Some Are Born Great

by Adela Rogers St. Johns

Anecdotal, outrageous, opinionated, inspirational, irreverent book about the great women the author has known in her fifty-odd years of covering the news.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography

297 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Rogers St. Johns was an author, screenwriter, and journalist whose long career followed a variety of topics from sports, politics, and the movies.

She won the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1970.

Reviews

[Gayle Hayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adela Rogers St. Johns wrote this book in 1974 so women of my generation who felt liberated by burning their bras could see what really heroic women looked like. I enjoyed learning more about women like Judy Garland, Amelia Earhart, and Margaret Mitchell, all of whom I had read or heard about before. I mostly enjoyed Ms. St. Johns' descriptions of women I had not heard about like Marion Davies. I especially enjoyed her anecdotes about women writers whose novels I studied in high school. She doesn't mince words or pretend to like someone's work just because everyone else does. I was fascinated by her memories of Margaret Mitchell. I found her style rather disjointed, but it was conversational as she would interrupt one story to relate something relevant about someone else. In the end, I agreed with Ms. St. Johns that strong, heroic, gallant women have always been with us. Some paved the way for women of my generation to make choices their mothers did not have.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The most important thing for a writer or would-be writer (or as far as I'm concerned almost anybody else anywhere any time) is reading. I tell this to my classes at the University of Missouri, School of Journalism (the best in the world) and UCLA Pepperdine and Cal Poly. Read! Read! Read! If you can't and can't learn then you have no more right to wish to be a writer than a kid who can't watch the White Sox or the Cardinals has to want to play baseball. Gets you a bad reputation if you refuse invitations because you have to stay home with a book. But what is a writer without a bad reputation of some kind?"

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it and I learned a lot from a woman who actually lived with and knew these people. One of her best friends was Amelia Earhart and her stories of Amelia were amazing, including her account of what actually happened to her when she vanished.

[Penn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I randomly heard of this book when watching a rerun of an old Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. The author was a guest in the 1970s discussing the publication of this book. So, I found it in my library system. It was actually pretty interesting. The author seemed to know every famous person during her working years as a newspaper correspondent.
She has a very CHATTY stream of consciousness way of telling her stories, though. Overall, I enjoyed reading it.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

©1974 parent collection

The author is a celebrity writer of the 1912-1950's, though she continued to write into later years. Included in this selection of "greats" are Judy Garland, Mother Francis Cabrini, Amelia Earhart, Rachel Carson, Carrie Nation, Bess Truman, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Margaret Mitchell, Margaret Sanger, Miriam Van Waters, Clare Booth Luce. The good parts are good.

[Debra Pawlak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adela Rogers St. Johns led a fascinating life and knew just about everyone who was someone! I would love to have had a date book like hers! What company she kept! From Amelia Earhart to Mother Cabrini, she met them all. This book, however, tends to ramble on various tangents and she doesn't stick to one subject. The whole thing is based on who St. Johns would like to invite to sit at her table at 'The Tavern at the End of the Road'. I plowed through the text and came away with many nuggets about such fascinating folks as Marie Dressler, Isadora Duncan, Margaret Mitchell and many, many more. As a journalist for the Hearst papers, St. Johns was known as 'Mother Confessor' and had many famous friends. For goodness sakes--how many people do you know who actually met a saint? I, for one, would love to sit at her table, but it did get me to thinking--who would I invite to sit at MY table at 'The Tavern at the End of the Road'? Well, for starters...