Inside Daisy Clover (Midnight Classics) by Gavin Lambert

by Gavin Lambert

The Hollywood camp classic which re-launches the work of Gavin Lambert with Midnight Classics.

Genres: Fiction, Literature, Classics, Adult

Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Gavin Lambert was a British-born screenwriter, novelist and biographer who lived for part of his life in Hollywood. His writing was mainly fiction and nonfiction about the film industry.

Reviews

[Denise Barney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I caught a scene from the movie starring a young Natalie Wood (as a blonde!) and decided to read the novel it's based on. I found this edition on Archive.org--oddly, I could only check it out for an hour at a time.

When the novel starts in 1952, Daisy Clover is not quite 14-years-old. She lives with her mother, known as "The Dealer" because she always has several solitaire games going, in a trailer near Playa Del Mar in Southern California. Daisy loves to sing and, when she has 25-cents, she records herself in one of those little booths that used to be common on beach boardwalks. Daisy also buys herself a "theme book" and records her experiences and observations, including her introduction to sex.

Daisy sends one of her records to a talent contest and wins a screen test at Magnagram Studios. Her test goes quite well and life for Daisy changes. Her older sister, Gloria, and her brother-in-law, Harry, become her legal guardians. The Dealer is hidden away in a sanitarium and the public is told she is dead. Daisy has to start going to school. Per the contract Gloria entered into, Mr. Raymond Swan, head of Magnagram, owns her for seven years. His wife, Melora, becomes something like a mother-figure and something like a smarter sister to Daisy.

Her first film, a musical, is a tremendous success and plans are made to capitalize on that. Daisy is suddenly thrown into the very grown-up world of Hollywood, complete with alcohol and cigarettes and predators. She meets and falls in love with Wade Lewis, a much older star, who seems to really understand Daisy's inner turmoil and who feels that Daisy understands his demons.

As I was reading, I was struck by the parallels between Daisy and Judy Garland and Elizabeth Taylor--juvenile actresses from an earlier age. Daisy has street smarts which those two did not have and which, ultimately, save her. Daisy does not have a formal education, but she is a reader and a writer and a thinker. Her sister is rather stupid and the other adults around her are too busy fighting their own personal demons to help Daisy find her way.

Daisy, though, is a survivor. While I wouldn't characterize the ending as optimistic, exactly, Daisy does come into adulthood with a strong sense of selfhood and more sure of her talent.

[Umi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been in such an awful book rut lately that I was beginning to question my 'chancing upon fun-looking books at charity shops' method of picking my next reads. I actually found this in a dollar bin at a used bookstore, remembered it was turned into a film in the Natalie Wood Goes Crazy genre (though I got stuck on This Property Is Condemned and somehow never saw it!), and figured it'd be good enough to tan to.

Is it ever!!

Even without any sun this month (come onnn), this was Extremely Me and Extremely Delightful. The observations of the types at every level of LA strata are perfect, and Daisy's voice is just the right mix of dreamy and biting. I kept wishing I'd read this in high school, but maybe it all wouldn't have made as much sense to me then.

Now time to finally watch the film!

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this--great voice. Much, much better than the ridiculous movie version with Natalie Wood & Robert Redford (Wood, at 26, playing a 15 year old and not looking a day under 30) that I couldn't make head or tail of when I saw it as a kid. Most likely because Redford's character's sexuality was made murky and the rise of Daisy Clover as a movie star is so poorly done it makes the musical numbers in "Valley of the Dolls" seem downright brilliant.

Anyway, the movie was on Turner Classic Movies recently--still made little sense, but I saw it was based on a novel, so there you go.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Way tougher and harder than the movie version, weird considering Lambert wrote the screenplay to the movie, too. Maybe the Producer pressured him to come up with a tear-jerker instead of the jaded bitch in this book.

[David Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gavin Lambert is a kind of cult level author-- the sort where you know of him and maybe or maybe not have read any of his novels but did know he wrote a biography of Natalie Wood, the woman who was a great friend and supporter ever since she stared in a movie made out of one of his books, Inside Daisy Clover. The movie, wonderful even if not quite right, something you can't pin down doesn't quite work, but fascinating and memorable, is mostly remembered as the movie that first brought Robert Redford and Natalie Wood together was the tale of an incredibly talented young girl who is snatched up by the movies due to her wonderful musical talents-- only in the movie Natalie Wood does her own singing, (she's no Marnie Nixon), and the songs are truly God-awful, written by the phenomenal Dory Previn whose work was only phenomenal after she had a complete mental breakdown and started in writing songs about her own life. The one thing the movie has going for it that the book, unfortunately does not, is one of the very best endings of any movie. But even without that great ending Inside Daisy Clover is one of those reading adventures that introduce you to an original voice, and original story, and a cast of characters that you want to just hang with into the quiet whispers of the very early morning... Gavin Lambert is a terrific writer and although his works are not all that well known, those who have found him consider him one of their very favorites-- and that's about as great an outcome as any author can hope for, wouldn't you say?

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

The rapid rise and even faster fall of a Hollywood ingenue. Funny at times, unintentionally sad, Daisy is her own worst enemy.

[susan moore Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was every bit as good as I had hoped it was....the movie is fine, but for the better story, pick up this book and give it a read.

[Laurel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn, I was very wrong about where the term "Grass Widow" comes from.

[Andrea N · Rating 4 out of 5]

She was snarky before she met Wade. He made her worse.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a breezy, fun read, but never quite goes far enough. Two other things:

1. I was acutely aware more than a few times this was not a woman author, but a man writing in a "woman's voice."

2. The edition I have (the one shown) pretty much tells the entire story, including the ending, on the back cover.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this years and years ago about the time I saw the Natalie Wood/Robert Redford movie. I liked the story; typical Hollywood stuff about 2 people on different trajectories in show business.