GOLDEN GIRLS OF MGM - Tapa dura

Lana, Ava, Judy, Hedy, Grace, Joan and Liz - no need for surnames. They were exquisite properties of MGM, the most prestigious movie studio in the world. Louis B Mayer, head of MGM, indulged his family of stars but they paid a price. Their seven-year contracts stipulated that 'he will not do or commit any act or thing that will tend to...shock, insult or offend the community or ridicule public morals...'. The MGM girls seemed to be above sex, an untouchable breed of womanhood, but to ensure that their public image remained untarnished, Mayer had to hire somebody specifically to shield the truth from the press. Behind the scenes, Ava Gardner, during her marriage to Sinatra, had an abortion without his knowledge; Loretta Young did not abort her baby sired by Clark Gable, but gave birth to her daughter in secret, handed her over to an orphange then 'adopted' her nineteen months later. Grace Kelly had affairs with Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Bing Crosby, Clark Gable and William Holden. Lana Turner got pregnant by Mickey Rooncy, but had a secret abortion. And Joan Crawford and Clarke Gable might have tied the knot early in their carcers had it not been for three obstacles - his wife, her husband and Mayer who threatened to fire them if they continued seeing each other. The MGM Girls tells the fascinating inside story of these silverscreen debutantes, as they struggled to reconcilc the demands of the studio and the intrusive control of its boss Louis B Mayer with the luxury and glamour afforded by their dazzling Hollywood careers.

Author, broadcaster and show business journalist Ellen Jane Wayne is the author of fourteen other books, and regularly appears on television in the US. She lives in Los Angeles.