Surviving Cissy: My Family Affair of Life in Hollywood

De: Kathy Garver

Narrado por: Kathy Garver

Kathy Garver, the teenage heartthrob from the hit series Family Affair (1966 - 1971), was no one-hit wonder, but a talented actress who appeared in such classic films as Night of the Hunter and The Ten Commandments long before she became a television icon.

This memoir is a recollection of an exciting actress's experiences, from the many films, television shows, and stage plays in which she performed, to her second career as a voice-over specialist in popular animated films and audiobooks. Featuring anecdotes, Hollywood history, and details of her relationships with such stars as Charlton Heston and Jon Provost, Surviving Cissy is a veritable quilt of Kathy's intriguing life.

©2015 Kathy Garver (P)2015 Kathy Garver

One big fat bore

I was bored to death with the name dropping. All the way to the last chapter, a review. I felt like the author was so impressed with herself and the people she knew. She seemed like a nice person but so much of it was completely unnecessary.

Kathy's Memories of Hollywood

Good collection of anecdotes from classic tv era. Kathy is very likeable and a determined survivor of Hollywood. She overlooks the dark side of life and raises her head in joy.

I COULDN'T FINISH THIS

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

An editor

Would you recommend Surviving Cissy: My Family Affair of Life in Hollywood to your friends? Why or why not?

No, it REALLY needed an editor. Way too wordy and disorganized. "But more about (fill in the blank) later!" Annoying.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Yes! I'm sure she reads fiction well, she's a trained actress and her voice is pleasant and diction crisp and clear. That being said, she was just insufferably pompous and pretentious in this voice over...take the stick out of your butt, lady! Her pronunciations of French words especially...whew!

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Boredom. I don't think we needed a chapter on ALL her high school friends, their biographies, illnesses and other details. I'm sorry if they died of cancer or whatever, but do I really need to read in so much detail about people I don't know? Snore. What I LOVED, were the show business stories...she worked with so many icons in both movies and television. I've always been a fan of Brian Keith and...my goodness, DeMille, Charles Laughton, Robert Mitchum, Ida Lupino, et al. Those are the stories that kept me interested. Not her friend in junior high who had heat rash, became an insurance salesman and now lives in in Pacoima!

Any additional comments?

"Family Affair" was part of American TV culture at a time when sitcoms were whitewashed and simpler. I'm OK with that...TV is an evolution and there were sponsor and censorship constraints at the time. But this wasn't a ground breaker classic like "I Love Lucy," this was a average, albeit successful, family sitcom that ran its course and gives one a good chuckle at the naivete of the plots. Times may have been changin' in the 60s, but sitcoms remained vanilla, until the brilliant Norman Lear and "All in the Family" burst on the scene in the early 70s and changed the landscape of television forever.

Yawn

Interesting story of child actor. Unfortunately told and read by the author in the character’s 1965 voice.

Snooze fest.

Although Kathy sounds like a sweet lady her life as she wrote it was a long boring story. It gets somewhat better around chapter 46. Buy at your own risk.