The Times We Had: Life with William Randolph Hearst

I read this book years ago and because of my ongoing interest in WR Hearst and Marion Davies read it again. Marion made some recordings shortly after her long time (30+years) lover W.R. Hearst died in 1951. She then did nothing with them and died in 1961. Two editors in 1975 took these tapes, edited them and the book appeared in 1975. This book is a time capsule of her years with Hearst and the people she met from Carole Lombard to a young Jack Kennedy. What to know what Charles Limbergh was like personally? G. B. Shaw? What really happened the night Thomas Ince died? Marion has come back to this world and invites you to sit with her while she tells you how it all was... Want to know what Orson Wells thought of the comparison of her and Citizen Kane? It is in his forward... All I can say about this book is WOW.

The conversational style of this book shines a light on the personality and character of Marion Davies. I recommend the book be read in conjunction with "The Chief" by David Nasaw and "Marion Davies" by Fred Laurence Guiles--taken together these books present a unique picture of the people portrayed and the times the lived.

although not all of her films were master pieces films like showpeople not so dumb the patsy operator 13 going hollywood page miss glory and little old new york are must sees :) since she is the one tellingthe story its very interesting to see point of view of the things that where going on around her at the time. her and hearst had a wonderful life just reading about her parties makes you want to jump back in time and join in :)

my mom bought this book on a trip we took to hearst castle(i had never even heard of marion davies!)i started reading it and couldnt put it down! she was so funny, it really makes you want to go back to the old days to party with her and her movie star friends. ive since seen some of her movies on tcm and i like her even more.

This book is a must for anyone who is even remotely interested in Hollywood's Golden Era. Marion Davies was a great actress in the silent era, and continued into the 1930's. She not only gave wonderful parties that were the talk of the town, but she was one of the most generous, giving, loving people of all time. She started her own children's clinic, and gave plenty of money to charities. If she heard that a crew member's father needed an operation, she'd give him the money. That was the type of wonderful person Marion was. This book is definately worth buying!