Lighthearted recollections of Albert's nearly 30 years on the New York sports scene covering Knicks basketball and Rangers hockey. As Albert (writing here with Sports Illustrated's Reilly) says, when he's not doing a football game for NBC, he's broadcasting Knicks' home and away games, or, on weeknights, Rangers' games. In between, he covers boxing and the occasional Olympics, and, for 13 years, he reported the sports news twice a day for N.Y.C.'s WNBC-TV. A Brooklyn-born ``sports junkie,'' Albert started doing odd jobs for the Dodgers in the late 1950's and soon became a ball boy for the Knicks. He ``pestered'' announcer Marty Glickman into letting him do stats during games and, in 1963, at age 20, was a last-minute fill-in for Glickman for a game at the Boston Garden. By 1967, Albert was full-time for both the Knicks and the Rangers and had fulfilled ``every dream I'd ever had.'' Somewhat episodically, and always leading to a punch line, he recalls tough interviews with the often surly Jim Rice of the Red Sox, and with baseball manager Whitey Herzog, who informed Albert, on the air, that Albert was not funny. The author looks back on the Knicks' 1969-70 championship season and a team that included Bill Bradley, Dave DeBusschere, and Walt Frazier: ``They were so aggressive,'' he notes, ``that you could never back off the mike.'' Albert goes on to take humorous backstage-looks at Ferdie ``The Right Doctor'' Pacheco; the author's brothers Al and Steve, also announcers; and New York weatherman Dr. Frank Field. But he also offers sober, insightful profiles of Muhammad Ali, Knicks coach Pat Riley, and Michael Jordan, along with negative comments on fight promoters Don King and Bob Arum. A welcome and enjoyable romp along the sidelines of sports. (Introduction by David Letterman) (Fifteen b&w photographs—not seen)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-385-42024-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1993
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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