No comments about The Cambridge Companion to Arthur Miller (Cambridge Companions to Literature).

No comments about Eastward Ho! (New Mermaids).

5 comments about This 'N That.

1. SO glad that Bette Davis stepped forward and defended herself after he daughter's APALLING book. And what a fun read! I couldn't put it down. As far as "My Mother's Keeper" goes,
   
   Shame on you, B.D. Hyman.
   
   B.D. Hyman would like to come off as a victim who doesn't have any flaws, but her book about her mother, Bette Davis, has the opposite affect. B.D. Hyman comes of as a spoiled rotten, selfish, cold-hearted, and mean teenager and then woman, who has no tolerance for other people and their flaws.
   
   So Bette Davis was a dramatic women, eh? What a shocker. It took her way too long to make Stouffers Macaroni & Cheese for you when you came over? How terrible. She got frustrated carving a chicken and ripped the meat apart with her hands? How obscene. She was irritated her 16 year old daughter wanted to spend their entire vacation in Europe with a 30 year old man? How dreadful. She sent a doctor over to see you when you were sick? What a witch. She spanked your son and put him in his room when she was baby-sitting him? How appalling. Your mother was eccentric? What a BOMBSHELL. She thought you were completely perfect and flawless? What a crime. She wanted you to say thank you when she brought you lobster from Maine? How very dreadful, and what a horrifying life you must have had.
   
   It is clear from this book that Bette Davis had lots of faults. We all do. But none of them could be considered child abuse. And most of us don't have our faults written about extensively for all the world to see, in a fictional, exaggerated novel.
   
   Poor Bette Davis, may she rest in peace. What a thing to have happen to you in your old age. She probably never recovered.



2. I was not a fan of Bette Davis until I saw her being interviewed by Dick Cavett in 1972. The Dick Cavett Show - Hollywood Greats The second she walks on stage you know you are in for a collossal treat. I have watched it over and over. That is what made me a fan and prompted me to get this book (and fill my Netflix queue with Bette Davis movies). I found the book to be very entertaining and loved the letters concerning and reviews about her daughter's hideous back-stabbing stunt at the very end. I think if you are a fan of Bette Davis that you would enjoy this book.



3. I've been a huge Bette Davis fan and it makes me upset that some of the reviews think that this is a book that isn't worth the paper its written on. I mainly wanted ti read this book to know more about Ms Davis, to know more about the last decade of her life with all the sickness she went through. I loved it, and i think that any Bette Davis fan would enjoy it greatly!



4. Obviously the one star reviewers aren't very big fans of Bette's. This is an honest and real account of some of the movies, struggles she faced with all her recovery from her surgeries. This is an important read to a bette davis fan and I would highly reccomend it!
   
   Jonathan goldis



5. I was never a big fan of Bette Davis, but I am always interested in reading what others have written about their own lives. This book had it's moments, but it would have been better if they would have given more of a chronological history. Instead, she jumps around from story to story, as each one pops into her head. This made things a little confusing for me. I did feel like she had an ulterior motive for writing the book. That motive was to get back at her daughter for a nasty book she had written about Bette. I have not read the daughter's book, but it obviously shook up Bette Davis and ruined a mother/daughter relationship. For me, this made the book end in a sad fashion. It also leaves the reader hanging, wondering if this mother and daughter ever worked out their differences. I can't really recommend this book unless you are just seeking more information on the life of one of Hollywood's biggest stars. One last positive thing I will say about the book is that Bette Davis does not get into a lot of the dirt she could have told about Hollywood stars. I do respect her for this.

No comments about Analyzing Performance: Theater, Dance, and Film.

5 comments about How Sondheim Found His Sound.

1. This book got off to a good start, analyzing Sondheim's favorite classical composers and how they show up in his own musical language. The next chapter is devoted to Sondheim's broadway influences, and gives a good examination of these as well.
   
   The second half of the book is devoted to Sondheim's theatrical and cinematic influences. It is here that Swayne goes off track. Though he makes some interesting connections between film technique and musical composition, it seems to me that this is where his thesis falls short, and could have been developed much more cogently. Also, one would think that Swayne would devote more attention to actual film scores.
   
   My main complaint is that in a book called "How Sondheim Found His Sound", one would expect to find at least a mention of the orchestration in Sondheim's shows. Perhaps this is just my own personal bent, as I have always wondered just how Sondheim works with his orchestrators and to what extent he thinks in orchestral terms.
   
   In terms of the writing, this book (especially in the later chapters) all too often reads like an undergraduate music paper. All this being said, there's enough in here to warrant purchase by real Sondheim junkies.



2. To the writer: For whom was this book written? Who was the intended audience? What's with the "thesaurus" words peppering the text? Why all the conjecture? Why not just ask the composer? This is a treatise I'd hand back to the student for major rewriting.



3. "How Sondheim Found his Sound" is a book full of very interesting information, although my reasoning for allocating only 4-stars is because I feel that more musical examples could have been used.
   That having been said, it is a very thouroughly researched book, and I would recommend it to Sondheim fans, myself included.
   One last note would be that having the vocal scores in question along side this book would allow a person to garner more of an understanding of the analyses (due to the general lack of musical examples).



4. This is a great book on how Sondheim "found his sound." I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Sondheim's card system and it gave me greater insight into a person who knew Leonard Bernstein.



5. Sir Isaac Newton once said: 'If I have accomplished anything, it is because I stood on the shoulders of giants.' Stephen Sondheim would probably say something similar.
   
   He has acknowledged being influenced by classical music, Broadway, Tin Pan Alley, Hollywood and many more. In the end though, Sondheim's work has taken these together and produced something uniquely his own. The results speak for themselves: West Side Story, Gypsy, Sunday in the Park with George, Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, Do I Hear a Waltz and the list goes on and on. In 2004 alone there was the first Broadway production of Assassins, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (London), The Frogs (Lincoln Center), Passion, Pacific Overtures.
   
   This book though, is not a description of what he has done, it's an in depth analysis of the way his music came about. The author teaches music at Dartmouth. His analysis, aided by Sondheim himself talks not only about the origins of music, but the way Sondheim goes about developing a song. It's a fascinating look at the creative process.

No comments about Theatres for literature: A practical aesthetics for group interpretation.

No comments about The Circus Kings: Our Ringling Family Story.

1 comments about Back on Course.

1. This book begins with the testimonials of Gavin and Patti MacLeod as individuals. They both describe their childhoods as well as their point of view of their marriage to each other.

   They review their marriage and why it did not work. It describes their divorce and how God brought them back together and created a new, beautiful marriage that they never thought was possible.

   The book ends with ten steps to having a successful marriage. This book is very inspiring and is a definite must for anyone whose marriage is in trouble.

No comments about Theater and Social Change.

5 comments about Silent Stars.

1. Silent Stars is a 1999 book by renowned film historian Jeanine Basinger. She is Chair of the Film Studies Program at Wesleyan University and is often seen on Turner Classic Movies making comments about cinema.
   I have read and reviewed her fine book "The Star Machine" and found her writing so fetching I decided to order this older book on the Silent film era. The book is a delight in its countless black and white photographs of the stars and the detailed but succinct recounting of the careers of some of the era's most notable stars.
   Basinger recounts the career of Mary Pickford "America's Sweetheart"
   (who was actually Canadian born) and her athletic superstar husband of swashbuckling films Douglas Fairbanks Sr. This couple were more famous than Angelina and Brad! Doug and Mary were beloved of the public until their divorce and the coming of sounds ended their careers.
   Mabel Normand was an early slapstick comedian who made her fame and fortune with Max Sennett's Keystone Kops. Max was in love with the flighty
   Mabel though the two never wed. Mabel died young in 1930 as the era of pie in the face fun ended.
   Her chapter on cowboys Tom Mix and William S. Hart tells us that Mix was the precursor of drugstore singing cowpokes like Roy Rogers and Gene Autrey. Hart focused on realism in the Western oaters he starred in during his fabled career. The chapter on Rin-Tin-Tin and animals stars was good. I was surprised to learn that Rinny died in the arms of Jean Harlow!
   Basinger looks at the Talmadge sisters; worldy sirens such as Gloria Swanson and seductive Pola Negra(the lover of Charlie Chaplin and Rudolph Valentino)and the mysterious and subllime Greta Garbo. Flappers Colleen Moore and the "It" Girl Clara Bow are also profiled.
   Major chapters deal with Valentino, Marion Davies (longtime mistress of publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst); Lon Chaney "the man with a thousand faces" and John Gilbert who loved Garbo and who died young from drink and a ruined career in the talkie era were interesting.
   Basinger screened countless old silent films prior to writing this book. Her work is readily understandable to a general reader making it easier to comprehend than such technical works on silent films as those by Kevin Brownlow such as his "The Parade's Passed By." This is a fun book to take with you to the beach or on your next business trip.



2. I absolutely loved this book. I am always looking for a good book and this one gave me different people to look further into and discover. Not only did I enjoy this book but it led me to thers that I enjoyed to by reading about them in this one first.



3. I wanted to learn more about the silents, and started with "The Parade's Gone By". It was good, but a bit too technical. What I really wanted was to know about the great personalities of the silent screen, and this book fills the bill. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and would have liked even more profiles. Each chapter deals with a silent star, some quite well known, some not so. There is also an excellent overview of silent films in general. The author writes in an enjoyable, easy-going manner, but there is plenty of information, and great photos. There are wonderful takes on Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, Rudolph Valentino, Pola Negri, Gloria Swanson, The Talmadge Sisters, Lon Chaney, John Gilbert, and so many more, even Rin Tin Tin! Really a great read, with some unforgettable tid-bits. (You'll never believe what Pola Negri said she would always remember Valentino for, or where Rin Tin Tin drew his last breath). Wonderful book.



4. They had faces then . . . those silent screen icons known as Clara, Lon, Pola, Gloria, Mabel, John, Mary, Douglas, Rudolph --- even Rin-Tin-Tin. From the pen (and meticulously researched and always thoughtful mind) of film scholar Jeanine Basinger comes this must-have tome, as important for its reconstructed historical chronicle as it is for its wit, humor and revelatory insights. Those expecting gossip will find it; those yearning for an academic, yet never boring, read will find it as well. The 300-plus photos are an added treat; was there anyone more handsome than Ramon?



5. There is very little I can say about this book except that i totally and completely recommend it to anyone who loves silent pictures as much as I do.