From Publishers Weekly
Collier's book is a delight, elegantly written and lively with stories about the thespian world. In the beginning, the author tells how Queen Victoria bestowed respectability on performers when she knighted actor Henry Irving in 1895. No longer despised as riffraff, actors and actresses thereafter even became members of high society. Collier (The Rainbow People explains how New York City's "Little Church Around the Corner" permanently endeared itself to the profession and details the struggles and early mistakes of stage and film legends: Helen Hayes, Lunt and Fontanne, Gielgud, Olivier, Vivien Leigh and others, including less famous but equally beguiling entertainers. This will be a pleasure for all sorts of readers, not just acting buffs. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Collier, the author of several books of nonfiction, is a lifelong theater buff from a theatrical family (his aunt was Constance Collier). He has written a delightful history of the British and American stage of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, beginning with the time when Henry Irving's knighthood at last made acting a respectable profession. Focusing on the careers of seven starsLunt, Fontanne, Coward, Hayes, Cornell, Olivier, and GielgudCollier's history includes amusing and illuminating anecdotes about hundreds of actors, playwrights, directors, producers, designers, and others involved in the theater. Thoroughly entertaining, this is essential for theater collections. Marcia L. Perry, Berkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield, Mass.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
