{Book Review} Good Stuff: A Reminisence of My Father, Cary Grant

My review of this book is rather timely, it being Father’s Day weekend and all!

Jennifer Grant,  the only child of screen legend Cary Grant, after years of pressure, finally wrote a book about her father. In my opinion, this book is just what you would want it to be. She doesn’t pretend to be an expert on his films or on his acting, admitting there are film scholars far more qualified to do that than she. She says how the man in Arsenic and Old Lace or Bringing Up Baby almost seems like another person to her. Instead, this book is a random collection of her memories.

We hear about his insistence on her curfew as a teenager, his advice of “not to marry the man you break the bed with,” his hatred of housepets until a cat named Sausage won him over, his secret candy drawer, their afternoons of wandering malls and rootbeer floats and days at Dodger games. Jennifer isn’t trying to paint the perfect picture of her father here, she is painting the picture of the dad she knew–faults and all, here he is. And it’s refreshing. She is very candid and casual in her writing style, often interspersing memories of Cary with what that memory means to her now when she thinks of it. In case you’re curious, she pretty much dispels the gay rumors but says her father tended to be over-friendly almost to the point of flirty and she doesn’t blame people for thinking he could be gay. And she is definitely NOT a fan of this Diet Coke commerical using Cary’s image, calling the product “chemical poison” and saying how her father hated soft drinks.

I know what you are probably saying–um, what does this have to do with Clark Gable? Well, plenty. No, Clark isn’t mentioned at all in this book–why would he be? Him and Cary were hardly more than acquaintances. This book of Jennifer’s certainly made me a bit sad about what Clark missed. Jennifer was born to Cary’s fourth wife, actress Dyan Cannon, who was over 30 years younger than him. (He had five wives–just like Clark!) Cary was 62 when his only child was born–Clark, had he lived, would have been 60 when his son was born. Jennifer tells of how her father tape recorded her almost daily and saved every note she gave him, every drawing, every school project. He lovingly wrote the details of each item on the back, saving for her an incredible vault of her childhood. Jennifer states she believes the reason for this immense vault was twofold: first, that her father’s childhood pictures and personal items were destroyed in World War I so he desperately wanted her to have artifacts from her childhood and second, that her father knew he wouldn’t be with her long and wanted to preserve their memories together. And he was right, as Jennifer was just 20 when her father died in 1985. It of course made me think of how Clark would have probably been the same: wanting to preserve every moment and document it all, knowing time was short. He had even planned to take a year off after the baby was born to spend with him. Sadly, Clark’s time was too short and he never met his son.

I couldn’t help but be saddened when Jennifer remarked how she displays Cary’s Oscar prominently on her mantle. And we all know what happened to Clark’s–not preserved by a beloved family member, but sold to the highest bidder.

Sigh.

All in all, Good Stuff is a charming, delightful little read if you want your heart warmed; not for those who are looking for dirt.