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Article: FAST-TALKING DAMES.(Review)
- Article from:
- National Catholic Reporter
- Article date:
- May 11, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 National Catholic Reporter. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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FAST-TALKING DAMES By Maria DiBattista Yale University Press, 365 pages, $27.95
I want to be a dame.
No, not a member of the British royalty. I mean a real dame -- a hip-swaying, gin-drinking, don't-take-nothing-from-nobody kind of gal. Think Roz Russell or Barbara Stanwyck. Think Kate Hepburn and Myrna Loy. Think of all those actresses who lit up the silver screen in the '30s and early '40s, offering the world a new image of smart, savvy femininity.
This is the kind of woman whom Maria DiBattista features in her new book. Fast-Talking Dames evokes an era in film when women were expected not only to have minds but to speak them as well.