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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Who can ever truly know their parents?
'He was a glamorous heart-throb, a famous American singer performing in front of Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Clark Gable and other stars at the Academy Awards. In the 1930s, his recording of 'Hawaiian Paradise' outsold those of Bing Crosby and Guy Lombardo.
'So how did he become an Australian infantryman, fighting alongside and performing for his fellow Diggers in Palestine, Beirut, Egypt and New Guinea? Why did he leave Hollywood and the ritziest hotels in America for a modest Californian bungalow in suburban Sydney? And what caused him to cease his endless drifting from one woman to another, one marriage to another, and settle with the love of his life?
'She was a strong Aussie woman, a talented radio broadcaster and publicity agent. Why did she take a chance on this reckless vagabond and notorious womaniser?
'Seeking answers, Darleen Bungey turns her biographical skills on her own family, exploring her father's multi-layered and at times tempestuous life with a truthful eye and loving heart.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Large print.
- Dyslexic edition.
- Braille.
Works about this Work
-
Finding Fragments of a Father
2020
single work
essay
— Appears in: Eureka Street , 28 June vol. 30 no. 13 2020; -
Seeking Solace in a Foreign Spotlight
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 13 June 2020; (p. 20)
— Review of Daddy Cool : Finding My Father, the Singer Who Swapped Hollywood Fame for Home in Australia 2020 single work biography -
Darleen Bungey, Daddy Cool
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 4-10 July 2020;
— Review of Daddy Cool : Finding My Father, the Singer Who Swapped Hollywood Fame for Home in Australia 2020 single work biography -
Sweet Man : Unriddling a Mercurial Father
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , June-July no. 422 2020; (p. 48-49)
— Review of Daddy Cool : Finding My Father, the Singer Who Swapped Hollywood Fame for Home in Australia 2020 single work biography‘“I must remember accurately,” I told myself, “remember everything accurately so that when he is gone I can re-create the father who created me.”’ This is Philip Roth exhorting himself while witnessing his declining father bathe in Patrimony: A true story (1991), a memoir that opens when Herman Roth is diagnosed with a brain tumour. The book, tender but also brutal, slips between the present and the past. Philip Roth, after all, is the writer. The matter of accuracy feels particularly perilous when the subject is the writer’s parent, if the intention is not to write a hagiography. It takes a particular kind of courage to countenance a parent’s failings when not motivated by revenge.' (Introduction)
-
Sweet Man : Unriddling a Mercurial Father
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , June-July no. 422 2020; (p. 48-49)
— Review of Daddy Cool : Finding My Father, the Singer Who Swapped Hollywood Fame for Home in Australia 2020 single work biography‘“I must remember accurately,” I told myself, “remember everything accurately so that when he is gone I can re-create the father who created me.”’ This is Philip Roth exhorting himself while witnessing his declining father bathe in Patrimony: A true story (1991), a memoir that opens when Herman Roth is diagnosed with a brain tumour. The book, tender but also brutal, slips between the present and the past. Philip Roth, after all, is the writer. The matter of accuracy feels particularly perilous when the subject is the writer’s parent, if the intention is not to write a hagiography. It takes a particular kind of courage to countenance a parent’s failings when not motivated by revenge.' (Introduction)
-
Darleen Bungey, Daddy Cool
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 4-10 July 2020;
— Review of Daddy Cool : Finding My Father, the Singer Who Swapped Hollywood Fame for Home in Australia 2020 single work biography -
Seeking Solace in a Foreign Spotlight
2020
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 13 June 2020; (p. 20)
— Review of Daddy Cool : Finding My Father, the Singer Who Swapped Hollywood Fame for Home in Australia 2020 single work biography -
Finding Fragments of a Father
2020
single work
essay
— Appears in: Eureka Street , 28 June vol. 30 no. 13 2020;