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BROADCAST BLUES

Name: BROADCAST BLUES
Author: Eric Burns
ISBN: 0-06-019032-9

DISPATCHES FROM THE TWENTY-YEAR WAR BETWEEN A TELEVISION REPORTER AND HIS MEDIUM

by Eric Burns ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 26, 1993

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A crisp report, both funny and sad, on the career of a TV-news correspondent. As a lonely 13-year-old in Pittsburgh, Burns studiously took notes on every gesture of those confident kids who danced on TV's American Bandstand. Years later in Parkersburg, West Virginia, he was still at it, this time observing his own performance on the tube as a local news anchor. Burns's quest for self-improvement and approval took him to Minneapolis and then, steadily, to the top tier of his chosen profession—as an Emmy-winning correspondent for NBC News—though never quite to the summit. Here, his notes—too selective and sketchy to qualify as memoirs—are, for the most part, hilarious: purported transcripts of on-air interviews; scripts; surreal conversations with powerful executives; backstage interchanges with crew and colleagues. But Burns can work quick changes on our emotions as well: Conned into an interview about her raped and murdered child, a Native American mother wears heavy makeup for her TV debut, looking like a hooker. As her tears wash away her mascara, the author knows he's made a professional coup- -but he wrestles with a conscience that won't let him feel triumph. Later, with NBC, he covers a riverboat mailman in Louisiana who turns out to be a monosyllabic bigot, almost impossible to interview—but Burns saves the assignment, adroitly turning the subject into a folk hero. The author's account of two years squandered on an unproduced PBS documentary is scathingly funny, detailing Kafkaesque meetings with sanctimonious bureaucrats whose double talk he cunningly reproduces. In one of his last skirmishes, Burns (now a commentator on Entertainment Tonight) was urged to become ``more wacky.'' Burns renders his blues with an almost unfailing ear, and if he occasionally hits a wrong note (an episode on Jessica Savitch seems unnecessarily mean-spirited), he's redeemed by his sharp observations, comedic timing, and rare self-understanding.

Pub Date: May 26, 1993

ISBN: 0-06-019032-9

Page Count: 272

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1993

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME
by Eric Burns

- BOOK REVIEW
THE GOLDEN LAD
by Eric Burns

- BOOK REVIEW
1920
by Eric Burns

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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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.