Marlon Brando called her "the fat one," Author Ben Hecht "one of the most sad things in Hollywood." When they get up enough courage in their cups, some pressagents refer to her simply as "the old broad"—after glancing nervously around to see that only friends are present. The object of this catalogue of clouts, usually more affectionate than they seem, prefers to describe herself as "the gay illiterate," a tag she swiped from a magazine story and magnified into an autobiography in 1944. This week Louella Oettinger Parsons adds another hard-cover installment, Tell It to Louella (Putnam; $3.95), to the legend...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
