Always Wear Joy: My Mother Bold and Beautiful

by Susan Fales-Hill

Book Overview

Growing up with a black, Auntie Mame -- like mother who performed with the likes of Lena Horne and Alvin Ailey, and a WASP seafaring father, Susan Fales-Hill thought nothing of watching her mother, Josephine Premice, perform in an acclaimed Broadway musical one moment and fleeing to Faleton, her grandparents' summer estate, the next. But it was from her mother -- a woman who was dressed by Givenchy and sculpted by Alexander Calder, yet rejected by...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060523565
• ISBN13: 9780060523565
• Release Date: April 2003
• Publisher: Harper
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

It Amazes Me How White Americans Have No Idea !

I loved the book ! I grew up in the same era as did Susan Fales-Hill and could relate to a lot of the world events and entertainment standards that she mentioned.People used to always say that the Cosby show was too unrealistic and that NO Blacks lived like that. Well I grew up very similar to them and could totally relate, as did Ms. Fales-Hill. It amazes me that a lot of White Americans have no idea that there was a Black upper and middle class (and still is). They seem to think that ALL Blacks are on welfare and live in the ghetto ! In fact, one of the reviews I just read on this site, by a White reader of Ms. Fales-Hill's book said 'she never knew such people existed'. How sad.My father exposed the entire family to all types of culture, art, the theatre, museums and many things mentioned in her book.I grew up watching Diahann Carroll, Roscoe Lee Browne, Diana Sands, Sidney Poitier and others on stage in the 1960's.I remember Josephine Premice as a classy, talented diva who deserved much more recognition than she received. I'm glad her daughter paid her this 'tribute'.The only thing I would change about the book is I would add morephoto's. I would love to have seen more of Josephine's side of the family !

Only problem - too short

I have followed the career of Mrs. Fales-Hill since she was on A Different World. I loved Linc's, and when I read that she was writing a book about her mother's life, I knew I had to read it. This book, at its core, is an homage from a daughter to a mother. The special bond that they share. There isn't a daughter alive that can't see themselves in the truthful and honest portrayal Fales-Hill reveals. Reading the book, you also realize the depth of the difficulties for Black performers in those days. How literally there was no work, and you had all these extremely talented men and women and no outlets by which they could display their talent. It's a history lesson. I loved how Fales-Hill spoke about the world in which she grew up, and the outrageousness of being told by Hollywood that the life she knew didn't exist. I had to shake my head at that idiocy - being told by someone White, that the Blacks Fales-Hill wanted to show - didn't exist. And People wonder why the entertainment industry has problems. This book was honest, and thoughtful. It's a piece of AMERICAN history, and Fales-Hill struck me as someone who had finally come into her own and accepted ALL of who she is. By giving this testament to the Beautiful, talented Black woman that was her mother, she honors all of us. As an African-American woman, I thank Susan Fales-Hill for giving us this piece of our history.

Interesting and Unpredictable

Sounds like the Detroit reader below got smashed on a 40 oz. of Haterade.I am black, not mixed, and I would not lump this book in the "Mixed-Don't-Wanna-Be-Black" bin. People are what they are and if they have a white parent and a black parent, they are not the first and won't be the last so GET OVER IT!Furthermore, I don't care if you have a black couple or an interracial couple, you don't see many people period speaking and reading 3 to 4 languages in one household, writing parodies of French classics for fun or working with legends like Lena Horne and Bill Cosby.I highly recommend this book. Especially to black people who are secure enough to read a book by an Ivy-league educated bi-racial woman who steadfastly refuses to dumbdown her intelligence for the benefit of the Black Thought Police.

a joyous read

i loved this book primarily because of its' honesty and the beautiful relationship between mother and daughter. although there were tough times, there were also beautiful memories. her mother imparted very important messages to the author. i remember seeing josephine premice in bubbling brown sugar and thought she was fantastic. it's a shame that her career didn't go as far as it should have, but she did a great job raising her children and had lots of friends and people who loved her. growing up in nyc i'm not surprised about upper class black people. on some of the tv sitcoms that i've watched in the past i'm surprised by how silly they try to make black people look. i think the author's work on some of tv shows she worked on was really much better fare.

Connecticut reader amazed by this new black society

When I first heard about this book in Vogue a few days ago, I wasn't sure what to expect because I'm a white woman living in suburban Connecticut and never knew black people who'd lived the life that this author lived: growing up on West End Avenue, going to the Lycee on the East Side, attending Ivy League schools and having parents who were wealthy, well-travelled and famous. Wow! A lot of my friends who are somewhat liberal--although still Republican--first read about rich black people a couple years ago in the "Our Kind of People" book, but now I'm really getting it. A couple of us realized that we had seen Mrs. Fales-Hill and a few other prominent black people at some of our favorite New York charity balls. But we didn't know them and didn't know how or why they were there. Her life story and the people in the Our Kind book really make me realize how separate this country still is. There is no reason why whites, blacks and mixed race people with so many things in common, should live such separate lives. I had heard of Josephine Premice, the author's mother, many years ago when the play "Bubbling Brown Sugar" was on Broadway. Her struggle for jobs on Broadway and the world that often rejected her color, her husband and her children are a great story.