Slim : memories of a rich and imperfect life by Slim Keith

If you have a mental picture of Lauren Bacall, the sexy girl in those black and
white movies with Humphrey Bogart, then you come closest to visualizing the
subject of this book, a lady called Slim Keith. She was the wife of famed
Hollywood director Howard Hawks, and a good friend of Bacall's. In fact, Keith
claims that she "discovered" Bacall.

Born Nancy Gross, Slim was a rich child who grew up in the land around Salinas,
California. Her father owned some of those businesses made famous in John
Steinbeck's novel "Cannery Row," and her family knew his family. It was not the
only time Nancy would come in contact with a great writer. She was also good
girlfriends with Truman Capote, author of the true crime classic "In Cold Blood".
They had a falling out after he used her in a scathing short story. She was
lifelong friends with Ernest "Papa" Hemingway, and although he was eager to
become her lover, if her story is to be believed, she declined. He wasn't her type.
They remained friends, however, until he killed himself.

So Slim Keith was not what you'd think of as a good girl. She seemingly followed
the advice of Lois Griffin on "The Family Guy", which is "Make yourselves
available, ladies." And Slim was available. She lived with filmmaker Hawks
before his divorce from his mentally-ill wife was final. She slept with famed
Broadway producer Leland Hayward in New York City while his wife, a film
actress, was at their beach house taking care of their mentally disturbed children.
And while married to those rich and powerful men, she spent the night with other
people casually. But finally, husband Hayward dumped her for another famous
girl-about-town, Pamela Churchill, and author Slim retired to the British
Country side with Me~ third and final husband,--Sir Kenneth-Keith. And as the book­
reaches a close, she is quoted as saying to her third husband that she had no
idea how much money she had, just that she had enough to buy anything she
wanted. And to that I say, must be nice!

Still, in the process of partying around the world, Slim led a fascinating life. She
was able to meet and hang out with some of the sexiest men on celluloid at the
time, movie icons like Cary Grant, Montgomery Clift, William Powell and Gary
Cooper. She traveled all around the world as casually as I would take a trip to
Wiseway or Walmart. She paints a portrait here of herself as witty and desirable,
kind and intelligent, and perhaps hardest to believe, as a great mother and
stepmother to the children of her three husbands. And yet ultimately she is the
victim of these men who use and discard her as easily as they would toss away a
worn out script, and she herself calls her autobiography "memories of a rich and
imperfect life." But like Keith herself, her life story is always interesting, even
though it has its flaws.

Submitted by Gerti