image of person or book cover 8234186149728376563.jpg
Image courtesy of publisher's website.
y separately published work icon Daddy Cool : Finding My Father, the Singer Who Swapped Hollywood Fame for Home in Australia single work   biography  
Issue Details: First known date: 2020... 2020 Daddy Cool : Finding My Father, the Singer Who Swapped Hollywood Fame for Home in Australia
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

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

    • Crows Nest, North Sydney - Lane Cove area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Allen and Unwin , 2020 .
      image of person or book cover 8234186149728376563.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 240p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published May 2020.
      ISBN: 9781760529673
VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Other Formats

  • Large print.
  • Dyslexic edition.
  • Braille.
Find library holdings on Trove

Works about this Work

Finding Fragments of a Father Brian Matthews , 2020 single work essay
— Appears in: Eureka Street , 28 June vol. 30 no. 13 2020;
Seeking Solace in a Foreign Spotlight Mandy Sayer , 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 Darleen Bungey , 2020 single work biography
Darleen Bungey, Daddy Cool Linda Jaivin , 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 Darleen Bungey , 2020 single work biography
Sweet Man : Unriddling a Mercurial Father Tali Lavi , 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 Darleen Bungey , 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 Tali Lavi , 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 Darleen Bungey , 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 Linda Jaivin , 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 Darleen Bungey , 2020 single work biography
Seeking Solace in a Foreign Spotlight Mandy Sayer , 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 Darleen Bungey , 2020 single work biography
Finding Fragments of a Father Brian Matthews , 2020 single work essay
— Appears in: Eureka Street , 28 June vol. 30 no. 13 2020;
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (4)
Last amended 15 Jul 2020 11:15:32
Subjects:
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X