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
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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
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