I Like What I Know
by Vincent Price
“If I come from a long line of anything, it’s a long line of collectors. I’ve told of my mother’s penchant for collecting, my father’s hoard of fuses, lightbulbs and essential knickknackeries like corkscrews, knives, bottle openers, and luggage. My youngest sister is a pack rat whose husband used to send her off on a trip every other year so that he could get rid of the tons of paper, string, old toys, candle ends, and huge balls of tin foil which she never stopped collecting from World War I. […] I should mention my one grandmother, whom I never met but who, according to legend, was forever collecting her wits and herself.”
What an adorable memoir! I couldn’t read it fast enough, and at the same time, I never wanted to finish. The only thing that would have made it better would have been Vincent Price’s wonderfully hilarious voice narrating an audio book. As it was, it was easy to imagine him reading aloud to me, since the style of his memoir was both conversational and poetic.
First of all, you’d better understand what kind of book this is. This not a memoir about his career as an actor; in fact, only three or four instances are even mentioned about his stage and screen work. This is also not a picture book, like Elizabeth Taylor’s book on jewelry. It’s truly a “visual autobiography” in which the author describes his surroundings so vividly, you can see it in your mind. You can also understand the significance art and visual beauty had on young Vincent, to instill a lifelong passion of the arts. Paintings, sculptures, artifacts, nature, architecture – anything artistically beautiful or interesting, and Vincent will love learning about it.
The title stems from the oft repeated, “I know what I like,” people say to avoid branching out or learning more about art. Instead, Vincent says so poetically, “I know what I like – I like art – and I like what I know.” So much of his prose is lovely and could have been found in a poetry collection. He’s witty, quick, and accurately descriptive. I knew exactly what he meant, and I felt as though he’d truly taken me through his childhood up to the 1960s when the book was written. I’ve been all around the world with him, witnessed his artistic attempts in college that ended in an attempt on the stage, and have walked through his childhood home. An entire chapter is devoted to the architecture and interior design of his home, and all the trouble his mother and father took with it. The Prices encouraged a love of all the arts in their children, but chiefly music. Remember Vincent’s lovely voice in The House of the Seven Gables? In this hilarious, poetic passage, readers can tell he loves his parents: “Mother played by ear, though by whose ear we were never quite sure, but she was a dauntless lady and would sail into anything if she’d heard it twice. It was all great fun, though it left Father with the idea that music, while admittedly the food of love, came close to giving him an ulcer.”
Show biz folks will be the first to admit that people become actors because they weren’t loved as a child. Vincent Price is the only person I’ve ever read about who had a perfectly lovely childhood – and that might be why he looked at acting as secondary. He freely admitted that he was grateful for the salary so he could add to his art collection, and he was apt to film movies abroad so he and his wife could take a few extra days and peruse European museums. He loved art in every form, and he also admits that had his attempts in painting or sculpting been rewarded with praise, he never would have stepped on the stage. When writing about his family, it was so obvious he loved them – and so refreshing!
I can’t recommend this book enough for fans of Vincent Price, art, or both. I truly felt like I got to know him through his experiences and learning his life outlook. He was a fascinating man with human quirks and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Kindness, appreciation, intelligence, wit, and humility pepper every page, and when I reached the last sentence, I felt a little lump in my throat knowing my reading journey had come to an end. It was very nice to meet you, Mr. Price.
What an adorable memoir! I couldn’t read it fast enough, and at the same time, I never wanted to finish. The only thing that would have made it better would have been Vincent Price’s wonderfully hilarious voice narrating an audio book. As it was, it was easy to imagine him reading aloud to me, since the style of his memoir was both conversational and poetic.
First of all, you’d better understand what kind of book this is. This not a memoir about his career as an actor; in fact, only three or four instances are even mentioned about his stage and screen work. This is also not a picture book, like Elizabeth Taylor’s book on jewelry. It’s truly a “visual autobiography” in which the author describes his surroundings so vividly, you can see it in your mind. You can also understand the significance art and visual beauty had on young Vincent, to instill a lifelong passion of the arts. Paintings, sculptures, artifacts, nature, architecture – anything artistically beautiful or interesting, and Vincent will love learning about it.
The title stems from the oft repeated, “I know what I like,” people say to avoid branching out or learning more about art. Instead, Vincent says so poetically, “I know what I like – I like art – and I like what I know.” So much of his prose is lovely and could have been found in a poetry collection. He’s witty, quick, and accurately descriptive. I knew exactly what he meant, and I felt as though he’d truly taken me through his childhood up to the 1960s when the book was written. I’ve been all around the world with him, witnessed his artistic attempts in college that ended in an attempt on the stage, and have walked through his childhood home. An entire chapter is devoted to the architecture and interior design of his home, and all the trouble his mother and father took with it. The Prices encouraged a love of all the arts in their children, but chiefly music. Remember Vincent’s lovely voice in The House of the Seven Gables? In this hilarious, poetic passage, readers can tell he loves his parents: “Mother played by ear, though by whose ear we were never quite sure, but she was a dauntless lady and would sail into anything if she’d heard it twice. It was all great fun, though it left Father with the idea that music, while admittedly the food of love, came close to giving him an ulcer.”
Show biz folks will be the first to admit that people become actors because they weren’t loved as a child. Vincent Price is the only person I’ve ever read about who had a perfectly lovely childhood – and that might be why he looked at acting as secondary. He freely admitted that he was grateful for the salary so he could add to his art collection, and he was apt to film movies abroad so he and his wife could take a few extra days and peruse European museums. He loved art in every form, and he also admits that had his attempts in painting or sculpting been rewarded with praise, he never would have stepped on the stage. When writing about his family, it was so obvious he loved them – and so refreshing!
I can’t recommend this book enough for fans of Vincent Price, art, or both. I truly felt like I got to know him through his experiences and learning his life outlook. He was a fascinating man with human quirks and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Kindness, appreciation, intelligence, wit, and humility pepper every page, and when I reached the last sentence, I felt a little lump in my throat knowing my reading journey had come to an end. It was very nice to meet you, Mr. Price.