by Farley Granger, Robert Calhoun
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Product Description
Synonymous with the golden age of Broadway, the dazzling lights of Hollywood, and the rise of television arts, Farley Granger’s charm and talent captivated the acting community and audiences alike. Working with creative visionaries like Alfred Hitchcock, Luchino Visconti, and Nick Ray, Granger was a celebrated figure in films like Strangers on a Train, Rope, Senso, and They Live by Night, bringing to the big screen a stunningly memorable presence. But behind his characters, he was an intensely complex man. In his richly told memoir, Granger details his life with disarming candor. Rich in personal insight, he describes his relationships with both men and women and reminisces about screen legends he knew with private familiarity—from Shelley Winters to Joan Crawford to Leonard Bernstein. Recreating not only his personal struggles but his legendary struggle to free himself of his contract with Sam Goldwyn, Granger reveals none so elegantly as he does himself. Include Me Out is as much a story of classic Hollywood glamour as it is a collection of iconic theatrical portraits, all from the man who knew them all.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 ONE MORE BOOK I ACTUALLY MIGHT FINISH, 2008-08-17
There are so many books out there that need to be read that if a particular book doesn't capture my rapt attention within the first 10 pages, I set it aside and move on to the next one in my ever-growing pile of books in the hall. I suppose INCLUDE ME OUT must be one of the good ones...I'm still reading and only have a few pages yet to go.
Only problem is...I'm down to those last few pages and cannot understand what it was about Farley Granger that caused so many great names in the world of the arts to seek him out for dinner, nights out, film roles, parties, talk, and an occasional FITH. I suppose I will need to read the auto-bios of all those mentioned "best friends," "close colleagues," "confidants," and "persons he admires and loves" to determine why he was so well liked by seemingly everyone, so much so that he turned up at all those high-class cultural occasions of the rich and famous without actually being one of the R&F. And why so many of those R&F paid his room and board while he flitted from one venue to another without seeming to contribute so much as a dime.
But Mr. Granger doesn't really let the reader in on what wonderful things he did for others over the years to deserve such appreciation. Perhaps he is only being modest, but I'm sure that becoming a member of the "In" crowd is not as easy as he makes it seem. I'm sure there are those up-and-coming persons in the art crowd would sure like to have a few pointers.
So, I'm off to do Amazon.com searches on all those names in the index of INCLUDE ME OUT. There should be enough reading material there to keep my hall pile growing faster than I can read.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Remembering Granger, 2008-05-16
Granger, Farley with Robert Calhoun. "Include Me Out: My Life from Goldwyn to Broadway", St. Martin's Griffin, 2008.
Remembering Granger
Amos Lassen
I remember several years ago in Boston when I was checking into the Eliot Hotel there was a very good looking man with gray hair sitting across from the reception desk and I had no idea who it was. That very night I went to the theater to see the pre-Broadway tryout of a play whose name I do not remember but there on the stage was that same good looking man. Of course it was Farley Granger and he and his costars, Rex Harrison and Florence Henderson were staying at my hotel, and my gaydar picked nothing up at that time.
Recently I saw a copy of "Include Me Out" and I picked it and began to read a very boring showbiz memoir. It is the memoirs of a man who was professional to the letter and a man who was serious about his career and the art of acting. He gives us a positive look in a life that must have been frustrating to live as being openly gay in his heyday may have meant career suicide. However the man can't write.
The book does have its problems--there is a lot of repetition and although he never really identifies himself as a gay man, the book's title certainly does as do some parts of the book but he never really talks about his homosexuality. In fact the only things that he really talks about in detail are what he had to eat and what he had to drink. Expecting an exciting expose of Granger, I was a bit disappointed at the way he skirted the issue.
Aside from that, he has several factual mistakes and seems to be not only confused about his sexual identity but his show business one as well.
It was interesting to read about some his star friends but all in the entire book is never more than mediocre. Yes he was professional and loved the glamour that comes with movie and theatre contracts but he just does not come across as much of anymore than that. So I remember him in passing and he had a couple of good parts but who was he anyway?
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Bonanza Bound, 2008-04-14
I wonder what the back story behind this book is, for didn't I hear that originally Eddie Muller was going to be the "as told to" in this book? Muller, who presides over the "Dark City" revivals of US noir films here in San Francisco, and whose voice is often heard as a commentator on the Fox Noir DVD releases, is thanked in the credits for Farley Granger's memoirs, but no more.
The book is, as some have lamented, a celebration of bisexuality rather than a straightforward account of a more or less "out" star who was engaged to Shelley Winters rather in the way that Malcolm Forbes was in love with Elizabeth Taylor. It's hard to understand why Granger wrote his life up in this way, but that's his decision, and from page to page the book has a lot going for it, he is very good at bringing to life both the famous, the infamous, and the half-forgotten, all of whom have another spark of life here, from Sam Goldwyn to the late, lamented Janice Rule, who deserves a whole book to herself. Granger admits he wasn't the world's best actor, but he does acquit himself well in the two Hitchcock films, in THEY LOVE BY NIGHT, and in SENSO, a film so beautiful it more or less ended the careers of both Granger and Valli right then and there. Most of the book is about how his career fell off after walking out on Goldwyn and Fox (there was a blacklist for ingrates), and his later career in the theater and in soaps is nothing to brag of. Though who among us wouldn't have loved to see the live television drama in which Granger played Tchaikovsky and his romantic lead was Helen Hayes as Madame von Meck! Ah for the glory days of live camp TV! They must have talked often among themselves of the late Robert Walker...
Okay, did I believe the stories of Farley G. in the arms of Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth, Barbara Stanwyck among others? Yes and no. I stopped actually believing him when he said his first Hollywood love was the young, vivacious Anne Baxter.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 My A Favorite of Mine, 2008-04-05
I read a lot of biographies and some autobiographies--many of Hollywood stars. Farley Granger is not one of my favorites and neither is this book!! I really like books after the person has died, because then you usually get the truth and then some. I don't think his life was that interesting and I don't think he had very much success in films or stage. I think he was mean to his parents and is not flattering of them. I got very tired of him talking about all the beautiful women he met-but then he is apparantly trying to appeal or be known as homosexual to his audience, but doesn't talk much of men or compliments them. He is rather forgettable and this book will go to the library giveaways. I wish I had only got it through the library rather than to have paid for it.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
a good read, 2008-01-02
Mr. Granger has crafted a very enjoyable and interesting autobiography with one caveat: If you're looking for celebrity "dish", you won't find a lot of it here. Mr. Granger sticks pretty much with his own career, life and experiences, which are indeed plenty interesting, but this is NOT a book that will satisfy those looking for personal gossip about the stars of Hollywood's "golden" era. Sure - there's a little juiciness here and there, but for the most part Mr. Granger sticks to the high road and avoids telling tales out of school. A very good read if you are a fan of the man and his work, and very well written.
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