COVER GIRLS: The Story of Harry Conover

by Carole Conover ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 17, 1978

Model agency head Harry Conover was apparently a handsome rogue. And something of a cad, it seems, as he parlayed a stable of beautiful women into the most famous agency of the Forties and Fifties (with the aid of a $1000 investment from law student Gerald Ford, who was dating a model). In his heyday, ""Conover's Cover Girls""--the likes of Jinx Falkenberg, Anita Colby, Suzy Parker, and Julia Meade--embodied the all-American look he promoted into prominence, and he was a raging success. His personal life--revealed here through research done by his daughter including interviews with close associates--was not so happy. His first marriage, to model Gloria Dalton (the author's mother), was ruined by Conover's own, overbearing mother. His second, to model Candy Jones, ended in public scandal. According to this account, Jones usurped control of the agency and neglected to pay models their fees. Conover was jailed briefly, his health suffered, and he died six months later in 1965. The author, who claims that her father's neglect ruined her childhood, confesses to an attempt ""to put the disjointed pieces together so I could survive emotionally."" The book is skewed as a result, and might better have been written by someone else.

Pub Date: Oct. 17, 1978

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Prentice-Hall

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1978

Categories: NONFICTION