A two man show, in photographs by Beaton and elegant text by Tynan, which is arranged alphabetically, has, among its hundred...
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PERSONA GRATA
by ‧RELEASE DATE: Feb. 19, 1953
A two man show, in photographs by Beaton and elegant text by Tynan, which is arranged alphabetically, has, among its hundred subjects, favorite and familiar faces and names from the theater, moving pictures, the world of letters and the dance. From Peggy Ashcroft and Jean Anouilh to the Lunts and Olivier, to Cole Porter, the Sitwells and ending with Orson Welles, the portraits have the Beaton touch of effectiveness sometimes threatened with artificiality; the portraits in words are sometimes capsuled profiles, sometimes longish essays (on Graham Greene), sometimes springboards (George Jean Nathan leads to a discussion of theatrical criticism) and are marked by intoxicating sense of phrase. Sample the Capote or the Sitwell for a sense of this sequinned, sheveled style; look at the Greene or the Fry for the flash of his criticism, personal and poised. For caviar and champagne palates.