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THE BEATLES’ SHADOW

Name: THE BEATLES’ SHADOW
Author: Pauline Sutcliffe
ISBN: 0-330-48996-8

STUART SUTCLIFFE AND HIS LONELY HEARTS CLUB

by Pauline Sutcliffe & Douglas Thompson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2003

Sutcliffe claims to have kept quiet about what she knew for years “out of an old-fashioned sense of propriety.”...

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Was Stuart Sutcliffe John Lennon's lover? Did Lennon inadvertently cause his death of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 21? Speculations abound in this biography by the subject’s sister.

Sutcliffe may have given the band its name (the Beetles, after an all-woman biker group in the movie The Wild One, later changed to the Beatles by Lennon), their haircuts, and their groovy duds, but his bass-playing wasn't up to snuff, and he had to leave the band. If Pauline Sutcliffe harbors any resentment that her brother missed the boat, she hides it well enough; Stuart, she declares, was above all that, a genius with a “fabulously promising artistic career” as a painter. He met Lennon in art school, and they became friends, close complements to each other. Here we arrive at the first crux in Pauline's story: “I have known in my heart for many years that Stuart and John had a sexual relationship.” She feints (“it was a lovely happening: two lost boys who needed and found one another”) and is quick to quip (“Stuart performed oral sex on John Lennon? I would have thought it was the other way around”), but then comes the kicker . . . literally. During a dust-up between the friends, Pauline tells us, “Stuart said John kicked him in the head, and I'm convinced that kick was what eventually led to Stuart's death.” That's the kind of comment that might sit more comfortably with more evidence, but there is none. By the author’s own account, these guys fought all the time—Paul and Stuart once went at it on stage—and the accusation is too neat a capstone on her theme that John led Stuart down the road to ruin.

Sutcliffe claims to have kept quiet about what she knew for years “out of an old-fashioned sense of propriety.” Old-fashioned or not, that sense of propriety would have been a lot more attractive than this round of mud-slinging.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2003

ISBN: 0-330-48996-8

Page Count: 248

Publisher: Pan UK/Trafalgar

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2002

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.