Inventing Elsa Maxwell: How an Irrepressible Nobody Conquered High Society, Hollywood, the Press, and the World

I love reading about the gossipy arts world of mid-20th century America (with a splash of British and European thrown in.) This is obscure history to a lot of people nowadays, but we aging baby boomers remember the remnants of that culture from the era of our parents. As a little girl in the late 60's - early '70's I was steeped in seeing opera singers regularly on TV, as well as plenty of talk shows where the guests were writers,scientists, historians, political statesmen -- it was men in those days-- , aged movie stars from the golden era of 40 years previously, and performers from the fine arts world; and reading plenty of coverage about them in the local daily newspapers and national magazines.So, already well familiar with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor's lives due to owning every available biography; a fond collector of Maria Callas recordings and biographies; and nostalgic for my late mom's and mother-in-law's magazines and books about the Beautiful People of many days gone by, (and of course owning my own battered and beloved used bookstore copies of Elsa Maxwell's R.S.V.P. and The Celebrity Circus) I happily dove into this book and enjoyed every page. Sam Staggs' gentle humor, meticulous research, and bringing that burnished, perfumed 1950's world of rich privileged people back to life made this a wonderful book--it can be beach reading, bedtime reading, cozy rainy afternoon reading. While recognizing Elsa's milieu was often an empty, idle world of fair-weather friends with little feeling of social responsibility for the less fortunate (Elsa's charitable works notwithstanding), there's still a sort of jaded allure about the partygoers and their lifestyle -- imagine having nothing to do but go to balls and events, imagine having nothing to worry about but if your despised rival was going to be invited to the party you'd be attending that evening -- wearing the same dress as you. To read about this is as indulgent as eating a mocha ice cream sundae with chocolate sauce -- you can't help but love it even while knowing you're supposed to disapprove of the "wrongness" of selfish pampering - but just can't bring yourself to do it, darn it. I'd love to see more of this writer's stuff, because he is obviously someone who respects recapturing the essence of a world gone long before, and finding out about people who "remembered when".

This is a very good biography of the famed society hostess and party giver, Elsa Maxwell. Maxwell is all but forgotten today, but she led an amazing life, being a pianist and composer in her early years and somehow stumbling into the role of society hostess, journalist, broadcaster, actress and celebrity in middle age. She knew celebrities in the arts, politics, and other fields and gloried in her acquaintance with them. Staggs does a wonderful job of bringing her to life, warts and all, including her many contradictions, and clears up some of the misunderstandings about her. She was internationally famous, spent the majority of her time with the wealthy, became a television personality late in life, and yet died leaving less than $15,000 to her heir, her companion of fifty years, Daisy Gordon Fellowes. Maxwell was a highly interesting woman, and someone looking for a good biography to read could do much worse than to pass their time reading this entertaining and informative account of her life.

Interesting biography of a woman that pops up in so many memoirs and celebrity bios covering the 20s to 50s. I didn't know much about her. This book presents her life in a readable, sometimes episodic way. She knew a lot of famous people!Elsa Maxwell created an interesting life for herself. This biography tells her story in an amusing, engaging way, lots of anecdotes and lots of names famous in their day.

Did not enjoy it.Thought it would be more interesting and thought she had a life not very enjoyable to read

I loved this newsy, gossipy, romp thru the life and antics of this historical party-giver. I remember hearing about her in my younger years and sometimes confused her with Pearl Mesta. No more! It's a fun and historical glance (well spiced with "The Truth" as documented. The world was well populated with closeted gay and lesbian personalities. It is nice to have them all out in the open and have them take their places in recent history as just nutty people along with all the other "nuts." I did get a lot of clarity for myself about incidents and memories from my teen years that were concerned with News Events of the time that were merely headlines.

The ‘20’s is the best part of this story. Very authentic. You travel all over the world with Elsa and the author ensures you of a good time! ...And San Francisco during the famous earthquake! Fun stuff.

I hated to see the party end when I finished the book. Elsa Maxwell was a true original who knew everyone who was everyone from before the Jazz Age through the Eisenhower years. Life to her was one big party - or a banquet, to borrow from Patrick Dennis - and Sam Staggs has brought her to delightful life again. I highly recommend this book!

Unutterably boring. I got to page 105 and gave up the ghost. A lot of name dropping with so little substance and the author's not so thinly veiled political views cropping up when totally unnecessary and adding nothing to the topic (was there a topic?) at hand.If you feel you must read this tosh, get it out of the library.

Everything was perfect, thank you!

Great book at a great price.

For years, Elsa Maxwell made headlines with the parties she created and hosted. This book gave a great insight into her life and activities and I really enjoyed the facts and events that were mentioned in detail that I had not known about.

Very light reading. Easy and whimsical.Nice respite from the daily grind.Almost there myself.IrrepressibleAmazon, again, was perfect!