Hollywood historian Lambert (Norma Shearer, 1990, etc.) covers the basics but scants the artistry of the great Russian-born actress (18791945). Relying heavily on Nazimova's personal papers, the author does a good job of depicting her Dostoevskian childhood. Born Adelaida Leventon, she hated her brutal father and adored her mother, who vanished when she was five. After years of paternal beatings and ridicule, young Alla found liberation as an acting student at Moscow's Philharmonic School, then as a minor player at the Moscow Art Theatre during its first season (189899). Nazimova moved up to costarring roles on tour in the Russian provinces with her lover, the brilliant but alcoholic actor Pavel Orlenev. When they played a Russian-language season in New York in 1905, critics lavishly praised her emotional power in Chekhov, Ibsen, and Gorky. Her 1906 English-speaking debut, Hedda Gabler, and subsequent successes in A Doll's House and The Master Builder, remain legendary among theater people. But in 1917 Nazimova went to Hollywood (for $13,000 a week) and spent a decade making movies that capitalized on her ``exotic'' qualities. It was during those years that her bisexuality tilted toward lesbianism. Lambert paints a juicy portrait of Tinseltown's sexual underground, with its marriages of convenience, and depicts with sympathy Nazimova's relationships with various ``protegÇes.'' He is less thorough on her triumphant return to the stage in 1928 in The Cherry Orchard, nor does he do much better by her work at the Theatre Guild in A Month in the Country (1930) and O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra (1931). A few slapdash paragraphs and unrevealing quotes are all we get about Nazimova's acting, considered by contemporaries a revolutionary brew of powerful emotion given direction by sharp intelligence and profound understanding of the classic modern drama texts. The woman who brought Ibsen and Chekhov to large American audiences deserves a more thoughtful biography than this. (120 photos, not seen)
Pub Date: April 28, 1997
ISBN: 0-679-40721-9
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1997
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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