An agreeable and evocative trip down Memory Lane with an erstwhile prodigy who, in a variety of posts including the presidency of NBC, left an enduring mark on commercial broadcasting as well as on the enterprises that provide its financial support. Focusing on a 25-year span that began in 1932, when he went to work for the CBS radio station in L.A., Weaver recalls a varied, creative career that took him to many a high-profile post. Early on, as a top hand at Young & Rubicam, he was responsible for producing network programs starring the likes of Fred Allen (one of whose writers was Herman Wouk), Kate Smith, Phil Baker, and Goodman Ace. Moving from the advertising agency to American Tobacco, he helped revive the flagging market fortunes of Lucky Strike cigarettes, only to return to Y&R after WW II service as skipper of a US Navy sub-chaser. Subsequently recruited by NBC, Weaver helped shape TV during its formative years, putting on the air such landmark programming as Your Show of Shows and the ever-popular Today Show and Tonight Show. In the process, he helped wrest program ownership from the ad agencies; instituted multiple sponsorship of telecasts; pioneered public-service programming (including news coverage); and otherwise tried to ensure that the fledgling medium met its social/cultural obligations. Constant battles with David Sarnoff (the autocratic head of FCA—NBC's parent organization) took their toll, however, and, in 1956, the author left the network. While Weaver has little to say here about an evidently happy personal life (he's the father of Sigourney) or his post-NBC activities, he offers an amiable, anecdotal chronicle throughout. A low-key rerun, then, that's well worth catching. (Sixteen pages of photographs, many of which appear to be candid shots from family albums—not seen)
Pub Date: Jan. 26, 1994
ISBN: 0-679-40835-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 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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