The Men in My Life: A Memoir of Love and Art in 1950s Manhattan

Summary (from the publisher): Acclaimed biographer Patricia Bosworth recalls her emotional coming of age in 1950s New York in this profound and powerful memoir, a story of family, marriage, tragedy, Broadway, and art, featuring a rich cast of well-known literary and theatrical figures from the period.

From Bosworth—acclaimed biographer of Montgomery Clift, Diane Arbus, Marlon Brando, and Jane Fonda—comes a series of vivid confessions about her remarkable journey into womanhood. This deeply-felt memoir is the story of a woman who defied repressive 1950s conventions while being shaped by the notable men in her life.

Born into privilege in San Francisco as the children of famous attorney Bartley Crum and novelist Gertrude, Patricia and her brother Bart Jr. lead charmed lives until their father’s career is ruined when he defends the Hollywood Ten. The family moves to New York, suffering greater tragedy when Bart Jr. kills himself. However, his loving spirit continues to influence Patricia as she fights to succeed as an actress and writer.

Married and divorced from an abusive husband before she’s twenty, she joins the famed Actors Studio. She takes classes with Lee Strasberg alongside Marilyn Monroe, Paul Newman, and others; she works on Broadway opposite Paul Muni, Helen Hayes, and Elaine Stritch; Gore Vidal and Elia Kazan become her mentors. Her anecdotes of theatre’s Golden Age have never been told before. At the zenith of her career, about to film The Nun’s Story with Audrey Hepburn, Patricia faces a decision that changes her forever.

The Men in My Life is about survival, achieving your goals, and learning to love. It’s also the story of America’s most culturally pivotal era, told through the lens of one insider’s extraordinary life.

 

Review: I received an uncorrected proof copy of this book from HarperCollins.

 

In this memoir, biographer Patricia Bosworth turns the lens on her own life and recounts her coming of age in 1950s New York. Patricia grew up the daughter of the famous attorney Bartley Crum and novelist Gertrude. Although on the surface their family seemed privileged, her parents' marriage seems to have been troubled and her father had a tumultuous career and suffered from alcoholism. Patricia was exceedingly fond of her reclusive younger brother Bart Jr. and was shattered when he killed himself while she was in college. Patricia's early adult years were also rattled by an abusive first marriage and her father's later suicide. Through it all, Patricia continued to hone her acting ability and joined the famed Actors Studio, which brought her into the same circle as Marilyn Monroe, Paul Newman, Elaine Stritch, and Audrey Hepburn.

 

Patricia tells her story is prose that swiftly unfolds her story, delving quickly into the traumatic suicide of her brother within the opening pages. On learning that her brother has shot himself, Patricia recounts back to one of the last times she was home with her brother, "I kept thinking of Bart at target practice. [...] The incessant crack of gunfire was so unnerving I'd run into the woods a quarter of a mile from the house and beg him to stop. He would be standing there in jeans and a T-shirt, emaciated, his head shave. He would glare at me, take aim at his target, and fire" (2). Only after his death did Patricia learn full details of the grief and shame that caused Bart's final retreat into his own misery and his eventual death. However, despite claiming repeatedly that Bart is the person that she loves best in the world, the siblings come across as close in Patricia's recollections and Bart remains a tortured enigma who eclipsed from his sister's life far too soon.

 

The author spares no details, offering explicit details of her sex life, particularly that with her first husband. She also details the abuse she suffered in her first marriage, such as recounting a scene where she was trapped in the back of a cab while her husband continued to scream and hit her: "Throughout I was screaming at the cabdriver to stop the cab, but Jason ordered him to drive on. I kept sobbing and pleading with the driver to let me out. He refused. 'He's the boss, lady,' he told me, nodding at my husband" (90). Later, she describes in detail her decision to have an abortion, largely because she didn't want to marry or be with the father and so that she would be able to star in a movie alongside Audrey Hepburn.

 

The random appearance of famous individuals peppered throughout this memoir gave it a surreal quality. The author casually references her father working with Bobby Kennedy and later describes meeting Nora Ephron. Although Bosworth comes across as a struggling actress just trying to support herself and her deadbeat husband, the star names she drops belie this image. For instance, Patricia accepts a ride home from an actors' party, only to find Marilyn Monroe in the seat beside her. Other encounters seem even more difficult to believe. For instance, when she finally flees her abusive husband and travels upstate to try to track down her therapist, she ends up crying out her story to a kind stranger, who just so happens to be making a documentary on Robert Frost. Patricia conveniently gets to meet and chat with the aging poet: "The great poet had soft white hair and a ruddy, heavily lined face. He was then seventy-eight years old and had won four Pulitzers for poetry that defined rural life in America" (95). Had this scene been in a novel I probably would have had  a hard time believing it.

 

Patricia's story is a coming of age tale during a pivotal time culturally. Despite her mother's urging that she marry and settle down, Patricia found a different path, one that was ultimately immensely successful. Although on the surface her life in the 1950s likely appeared glamorous and star-studded, her memoir reveals the inner turmoil and grief that marked those years and courageously and honestly examines this early period in her career.

 

Stars: 4