“Liz Renay is a most unusual woman with a most unusual past. A prominent author recently said, “I looked into her eyes, and they held me, and they haunt me now for in them I saw two thousand years of living!”
She began as a smalltown girl in Mesa,
Arizona as a sibling in a family of religious zealots. Then World War II came
and she became a “V-girl”, attracting servicemen with her beautiful face and
large breasts.
Thus began the “two thousand years of living” that took her into the world of high fashion models and 52nd Street strippers. The quaint pranks of fate led her into the underworld, and she became known as a Mafia moll, trusted and respected.
To escape from the world of crime, she went to Hollywood, where she became known as “Mickey Cohen’s girl.”
She had already won a Marilyn Monroe lookalike contest. Cecil B DeMille was enthralled with her. Opportunities were opening up everywhere.
Meanwhile, her paintings were selling for as much as $5,000 each. Her poetry was recorded and broadcast.
And then came 13 Grand Jury appearances and screaming front page headlines. (On one day, nothing but her face and a headline about her filled the front pages of two daily newspapers in New York City on the same day).
True to the people who trusted and protected her, she refused to cooperate with the efforts to put a gangster behind bars. She was tried and found guilty of perjury.
Three years in a woman’s prison. Six marriages. More narrow escapes than Hairbreath Harry. And more love relationships than any six swingers of our time can boast of combined.
And this is only part of the Liz Renay story. Told in her own words and with a candor and honesty unusual in autobiography. (But this still glamorous beauty is an unusual person!).
My Face for the World to See is her story in her words – without the benefit of ghostwriters and professionals. It is compelling to read and memorable to have read!”
To commemorate World Book Day (2 March 2023): the blurb from Liz Renay’s 1971 memoirs My Face for the World to See, which I’m currently reading. Her writing style can best be summarized as “chatty.” It really does read like a tipsy, garrulous woman at a cocktail lounge decided to sit next to you and start regaling you with her life story!
There are girls who like good boys. Then there are girls who like bad boys. Liz, unfortunately loved criminals. Everytime I watch the Damned Don't Cry, I think of her.
ReplyDeleteIf she hadn't "departed for Fabulon" in 2007, she would be exactly the "tipsy, garrulous woman at a cocktail lounge" I would love to spend time with! Jx
ReplyDeleteI would be okay with a boozy pretty lady plopping her ass next to mine at a bar and telling me her life story... especially this boozy pretty lady. What a hoot. My only question? Who's buying? Kizzes.
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