Playing the Field: Sex, Stardom, Love, and Life in Hollywood, Van Doren MS Mamie

In this utterly frank and candid memoir, Mamie reveals the infighting in the highly competitive world of the Hollywood studio system. She tells what it was like to balance the demands of being a sex symbol on the screen and a caring mother and wife at home; she recounts her stormy affairs with leading men and international celebrities--affairs that inevitably spilled into the pages of national gossip columns; and she gives insights into her attempts to find meaning in her life and career as the era of the studio system and the blonde bombshells began to fade, and as Marilyn, Jayne, and the other glamour girls succumbed to early and violent deaths. Mamies refusal to be swallowed up by Hollywoods often ruthless movie-making machine makes for a riveting story.

Mamie writes movingly about her experiences entertaining troops in Vietnam. Her solo tour with only a musical conductor and small band reached some of the most remote and dangerous fire stations in Vietnam--from the MeKong Delta in the south, to the demilitarized zone in the north--places where small arms and artillery fire competed with her singing.