Golden, Eve 1957-

PERSONAL:

Born April 5, 1957, in Philadelphia, PA; daughter of Harold (an electronics engineer) and Eleanore (a high school guidance secretary) Golden. Education: Attended Philadelphia College of Art, 1972-75; Towson State University, B.A., 1979. Politics: "Varied."

ADDRESSES:

Home—Lyndhurst, NJ. E-mail—evegolden@comcast.net.

CAREER:

Cove, Cooper, Lewis Advertising, New York, NY, copywriter, 1984-89; Art Direction, senior editor, 1990-95; Across the Board, New York, NY, editor and writer, 1996-97; More, New York, NY, copy chief, 1998-2005; freelance writer and photographic archivist, 2005—. Worked as an actress Off-Broadway, in summer stock productions, and on television.

WRITINGS:

Platinum Girl: The Life and Legends of Jean Harlow, Abbeville Press (New York, NY), 1991.

Vamp: The Rise and Fall of Theda Bara, Emprise (Vestal, NY), 1996.

Anna Held and the Birth of Ziegfeld's Broadway, University Press of Kentucky (Lexington, KY), 2000.

Golden Images: 41 Essays on Silent Film Stars, McFarland and Co. (Jefferson, NC), 2001.

(With Kim Kendall) The Brief, Madcap Life of Kay Kendall, University Press of Kentucky (Lexington, KY), 2002.

Vernon and Irene Castle's Ragtime Revolution, University Press of Kentucky (Lexington, KY), 2007.

Author of "Bottom Shelf," a column in Movieline, 1993-2000. Contributor of articles and reviews to magazines, including Films in Review, Classic Images, and Art Direction.

SIDELIGHTS:

In Platinum Girl: The Life and Legends of Jean Harlow, Eve Golden profiles Hollywood celebrity Jean Harlow. In a mixed review, an Entertainment Weekly contributor directed readers to focus on the author's "splendidly revealing" account of "glamour." According to Golden's next book, Vamp: The Rise and Fall of Theda Bara, Harlow's superstar persona is a successor to the celebrity image and status that silent-film actress Theda Bara initiated years earlier. "Bara was the first product of the star system," recounted Mike Tribby in a Booklist assessment recognizing Vamp as "the first book-length study of [Bara]." Robert Klepper's Silents Majority review of Vamp noted Golden's ability to collect "scattered and rare information," creating "an excellent and comprehensive … biography that future biographies will be measured against." Klepper called the work an "illuminating and enlightening book" that contains "an engrossing and informative narrative text … rare photos and a complete filmography."

Anna Held and the Birth of Ziegfeld's Broadway is the biography of a Jewish girl who came of age in France and immigrated to the United States, becoming a stage star and later the common-law wife of Florenz Ziegfeld. It is Ziegfeld, and the legendary Broadway revues he produced, that provide "half of the book's fun," observed Jack Helbig in Booklist. Helbig's assessment referred to Anna Held as a "nicely researched, sprightly biography." Library Journal contributor Laura A. Weald commented that it is "a fascinating look at a dynamic period in Western history." "An extravagantly entertaining biography … vibrantly told," observed a Publishers Weekly contributor, who commented: "Dishy showbiz gossip … is smartly placed within a serious but never dry framework that incorporates historical events and society's evolving mores."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 15, 1996, Mike Tribby, review of Vamp: The Rise and Fall of Theda Bara, p. 979; March 15, 2000, Jack Helbig, review of Anna Held and the Birth of Ziegfeld's Broadway, p. 1310.

Entertainment Weekly, January 31, 1992, review of Platinum Girl: The Life and Legends of Jean Harlow, p. 55.

Library Journal, April 1, 2000, Laura A. Ewald, review of Anna Held and the Birth of Ziegfeld's Broadway, p. 104.

Publishers Weekly, March 13, 2000, review of Anna Held and the Birth of Ziegfeld's Broadway, p. 75.

ONLINE

Silents Majority,http://www.mdle.com/ (July 20, 2000), Robert Klepper, review of Vamp.