This is going to be one of those reviews I hesitate to give.
At the top she made millions. At the bottom she scrubbed floors in a parish priest house. All the while she was making headlines around the world. What really happened?
There was never a more boisterous or vivacious movie star than Betty Hutton. Remember her as the high-flying trapeze artist in The Greatest Show on Earth? How about the remake version of The Perils of Pauline? She appeared in many big band movies, was the star of an Irving Berlin musical and succeeded in radio and television. From recorded interviews before her passing in 2007, Betty Hutton's own words are expressed through the spectacle, stardom and nostalgia viewpoints.
This is the only book about Betty Hutton to date, which is what makes this book important. However... (here it comes)... there are tons of mistakes and the author did not do his research. The wrong year of release for a movie, the mis-spelling of an actor's name. Horrible. The quality of the photos is horrible but I understand the publisher corrected that with a future printing. There is no index. And the book is only 112 pages thick (or should I say thin?).
This was an entertaining read, however, and perhaps the closest we will ever get to a Betty Hutton autobiography. The only thing I say say is if you love Betty Hutton, this is a book for you. If you are a casual fan, I recommend you wait until someone produces a 300 or 400 page tome. My only hope is that a future reference will be as entertaining as this book and not in the form of an encyclopedia.
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