Inside scoop from a former Today show talent booker. Kessler was a writer for People magazine when she caught the eye of the executive producer of Today by snaring a rare interview with Priscilla Presley. In 1980, the author was hired by the show to book celebrity guests for hosts Tom Brokaw and Jane Pauley. Rival Good Morning, America was flourishing, and Kessler had to battle tooth and nail for the most desirable celebs. Powerful publicists routinely played the shows off one another. War stories here include: the middle-of-the-night effort to put together a show after John Lennon was shot; Kessler's boss's obsession with getting Elizabeth Taylor after her stay in the Betty Ford Clinic; the mad rush to get a star, any star, for Bryant Gumbel's debut day. When Gumbel took over, Kessler says, the show increasingly took on a ``a boys' club'' atmosphere. While acknowledging Gumbel's skill as an interviewer, the author shocks with details of his behavior toward women—his unprintable nickname for Pauley; salacious talk in meetings; his habit of running his hand down women's backs to see whether they're wearing bras; his barely hidden extramarital interests. Kessler left the show in 1984, but reports on what follows: the infamous Gumbel memo that excoriated Willard Scott; the disastrous ascension of Deborah Norville; the ratings-boosting arrival of Katie Couric and 26-year-old producer Jeff Zucker. The frenetic pace, the producers' imaginative aggressiveness, and certain oversize egos are all documented. A lively blend of reminiscence, reporting, gossip, and canny analysis.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1992
ISBN: 0-679-40764-2
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Villard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1992
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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