Cybill Disobedience
i have a feeling i am about to lose face completely here. i aim to do it with style, and grace, mind you, and just an ounce of self-mocking. i have deviated completely from the plan, and have thoroughly spoiled the image of myself as some sort of highbrow literary mucky-muck. oh, who am i kidding. the fact of the matter is, i have to supplement my high-quality reading with some low-quality material. do you think i spent my childhood with my nose buried in sweet valley high and nancy drew and, later, v.c. andrews novels only to spurn my questionable taste after getting one and a half college degrees in the art of the english language?
i think not.
i have a thing for celebrity biographies. autobiographies are best, actually, because you get to see first hand what material they opt to publish about themselves. you can also take guesses as to how much a hand the co-writer had in the deal. i spent my saturday evening devouring cybill shepherd's hot pink autobio, cybill disobedience. and i loved every minute of it.
here's the thing. i've a long history of revering women in entertainment; often they're underdogs, slightly unpopular, unconventionally beautiful, controversial, or somewhat obnoxious. some may remember the summer of 2003: the summer of katharine hepburn. or perhaps my long time love for susan sarandon. bette midler. diane keaton. lucille ball. ethel merman. carol burnett. what can i say? i like strong women--they have all colored my life.
the odd thing about my recent spark of interest in ms. shepherd (aside from the blatantly obvious reason being the release of moonlighting seasons one and two on dvd and my subsequent reliving of many nights of childhood entertainment) is that of all the above mentioned people, she is actually the only one i've ever met. it isn't much of a story--she's kind of goofy, likes attention, can be loud, is extraordinarily beautiful up close, and was on the whole, extremely pleasant and nice to be around. and boy... now that i've read this book...do i know she's got some stories!
i certainly wouldn't endorse anyone's reading this book because of its literary genius. in fact, i don't think i ever endorse the reading of a biography because to me those connections are personal. if i want to take the time to read something about someone's life in depth, well, that's a committment on my part to, almost, invite them into my life. (the best thing about kate hepburn's terse autobio, me, is that it's on audio book, recorded, albeit abridged, by her; nothing beats cranking up her scratchy old voice on the cd player and hearing the succinct tale of her loss of virginity in 1928.) it's them telling me their stories. and if i care, i'm a captive audience.
i'm not sure i buy all of cybill's stories about how things went down on both the sets of her tv series, moonlighting and cybill. it pains me to read about tense work relationships because i've lived tense work (and other) relationships, and i know it's not pleasant, and there's a voice in my head asking "but why does it have to be that way?" it troubles and saddens me. i don't like conflict, and i don't celebrate it. i wish things had played out differently, which of course i know i have no say in. it just bothers me, that's all. why can't people get along? hell, i don't know. maybe she really is a meglomaniacal, controlling, insensitive bitch. she's also pretty liberal about her sex life (a "cybill sandwich" being an episode that comes to mind) which i enjoyed. i'm incurably nosy. i figure i'd tell it, so why wouldn't they? and she does. yay for smut!
it's funny, the other day when i mentioned her to someone they said "but she's all washed up now." i kind of took offense. hey, i bet it isn't easy being a 55 year old former beauty queen and allegedly difficult television star of the 80s and 90s! but, yeah, sure. she isn't doing much work. but that's cool. i was blown away by the power of her first film, the last picture show, and moonlighting's in heavy viewing rotation. little capsules of life. and i wouldn't mind meeting her again. don't know if i'll ever get the chance.
at least i could tell her i read her book. and liked it.
i think not.
i have a thing for celebrity biographies. autobiographies are best, actually, because you get to see first hand what material they opt to publish about themselves. you can also take guesses as to how much a hand the co-writer had in the deal. i spent my saturday evening devouring cybill shepherd's hot pink autobio, cybill disobedience. and i loved every minute of it.
here's the thing. i've a long history of revering women in entertainment; often they're underdogs, slightly unpopular, unconventionally beautiful, controversial, or somewhat obnoxious. some may remember the summer of 2003: the summer of katharine hepburn. or perhaps my long time love for susan sarandon. bette midler. diane keaton. lucille ball. ethel merman. carol burnett. what can i say? i like strong women--they have all colored my life.
the odd thing about my recent spark of interest in ms. shepherd (aside from the blatantly obvious reason being the release of moonlighting seasons one and two on dvd and my subsequent reliving of many nights of childhood entertainment) is that of all the above mentioned people, she is actually the only one i've ever met. it isn't much of a story--she's kind of goofy, likes attention, can be loud, is extraordinarily beautiful up close, and was on the whole, extremely pleasant and nice to be around. and boy... now that i've read this book...do i know she's got some stories!
i certainly wouldn't endorse anyone's reading this book because of its literary genius. in fact, i don't think i ever endorse the reading of a biography because to me those connections are personal. if i want to take the time to read something about someone's life in depth, well, that's a committment on my part to, almost, invite them into my life. (the best thing about kate hepburn's terse autobio, me, is that it's on audio book, recorded, albeit abridged, by her; nothing beats cranking up her scratchy old voice on the cd player and hearing the succinct tale of her loss of virginity in 1928.) it's them telling me their stories. and if i care, i'm a captive audience.
i'm not sure i buy all of cybill's stories about how things went down on both the sets of her tv series, moonlighting and cybill. it pains me to read about tense work relationships because i've lived tense work (and other) relationships, and i know it's not pleasant, and there's a voice in my head asking "but why does it have to be that way?" it troubles and saddens me. i don't like conflict, and i don't celebrate it. i wish things had played out differently, which of course i know i have no say in. it just bothers me, that's all. why can't people get along? hell, i don't know. maybe she really is a meglomaniacal, controlling, insensitive bitch. she's also pretty liberal about her sex life (a "cybill sandwich" being an episode that comes to mind) which i enjoyed. i'm incurably nosy. i figure i'd tell it, so why wouldn't they? and she does. yay for smut!
it's funny, the other day when i mentioned her to someone they said "but she's all washed up now." i kind of took offense. hey, i bet it isn't easy being a 55 year old former beauty queen and allegedly difficult television star of the 80s and 90s! but, yeah, sure. she isn't doing much work. but that's cool. i was blown away by the power of her first film, the last picture show, and moonlighting's in heavy viewing rotation. little capsules of life. and i wouldn't mind meeting her again. don't know if i'll ever get the chance.
at least i could tell her i read her book. and liked it.
posted by Lindsay at 8:53 PM
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