Depressing report of life in a hippie vaudeville caravan. According to trapeze-artist Chace, ``Chautauqua'' is the old-fashioned name for vaudeville tent-shows that toured America around the turn of the century. The shows died out when movies came around—that is, until the Flying Karamazov Brothers resurrected a Chautauqua in 1969 in the Pacific Northwest. Chace stumbled upon the caravan after years of independent vaudeville work in N.Y.C. and Paris as a tumbler, juggler, and tap dancer. Chautauqua offers all she desires: a vaudeville family; the chance to rub elbows with the best performers around; a romance with the group's founder, Paul Magid, a.k.a. Dmitri Karamazov. Chace burrows in as the troupe meanders through the summer from one small town to another, scaring or amusing the local populace, camping on land owned by Dugout Dick, The Hooey Man, and other unrepentant hippies. It's ``all very tribal,'' Chace reports: The group enjoys pseudo-Native American rituals; pointless gatherings (``the Circle turned into a meeting that lasted four hours. Most of that time was spent discussing whether or not we were having a `meeting' or a `Circle' ''); petty jealousies. The performers—Magical Mystical Michael (magician), Artis the Spoonman (musician), Toes Tiranoff (tap dancer), et al.- -wow the crowds with first-rate routines. Dmitri has it out with his estranged wife; someone puts garlic in the chewing gum; the starry-eyed troupe drops its pants to moon the moon. These juvenile antics are related in a flat voice almost devoid of affect: The few moments of intense emotion sound so contrived (``I could taste her pain in my mouth as the tears ran down my throat'') that they may provoke laughter rather than empathy. If this is vaudeville, it's easy to see why the Great Ones- -Will Rogers, Ed Wynn, Jack Benny, and the like—opted for the movies. About as appealing as a pie in the face.
Pub Date: May 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-15-117011-8
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1993
BOOK REVIEW
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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