When She Was Bad: The Story of Bess, Hortense, Sukhreet & Nancy

by Shana Alexander

From Publishers Weekly
The compassionate, well-reasoned analysis Alexander applied to convicted murderer Jean Harris in Very Much a Lady is missing in this facile, unbalanced account of events leading up to and including the 1988 trial of Bess Myerson, the Miss America of 1945 who went on to careers in television and public life, notably as Manhattan's Commissioner of Cultural Affairs under Mayor Edward Koch. Myerson, her wealthy younger lover Andy Capasso and Judge Hortense Gabel were charged--and acquitted--with conspiracy in the pretrial motions of Capasso and his wife Nancy's messy divorce, over which Judge Gabel presided. During that time Myerson gave Gabel's daughter Sukhreet a job in the Cultural Affairs office. These are the bare bones of the complex, often sordid story Alexander fleshes out with overwriting and glib psychologizing about her subjects, the extent of whose cooperation in this group portrait is unclear. Although Alexander hits her stride reporting the courtroom drama--the intricate lawyerly machinations and the pathetic self-condemning testimony of Sukhreet Gabel--it's too late to redeem this patchy, sensationalized, hastily assembled report. First serial to People; author tour.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

305 pages, Hardcover

First published March 24, 1990

Reviews

[Darla Ebert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well researched and written in an interesting way so the reader's attention is reeled in early on. Anyone under the age of sixty would likely as not be ignorant of the characters in the book. Growing up in the sixties I only knew, for example, Bess Myerson from the black and white evening program "I've got a Secret" hosted by Garry Moore. I had no idea, for years, that she had been a Miss America winner, particularly as obviously THEN the idea of beauty was quite different from now, in the 2000's. Myerson had a (personal opinion) matronly look which really "flew" in the 40's and 50's. In addition to her chutzpah in catapulting herself to celebrity-hood, Myerson was just very ambitious and certainly damaged emotionally. This particular story evolves from there with a set cast of four unique female characters with the addition of an equally ambitious man who always got by on his looks and Italian mystique.

[Rebecca]

Have mercy, what a story! I was drawn to this because it's about Bess Myerson. The tale is so unbelievable, it's bound to be true!! Humans can really screw up! I learned several lessons regarding what not to do in my love life and regarding my acquaintances.

This book had been quietly lurking on my shelves for several years. I'd bought it from a used book shop then forgot all about it. It's amazing what a pandemic will do for one's leisure time. Once I began, I finished it within a week. It's well written and organized to make the players' behaviors quite clearly defined.

[Sonja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shana Alexander is a really good "page turner" investigative writer. This book was really interesting as Bess Meyerson was popular when I was growing up and she really was beautiful. Of course, in this book, I learned more about her than I really wanted to know. Bess' bubble burst - of course, she's no different from a million other women in that she made bad choices with men and did things that weren't nice. I felt really sorry for Judge Gabel. And for Andy's wife, Nancy. I do hope she got something from that jerk. This book was written in 1990 and Andy died in 2001. It would be interesting to read an update of all the main characters.

[Ellen Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book from the library because I'm a distant cousin of Bess Myerson and, after chatting with someone else who may be a relative, was hoping to find out from this book how we are related. Unfortunately for me, there was not much in the book about her family. But I got hooked on the story early on. All the characters are fascinating and almost larger than life. I can just picture Joan Collins playing the role of Bess!

The other interesting thing for me was the look at Rudolph Giuliani before he became mayor and presidential candidate. Let's just say it confirmed a lot of what I always thought of him.

[Vikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the story of Bess Myerson. Bess Myerson was with Mayor Koch and acted like his girlfriend. He was probably gay. And then she hired the daughter of the judge in her boyfriend's divorce case. Bess!!