Century Girl: 100 Years in the Life of Doris Eaton Travis, Last Living Star of the Ziegfeld Follies

by Lauren Redniss

Book Overview

Lauren Redniss, acclaimed author of the brilliant biography-in-collage Radioactive, delivers a stunning visual journey through the life of the last Ziegfeld girl, Doris Eaton Travis. Now in paperback... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060853336
• ISBN13: 9780060853334
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: It Books
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 2.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 8.0" x 11.0"

Customer Reviews

DARLING Dancer: Whimsical Book

You must buy this sweet book if you adore the Ziegfeld Folies, fashion illustration, collage, lush photos of flappers, and want to know more about the last of the living burlesque dancers Doris Eaton Travis. This wonderful book makes a fab gift for collectors of nostalgia and vintage frocks. Features pages and pages of handpainted/tinted photos and whimsical creative collage spreads of 1920's photos.

A loving tribute to an extrordinary woman.

Century Girl: 100 Years in the Life of Doris Eaton Travis, Last Living Star of the Ziegfeld Follies is a new order of biography. Lauren Redniss uses hand-written text as an artistic element to guide the eye through the evocative images she has created using photo-collage and line drawings. The result is a visually stunning tour of the extraordinary life of Doris Eaton Travis The book chronicles the life of Norman, Oklahoma, resident and University of Oklahoma graduate Doris Eaton Travis. The book follows Travis and her siblings, once known as the Eatons of Broadway, from their lives as child actors, to their success in theater and early films, and ultimately to their sad and often tragic fates. Travis alone was able to leave show business behind. She had the strength to adapt herself when circumstances demanded; from dancer, to entrepreneur, to book-keeper on a horse ranch, to college graduate at 88 years old. She returned to the Broadway stage at the age of 94 and recieved an honorary doctorate at 100. Her's is a story of reinvention and ultimately of success. Lauren Redniss teaches at the Parson's School in New York City. Her work is often seen on the Op-Ed page of the New York Times, which nominated her for the Pulitzer Prize. She is currently writing a biography of Marie Curie, due out in the fall. This book is a work of art from cover to cover. Redniss knows her subject well and the story is told largely in Travis' own words. It is the author's unique, artistic approach that brings this fascinating story to life so vibrantly and with such immediacey. In one section of the book, for example, Redniss discusses Travis' sister Mary Eaton's beauty, and the eagerness with which men gave her expensive gifts. The text takes the reader to photographs of Eaton in a seductive pose layered over images of Eaton's name in lights on the marquis of the New Amsterdam Theater. These images flow into a still photo from Eaton's starring role in Glorifying the American Girl. As we read of Eaton's beauty, we see coming off the page a Broadway star at the height of her fame and a woman who epitomizes beauty in the early twentieth century....and we understand why men were so easily parted from their money. The artistic elements flow together seamlessly and carry the reader through this lovingly crafted biography. Redniss' incredible images allow the reader to experience the lives of Travis and her family in ways that text alone simply doesn't allow. This book would appeal to anyone interested in dance or theater history. It has appeal to the general reader as well. Doris Eaton Travis is an extraordinary human being. Her ability to overcome tragedy, to reinvent herself, and to constantly strive to learn is an inspiration to all. Lauren Redniss' extaordinary book is the perfect vehicle to bring her inspiring story to life.

eye candy at its best

Have you ever looked through an old school yearbook where handwritten script accompanies carefully cropped pictures to make art? My grandma's yearbook from 1918 was like this. So is this gem by Lauren Redniss. The text and the artful images tugged at my heart and had me reading anxiously onward. It is as much a journey through this past century as it is a tribute to one remarkable lady. This was worth every cent!

Beautiful Book About a Remarkable Life

Lauren Redniss' Century Girl is a work of art that tells the story of a remarkable woman, Doris Eaton Travis. It is visually stunning -- the colors and art/photos/clippings and presentation make the cleverly inked biographical words LIVE on the page. And though longevity is one of the book's hooks -- "100 years in the life..." -- it is really about LIVING life, really, truly living life. It's a very unique experience reading this book -- you open a page and the gorgeous, artistic presentation really draws your eyes. You soak it all in, and then you read the words. As you read the words, you take in the art in a new way, and the words and the art combine to unfold the story in a really wonderful way. I highly recommend this book.

"It's the top, it's the coliseum"

Everything about this vivacious book gives me a thrill. From the life and times of Doris Eaton herself (my latest and greatest role model - Please, God, let me live so long and be so grand!) to Ms. Redniss' swell and funky collaged interpretations of it, these are book dollars well-spent. Century Girl is a BIG, juicy tome of a book with a fabulous and sturdy library binding and thick glossy pages. Whether you're a fan of cutting edge book design, collage, the 1920's, or the Ziegfield Follies, do your coffee or bedside table a sweet favor and grace it with this book before another week passes you by. And don't forget the tables at your Aunties' and your best girlfriends'. This is a book to give anyone you're really crazy about.