You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS OCTOBER 2012<br />
Inventing Elsa Maxwell<br />
How an Irrepressible Nobody Conquered High Society,<br />
Hollywood, the Press, and the World<br />
Sam Staggs<br />
One of the most vivid personas of the twentieth century<br />
brought back to life in this biography by the author of All About<br />
All About Eve<br />
BIOGRAPHY &<br />
AUTOBIOGRAPHY / EDITORS,<br />
JOURNALISTS, PUBLISHERS<br />
St. Martin's Press | October 2012<br />
9780312699444 | $27.99/$31.99 Can.<br />
Hardback | 352 pages | Carton Qty:<br />
9.25in H | 6.13in W<br />
Plus two 16-page b&w photo inserts<br />
Other Available Formats:<br />
Ebook ISBN: 9781250017758<br />
MARKETING<br />
National Print Publicity<br />
Online Promotion<br />
Available as Ebook: 978-1-250-01775-8<br />
Elsa Maxwell's life was one of great self-invention. Built like a bulldog, with a<br />
face to match, she rose from simple beginnings as an only child in San Francisco<br />
to take New York City society—at its most mid-century cosmopolitan—by<br />
storm. In London, Paris, Venice, and Monte Carlo, royalty, both genuine and<br />
aspiring, clamored for invitations to Elsa's legendary parties. At those glamorous<br />
happenings the titled, the talented, the monied, and those on the make all mixed<br />
together in let-'er-rip gaiety. Her guests expected the unexpected: black ties and<br />
paper plates, murder parties, treasure hunts, elephants, elaborate costumes. She<br />
fell in love with Maria Callas, and nursed a broken heart when the diva spurned<br />
her. Elsa's feud with the Duchess of Windsor made headlines for three years in<br />
the 1950s. An early and frequent guest on that new innovation, the TV talk show,<br />
Maxwell was also a bestselling author.<br />
The first biography ever of Elsa Maxwell is an enthusiast's witty story of a life<br />
lived out loud.<br />
PRAISE<br />
"Elsa Maxwell took a bad fall on the Guinness yacht in Monte Carlo. The yacht is<br />
expected to recover." —Earl Wilson's column, 1961<br />
"Old battering-ram Elsa always gives the best parties." —The Duke of Windsor<br />
"Just another pretty face." —Hermione Ginggold<br />
SAM STAGGS is the author of five books, including four previous biographies of movies: All<br />
About All About Eve, Close-Up On Sunset Boulevard, When Blanche Met Brando and Born to be<br />
Hurt. He lives in Dallas, Texas.<br />
68
Change language