An engrossing chronicle of Garbo's sexual friendships with-Mercedes
de Acosta and Cecil Beaton, based on letters, journals, and
personal interviews. Vickers (Vivien Leigh, 1989, etc.) has had
access to the personal papers of all three of his subjects;
consequently, his story is well-substantiated, largely free of the
baseless conjecture that mars so many celebrity biographies.
Screenwriter and playwright de Acosta seems to have been a sort of
Pamela des Barres of the early screen set: She had serious affairs
with Marlene Dietrich, Ona Munson, and numerous other actresses,
though Garbo was the great love of her life. After their off-and-on
affair ended in the 1930s, though, Garbo was clearly less
interested in keeping up the friendship and, indeed, frequently
refused to acknowledge de Acosta at all. Cecil Beaton had a 30-year
friendship with Garbo that was sometimes platonic, sometimes
passionately sexual, and, like Garbo's relationship with de Acosta,
often terribly one-sided. Beaton was obsessed with Garbo and wanted
to marry her; at certain points in their acquaintance, he would
write to her every day, and she would go months without deigning to
reply. Garbo remains a bit remote throughout this narrative, partly
because, as in most love stories, the more passionate characters
are better developed and partly because Vickers must paraphrase
Garbo's letters (he was, in many cases, not allowed to quote them
directly). Being Beaton's literary executor, Vickers sometimes
relies too heavily on the photographer's papers to provide a full
account of either de Acosta or Garbo. Beaton is often quoted for
pages at a time, uninterrupted by authorial interpretation or a
conflicting version of events; his voice and perspective tend to
dominate the book. Classy, well-documented gossip, though hardly
the balanced portrait of three people that the subtitle suggests.
(Kirkus Reviews)
Mercedes de Acosta was a notorious figure. She had been brought up
as a boy and had taken a girlfriend on her honeymoon. Her conquests
included Isadora Duncan and Marlene Dietrich. Cecil Beaton first
met Garbo at a party in 1932, but it was more than a decade before
they became lovers. Despite her possessive friends and the presence
of an increasingly sinister Mercedes, Garbo and Beaton spent many
passionate months together in New York and California. For the rest
of their lives, Mercedes and Beaton remained enthralled by a star
who gave them little in return. Through his reading of the papers
of Mercedes de Acosta and his access to Beaton's estate, Hugo
Vickers has produced an account which throws light on many of the
mysteries surrounding Garbo and her admirers.
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