed to pursue such an issue as a female in the 1930’s was nothing short of amazing. The fact that she was able to endure such controversy during that time period and continue with her career as an actress (she even goes on to win an Academy Award) is quite impressive. Egan interviewed and communicated with Marylyn Thorpe while writing the book and includes a chapter at the end that conveys Marylyn’s thoughts on her childhood and relationship with both her mother and her father. In addition to summarizing the rest of Mary Astor’s life, Egan also takes the time to quickly follow the timeline of several other of the major characters in the drama including Franklin Thorpe and his parents, George Kaufman, and Ruth Chatterton. I really appreciated knowing how their lives played out too.
I highly recommend The Purple Diaries; Joseph Egan spent a substantial amount of time and effort researching Mary Astor with a particular focus on the custody dispute, and it really paid off. Thanks to Diversion Books and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.