Gloria and Joe: The Star-Crossed Love Affair of Gloria Swanson and Joe Kennedy
Madsen produced the fine biography William Wyler as well as other books on Hollywood personalities. However, this dual biography of silent film star Gloria Swanson and Joseph Kennedy (father of Jack, Bobby, and Ted) is one of his lesser efforts. In the late 1920s, while Swanson was one of Hollywood's most popular actresses and Kennedy was beginning his rise in the financial side of the film business, the two began a three-year love affair, although both were married. Unfortunately, there is little new here. Most of the information on Kennedy can be found in several biographies of the clan, and Swanson is well served by her excellent autobiograhy, Swanson on Swanson (LJ 11/1/80). John Smothers, Monmouth Cty. Lib., Manalapan, N.J.Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.