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ONE MAN TANGO

Name: ONE MAN TANGO
Author: Anthony Quinn
ISBN: 0-06-018354-3

by Anthony Quinn with Daniel Paisner ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 1995

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Oscar winner Quinn is back with another exercise in self- revelation, covering some of the same ground as The Original Sin (1972) and bringing his story up to date. Quinn seems obsessed by the aging process, if this book is any indication (although that is not unusual for actors). The framing device for this more or less chronological narrative is his demanding daily bike ride through the hills and villages surrounding his Italian home. He uses the outing as an opportunity to ruminate on the painful reality that he is losing friends, roles, and abilities to the passage of time. It also gives him entirely too many opportunities to wax philosophical, spewing pseudo-profound observations (``To be loved is the triumph of living. . . . I have been loved a thousand times, and still I am wanting. Does this leave me a triumphant success or a colossal failure?'') But when Quinn embarks on telling the story of his past, the book has flashes of genuine insight. The actor grew up dirt-poor with his mother in El Paso, waiting for his father, who was fighting with Pancho Villa. On his return, Quinn's father went through a multitude of hard, low-paying jobs before drifting, almost inadvertently, into the film business. Quinn himself has held a fair number of unusual jobs, as well. He was a boxer and a preacher working for Aimee Semple McPherson. The range of his associations is broad enough to include John Barrymore, Laurence Olivier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Feodor Chaliapin, and John Steinbeck; and there are several hilarious anecdotes. But too much of the book is taken up with self-flagellating retellings of Quinn's tempestuous love life, his roaring at the world, and his inner thoughts. The voice is unmistakably Quinn's, in spite of (or perhaps because of) celebrity coauthor Paisner (Citizen Koch, 1992, etc.), but that's not necessarily the best thing for the book.

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1995

ISBN: 0-06-018354-3

Page Count: 400

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1995

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
FREYA
by Anthony Quinn

- BOOK REVIEW
BORDER ANGELS
by Anthony Quinn

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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.