John Barrymore, Shakespearean Actor (Cambridge Studies in American Theatre and Drama) [Hardcover]

Michael A. Morrison (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521620287 | ISBN-13: 978-0521620284 | Publication Date: September 28, 1997

John Barrymore's Richard III and Hamlet, first seen in New York during the 1919-20 and 1922-23 seasons, stand as high-water marks of twentieth-century Shakespearean interpretation. Michael Morrison reconstructs these historic performances through analysis of the production preparation, audience response, reviews, and memoirs. Tracing the Victorian and Edwardian antecedents of Shakespearean performance, this book situates Barrymore's distinctive contribution in light of past and ensuing tradition. As well, it provides a biographical sketch of one of the most revered and tragic actors of the twentieth century. "This young artist, profiting by the lessons of tradition...casts it boldly aside and emerges into the rarefied atmosphere of a new art, greater because it is new, stronger because it is built upon an old foundation." Brooklyn Times, March 9, 1920

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Toward the end of his life, master actor John Barrymore became an embarrassment: he was a classic drunken has-been who could neither pull it together nor pack it in. But this unusual biography spends most of its pages on Barrymore's golden age in the 1920s and 1930s, describing in amazing pre-videotape detail his performances at the height of his powers, playing what may be the 20th century's definitive Hamlet, along with Macbeth and other classical roles. Michael Morrison draws on books, memories, reviews, and other material to present painstaking line-by-line recreations of Barrymore's most shining performances.

Review

"This young artist, profiting by the lessons of tradition...casts it boldly aside and emerges into the rarefied atmosphere of a new art, greater because it is new, stronger because it is built upon an old foundation." Brooklyn Times, March 9, 1920

"Morrison gives a well-researched and detailed look at how Barrymore prepared for, staged and delivered Shakespearean performances that amazed and thrilled critics and theatergoers." Ed Will, Denver Post

"Michael Morrison's most readable study vividly recreates act by act the Shakespearean art of one of America's most charismatic and influential modern stage actors." Margot Peters, author of The House of Barrymore

"Michael A. Morrison, a theatre historian and collector of theatrical memorabilia, attempts to put the record straight, and in doing so gives us the best book about a bygone era I have read in many years, immensely detailed, magnificently illustrated and hugely readable, his researches incorporates eye-witness accounts, critical reaction and personal letters." Peter Hepple, The Stage

"John Barrymore's image is that of a hard-drinking matinee idol and movie star, but as Michael Morrison shows, during the 1920's he was America's and perhaps the world's-greatest Shakespearean actor." Book World

"Morrison's meticulously researched and well-written book takes the reader through the before and after of Barrymore's brief but memorable Shakespearean career and brilliantly re-creates his development as an interpreter of Richard and Hamlet." Mary C. Henderson, Stagebill-The Fox Theater

"...a delightful read.... A perfect gift for anyone who loved Chrisopher Plummer's `Barrymore'". San Francisco Examiner

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (September 28, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521620287
• ISBN-13: 978-0521620284
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,531,467 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring & Heartbreaking, November 24, 1999

By 

A. P. Hartel (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: John Barrymore, Shakespearean Actor (Cambridge Studies in American Theatre and Drama) (Hardcover)

Michael Morrison's book fills a much needed gap in the large Barrymore biographical canon: it tells the story of Barrymore the artist. Many of the other great biographies of the man and family (Margot Peter's THE HOUSE OF BARRYMORE, anything by James Kotsilibas-Davis, to name only two of many excellent others) understandably short-shrift the details found here, in favor of the fabulous "bon mots" and the large tragic arc of his life. Morrison, if it's possible to believe, makes that tragedy all the more heartbreaking by detailing the hard work that Barrymore put himself through to transform himself from a light comedian into the greatest tragic actor of his generation - and arguably the last great tragic actor of the American theatre.

The detailed recreations of Barrymore's acting in RICHARD III and HAMLET are facinating. They provide all of us who have come after some small picture of what it must have been like to actually see him on stage. It helps, I suppose, to be familiar with his film work, to have heard at least some of his Shakespearean recordings, in order to fully visualize Barrymore's "flashing, rapier" genius at work - but it's probably not necessary. A must for all Barrymore fans, actors, and theatre lovers, this book is a treasure. But beware, its story could break your heart.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A stunning overview of an American legend., January 8, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: John Barrymore, Shakespearean Actor (Cambridge Studies in American Theatre and Drama) (Hardcover)

Michael Morrison has provided us with a stirring portrait of one of America's greatest actors, John Barrymore. His book is a vivid account of Barrymore's innovative approach to Shakespearean acting and subsequent rise to fame. This book is required reading for Shakespearean scholars and Barrymore enthusiasts alike.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard Work Pays Off, June 4, 2000

By 

"laddie5" - See all my reviews

This review is from: John Barrymore, Shakespearean Actor (Cambridge Studies in American Theatre and Drama) (Hardcover)

This is one of the best books ever written on the performing arts. By focusing in on Barrymore's Shakespearean acting only, Morrison manages to show how a second-rate light comedian turned himself into a great artist by sheer hard work -- and then, horrifyingly, how an artist transformed himself into a clown through laziness and dissipation. Through the use of the actor's playbooks and impressive research, Morrison does the impossible and brings Barrymore's stage performances as Richard III and Hamlet so vividly alive you'll swear you're in the theater watching them (I was holding my breath at the end of "Hamlet"). Along the way there are vivid portraits of the idealistic, progressive theater in the 1920's and, a decade later, the ancestry of today's poisonous and envious celebrity culture. Once you read this book you'll never look at Barrymore the same way again.