Ginger: My Story

Ginger Rogers' biography, Ginger: My Story, is actually pretty darn interesting. I have to say, I didn't know much about the actress before reading the story except that she had starred in a number of films with Fred Astaire and could dance really well. I think I'd actually only seen one of her films -- The Major and the Minor which I love -- which is definitely not the typical Ginger Rogers film.

But Ginger: My Story is quite a revealing look at the Rogers' career and how she came to be Ginger Rogers. Rogers started out in vaudeville, then moved to Broadway, and eventually came out to Hollywood. Contrary to popular opinion nowadays, she was actually in many movies before starring in films with Astaire -- he didn't make her career happen, but their pairing definitely allowed more things to happen!

Ginger goes on and on about her dresses -- I'm not real familiar with all of her films, so I just kind of went with it. She is also is very into Christian Scientology and much is made about how she goes into each of her marriages -- Rogers was married five times! -- believing that they were going to be sober and religious like her. But of course, none of them worked out.

Ginger also talks about her various romances with other Hollywood leading men -- including an aborted relationship with Cary Grant. Bummer -- I would have taken Grant over another failed marraige to a younger man! She also dated Astaire briefly while they were both on Broadway, but she ended up moving out to Hollywood. Ginger says,

"If I had stayed in New York, I think Fred Astaire and I might have become a more serious item. We were different in some ways but alike in others. Both of us were troupers from an early age, both of us loved a good time, and, for sure, both of us loved to dance" (91).

There is also an anecdote about Van Johnson (ah, what biography would be complete without notice of him?). Apparently, Rogers made it to Pal Joey on Broadway and picked out a tall, blonde and handsome chorus boy that should be put under contract and brought to Hollywood for a screen test. But her agent talked her out of it -- what would people think if she put a chorus boy under contract? So Ginger passed up the opportunity to be the woman who discovered Van Johnson -- but he still made it to Hollywood anyway and even managed to do a movie with Rogers -- Week-End at the Waldorf.

Ginger: My Story is pretty tame stuff -- no big revelations about Hollywood stars, but she spins a pretty good story. It's an interesting look at an actress whose career spanned the early years of Hollywood through the 1950s.

FILE UNDER: Biography ; Books on Film