David Merrick: The Abominable Showman [Hardcover]

Howard Kissel (Author), David Merrick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2000

David Merrick is the most astonishing showman of our time, and perhaps of all time. No other producer, not even Florenz Ziegfeld nor the combined lights of the Shubert brothers, has equalled his percentage of hits or his demonic flair for publicity. In this first-ever biography, Howard Kissel from his decade-long investigation reveals the man, the mask, and the myth of David Merrick. The charismatic and reclusive mogul emerges as a Broadway version of Howard Hughes, with his own panoply of eccentricities, genius and neuroses. Merrick's much publicized and oftentimes staged battles and feuds are re-ignited here full force with such major personalities as Barbra Streisand, Jackie Gleason, Ethel Merman, Lena Horne, Woody Allen, Peter Ustinov, Andy Griffith, Anthony Newley, Peter Brook, and Carol Channing. Over a hundred interviews with the major players in Merrick's drama - from his pre-Merrick St. Louis childhood as David Margoulies to his latest divorce - has yielded the first serious interrogation of a life that until now has been the sole creation of Merrick's own invention and press wizardry.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The chief theater critic for the New York Daily News has written a frank portrait of Broadway's most famous producer, a man as renowned for his outrageous behavior and sharp business practices as for the string of hits that began in 1954 with Fanny , continued through the '60s and '70s with Gypsy , Hello, Dolly! and prestigious British imports like Marat/Sade and climaxed in 1980 with the lavish stage version of 42nd Street , which ran for nine years. As documented in his source notes, Kissel has talked to most of Merrick's associates, whose comments scathingly depict him as cruel to subordinates, contemptuous of the artists who created his shows and awful to his many wives. The book is not gratuitously mean, however; Kissel admires Merrick's taste and promotional skills and argues convincingly that his difficult personality stemmed from his extremely unhappy Midwestern childhood. His story is also a social history in miniature of the changing American theater, showing the decline of the middle-class, middlebrow audience that supported Merrick's productions and the rise of nonprofit theaters in which, as one playwright remarks, "No one can make a living except the administrators." Virtually inactive since a debilitating stroke in 1983, Merrick remains the standard against which all commercial producers measure themselves. No theater buff will want to miss this strong--and by no means entirely unsympathetic--biography. Photos not seen by PW .
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Whether it's Broadway in the 1930s or movies in the 1970s, you're sure to see the name David Merrick associated with both brilliant successes and embarrassing flops. Such is the nature of the business, especially when it involves one of the most dynamic, hard-hearted, arrogant driving forces in theater production. Kissel, a theater critic for the New York Daily News, writes with unabashed frankness about the rise and fall (and rise again) of Merrick's career as a producer. The way Merrick wielded his mighty political power from Broadway to Hollywood left his contemporaries to hate but admire him; to this day he inspires awe. His establishment of the "commercial theater," though panned at the time, and his contributions to that movement are now studied at the finest theater schools. From the immense success of the Broadway musical Hello, Dolly, to the great flop of a musical version of Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's, to a memorable 1970s version of The Great Gatsby, the Merrick legacy is embedded in American entertainment--and Kissel leaves open the possibility that the master can strike again. Mary Frances Wilkens --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 578 pages
• Publisher: Applause Books (February 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557833613
• ISBN-13: 978-1557833617
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #864,093 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #51 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Theatre
  • #88 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Movie Directors

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Customer Reviews

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Where Are the Other Reviewers?, August 15, 2009

By 

ROBERT SMITH (Irving, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: David Merrick - The Abominable Showman: The Unauthorized Biography (Applause Books) (Hardcover)

How ironic that the biography of a man who devoted his life to seeking recognition and respect couldn't get an Amazon review until nine years after its publication. David Merrick was a deeply flawed man of incredible intelligence and business sense about Broadway. There will never be anyone like him of this stature on Broadway. It's a great story -- both inspiring and sad.