Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye: The Barbara Payton Story

Barbara Payton had what it took to be a big success in Hollywood in the 1950s but she just couldn't handle it in a positive way. Instead she chose to go down a path of self destruction.

The writing style allowed me to feel that I was around during this time period in the world of Hollywood studios and it's tight networks. (I was around then, but I was busy growing up from babyhood to high school in the typical middle class world in Long Beach.) This world seems to have been a harsh and male dominated one, where actresses were expected if not required to behave in a specific manner. Barbara was not one to fit in to that mould. She seemed to have a good heart but her desire for approval and recognition were stronger and took her in a bad show more direction. Her choices ended in good endings. Men who used her and fueled her party-hardy choices. Notorious behaviour that garnered her headlines...not of the good kind. Choices that caused her to lose roles in movies and the custody of her son. These results seemed to just drive her further and further down that path of destruction.

The writing moved along pretty well, but the last couple chapters seemed to be more of a collection of eulogies and a bit long. Otherwise a pretty interesting read. I also enjoyed the fact that there were actual photos from the time to give some visual cues of what the style was and what various characters looked like. show less