About the Author

Cari Beauchamp is the author of "Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood" and other film histories. She has written for "The New York Times, Vanity Fair, " and "Variety" and lives in Los Angeles, California.

Reviews

"An exceptional work of film scholarship, packed with information no one had uncovered before that reads like a juicy novel."
-Leonard Maltin in "Vanity Fair"
"Unveiling a trove of newly revealed documents, Cari Beauchamp makes fiduciary details fascinating and Hollywood gossip substantive. Joseph P. Kennedy Presents is an essential guide to understanding the role of this family in American life. . . The intellect, the intuition, the gumption, the gall, the vision, and the restless ambition of the founding father are meticulously documented. . . the narrative moves as fast as any shoot-'em-up."
--Martin F. Nolan, "The Boston Globe"
"Cari Beauchamp deserves great credit for bringing Joseph P. Kennedy into sharp focus with a wealth of detail, especially about his business dealings, which other biographers have tended to skip over, and his long involvement with Hollywood and the movie business. . . Beauchamp has had access to documents nobody has ever used before. . . This is three books in one, a business story, a lively biography (especially on the subject of Joe Kennedy and Gloria Swanson), and a detailed examination of the movie business from 1926 to 1930. . . For anybody interested in the movie business, this is must reading. . . The end of Beauchamp's book artfully recreates the last years of the old tycoon in a way that still has the power to move, showing just what a strong hold the Kennedy family still has on our imaginations. . . So much has been written about all this that is hard to imagine a new way of seeing it, but thanks to her diligence, Beauchamp has succeeded not only in finding a new way of telling the story, but one which adds to it much we didn't know before. "
--Michael Korda, "The Daily Beast
"
"[Kennedy's Hollywood years] rarely has been documented in such meticulous detail... Up till now no one had written in depth about this aspect of Kennedy's long career. Well-written and researched, Beauchamp'

"An exceptional work of film scholarship, packed with information no one had uncovered before that reads like a juicy novel."
-Leonard Maltin in "Vanity Fair"
"Unveiling a trove of newly revealed documents, Cari Beauchamp makes fiduciary details fascinating and Hollywood gossip substantive. Joseph P. Kennedy Presents is an essential guide to understanding the role of this family in American life. . . The intellect, the intuition, the gumption, the gall, the vision, and the restless ambition of the founding father are meticulously documented. . . the narrative moves as fast as any shoot-'em-up."
--Martin F. Nolan, "The Boston Globe"
"Cari Beauchamp deserves great credit for bringing Joseph P. Kennedy into sharp focus with a wealth of detail, especially about his business dealings, which other biographers have tended to skip over, and his long involvement with Hollywood and the movie business. . . Beauchamp has had access to documents nobody has ever used before. . . This is three books in one, a business story, a lively biography (especially on the subject of Joe Kennedy and Gloria Swanson), and a detailed examination of the movie business from 1926 to 1930. . . For anybody interested in the movie business, this is must reading. . . The end of Beauchamp's book artfully recreates the last years of the old tycoon in a way that still has the power to move, showing just what a strong hold the Kennedy family still has on our imaginations. . . So much has been written about all this that is hard to imagine a new way of seeing it, but thanks to her diligence, Beauchamp has succeeded not only in finding a new way of telling the story, but one which adds to it much wedidn't know before."
--Michael Korda, "The Daily Beast
"
"[Kennedy's Hollywood years] rarely has been documented in such meticulous detail... Up till now no one had written in depth about this aspect of Kennedy's long career. Well-written and researched, Beauchamp's book is a probing examination of the man in the industry during perhaps its most fascinating period."
--"Chicago Sun-Times"
"Richly detailed. . . a penetrating portrait of [Kennedy] as a movie mogul. . . his remarkable story includes numerous affairs with stars and starlets, famously including Gloria Swanson, which Beauchamp recounts with great confidence and zest. . . An engrossing account of a man many only think they know and of some of the golden years of American filmmaking."
--"Booklist," starred
"Cari Beauchamp has dug deep into my mother's files and records and emerged to finally tell the true story of Gloria Swanson's relationship with Joe Kennedy. No one else has ever been as honest or as thorough."
--Michelle Farmer Amon, daughter of Gloria Swanson

Joseph P. Kennedy, father of JFK, was also a fascinating businessman: in the late 1920s, having already established himself in Boston as a banker and entrepreneur, he sought and found success as a Hollywood producer. Here, Beauchamp (Without Lying Down) draws on contracts, letters, and memos to tell the story of Kennedy's career, projects, and relationships during this time. Pam Ward's (The Sky Took Him) narration is clear and expressive; the reedy Boston accent she employs when voicing Kennedy is dead-on hilarious. Recommended for those interested in the Kennedys and for movie history and popular culture buffs. [Audio clip available through www.blackstoneaudio.com; the review of the Knopf hc deemed this "the first in-depth look at [Kennedy's] years in Hollywood," LJ 1/09.-Ed.]-Barbara Valle, El Paso P.L., TX Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

"An exceptional work of film scholarship, packed with information no one had uncovered before that reads like a juicy novel."
-Leonard Maltin in "Vanity Fair"
"Unveiling a trove of newly revealed documents, Cari Beauchamp makes fiduciary details fascinating and Hollywood gossip substantive. Joseph P. Kennedy Presents is an essential guide to understanding the role of this family in American life. . . The intellect, the intuition, the gumption, the gall, the vision, and the restless ambition of the founding father are meticulously documented. . . the narrative moves as fast as any shoot-'em-up."
--Martin F. Nolan, "The Boston Globe"
"Cari Beauchamp deserves great credit for bringing Joseph P. Kennedy into sharp focus with a wealth of detail, especially about his business dealings, which other biographers have tended to skip over, and his long involvement with Hollywood and the movie business. . . Beauchamp has had access to documents nobody has ever used before. . . This is three books in one, a business story, a lively biography (especially on the subject of Joe Kennedy and Gloria Swanson), and a detailed examination of the movie business from 1926 to 1930. . . For anybody interested in the movie business, this is must reading. . . The end of Beauchamp's book artfully recreates the last years of the old tycoon in a way that still has the power to move, showing just what a strong hold the Kennedy family still has on our imaginations. . . So much has been written about all this that is hard to imagine a new way of seeing it, but thanks to her diligence, Beauchamp has succeeded not only in finding a new way of telling the story, but one which adds to it much we didn't know before. "
--Michael Korda, "The Daily Beast
"
"[Kennedy's Hollywood years] rarely has been documented in such meticulous detail... Up till now no one had written in depth about this aspect of Kennedy's long career. Well-written and researched, Beauchamp'
"An exceptional work of film scholarship, packed with information no one had uncovered before that reads like a juicy novel."
-Leonard Maltin in "Vanity Fair"
"Unveiling a trove of newly revealed documents, Cari Beauchamp makes fiduciary details fascinating and Hollywood gossip substantive. Joseph P. Kennedy Presents is an essential guide to understanding the role of this family in American life. . . The intellect, the intuition, the gumption, the gall, the vision, and the restless ambition of the founding father are meticulously documented. . . the narrative moves as fast as any shoot-'em-up."
--Martin F. Nolan, "The Boston Globe"
"Cari Beauchamp deserves great credit for bringing Joseph P. Kennedy into sharp focus with a wealth of detail, especially about his business dealings, which other biographers have tended to skip over, and his long involvement with Hollywood and the movie business. . . Beauchamp has had access to documents nobody has ever used before. . . This is three books in one, a business story, a lively biography (especially on the subject of Joe Kennedy and Gloria Swanson), and a detailed examination of the movie business from 1926 to 1930. . . For anybody interested in the movie business, this is must reading. . . The end of Beauchamp's book artfully recreates the last years of the old tycoon in a way that still has the power to move, showing just what a strong hold the Kennedy family still has on our imaginations. . . So much has been written about all this that is hard to imagine a new way of seeing it, but thanks to her diligence, Beauchamp has succeeded not only in finding a new way of telling the story, but one which adds to it much wedidn't know before."
--Michael Korda, "The Daily Beast
"
"[Kennedy's Hollywood years] rarely has been documented in such meticulous detail... Up till now no one had written in depth about this aspect of Kennedy's long career. Well-written and researched, Beauchamp's book is a probing examination of the man in the industry during perhaps its most fascinating period."
--"Chicago Sun-Times"
"Richly detailed. . . a penetrating portrait of [Kennedy] as a movie mogul. . . his remarkable story includes numerous affairs with stars and starlets, famously including Gloria Swanson, which Beauchamp recounts with great confidence and zest. . . An engrossing account of a man many only think they know and of some of the golden years of American filmmaking."
--"Booklist," starred
"Cari Beauchamp has dug deep into my mother's files and records and emerged to finally tell the true story of Gloria Swanson's relationship with Joe Kennedy. No one else has ever been as honest or as thorough."
--Michelle Farmer Amon, daughter of Gloria Swanson