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MOSS HART

Name: MOSS HART
Author: Jared Brown
ISBN: 0-8230-7890-6

A PRINCE OF THE THEATRE

by Jared Brown ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2006

Anyone seeking real insight into Hart’s life and work would be better advised to pick up Dazzler or his delightful 1959...

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Pedestrian biography utterly lacking the wit and charm that made the writer/director one of mid-20th-century Broadway’s most beloved figures.

The only justification for this lackluster effort by Brown (Alan J. Pakula, 2005, etc.) is the cooperation of his subject’s widow, Kitty Carlisle, which was not extended to Steven Bach, author of the far superior Dazzler (2001). Carlisle permitted Brown to read and quote from her husband’s diary, which vividly reveals the simmering anger and bouts of depression that dogged Moss Hart (1904–61), from the smashing success of his first collaboration with George S. Kaufman, Once in a Lifetime, through the grueling rehearsals of Camelot that hastened his fatal heart attack. But Hart kept the diary for a single year, 1954, and this material comes too late to redeem a text marred by dull prose, shallow judgments and hands-off treatment of Hart’s bisexuality—a topic that Bach also tiptoed around but nonetheless made a palpable element of this talented, tormented man’s complex personality. Brown very occasionally refers to “rumors” about Hart’s sexuality, but never explores any conflicts that might have compromised his genuine love for his wife and two children. As for Hart’s career, Brown adds nothing new to the familiar story: an impoverished childhood in New York City; apprenticeship in the amateur theaters of the Catskills vacation camps; the hugely popular shows with Kaufman, including The Man Who Came to Dinner; more ambitious, less successful solo efforts that ultimately led to his work as a Broadway director taking center stage, most notably with My Fair Lady and Camelot, turned into a hit after a disastrous opening by Hart’s savvy cuts and reshaping. The sole area in which Brown improves on Bach’s harder-edged approach is in evoking the warm affection Hart prompted; the description of the outpouring of grief that followed his premature death is sad and moving.

Anyone seeking real insight into Hart’s life and work would be better advised to pick up Dazzler or his delightful 1959 memoir, Act One.

Pub Date: July 1, 2006

ISBN: 0-8230-7890-6

Page Count: 464

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2006

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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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.