Reviews for The autobiography of Geraldine Farrar

The average rating for The autobiography of Geraldine Farrar based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-07-21 00:00:00 Eugene Rader I read this way back when I first started listening to 78rpms (c. 1991) and fell in love with the cast of the Metropolitan Opera's "Golden Era" - Enrico Caruso, Emmy Destinn, Pasquale Amato, Antonio Scotti, Beniamino Gigli, Rosa Ponselle, and so on into infinity. (They had oodles of talent back then. Today? Not so much.) Not many of them wrote their own memoirs, but Geraldine Farrar did...twice. Once in 1916 at the height of her career, and then again in 1938 when she had been retired for well over a decade. Needless to say, there's a lot of fanciful reminiscing and purple prose galore as Farrar has an eye towards putting herself in the best light in all circumstances. And with a rather dire marriage to Lou Tellegen, a bit of whitewashing and "let's move along" is to be expected. But if you take the book for what it is - a fluffy and self-serving tome by one of America's greatest divas - then it's great fun. While having a rather beautiful voice, she had a reported knack for dramatics on the stage and luckily her talent in that department has been preserved. She starred in several films in the mid- to late-1910s and two of them, Carmen (1915) and Joan the Woman (1917) - both directed by Cecil B. DeMille - are on DVD. They're definitely worth a viewing.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-06-13 00:00:00 Rosalie Burdett Peculiar structure, with alternating chapters of Gerry's voice and one purporting to be her mother. Which makes it easier for her to say things she doesn't want to say directly like how great she is or damning Lou Tellegen with faint praise--Gerry's voice is more forthright, she does go into more detail on her famous response to his death. The book gets off to a flowery and tedious start (kind of ends that way too) but improves when she gets to the stage and screen, though her accounts are generally a bit self-serving. But she sounds like a confident and contented person, which is a relief after some of the autobiographies i've read. Includes a couple chapters of amiable anecdotes and an index. Also includes a list of her operatic roles compiled by Edward Wagenknecht. I read the original 1938 edition.