Intelligent, candid, humorously self-deprecating: the memoirs (only up to 1965, alas) of an actor's actor on stage and screen— who also turns out to be a stylish raconteur, an intrepid adventurer, and a sometime producer/writer...as well as, of course, the longtime husband/partner of Oscar-winner Jessica Tandy. Cronyn's early years are surprisingly dramatic: shocking his upper-crust family by dropping out of college for acting; contracting VD at a brothel; entering a brief, secret marriage with a young actress from a rich (and strange) Georgia family. And his career, though not flashy, has involved the choicest colleagues. In the 30's there was a big break from George Abbott, a useful put- down from Clifford Odets. In the 40's came film work with Spencer Tracy (touchingly boosted by K. Hepburn), the great Hitchcock, the insufferable Tallulah. Later on there was lots of TV (with self- indulgent James Dean and no-nonsense Olivier, among others), lots of Broadway (one juicy episode involves a drunken Jason Robards, a furious Lauren Bacall), the joyful inauguration of the Tyrone Guthrie Rep—and the hilarious tedium of shooting Cleopatra, with Cronyn a prime confidant in the Burton/Taylor scandale. And, always, there's the fine, flinty Jessica—wooing her, touring with her (sometimes on a shoestring), raising kids, buying a tiny Caribbean island. Serious about acting and scripts, wry and rueful about everything else: a first-flight theatrical autobiography, unpretentiously anecdotal and immensely likable but never merely charming and chatty.
Pub Date: Sept. 17, 1991
ISBN: 0-688-10080-5
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1991
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
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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