This 11 hour+ book seems to fly by in 6 hours it's so engaging!

I really got into this book! I'm into Classic Movies & knew the name Orry-Kellly from his many credits on Turner Classic Movies. I've always been a fashion follower--with a Bachelor's degree in it. This book covers both of these interests & a lot more!
Lots of humor, Art, History, sprinkled with an Aussie geography lesson. A little slow at the start, but worth getting through to the heart of it.

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6 people found this helpful

Focus: Early Life of a Hollywood Mainstay

I'm sure Orry-Kelly led a glamorous life. Unfortunately, there was very little glam in the book. It focuses a lot on his early years... the somewhat hard-scrabble times he went through which inevitably led him to Hollywood and fame as a top-tier designer for the biggest stars of the Golden Age of Film.

I guess, since this was written while some of his 'designees' were still alive, he didn't name drop as I had wished for fear of offending or of legal pitfalls.

I wanted the dirt but I got the edges of the mud puddle. Oh well.

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A Very Interesting Autobiography

Orry-Kelly''s name can often be seen on movie credits by those who love "old movies" and bother to read credits, as I do. I often wondered who he was and what he was like. And lo and behold! an autobiography comes out-- including this marvelous audiobook! Kelly was among other things an artist, actor, and most of all a three-time Academy Award winner for his dress designs. He comes across in this book as a talented, decent and compassionate man of the "old school" who called most his stars Miss Davis and Miss Crawford; and Jack Warner was Mr. Warner. But George Kukor was just "George Kukor". Kelly, known as "Jack" by his friends, never tells racy or lurid stories. There is nothing about who slept with whom; or who was straight and who was gay. If you want to hear the "dirt" about sex in Hollywood, this book is not for you. Kelly was gay; and he probably had an on-again, off-gain "thing" with Cary Grant. I have also read that in his later years he was a very close (probably Platonic) friend of William Haines. Kelly never mentions Haines in this book-- although there are stories and name dropping aplenty, Some things went unsaid or even mentioned. If the slightly cleaned nature of his narrative is not what you want, then don't bother with this book. There are plenty of funny, embarrassing, odd stories in this book, and much to admire. The one person he lays into is Cary Grant. According to Kelly, Grant was cheap, vain, sometimes uncaring; and mercurial. Grant was not a "true blue" friend, although Kelly did not use that term. So many famous people from the 30s and 40s inhabit this wonderful book. Special prominence is given to George Burns and Gracie Allen. It is amazing that this book ever got published! It was found hidden in a pillow case some thirty years after Kelly's death in 1964. It was a wonderful things that it was found, published and narrated by a superb reader--Mr. William McInnes whose Aussie accent perfectly mirrored Orry-Kelly's Australian roots. I hope you can tell I loved this book. Again, if you like me enjoy true stories on early Hollywood, then I am pretty sure you will like this book.

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A fantastic insight into Orry-Kelly

This book is Orry-Kelly's story, told his way. It delves into his life and times, he treats everyone the same, from a star to strumpet, he tells it like it is. I found his description of Sydney fascinating which gave me a whole other feel for the city I live in. This book is very un tabloid. It's just Orry's story.

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4 people found this helpful

A gossip column, not a book.

I am not a fan of "tell all" books like this. However, as a costume designer myself, I was excited to hear about someone else's experience in the field. Peppered in between some juicy celebrity stories, I was hoping for the author's inspirational stories of struggles- such as adjusting to America as an immigrant, fighting for his passion of costume design, and struggling to make it big in Hollywood etc etc. Wow was I disappointed!

I stopped and started this book three times before I finally put it down . I could not get to the end. I was so bored of listening to the author's stories about partying while his mother paid for his expenses, long lists of women who I don't know and what they were wearing at which party, and pointless gossip.

The narrator was very good. Other than that, this book was a complete snore and a waste of my time.

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