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STREET GANG

Name: STREET GANG
Author: Michael Davis
ISBN: 978-0-670-01996-0

THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF SESAME STREET

by Michael Davis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 2009

Somewhat ponderous, but contains enough original material to fill Oscar’s cozy can.

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Voluminous and populous, though patchy history of the “grandest and most ambitious experiment in children’s television.”

Distilling scores of recent interviews, former TV Guide editor Davis spins his tale around two central figures: Joan Ganz Cooney, a founder and longtime CEO of the Children’s Television Workshop; and the inimitable Jim Henson, an inspirational, enigmatic genius whose fuzzy creations are still familiar to nearly everyone who ever sat in front of a television as a child. Both receive heavy, deserved doses of idolization. They didn’t work alone, of course; in fact, the author trots in so many supporting characters—some to play recurring roles, others just for a sound bite or two—that lines or scenes from the show itself seldom elbow their way onstage. No matter: Even behind the scenes there were full measures of comedy (a prank ad campaign pairing Cookie Monster with a brand of kielbasa) and tragedy (Henson’s early death and Northern Calloway’s severe, ultimately fatal, bipolar disorder). Not to mention melodrama, irony, dissipation, brilliance, triumphs over critics and multiple reinventions. Davis is too fond of cute turns of phrase (“in most cases, Muppets marinate before they mature”) and he occasionally repeats anecdotes. Also, he spares barely a glance at Sesame Street’s seldom-better-than-second-rate print spinoffs. Still, there’s plenty to relate about the 40-year-old show. Readers less interested in the puppets than the human cast—and perhaps disinclined to lug around such coffee-table histories as David Borgenicht’s Sesame Street Unpaved (1998) or Louise Gikow’s Sesame Street: A Celebration of Forty Years of Life on the Street (2008)—may be drawn to it.

Somewhat ponderous, but contains enough original material to fill Oscar’s cozy can.

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2009

ISBN: 978-0-670-01996-0

Page Count: 406

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2008

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.