Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye: The Barbara Payton Story is the heartbreaking saga of the wild and free-spirited actress who hit Hollywood in the late 1940s, equipped with little more than a suitcase full of dreams, a ravenous hunger for fame and a devastating beauty---only to see each one of her dreams destroyed by a disastrous private life that led her straight through the gates of Hell. Gutsy, vulnerable--and doomed--Barbara Payton blazed across the motion picture stratosphere in record-time, only to collapse in a catastrophic free-fall from which she would never recover.
Payton first gained notice in the 1949 film noir, Trapped, co-starring Lloyd Bridges. In 1950, she was given the opportunity to make a screen test for John Huston's production of the forthcoming MGM crime drama The Asphalt Jungle. She wasn't chosen and the part of the sultry mistress of a mob connected lawyer went to Marilyn Monroe.
After being screen-tested by James Cagney and his producer brother William, Payton starred with Cagney in the violent noir thriller Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye in 1950. William Cagney was so smitten with Payton's sensual appeal and beauty that her contract was drawn as a joint agreement between William Cagney Productions and Warner Brothers who together saw fit to bestow on Payton a salary of $5,000 a week; a large sum for an actress yet to demonstrate star power at the box-office.
Rumor has it that Hollywood is in the process of making a big screen bio pic about Barbara Payton with Scarlet Johanssen in the lead. I hope it works out. I never heard of Barbara Payton until I got this book and read it (took me four days to read). 470 pages thick and small print. And I enjoyed every bit of this book. The author, John O'Dowd, should be commended for his hard work because it shows. Archival photos from USC, UCLA, the Library of Congress and many others were consulted and they are reprinted with glorious quality. Another winner from Bear Manor Media.
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