Dec 11
20
Celebrity 2011 – Celebrity 1935
Drawing to a close, is the old year. And with it, my current novel, set in 1930′s London. This book has no official title as yet but has been great to write! The East End in 1935, had many similarities to today. The search for celebrity on stage and in the music halls was ferocious. Just like our fascination with X Factor and Celebrity Come Dancing, Hollywood in the 30′s comes into its own. Every girl wants to dance like Ginger Rogers and partner a cool guy like Fred Astaire. Last week we saw Harry Judd and Aliona Vilani winning the spectacular glitter ball(s). Their chemistry and talent was outstanding and in the late thirties the thirst for the excitement through the dancing and singing idols of the day was at its peak too. Silent pictures were a thing of the past. Music halls had begun to lose their attraction. Superstars like Spencer Tracy, Marlene Dietrich, Gary Cooper, Jean Harlow, Clark Gable and Greta Garbo were attracting picturegoers all over the world. So I don’t have to look far for inspiration. There is so much talent today; wannabees must sing, dance, act, perform, become athletes in their own sphere and compete for the viewers’ digitally short spans of attention. It’s all about ratings – just as the movie producers and directors of the inter-war years were to discover, when many of the fabulous silent picture stars, could no longer hold an audience. You needed it ALL when Hollywood invested in the talkies, just like the hopefuls of today. And so, my 18 year-old twin heroines, Marie and Vesta, are caught up in the glamour of their newly-found fame. It’s the perfect time for me to round off a book, absorbing the emotions of the star-studded performances of 2011, and transferring them into the limelight and celebrity of 1935. This book will be published October 2012, and I’m eager to see if, like its predecessor IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER, it captures the collective imaginations of 2012!
