The Salad Days

Rating:
Summary: Hollywood history by someone who was there when it counted.
Review: Did I read a lot of Hollywood autobiographies? You bet! This one is a real pleasure to read: full of good taste, no ugly gossip, well written. Fairbanks Jr. knew a lot of them: Pickford, Fairbanks Sr., Crawford, Leslie Howard, etc... A good read! And an important one: this book is part of many other books where there is an extensive bibliography. Don't miss it!

Rating:
Summary: A clear-sighted autobiography
Review: Fairbanks' witty and entertaining memoir is in much the same vein as his friend and contemporary David Niven's. Like Niven (and unlike most autobiographers), he is refreshingly clear-sighted about his youthful naivete, looking upon his early years with admirable objectivity. It's occasionally clear that he came from a time before political correctness, but his is charm still evident, and his tactful style skims lightly over anything potentially scandalous or distasteful. This is no tacky `tell-all' tome. His complicated relationship with his father, the world famous Douglas Fairbanks Snr, is handled with great subtlety and beauty.

This is a book which would have benefited greatly from tighter editing. At over 500 pages of Fairbanks' rather wordy style, it's a long read, with occasional repetition and factual errors. My edition was littered with a noticeable number of spelling and typographical errors - hardly the fault of the author, but an indication that the manuscript was perhaps not given the editorial attention it deserved.

A shame, because this is a good autobiography that might have been a great one. Nevertheless, it's still a worthy read for anyone interested in the era.

Rating:
Summary: Save your money
Review: I can honestly say this the worse biography I have ever read, maybe I have been spoiled by the fact I had previously read David Nivens Moons a Balloon and Bring on the empty horses (both highly reccomended).

David Niven had a rare gift of telling a story in a funny way,although not always accurate as he often admitted, but it was entertaining. Mr Fairbanks has written a follow up to this poor effort, I can only hope it was ghost written for him.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing Autobiography
Review: Other than dishing some dirt on his first wife, Joan Crawford, there is very little about this autobiography that pulls you in...and it's unfortunate because I'm sure that the dashing Fairbanks could have REALLY let 'er rip. The normally down to earth gentleman comes off as a bit of a poseur and, unfortunately, this effort only covers his early life ("Salad Days"). This book could have used more attention from the editor.