Big, strongly researched life of the actress/singer that gives a rich sense of her life as a human being—and as an outsized ego. According to Riese (The Unabridged James Dean, 1991, etc.—not reviewed), the death of Streisand's father at age 35, left unexplained by her mother, gave the future star fears of a similar early death. Moreover, since childhood, she has heard clicks and a wailing in her ears that may or may not be tied to emotional abuse she suffered from her wife-beating stepfather. With her younger, pretty sister Rosalind the family darling, Streisand did chores and washed floors as both Cinderella and the Ugly Duckling. Though her singing voice was early recognized in her Brooklyn neighborhood, she focused on acting in summer stock upstate and on acting lessons in Manhattan and has ever since declared herself an actress, not a singer, since her voice comes from her mother (whom she allots $1,000 monthly) but her acting talent from her own hard work. At 19, in her Broadway debut in I Can Get it for You Wholesale, she stopped the show—and then took off like a rocket, performing in supper clubs, making records, harmonizing on TV's The Judy Garland Show, and, at 23, blowing the theater critics to tatters as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, which led to an Oscar for her film version. Though Riese apparently hasn't interviewed Streisand, he makes statements and assumptions about her emotional life that seem to be based on information from those close to her (``Despite sexist speculation that she was a pussycat on the Funny Girl set because she was being satisfied in bed [by her married hairdresser, Jon Peters], Barbra was her typically malcontent self during the production''). The star's directing and acting in The Prince of Tides takes up major space here. Warm, sometimes fanzine-toned treatment of an often gripping artist. (Twenty-four pages of photographs) (First serial to the National Enquirer)
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1993
ISBN: 1-55972-203-7
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Birch Lane Press
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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