Reviews (1)

Very readable & interesting
I'm no Shakespeare scholar, that's for sure, so I admit I was a bit apprehensive when I bought this book, thinking that perhaps it would be an "insider" book with obscure referents and references--you know, the kind that Shakespeare fanatics who write "tho" instead of "though," &tc. This book, though certainly filled with formidable scholarship, is a wonderfully readable book for everyone (or almost everyone!). I loved every page of it (or almost every page). ... Read more

Book Description

After writing a monologue on the subject of Israel and Palestine, David Hare forced himself to make his debut on the professional stage at the age of fifty-one. When his success at London's austere Royal Court theatre led to an invitation to appear in New York at a somewhat flashier Broadway venue, Hare was transformed from a shadowy playwright into an actor alone on the stage every night for ninety minutes.

Hare's hilarious diary of his experience on both sides of the Atlantic tells of his difficulties in coming to terms with his frightening change of career, but also grapples with more serious questions about what the difference is between acting and performance, and whether anyone can learn to do either.
... Read more

Reviews (1)

Fascinating and honest, if somewhat self-indulgent
An excellent insight into the brain of David Hare, this book is a very honest account of his experiences as both playwright and performer on his most recent piece, Via Dolorosa, which played in London and on Broadway in 1999. Definitely worth a read, and an excellent present for anyone involved in theatre in any way - sure to provoke a response! ... Read more

Book Description

Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, The Sunshine Boys -- Neil Simon's plays and movies have kept many millions of people laughing for almost four decades. Today he is recognized not only as the most successful American playwright of all time, but also as one of the greatest.

More than the humor, however, it is the humanity of Neil Simon's vision that has made him America's most beloved playwright and earned him such enduring success. Now, in Rewrites, he has written a funny, deeply touching memoir, filled with details and anecdotes of the writing life and rich with the personal experiences that underlie his work. What the listener of this warm, nostalgic memoir discovers, however, is that the plays, although grounded in Neil Simon's own experience, provide only a glimpse into the mind and soul of this very private man.

Since Come Blow Your Horn first opened on Broadway in 1960, few seasons have passed without the appearance of another of his laughter-filled plays, and indeed on numerous occasions two or more of his works have been running simultaneously. But his success was something Neil Simon never took for granted, nor was the talent to create laughter something that he ever treated carelessly: it took too long for him to achieve the kind of acceptance -- both popular and critical -- that he craved, and the path he followed frequently was pitted with hard decisions.

Some of the supporting players in the memoir include Sid Caesar, Jerry Lewis, Walter Matthau, Robert Redford, Gwen Verdon, Bob Fosse, George C. Scott, and Mike Nichols. But always at center stage is his first love, his wife Joan, whose death in the early seventies devastated him, and whose love and inspiration illuminate this remarkable and revealing self-portrait.

Rewrites is rich in laughter and emotion, and filled with the memories of a sometimes sweet, sometimes bittersweet life. ... Read more

Reviews (17)

The Creative Process of Becoming a Playwright
The insights in this book about becoming a successful playwright make the book more than a five star work. I do not remember reading or hearing a better discussion of what comedy is and should be about.

The book also has many beautiful insights into how to be and have a wonderful spouse. Those scenes from a marriage are often well worth restaging in your life.

This book is a fascinating series of skits, sketches, and one liners masquerading as a memoir. Although Mr. Simon was (with difficulty) able to transcend his training as a gag and sketch writer to learn playwriting, he made little attempt to learn autobiography for this book. Instead, he fell back on his most natural way of communicating, the humorous story. That approach provides the reader with the unexpected bonus of many funny stories and good laughs.

The time period covered is Mr. Simon's life from age 30 to 46, with occasional visits to his earlier years. You will never read or watch a Neil Simon play in the same way after reading this memoir. You will find yourself in closer touch with the bittersweet parts of these comedies as a result . . . and with your own innermost self.

If you have seen or read Chapter Two, you already knew that Mr. Simon had lost his first wife to cancer at a young age. What I did not realize is what an overwhelmingly tragic event this was for him. The marriage had been a magnificent one for two people who were deeply devoted to and supportive of one another. In a sense, the comedy in this book is simply there to heighten your ability to appreciate the real subject, the tragic loss. The jokes are like the gravediggers' scene in Hamlet, to relieve the heaviness of the ultimate atmosphere.

Mr. Simon is very candid in this memoir. He describes having his brother help him hire a lady who rented by the hour for his first sexual experience, having once asked his wife for his freedom (and then changing his mind 5 minutes later as she calmly went along), and a lot of very bad business decisions. He also describes the psychological problems that could plague him and others on Broadway. He also describes things using the "f" word a lot that offends many people.

Perhaps the most revealing parts are the ways that he mines every memorable encounter in his life into a play. It is as though playwriting is his way to get control over his fear of life.

As a writer, I was riveted by his detailed description of how he came to write Come Blow Your Horn as his first play, and to learn his craft through many painful rewrites. No one would ever have gone through what he did if you knew what was coming. Mr. Simon's very great dislike of Hollywood was a powerful spur into playwriting that drove him relentlessly. In the process, he brilliantly describes the insights that others shared with him, and that he learned. He became addicted to having people read the material aloud, so that he could hear their reactions. As soon as that occurred, he could ruthlessly edit and rewrite material -- even "forgetting" what he had written originally to write something better rather than trying to fix flawed approaches. Apparently, Mr. Simon's genius is that he rewrites much better than he writes. Interesting.

After you finish enjoying this book and giving it a symbolic standing ovation, I suggest that you create a similar outline of your life as a memoir that focuses on your most formative period. How did you get where you are today (for better or worse)? What does that mean? How could someone (including you) learn from this experience?

Mr. Simon had few regrets in his life. The deepest one was not telling his younger daughter, Nancy, that her mother was dying. What are you holding back now that you will regret someday?

Moving and highly entertaining .
At first, I was looking forward to reading about the enduring and fascinating career of Neil Simon by Simon himself. But then some of the reviews I read professed it a dull read. Friends told me not to waste my time. I suppose the moral of that is if you're interested at first, don't let anyone dissuade you from reading a book. For I found this to be a very good read, both moving and highly entertaining. It spoke to me not only as a writer, but as a husband and father as well. The information concerning the torturous development of his early plays was a glimpse into the process and filled with hilarious anecdotes. Though he does tend to put his first wife, Joan, up on a pedestal, frankly his recreation of their courting and marriage makes her place in his memory understandable. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. "Rewrites" is a fine read, worthy of it's author's already indelible reputation. - Ron Fassler

As Good as Moss Hart's
and that is very high praise, since Hart's autobio is generally considered a stellar achievement. (I just loved it.)

I had had "Rewrites" on my bookshelf for a number of years, and just somehow never got around to it. Finally, one snowy weekend last month, I took it off the shelf and started reading. I loved it from the get-go -- it's simply one of the best memoirs ever written, IMO. (I've read a lot of autobios/memoirs, especially in my younger years, so I write with some knowledge in this area.)

I'll always remember that snowy weekend I spent "with Neil," and I'll also always remember how I ran to get the sequel, "The Play Goes On," on Monday. (That was also top-notch, but "Rewrites" was just a smidge better.)

Don't miss "Rewrites." It's a winner, it's a keeper, it's pure reading delight!

Honest and funny autobigraphy
I enjoyed reading Neil Simon's account of his early successes as a writer. His story is one of a man who seems to have everything fall into place almost too easily until late in the book when personal tragedy strikes and he writes of his wife's illness and death.
As one would expect from such a prominent figure in the theater his book is filled with entertaining anecdotes regarding various actors and theater people. Simon comes across as a sincere and very regular guy who has the talent to take what he observes in himself and others and transform it into priceless comic material.
This is an enjoyable read for anyone who is even a casual fan of his work.

rewrites reflection
Simon starts out explaining how he started to write his first play. What led to the decision, where he lived, and with whom? He lives with his first wife, who he was deeply in love with. As he observes the people and events surrounding Come Blow Your Horn, he links childhood memories that influenced the story. Then he goes back to the present. Barefoot is based on the early years of his marriage, and from Barefoot he goes into the summers at Tamiment, where he and his brother Danny wrote special material, and where he and Joan first met.
It seems like it's not only a memoir of his theatre but also of his marriage. Joan is there and each time Simon returns to his theatrical career, she is always there.
By the last third of the book, Joan has takes over the story. The plays are discussed in less and less detail (the work process, it seems, remains pretty much the same--it is the marriage that grows and changes). And by the time you read about Joan being diagnosed with terminal cancer it was really shocking. The moment in which he is losing Joan is really moving.

I started off hating this book, but as I read along I got more and more involved in it. If I had a choice of reading that book or another book, I would have chosen another book. ... Read more

Book Description

Groundbreaking, contentious, and a work seep scholarship and understanding, this will change the way we think about the English language's greatest artist. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Fresh Non-Academic Perspective
As an academic, I could resent the sometimes acerbic references to academics in John Southworth's Shakespeare the Player, but as an academic I learned more from this non-academic book than I have learned from many academic books on Shakeespeare. The book is written by aprofessional theater person, an actor/director, who has a thorough knowledge of Shakespeare's plays and of the interactions among casts and playwrights and stages and plays and performances. From this background, he proposes and credibly supports four lines of argument: a) that there cannot be any lost years in Shakespeare's biography: to do what he did, Shakespeare had to have had an extensive apprenticeship in the theater, and Southworth adds evidence in support of the theory that this was Leceister's company; b) that there is no credible evidence that Shakespeare ever retired from the theater, and much circumstantial evidence from theater lives to suggest that he did no such thing; c) that Shakespeare was primarily an actor/director in his own plays, and not primarily a playwright, in his own eyes and the eyes of his colleagues; and d) that the roles he chose for himself, roles like Iago in "Othello," were characterized by being somewhat detached from the action, frequency of appearance on stage even when not speaking, and often a kind of controlling relationship with the other characters. The style is clear, unpretentions and very readable, the presentation direct, knowledgeable and carefully argued with detailed and credible evidence. I found the book to be the most helpful single book in illuminating Shakespeare and his plays that I've read in the last ten years. ... Read more

Book Description

This is the biography of Thomas Abthorpe Cooper, the first star of the American stage. Cooper was the chief transitional figure between the British and American stage and contributed greatly to the development of American theatre. For the 30 years after 1797, Cooper performed in the major cities and toured to every state in the Union.

This work covers his entire life and career from his birth outside London in 1775, to his famed performance to celebrate the opening of the City of Washington in 1800, to his death in Bristol, Pennsylvania, in 1849. Much research is drawn from Mr. Cooper’s letters to his mentor, English radical philosopher William Godwin. Throughout, there are descriptions of his principal portrayals at different stages drawn from contemporary accounts and theatrical reviews. There are also 22 illustrations, from paintings and engravings to playbills and photographs of the sites associated with the actor. ... Read more

Book Description

BiographyLarge Print EditionWhen it comes to commenting on life, there is no one more perceptive or sharper than Sir Peter Ustinov. He hits the nail on the head with acerbic wit and concise wisdom. Touching on subjects as diverse as religion, tennis, children, and fellow celebrities, Quotable Ustinov is packed with the best anecdotes from his many books, articles, and interviews.  ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Sir Peter the Great!!![.]
I think Sir Peter is not only an excellent actor but a very smart, articulate, and intelligent man and can speak at least 12 languages and seems to have travelled all over the world but is also an excellent moral man with his time with UNICEF!! He can do it all! Act, write, direct, produce, the works! I can't say that for many people these days! ... Read more

Book Description

Chock-full of intimate encounters and scathing gossip, The Honourable Beast is the memoir-diary of the late John Dexter, the Tony Award-winning director of numerous plays and operas. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

From the Mind of a Genius
Not a book for everyone, I found it very interesting. I can't say I would recommend it for anyone but those who have an interest in the art of writing, and perhaps more specifically, the plays and short life of Joe Orton. A gay man in 1960's London, when it was not fashionable to "come out," Orton was always true to himself and to his desires (as awful as they were). He was a great playwright. He was not a great person. His diary, recorded over the last six months of his life, captures a slice of history when London was at its last zenith since the Renaissance. His short life involved hit plays of outrageous farce, work with the Beatles, and inumerous actors, producers, and directors. John Lahr does an outstanding job of editing the diaries of an interesting man who was butchered in his sleep by the one person he was nothing without. I highly recommend it, together with "Prick up Your Ears," the biography also by John Lahr.

Watchdog
I cannot agree with the previous reviewer's opinion regarding The Orton Diaries. Tangiers in the 1960's was a paedophile's paradise and please God, it no longer exists as such. Orton and Halliwell used young boys for their own gratification little thinking of the damage they were inflicting on them. Orton's diaries are full of his hedonistic pursuits and talented as a playwrite he may have been, for the sake of those children he abused, the publishers of The Orton Diaries, Methuen, should be banned from ever publishing further copies of his diary.

Fascinating minutae
Although I admire the principle of not excessively editing artists' diaries for publication, Lahr goes a little overboard in this one, leaving in every word from the last eight months of the diary's (and Orton's) life. So no one but a hardcore fan is really going to be interested in the endless meetings, correspondences and contract negotiations which provide the mundane background for the meat of the diaries: Orton's tempestuous relationship with Kenneth Halliwell, the lover who eventually kills him; and his promiscuous sex life. But for a fan, this diary IS fascinating, and knowing the end of Orton's life in advance does give even the most mundane details an eerie cast. For gay readers, the Tangier section gives a wonderfully intricate portrait of a lost gay refuge. For me, 4 stars -- for people who couldn't care less about Joe Orton, 2 stars. ... Read more

Amazon.com

How could Colleen Dewhurst do this to us? Die, that is, and leave such a fascinating autobiography unfinished after more than 10 years of work? Oh well. As Dewhurst herself makes clear, consideration for others was never one of her strong points--though she had plenty of other strong points to compensate. A monumental actress who outgrew her times, Dewhurst made a few memorable film appearances (Annie Hall, among others) but mainly devoted her life and talent to the stage in landmark performances of Eugene O'Neill's and Edward Albee's most challenging works. She was so busy living her life she didn't have time to finish this memoir, so editor Tom Viola has fleshed it out with memories of Dewhurst by her friends, associates, and collaborators. None of this added material is as compelling, colorful, bitter, or hilarious as Dewhurst's own observations--leaving us with the realization that we not only lost a great actress, we may have lost a real writer as well. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Made me wish I had known her!
This was a great biography to read.Not strictly an autiobiography because Colleen never finished working on it herself, but it makes up for that by including many stories & chapters written by her friends, fellow actors & family.This was the first biography I read that really made me wish I had a chance to know the person in life.I've always considered Colleen Dewhurst a respected actor but after reading this, I know that she was truly a warm & wonderful person. She will be missed.

A truly wonderful book!
If you're interested in the New York theatre during the 50s and 60s (and later), this book is not to be missed. Dewhurst procrastinated for years about this book; hence it was unfinished when she died. But the additionalpieces from her family and colleagues add immeasurably to the book'srichness. An unforgettable memoir from a very great artist and personality- her personal warmth and her professional dedication are evident onliterally every page.If you care enough to have checked this book out,you will want to have it! ... Read more

Book Description

This is the definitive memoir of the private Noel Coward by the only man with the compassionate insight and first-hand experience to write it. Graham Payn, star of many of Coward's shows, shared the Master's professional and private life for thirty years. When Coward kept the rest of the world at bay, Payn remained at his side as confidant and friend. No one else was as privy to Coward's doubts and dreams. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

What A Life, Indeed!!!
Over the course of forty years, South-African-born actor Graham Payn shared the life, love, companionship, and generous wit of that "playboy of the West End world," Noel Coward. This book is a loving and often frank tribute to this great man, who made so many people laugh for so many years, and who, in life as well as on stage, was the very epitome of the word "style". Payn begins with his first audition for Noel and the play Words and Music in the thirties, takes us through the war years, to the decidedly unforgiving (to Noel) fifties, when the critics turned against him en masse, to the triumphant sixties and "Dad's Renaissance" to an adoring public, through Noel's death and the demise of Noel's personal assistant (and fellow biographer) Cole Lesley, up to the present (1993) and the unveiling of a special tribute stone for Coward in Westminster Abbey by no less a person than the Queen Mother. If this book ended after Graham's 250-page-or-so lovely memoir, it would still be worth five stars, but there is more. Much more. In the roughly hundred pages that follow, Payn provides us with the complete Coward writings on theatre, many of which first appeared in the Sunday Times (and which, for my money, prove conclusively that Noel Coward knew more about theatre than any other person who lived in the Twentieth Century). There are also interviews with actresses Judy Garland and Judith Campbell, brief but penetrating portraits on some of the many important figures in Coward's life (including Rex Harrison, the Lunts, and Sir Winston Churchill), and much more. My one caveat that goes with my otherwise-unqualified recommendation is this: please read The Noel Coward Diaries first, so that you get a clear understanding not only of how Noel saw himself, but how he viewed many of the key figures in this book. (Author Payn plays, not surprisingly, a significant part in the diaries.) With these two books by your bedside, you'll have the best and most delicious kind of reading entertainment for many nights to come, and you'll say of Graham Payn's life with Noel Coward: "What a life, indeed!!!"

the wittiest bio of the master
coward's longtime companion graham payn probably comes as close to coward as anyone ever will. he manages to artfully weave the details of his own life with a plethora of new anecdotes -- and old -- about sir noel. the added bonus is the appendices containing previously unpublished coward works, including a tenth play [!] written for "tonight at 8:30".

well worth your time...

Coward's lover,friend and literary executor's retrospective
I read and reviewed this book for my on-line theater magazine -- The new off-Broadway musical about Coward's friendship with Gertrude Lawrence draws much material from this book as well so I found myself referring back to it for my write-up of that show -- both show and book are particularly timely as the Coward centennial celebrations get into full swing.

A perceptive memoir of the man behind the public face
"An engrossing portrait of this world famous and immensely gifted man,chronicled so frankly by his closest friend...A most vivid account of his career after the Second World war" - JOHN GIELGUD"I greatly doubt if anything written about the Master will ever be as fascinating,as perceptive,as amusing or as touching as Graham Payn's loving portrait." - RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH"It's simply terrific !...So funny and so sensitive." - ELAINE STRITCH"Stories I never heard before bringing Noel vividly to life." - LAUREN BACALL"I greatly doubt if anything written about the Master will ever be as fascinating,as perceptive,as amusing or as touching as Graham Payn's loving portrait." - RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH"It's simply terrific !...So funny and so semsitive" - ELAINE STRITCH"Stories I never heard before bring Noel vividly to life." - LAUREN BACALL

Time has lay heavy between...
Mr. Payn's touching and personable memoir of his life with the master has to be one of the best books written about this theatre giant. through humour,compassion and razor sharp narrative Payn brings us closer to Noel,the man than when have ever been. Unlike Philip Hoare's tell all book which has nothing to back it up,Payn tells a personal story of a lifelong love,friendship and elegant party. Bravo! Graham. Bravo. ... Read more

Book Description

A rediscovery. A lost document of theatrical history written more than seven decades ago is now translated for the first time into English -- the autobiography of the great Yiddish actor Jacob Adler. It is, as well, a history of the Yiddish theater -- for which Adler himself was almost single-handedly responsible--in Russia, England, and the United States.

"The man's size -- I do not refer to his physique -- imposed a sense of peril," Harold Clurman said of Jacob Adler. "Grandeur always inspires a certain shudder at life's immeasurable mystery and might."

Adler's astonishing career as an actor took him from tsarist Russia in the late 1800s to London, and to New York at the turn of the century, where he was applauded and lionized (he was called Nesher Hagodel, "The Great Eagle") in role after role. We see Adler's powerful and revolutionary portrayal of Shylock; his Yiddish King Lear; his Uriel Acosta, from the Yiddish drama set in Spain under the Spanish Inquisition ("A classic dream, a truly great role . . . My soul was full of Uriel"); his great success in Tolstoy's posthumously discovered play, The Living Corpse.

The only son of an Orthodox Jewish wheat dealer, Adler was taught the Talmud by his rabbi grandfather, and introduced to the stage by his theater-loving uncle. We follow Adler from his school days in Odessa to his youthful boxing career, which lifted him out of anonymity, to his apprenticeship with "a hole-and-corner lawyer," to his chance meeting with a group of Yiddish folksingers whom Adler -- now an official of the Department of Weights and Measures -- brings to Odessa, thereby launching the Yiddish theater in Russia.

We see their first performance before a paying audience, their first production in which a woman appears, their first full-length play, called Schmendrick. And then on to the provinces of Minsk, Vitebsk, and Lodz, playing everywhere and anywhere -- in granaries and stables -- with stowaways who sneak up to the roof to watch between the rafters (as Adler says his lines "Birds in the heaven, tell me, pray, where is my beloved?" he looks up to see hens, roosters, and bearded men peering down at him).

We watch as Adler begins to understand the work of the actor, not to imitate but to play the part as he feels it ("The gifted artist will always give it another nuance because he lives it through in himself, in his temperament, in his life experience"). And always, in the background, the large Russian drama -- the assassination of Tsar Alexander II by the revolutionaries; Alexander III's coming to power and overturning the reforms of his father, denying the Jews due process under the law, confiscating their land, shutting down their schools, outlawing their press. Adler recalls the pogroms of his childhood. And, in his adult life, the mobs destroying the synagogues and houses of study, the thousands trying to escape at the railroad station, being pushed back as Adler and the other actors in their fine clothes are taken for Christians, while old men bend low and cry out to them to "save us from death."

We see Adler forced to leave Russia, immigrating to London, facing poverty and worse, with no place to perform . . . finding a theater in a Whitechapel club, and remaining for seven years, playing first to Russian immigrants, then to London Jews.

And coming to America in 1889, taking over the Union Theatre on Lower Broadway, now embraced by the whole population of the Lower East Side.

We watch as Adler is invited twice by the producer Arthur Hopkins to perform his Shylock on Broadway: the cast would be American; Adler would speak in Yiddish (he refused both times until a friend said, "Do it. You owe it to the Gentiles. Let them see how a Jew plays Shylock"). And finally the building of the Grand Theatre at the Bowery and Canal -- the first house specially built as a Yiddish theater for the more than half a million immigrants who came through Ellis Island from 1905 to 1908.

We follow Adler's passions, his three marriages to dramatic actresses -- only the last, Sara, his equal on the stage -- his many affairs, the lives of his children, his friendships, scandals, and rivalries.

His memoir is a revelation of a man and a world. It is brilliantly translated from the Yiddish with commentary throughout by his granddaughter, Lulla Rosenfeld. ... Read more

Book Description

A journey through intellectual Hell best describes the turbulent life of dissident playwright Bernard Kops. He emerged out of the fifties "angry young man" explosion and quickly established himself as a one-man opposition to the intellectual and political hypocrisies which engulfed the theatre Establishment of that chaotic era. Shalom Bomb takes its name from the author's poem which expresses the personal anguish of living in a dangerous world, whilst still clinging to hope. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Of what do we write when we write of love? In Bob Smith'scase, it is Shakespeare's poems and plays. Hamlet's Dresserbraids two strands of his life into a modest, heartbreaking, andsoaringly affirmative memoir. A bookish, lonely child, his crushon the Bard's work became love when, as an alienated teenager, hejoined the American Shakespeare Theatre as Hamlet's dresser. Intime he would dress other characters, perform in small roles,become a coach and a watcher, and eventually lead senior citizens'groups in Shakespeare-appreciation courses. But this ecstaticmarriage was haunted by his sad, contorted childhood: anincreasingly dysfunctional mother, a distant father, and Caroline,his profoundly retarded sister. "Art," he writes, "can be a brutalthing, not just some decoration placed over the truth, but thetruth itself." Smith's prose is bluntly ineffable: a rundowntheatre looks like "Miss Havisham's bride cake" and the firstteacher who didn't like him was "Miss Shumaker. It was right afterI stopped pleasing everybody." The book is thick with shortpassages from Shakespeare. Placed in perfect context, they leapfrom the pages, abrupt as panoramic pop-ups. --H.O'Billovich ... Read more

Reviews (17)

A real treat for anyone who grew up loving the theatre.
This was the most enjoyable book I've read in quite some time. A rare and wonderfully detailed account of one young man's coming of age in Stratford, Connecticut. Not your standard sexual awakening tales. No, this is a story of a spiritual awakening - a discovered kinship with Shakespeare and the Muses of comedy and tragedy. Bob Smith tells his story with compassion, wit and elegance. He doesn't shy away from the troubling memories of dealing with a mentally impaired sibling, nor the profound impact she had on his life and the lives of his parents. What the reader is left with is a sure sense of the authors humanity. His Shakespeare classes for senior citizens - the special relationships and bonds that he has nutured with lovers of The Bard - those famous and those seemingly forgotten about. Bob Smith's story is inspiring on many levels. However, the greatest gift this book gives us is a beautiful articulation of the awe and wonder that can only be found in the thaetre.

Breathtaking -- surprisingly so.
A professor friend of mine recommended this book to me. She had read a review in the Washington Post. Normally, I nod politely at such recommendations and go about reading whatever else it is that was already on my wish list. But, for some reason, I went out and bought this book.
I read it on the plane and, to my great embarrassment, found that I had to put the book down in my lap several times and take deep breaths, lest the other passengers see the tears welling in my eyes.
Bob Smith is a man I didn't know of before picking up the book. I didn't expect to care about his memoir. What I found is that I ended up caring very deeply and simply could not put it down until I'd finished it. To say that it is a moving book is an understatement. Somehow, Mr. Smith touches on all of life and love and loss and hope and well --- humanity. Perhaps it is because he weaves into his tale the timeless wisdom found in Shakespeare. And he does so masterfully.
By reading this memoir, you will learn about life, yourself, Shakespeare, and what it means to be human.

Needed more Shakespeare
I picked up this memoir based on a blurb that mentioned the author's connection to the Stratford, Connecticut Shakespeare festival. Having had a single opportunity to attend this (Christopher Walken's Hamlet!) event, I was hoping for some insight and history of the event. Instead, I found out far too much about Smith's problems; of his difficulties coping with a family that was overwhelmed by having a severely disabled child in the home (Smith's sister), and very little about Stratford's festival. Well, shame on me for buying into a blurb, but I still found the book very disappointing. Focusing basically on his youth, and his later contributions to the community by running Shakespeare reading groups at senior centers in NYC, HAMLET'S DRESSER, needs far more Shakespeare. When Shakespeare does appear, the book comes to life. The joy senior citizens get from the reading groups, Smith's fascination with Shakespeare that led to a life immersed in his works, and especially in the sections where Smith discusses the actors he had an opportunity to work with is where this book truly becomes interesting. Katherine Hepburn, June Havoc, and Bert Lahr all make memorable appearances. The chapter where Smith discusses going on tour with Lahr gives the reader a wonderful glimpse into what it is like to work with a talented yet irascible actor on the road with all of its joys and pitfalls. Sadly, there are not enough of these journeys in this book. I feel some empathy for Smith's trials and tribulations, yet they didn't make for interesting reading. The troubled tales of his youth seem better suited to a therapist's office as opposed to a memoir. They truly pale in comparison to his tales of the theater, which when shared with the reader make for some fine storytelling. If the focus had stayed with Shakespeare and the theater I feel this could have been a wonderful book, as it stands it is a flawed a bit boring overall.

A Life Intensely Lived
Just how interesting could a memoir by someone whose (real!) name is Bob Smith ever be? As it turns out, Bob Smith is a fascinating man with a talent not often celebrated, but that is absolutely central to art: he is a supremely-gifted appreciator.

He loves painting and music and, centrally, Shakespeare. He never went to college, never wanted to learn to drive. Art museums and live theater are his ideas of heaven. He's done directing, acting, painting. But basically he loves being an audience, and feels it is his job to teach others how, as audience, to participate fully in Shakespeare's art. For him the Bard is redeeming, and is just the tonic for those that have to peel life down to its essentials - the old and the dying.

This is not a book that will teach you anything much about Shakespeare. True, chunks of his language punctuate the text, but Bob Smith is trying to talk about his own life. He tells his story in parallel threads - his present and his growing up.

There is a terrific sadness coupled with an almost manic energy and feeling running through this narrative. Paintings and Shakespeare started out as ways for Smith to escape the pain in his life, but quickly came to provide their own meaning, interest, and, primarily, joy.

Two or three centuries ago it was not uncommon for a person to have but one book - the Bible. He or she would read it daily, sometimes just for comfort, sometimes in bafflement, sometimes with understanding. It was vast and lasted a lifetime; its images and language permeated waking and sleeping. I don't doubt that Bob Smith reads the paper, devours an occasional trashy novel, and watches some television. But without his having explicitly said so, he leaves the definite impression that his central, focused, daily meditations are in the texts of Shakespeare. He has read them all many times, and still he finds and works new veins of meaning. What a glorious way to live, and how difficult, in the Age of Information.

Why did he ditch his sister?
The single most powerful element in this very readable story is the relationship between the author and his beloved but severely retarded younger sister. Inexplicably, he allowed half his life to go by without visiting her, for which he felt guilty, and justifiably so.

He doesn't offer a reason for his neglect. Are we supposed to assume it? Are we supposed to play amateur armchair shrink and say something empty like "it was too painful for him"? In an otherwise fairly well written book, I really can't get over the fact of his betrayal of the person he loved so, his complete abandonment of the love of his life, without any explanation.

I began reading the BOMC selection "Genius" right after this one. It also begins with Shakespeare. Both books class Shakespeare as the Babe Ruth of literature. Don't we all? Isn't that a cliche by now? And yet, while much of Shakespeare's work is excellent, hasn't it occurred to anyone that some of the comedies are far short of excellent? Some of the comedies are worse than I Love Lucy reruns. Excuse me for being an iconoclast, but the emperor isn't always clothed.

And while we're iconoclasting at Shakespeare's expense, does it not occur to anyone that both Othello and King Lear are as lurid and in a way disgusting as the HBO series Oz, which by the way receives poor ratings from an ex con critic who claims that Oz is not at all realistic, and is way over the top. Othello and King Lear are sickening stories. They go beyond sadness, beyond tragedy, into a perversion of the psyche that I can do without. A man strangling his faithful wife to death as a result of believing a liar, and a vain and foolish man ending up tortured by his own children. This is sick stuff. Sorry, it's too heavy and too sick for me. The perversion and cruelty in these plays goes far beyond Hamlet and Macbeth, which are much happier by comparison, dealing only in murder.

As for The Merchant of Venice, which Bob Smith defends as being a reflection of the times rather than simply admitting that it is viciously racist (and was at one time titled The Jew of Venice), it must be admitted that if filthy racism is to be defended by the excuse that it represents its time and place, and therefore Shakespeare was not a racist, well then, you could almost make a case that Hitler was not a racist either, for the same reason. As FDR said, if a Goebbels emerged on the streets of New York City in the 1930s or early 40s, NYC would have run as red with Jewish blood as Berlin. So isn't it about time we stopped reflecting the prejudices of our time and place, and isn't it time we assigned responsibility to the individual for what he chose to write? Shakespeare must be admitted to have been a vicious racist himself. In that, he joins Chaucer, who was even worse, and of course was another "reflection of his time".

I resent the deification of Shakespeare, not because Merchant of Venice was racist, not because King Lear and Othello are disgusting, but because frankly I believe that more than a few of his comedies were as bad as the worst of the Beatle songs, and they weren't all brilliant. Merchant, Lear, and Othello are all a lot better than some of those stupid comedies, and classing everything Shakespeare wrote as superior just nullifies one's credibility. You're giving the "right" answer, but is it really the right answer? Why not admit that he wrote a few "hits" that were pretty awful. Okay, the girl is dressed as a guy again, okay this character is pretending to be someone else, alright already, seen that one already under another name. Actually some of them would have fit in pretty well with I Love Lucy. ... Read more

Book Description

In the opinion of the publishers, act one is the warmest, most engrossing—and by far the most revealing—book about the theatre that they have ever encountered.
It is, of course, a success story, for Moss Hart today is one of the most brilliant, successful and famous figures in the American theatre, both as a playwright and as a director.
How did it happen? Not easily. His boyhood and adolescent years were spent in two entirely different backgrounds, and the stories of both are fascinating. With the opening of his first Broadway play, Once in a Lifetime, his world changed abruptly. This book concludes with a detailed telling of the complicated steps whereby that play came into being.
“I consider the memories and pledges that were part of the struggle that preceded success the vital ones,” the author says. He has set these memories down with unusual candor, humor and excitement; and the book is an intimate and informative portrait, not only of him self but of the world of the theatre as well. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

THE BEST
Whenever I teach a class for actors, I recommend Moss Hart's autobiography, ACT ONE. It is simply the finest book I know about the theatre and what it was like to work on Broadway in the 1920's thru the 1950's. It was a true tragedy that Hart died so young, robbing not only his family of husband and father, but the world of a great playwright and director and chronicler of his times.

This is a funny, perceptive, first-hand account of life in the fast lane of one of the best playwrights Broadway has ever produced. An obsessive worker (it was the stress of his constant work that ultimately killed him), a perfectionist, a brilliant upstart, Hart teamed with George S. Kaufman to write some of the best and funniest plays of the first half of the 20th century...and even today. Is there really a better play about a family coping through love during the Depression than "You Can't Take It With You?" (That was a rhetorical question). And as Nathan Lane proved only two years ago, "The Man Who Came To Dinner" is very much worth reviving in a first class production even if you have already seen it in your local community or dinner theatre. The autobiography doesn't so much end as it stops and it is obvious that Hart meant to write a second and, perhaps, a third volume that would include his other writing partners, his Hollywood career, his directing, etc.

Steven Bach has written a biography of Hart's entire life called DAZZLER, THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MOSS HART that is a fine companion to Hart's own, unbeatable ACT ONE. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Superb Theater Autobiography
Act One is one of my favorite books. I have rearead it often since the first time I picked it up in my late teens. I love the anecdotes about the Broadway greats ans near greats and how Mr. Hart became famous, but my favorite parts of the book concern his memorable Aunt Kate, a woman whose fate in life was other than she deserved. She is very humanely portrayed, and so is the rest of Mr. Hart's family. I also enjoyed learning more about George Kaufman and his wife. This book's great!

The best book about the theater ever written, Act One.
Moss Hart is arguably one of the finest and most successful authors of the 20th century theater in this or any other country. Like many successful men in the theater, he came from a background of serious poverty and the true drama of Act One is his perseverence and victory in extremely trying circumstances. There are fascinating glimpses into the theater world of NYC in the 40s and 50s, excellent sketches of George Kaufmann, Beatrice Kaufmann and Max Siegel, and poignant views into the people and places that forged Moss Hart into the extremely urbane, charming and successful man he became, against the hardest possible odds. Superb book!

"Act One" by the amazing Moss Hart
A few years ago when I was doing a lot of theatrical reading I heard about Moss Hart's "Act One" and at the time it was out-of-print. I did not have a computer then, but a local bookseller was able to locate a used copy for me and it is a treasure. Moss Hart was truly an amazing man. He started out in a time when there was not much around in the way of financial security...to put it mildly, but he never gave up. It seems that he was always there to fix whatever problems came up in the Broadway theatre. He wrote this book because his wife, Kitty Carlyle Hart, asked him to and it is a little gem.
I am so happy to see that it is now available again and I am going to give it as birthday gifts to two dear friends who share my love of the theatre. They will love it as much as I do.

One of the best theatre books I've read
This book is amazing. In my opinion. Well, and in the opinions of other people I know - it was recommended to me by about six people before I bought it. And Hart writes with such an endearing and touching style - the book was a fast read and I was able to really picture everything he was writing about. It's also eminintly quotable - I'm especially fond of the passage where Hart describes a particular actor as having a "style which would be appropriate to give as a gift to a couple on their wooden wedding anniverary." I'm looking forward to reading Stephen Bach's "Dazzler" to learn more about Hart. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Fast, Cheap, and Out of Breath
This is a book which can be read rather quickly simply because there isn't much there.As a biography, it presents very little information that cannot be found in magazine articles and interviews. Nor is its analysis of Shepard's plays very helpful. One hopes that a literary biography will cast new light both on an individual's work via an investigation of his/her life and on an individual's life via an exploration of his/her work. This book, unfortunately, comes up short on both counts.

Notable effort, but not enough
If you are looking for an inside view of the mind and man of Sam Shepard, this book really is not for you.Granted the author had a daunting task, revealing the life of perhaps one of the most private men around.Thething is, I bought the book to find out about Sam Shepard.Instead, I geta glancing blow of his life and work.Certain facts and sentences arerepeated four of five times, as if the editor had fallen asleep at thewheel on this one.Shewey tells us that Shepard's life influenced hiswork, he tells us that his past influences his present, that Shepard's lifehas a direct influence on what he puts on paper.That is the thing... heTELLS us,he doesn't SHOW us. If you are truly looking for an insideview of the great playwright, check out "Hawk Moon" or even"Cruising Paradise".Those books, written by Shepard, will showyou the man, his life, and work.Shewey's book makes you read points overand over and leaves you looking for hidden pages at the end of the book.Iliterally stared at the last page and asked "Is this it?"Inever like reviewing an author's work, because I feel as though I reallydon't have the right- yet as a reader, I left this book feeling extremelyunsatisfied. ... Read more

Book Description

A captivating, seductive and monumental celebration of the life and career of one of the greatest actors of the 20th century. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Uneven
This is a better book than Lewis's biograpy of Peter Sellers, if only because it is much, much shorter. But the some of excesses that marred the prior book are here, too. Lewis suffers from foodnote-itis; they can go on for pages and break up the rhythym of reading the book terribly. Either he should integrate the material into the text or he should use notes at the end of the book. He still can't resist inserting himself into the book and making snide and tedious wisecracks, though compared to the Sellers book, he has definitely toned this element down. But the out-of-left-field rhetorical question habit is worse here. My absolute favourite: When discussing the film of Olivier's "Hamlet", he says, "Finally, am I alone in thinking the curtains of Gertrude's bed are spead like the lips of a giant vagina?" Doh! I rather think you are, pal. Either the aforementioned comment is a put-on, or the editor was asleep at the--forgive me--swatch. Speaking of sex, Lewis doesn't like to speak of it, at least directly. He gives it a series of coy, creepy nicknames: "rumpy-pumpy", " and (another favourite) "the bedspring Sonata". What is it with the British, anyway? (That rhetorical question thing is catching).(P) It is also a bad sign that Lewis can't immediately let go of Sellers, and the first part of the book is loaded with references to him and comparisons to Olivier. Apples and mangoes, friends. (P) But studded throughout these excesses, like jewels in *&%!, is some brilliant writing on Olivier's preformances and what excited him about acting. You will just have to hold your nose to enjoy them. (P) And Olivier was great. He was an indifferent father, a poor husband, a jealous colleague, and a manipulative friend, as Lewis makes clear. His love, his energies, his reality went to acting. He was not one of these modern actors who feel obliged to give dumb interviews about the whorishness of the acting profession, and how it is not really suited to a man. Olivier loved and respected his profession, and this book rightly celebrates his triumphs in unlikely ("The Betsy"), small (his wonderfully hostile and whiney Morarity in "The Seven-Per-Cent Solution"), classical ('Richard III'); modern ('The Entertainer') and comedy ("Moscow Nights"). My favourite Olivier performance is none of the above, however. When I was a teenager, I stumbled upon a television showing of William Wyler's "Carrie" (an adaptation of Dreiser's "Sister Carrie." This is an early fifties movie that was a terrible flop when released and was almost immediately forgotten. Olivier is cast as Hurstwood. His fate is horrifying, but such is the power of the performance Olivier gives, you watch until the very last frame. Sometimes this book can convey in words--fleetingly--what Olivier did on the screen. So, in spite of the author's self-indulgences, I recommend it. ... Read more