A standard issue rah-rah show-biz bio of one of the most influential women in entertainment today. Such is Barbra Streisand's power that when one of the two films she has directed, The Prince of Tides, was recently televised, she called the network, mid-movie, and got them to lower the volume on the commercials. With 15 films, 50 albums, Grammies, and an Academy Award (for Funny Girl) to her credit, she has enjoyed an almost relentlessly successful career. And her notoriously zealous fans have treasured every moment, revering her in a manner usually associated with putative messiahs. Hollywood biographer Spada (More Than a Woman, 1993, etc.) does a thoroughly adequate job of recounting the highlights of Streisand's career, tracing how a homely, awkward girl from Brooklyn, through dint of sheer, single-minded perseverance, became ``the last great star.'' Her first successes as a singer, however, were almost accidentalshe wanted to be an actress and had never even taken voice lessons. But on a goof, she entered a nightclub's amateur night; two years later she released her first album. All along, fame was what she really wantedrecompense and redemption for the many miseries of her childhoodand she pursued it ruthlessly. Gently, gently Spada recounts her casual cruelties, her epic kvetchings, her fanatical need to control every last detail of her performances. If she'd been a man, she'd have been called a perfectionist, but Hollywood had choicer names for her. Spada writes evenly and entertainingly, but he largely ignores the careful scholarly standards of biography. Don't look for footnotes or extensive bibliographies or penetrating insights or a keen critical awareness. And despite some judiciously dished dirt, there is little to lift this biography above the chattering herds of banal historiettes. Two cheers for Streisand, one for Spada. (32 pages b&w photos, not seen) (First serial to Vanity Fair; Literary Guild selection; author tour)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-517-59753-5
Page Count: 560
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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