Ecstasy and Me: My Life as a Woman

[n.p.]: Bartholomew House. Near Fine in Near Fine dj. 1966. 4th printing. Hardcover. [nice tight copy, bottom front corner bumped but otherwise a nice clean book with a solid binding; the notoriously fragile thin-paper jacket (now in protective mylar) shows just a bit of scuffing to the rear panel and some minor edgewear]. (B&W photographs) In retrospect -- although I haven't done a scientific survey -- this seems perhaps the first of the modern-era movie-star memoirs, which is to say that its author focuses, in large measure, on her off-screen sex life. (All the more sensational, I suppose, in that Ms. Lamarr rose to stardom in Hollywood's "Golden Age," during which era the depiction of ON-screen sex was carefully regulated by the Production Code Administration watchdogs.) It would be a mistake, however, to dismiss the book as trashy and titillating -- it is, rather, refreshingly candid and occasionally quite insightful about how sexuality fueled and informed the Old Hollywood. (Particularly priceless is the author's account of her first meeting with legendary MGM mogul Louis B. Mayer, during which he comments openly and rather crudely about her breast size, her European nude scenes, and his willingness to tolerate off-screen dalliances among his employees, while concurrently declaiming that he maintains "the family point of view" and that "we make clean pictures at MGM.") Ms. Lamarr's life and achievements (particularly as an inventor) have gotten a recent bump of recognition in connection with a recent documentary film about her entitled BOMBSHELL, that made the festival rounds during 2017 and was given a theatrical release near the end of the year. This is a much nicer copy than one usually finds of this cheaply-produced book. .