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A Valuable Property: The Life Story of Michael Todd
First Edition
369 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 1983
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March 25, 2019
Admittedly, I began reading this because, as a Classic Hollywood fanatic, I love reading the gossip of the time. Knowing Todd was married to Joan Blondell, Liz Taylor, and of his show business career, I assumed there would be a lot of inside info into the inner-workings of Broadway and Hollywood. I got that and so much more. His son managed to paint a portrait of his father that did not gloss over the man's flaws, and Michael Todd had a lot of them - he gambled, he cheated on women, and sometimes he was downright cruel. For all his flaws, they were not his defining qualities, which his son illustrates throughout the biography.
When first seeing that his son had written the book, I'll admit a part of me rolled my eyes, thinking I would be reading a sentimental letter from a son to his father, but it was well balanced, steadily paced, and explained why so many people were enamored with the man.
Despite being well-paced, it lagged when getting into the intricacies of putting on a Broadway show, but it helped to explain the method behind Todd's madness.
And of course, there's the Hollywood and Broadway gossip. I won't give any spoilers, but I will say there's an anecdotal dinner scene between Mike Todd/Liz Taylor, Sinatra/Bacall, and Eddie Fisher/Debbie Reynolds that livens things up in the end of the book.
By the end of the book, it didn't surprise me to find out Todd Jr. had initially wanted to be a writer. The snapshot descriptions he gives of the characters, because a lot of these people are characters, are plush with imagery and color. A valuable property indeed.
When first seeing that his son had written the book, I'll admit a part of me rolled my eyes, thinking I would be reading a sentimental letter from a son to his father, but it was well balanced, steadily paced, and explained why so many people were enamored with the man.
Despite being well-paced, it lagged when getting into the intricacies of putting on a Broadway show, but it helped to explain the method behind Todd's madness.
And of course, there's the Hollywood and Broadway gossip. I won't give any spoilers, but I will say there's an anecdotal dinner scene between Mike Todd/Liz Taylor, Sinatra/Bacall, and Eddie Fisher/Debbie Reynolds that livens things up in the end of the book.
By the end of the book, it didn't surprise me to find out Todd Jr. had initially wanted to be a writer. The snapshot descriptions he gives of the characters, because a lot of these people are characters, are plush with imagery and color. A valuable property indeed.
Displaying 1 of 1 review