The Collected Works of Paddy Chayefsky: The Stage Plays (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Applause Books has done an enormous service in compiling this set of Chayefsky's work, most of which has been long out of print. Two volumes are devoted to his screenplays, including the film classics Marty (1955), The Goddess (1958), Network (1976), and The Hospital (1971). The third volume contains his five stage plays, including the powerful The Passion of Josef D. (1964) and the final volume of his six television plays. Original casts are listed with each work. And the stage-play volume includes a poignant and informative foreword by Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Chayefsky's friend for 22 years. Just to have the film and television versions of Marty available for comparison is worth the price of admission for libraries supporting television, film, and drama programs. This set is highly recommended for academic and large public libraries or any library serving a performing arts community.?Susan L. Peters, Emory Univ., Atlanta
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The four volumes of this boxed set collect dramas written for three different media--stage, live television, and the movies--by one of the most successful U.S. post-World War II playwrights. Chayefsky (1923-81) was the brightest star among the writers who put the dramatic luster in TV's 1950s golden age, and that achievement has been the one for which he is most immediately recalled. But he had more successful stage and film careers. Indeed, as Arthur M. Schlesinger observes in his foreword to volume one, The Stage Plays, the movies best suited Chayefsky's gifts for creating convincing ordinary urban American characters and real-as-dirt dialogue and his flair for fierce and funny satire. His characterization and dialogue were most brilliantly displayed in Marty, first on TV and then as the Oscar-winning best picture of 1955 (both scripts are in this set). His satires include two memorable dark film comedy-dramas, The Hospital (1971) and Network (1976), and the wry war romance, The Americanization of Emily (1964). Add this set with assurance to basic mid-twentieth-century American literature collections. Ray Olson

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Product Details

• Paperback: 438 pages
• Publisher: Applause Books (June 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557831920
• ISBN-13: 978-1557831927
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #890,493 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Paddy, wish you were here!, September 20, 2007

By	Robert Ewing "eternal book fan" (Hastings-on-Hudson, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I bought this collection of Chayevsky plays in order to get my hands on THE LATENT HETEROSEXUAL, because I'm in the process of revising my will, and I remembered the playwright's mordant take on lawyers, accountants, trusts, taxes--and it's as good as I remembered it. (The play never made Broadway, even with Zero Mostel in the lead; Paddy had sworn off Broadway for good and opened it in Dallas. I read a version printed in ESQUIRE.) Now I'm working through the other plays in this volume. Though working is the wrong word. I'm being pulled into them by Chayesvky's brilliance and clarity of language. And also by his vision of the human beings who made up his world, his incredible empathy and sympathy for them, as well as his virulent scorn at their failures of moral courage. Turn to any page in the volume to hear the unique, powerful, brilliant, funny voice of Paddy Chayevsky, a writer we need now more than ever!