Being there . . . with an inordinately popular American woman who possessed a particular
quality which conferred luster on all those around her, including her pets. Whether a well-bred
young teenage girl, or aging actress having proprietary rights, rule, and authority, she remained
the same near perfect human as always – – a warm token of the sun possessing all the qualities
which constitute the beautiful. Whether at home, or on the tennis court, at the studio
commissary-luncheonette, on stage or the set, there seemed to be a joyful spiritual grace and
gentleness about her poise, conversations, and during private moments of wonder. Costars
would tell anyone who would listen that she performed with flawless purity and lithe
attractiveness, all gently commingling in a delicate, indefinable feminine womanliness. A
goddess? For sure. Which one? Who? For a clue, watch and listen to a true young soul sing in
“Panama Hattie”, “Cabin in the Sky”, “Stormy Weather”, “Thousands Cheer”, “Broadway
Rhythm”, “Two Girls and a Sailor”, “Ziegfeld Follies”, “Till the Clouds Roll By”, “Meet Me in Las
Vegas”. This reviewer double-dares you of heart and mind not to fall into a lifelong love with
her. Or again, for the many of you who years ago fell in love with.
CELESTIALLY SENT TO US, INCOMMENSURABLE LENA HORNE BREATHES INNOCENCE,
KINDNESS, AND LOVE IN THIS COMPASSIONATE BIOGRAPHY’S OVERFLOWING PAGES OF
HUMOR, PATHOS, AND DRAMA – – THE JEALOUS AND SCORNED REGARDED HER AS NOTHING
MORE THAN A CHORUS GIRL FROM THE COTTON CLUB IN HARLEM, WHILE MANY OF THE
HOLLYWOOD MONARCHS CONSIDERED HER A TRIFLE NOVELTY TO BE CAST IN ONLY ALL-BLACK
FEATURES, OR , AT BEST, A “THROW-IN GLORIFIED GUEST APPEARANCE” BIT-ACTRESS – –
FORTUNATELY, A DEVELOPING HANDFUL BEGAN TO SEE HER AS A CLASSIC TIMELESS
AMERICAN TREASURE WITH A FACE, VOICE AND PERSONALITY WRAPPED IN A HUMAN
DIGINITY CAPABLE OF UNITING US ALL. . . .
Reviewed and Highly, Highly Recommended by Don DeNevi
“LENA HORNE, Goddess Reclaimed”, by Donald Bogle. Running Press, Philadelphia; the
Hachette Book Group: 2023, 8 ¼” x 10 ¼”, 264 pages, hardcover, $55, see www.tcm.com.
or www.runningpress.com.
Of course, movie buffs know all about Donald Bogle, the author, and, incidentally, one of the
foremost authorities on Black representation in films and entertainment history. His superlative
books include the acclaimed “Hollywood Blacks”; the stunning “Toms, Coons, Mulattoes,
Mammies, and Bucks”; the award winning “Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams”, and the nonpareil
“Brown Sugar”. This, “LENA HORNE, Goddess Reclaimed”, is unequivocally, unabashedly,
without reservation or qualification, the best of the lot. Thank you, Donald, thank you, editors
at Running Press.
This lavish coffee-table hardcover is meant to be fondled, clutched to the breast, and, above
all, loaned out and shared – at this time of the year, even given as a priceless Christmas gift,
especially to yourself. Why? Because, like dear, revered Hattie McDaniel’s life and career, it was
truly remarkable for American film history. Yes, she was the first Black performer to become a
true star to receive, some would say reluctantly, the kind of glamour treatment at the “big
show”, as many referred to MGM, that the studio reserved for the likes of Greta Garbo, Jean
Harlow, Lana Turner, and Ava Gardner. Donald Bogle, naturally, knows that Lena, regardless of
being one of the most beautiful women to walk the earth, suffered endless indignities, on stage
and set, in the studio cutting rooms, out of the studios’ playlands, wherever her presence was
regarded as undesirable. Louie Mayer, “God of the Inconsequential gods”, as the rejected or
fired referred to him, quietly frowned, but accepted her interracial marriage to MGM
composer, Lennie Hayton. Yet, as Donald eloquently narrates and concludes, Lena triumphs and
becomes one of the most iconic performers of the twentieth century. For his highly insightful
information, he depended upon Lena’s interviews, reliable press accounts, studio archives, and
decades of research, with innumerable photographs, public, studio professional, and personal,
to back him up. As Running Press suggests, “ ‘LENA HORNE, Goddess Reclaimed’ is the ultimate
book on the legend.”
