A sympathetic biography of the legendary New Yorkbased theater producer, who died in 1991. Epstein (Music Talks, 1987, etc.) was a close friend of Papp's; although she makes an attempt to be evenhanded, she admits that this is a ``friendly'' biography. Born Yussel Papirofsky in Brooklyn, Papp discovered the allure of the theater while putting on amateur shows in the Army. He joined the fledgling West coastbased Actors' Laboratory after WW II and then moved to New York, where he worked as a stage manager at CBS. Meanwhile, he founded his New York Shakespeare Festival and, working out of a tiny Lower East Side church, vowed to bring the Bard's works to the masses through touring productions in the city's parks. Papp's first great battle was fought with New York Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, who resented his pushy behavior and his ``do-now-pay- later'' attitude. His successful battle with the aging power broker led to the establishment of free Shakespeare in New York City's Central Park, which has since become a beloved tradition. Papp established the Public Theater in the landmark Astor Library building, producing such surprise hits as the first rock musical, Hair, and the longest-running Broadway show ever, A Chorus Line. Meanwhile, his attention moved to championing contemporary plays, often by women, black, or Latino authors. Papp spent his last years hiding the fact that he was suffering from cancer and championing freedom of speech. His sympathy for the urban poor, his open- casting policy at a time when it was hardly trendy, and his basic libertarianism are all to be admired, but he comes across as a tireless self-promoter who often confused his personal good with the common good. Spending so much time with Papp is like spending a long holiday with an annoying, if lovable, relative. Recommended for theatrical mavens and cultural historians. (32 b&w photos, not seen)
Pub Date: Aug. 29, 1994
ISBN: 0-316-24604-2
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
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