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GEORGE CUKOR, MASTER OF ELEGANCE

Name: GEORGE CUKOR, MASTER OF ELEGANCE
Author: Emanuel Levy
ISBN: 0-688-11246-3

HOLLYWOOD'S LEGENDARY DIRECTOR AND HIS STARS

by Emanuel Levy ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 25, 1994

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Levy (Film and Sociology/Arizona State Univ.) wrote 1987's overserious And the Winner Is: The History and Politics of the Oscar Award. His energized, studious Cukor biography differs from Patrick McGilligan's zestful George Cukor: A Double Life (1991) in several striking ways. While McGilligan stresses Cukor's double life as the only gay director of major rank in Hollywood and says that he spent his entire career fearful of a scandal that might cost him his high professional standing, Levy says Cukor's homosexuality was known by all and that people ``went out of their way not to damage him.'' When the vibrant Cukor arrived in Hollywood in the '30s, gay was okay but not great; then, in the uptight '40s and '50s, it became Bad News. Levy agrees with McGilligan that Cukor's emotional life was barren and that all his buoyancy was lavished on his films, his home decor, and his social gatherings. Nor did he like any open show of affection between men. His Hollywood labors began as dialogue director for Lewis Milestone's All Quiet on the Western Front, but he quickly built up steam, directing Bill of Divorcement, Dinner at Eight, Little Women, David Copperfield, Romeo and Juliet, and—most famously—Garbo's Camille. Cukor, who directed Jean Harlow, Ingrid Bergman, Anna Magnani, Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, plus Katharine Hepburn in ten films, Judy Garland in A Star Is Born, Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady, and Marilyn Monroe in two of her later but lesser works, acquired a reputation as a women's director, a label he dismissed. Levy also trashes the tale that Clark Gable got Cukor fired from Gone with the Wind for being a ``fairy'' and assigns the firing to a clash of vision between Cukor and producer David O. Selznick. Strong on actors, acting, and directing. Real film food.

Pub Date: May 25, 1994

ISBN: 0-688-11246-3

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1994

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
GAY DIRECTORS, GAY FILMS?
by Emanuel Levy

- BOOK REVIEW
VINCENTE MINNELLI
by Emanuel Levy

- BOOK REVIEW
OSCAR FEVER
by Emanuel Levy

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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.