By Jane Ellen Wayne
There are lots of juicy tidbits but too many factual and stylistic pits in these 15 chapters, one each for such movie divas as Greta Garbo, Elizabeth Taylor, Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly.
Garbo was bisexual. Gardner bragged about then husband Frank Sinatra's genital size. Taylor was called "My Little Heifer" by her onetime husband Sen. John Warner. Veteran star biographer Wayne breathlessly repeats such lore but rarely credits her sources. And the editing is woeful: The book gives monetary amounts in both pounds and dollars and apparently mistakes The Shop Around the Corner's Margaret Sullavan for Maureen O'Sullivan (Tarzan's Jane and Mia Farrow's mom). Wayne compounds the error by referring to O'Sullivan as Sullivan. (Carroll & Graf, $26)
BOTTOM LINE: Lots of dish, but poorly served
Page-turner of the week
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