Heat wave
Subtitle: the life and career of Ethel Waters
By: Donald Bogle
Edition: 1st Harper Perennial ed.
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Published: 2012
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 624
ISBN-13: 9780061241741
Subjects: Singers; African American singers; Biography
Description: Almost no other star of the twentieth century reimagined herself with such audacity and durable talent as did Ethel Waters. In this enlightening and engaging biography, Donald Bogle resurrects this astonishing woman from the annals of history, shedding new light on the tumultuous twists and turns of her seven-decade career, which began in Black vaudeville and reached new heights in the steamy nightclubs of 1920s Harlem. Bogle traces Waters' life from her poverty-stricken childhood to her rise in show business; her career as one of the early blues and pop singers, with such hits as "Am I Blue?," "Stormy Weather," and "Heat Wave"; her success as an actress, appearing in such films and plays as The Member of the Wedding and Mamba's Daughters; and through her lonely, painful final years. He illuminates Waters' turbulent private life, including her complicated feelings toward her mother and various lovers; her heated and sometimes well-known feuds with such entertainers as Josephine Baker, Billie Holiday, and Lena Horne; and her tangled relationships with such legends as Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington, Harold Clurman, Elia Kazan, Count Basie, Darryl F. Zanuck, Vincente Minnelli, Fred Zinnemann, Moss Hart, and John Ford. In addition, Bogle explores the ongoing racial battles, growing paranoia, and midlife religious conversion of this bold, brash, wildly talented woman while examining the significance of her highly publicized life to audiences unaccustomed to the travails of a larger-than-life African American woman. Wonderfully atmospheric, richly detailed, and drawn from an array of candid interviews, Heat Wave vividly brings to life a major cultural figure of the twentieth century--a charismatic, complex, and compelling woman, both tragic and triumphant [Publisher description].
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 585-590) and index.
Table of contents: title: Two women, two cities --; title: On the road --; title: The Big Apple --; title: Back in the city --; title: Broadway beckons --; title: Stretching boundaries : Hollywood and Europe --; title: Depression era blues, depression era heroine --; title: Broadway star --; title: A woman of the people, back on Broadway --; title: A chance encounter --; title: Waiting for Mamba --; title: Living high --; title: Mamba's daughters, at last --; title: Eddie --; title: On the run --; title: California dreaming --; title: Settling in --; title: The making of cabin --; title: Aftermath --; title: Scandal --; title: An ill wind --; title: Coming back --; title: The long winter of her discontent --; title: A new day --; title: Life away from the team --; title: On her own again.