Raymond Strait

White Christmas has long been a festive favourite of mine but I realised that I didn't know anything about the two female leads - Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen - other than their roles in the film. Well, I also know that Rosemary was George Clooney's aunt! I thought I would start with Rosemary's autobiography - one of two - because she seemed so genuine and kind in her White Christmas commentaries.

As with most autobiographies, Rosemary pulls no punches and starts with her darkest days, show more when she suffered a mental breakdown in 1968, just after the assassination of Robert Kennedy (she was there at the Ambassador Hotel, supporting his campaign, and refused to believe he was dead). She was addicted to barbiturates, had a gruelling international tour schedule, and was dumped by her younger boyfriend - years of internalising her personal and professional insecurities, including her husband Jose Ferrer's infidelities, finally brought her to breaking point and she was committed. Thankfully, she recovered her health and broke her addiction, continuing to perform until her death in 2002, but what an intense introduction to her life!

When Rosemary finally starts to detail the rest of her story, starting in Kentucky with toxic and often absent parents, dependable grandparents and her sister Betty, her early days reveal where she found her inner strength and independence. Like Betty and Judy in White Christmas, she started as a (very young) sister act at the end of the big band era, touring with Tony Pastor before recording her solo debut in 1949 and having her first hit with 'Come On-a My House' in 1951. She married actor Jose Ferrer two years later - choosing him over lifelong friend and partner Dante DiPaolo, whom she later married in 1997 - and balanced a successful career with raising five children! Rosemary was also a strong supporter of both Kennedy brothers, and was invited to the White House, where JFK offered to make scrambled eggs for his guests!

I really enjoyed Rosemary's open and engaging account of her life, from her nomadic childhood up until the death of Bing Crosby and her sister Betty in the late 1970s. There is a lot of name dropping, but then she was famous in her own right and did live in Hollywood! ('Besides, if you start out with friends like Crosby and Dietrich, where are you going to go from there and be awed?') It's a shame that more people don't remember her now, apart from being George's aunt, because she had a beautiful voice and face and lived a fascinating life at the heart of America's golden age. Onto her second book! show less

A lot has been said about this book and the motivations behind it. I write about figure skating history and if there's one thing I've learned, it is that people and situations are nuanced and that the truth about just about anything doesn't always fit an all good/all bad narrative. Sonja was a brilliant skater and business person, but she also had her flaws. Over the years, over half a dozen of her contemporaries were very vocal about their contempt for her. She also developed friendships show more with several of her other competitors, which is something that is rarely (if at all) talked about. If you dive into this book accepting that it's written from a sensational perspective to sell copies, you'll probably quite enjoy it. If you have it in your head Sonja that was all good or all bad, you probably won't. show less