From the author of The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens (1991), another sprightly biography of an English actress with a famous lover. Dora Jordan (17611816) was the most famous comic actress of her day, a star of London's Drury Lane Theater for nearly 30 years, beloved by audiences for her vivacity, her charming singing voice, and the fine legs she displayed in her most popular roles, which usually called for her to play a woman impersonating a man. She became the mistress of William, third son of King George III, in 1791, but continued working—frequently lending money to the improvident prince—throughout her many pregnancies. The couple had ten children and lived in highly domestic comfort for 20 years before pressure from the royal family led William to discard Jordan in search of an appropriate marriage and legitimate heirs. Tomalin cogently traces the complicated sexual politics of the age, which winked at almost any excess committed by members of the aristocracy but did not extend the same leeway to a base-born actress, no matter how circumspectly she behaved as royal mistress. The author brings to life the lively, licentious 18th century in vivid sketches of its theaters, its social structure, and its political and sexual intrigues. (The material on Jordan's boss, playwright/theater manager Richard Brinsley Sheridan, is so good, one hopes she will devote her next book wholly to him.) Tomalin depicts Jordan as an appealing woman, devoted to her lover and children, but also a consummate professional who took pride in her work and made sure she was properly compensated. Forced by debts incurred by a son-in-law to abandon England and her career, Jordan died alone and broke in a Parisian suburb; the pages describing her last days are heartbreaking, fired by the warm sympathy for her subject the author has displayed throughout. An engaging, colorful portrait, in the best tradition of English popular history. (24 pages illustrations, 8 in color, not seen)
Pub Date: April 20, 1995
ISBN: 0-679-41071-6
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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