A collage of autobiographical recollections by the model and actress, featuring wry insights on her professions (for her first Vogue cover, in 1982, she was paid $150; there are some fascinating glimpses of her work with the director David Lynch, ``the Jimmy Stewart from Mars''), reflections on her famous parents (the director Roberto Rossellini, who conducted much of his life from his bed, even keeping a film-editing table next to it, and the actress Ingrid Bergman, who ``loved acting most and above all''), droll, chatty passages on everything from bras to the true meaning of glamour, and frank descriptions of such matters as the therapeutic uses of lying and her idiosyncratic habit of holding discussions with her ``ghosts'' (principally, her mother and father) at particularly stressful moments. The relaxed, breezy, straightforward tone of these brief pieces is startlingly effective: It's rather like spending a long evening listening to a hectic, disarmingly honest (and charmingly ironic) stream-of- consciousness monologue. (photos, not seen) (Author tour)
Pub Date: June 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-679-45252-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 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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