Three Comedies [Paperback]

George S. Kaufman (Author), Edna Ferber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2000

Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman inebriated America during the Prohibition Twenties, then made everyone forget the Depression in the Thiries via gales of sophisticated laughter. The dynamic playwriting duo created three smash hits together: The Royal Family (1927) * Dinner at Eight (1932) * and Stage Door (1936. All three plays were promptly made by Hollywood into equally famous films - Dinner at Eight with Jean Harlow; Stage Door with a young Katharine Hepburn and Lucille Ball; and the Royal Family of Broadway with Frederic March.

Product Details

• Paperback: 378 pages
• Publisher: Applause Books (February 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557833346
• ISBN-13: 978-1557833341
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #713,446 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Poor Editing and Proofreading Mars Text, January 29, 2001

By 

J. Buller "College Dean" (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Three Comedies (Paperback)

As a great fan of George S. Kaufman (especially of his works co-written with Moss Hart), I was very much looking forward to reacquainting myself with his earlier comedies co-written with Edna Ferber. Unfortunately, this book has to be the most poorly proofread and mis-edited mass market text I've ever seen. My guess is that the text was scanned in using OCR software. A tremendous number of words make no sense in their context or are not even real words at all. Frequently, words will have capital letters, symbols, or numbers randomly inserted into the middle of them. Punctuation is erratic, with numerous periods in the midst of words or within sentences. The result is that the text is a chore to read, and the typesetting almost ruins these otherwise interesting plays. My advice is that, if you have access to the three plays in another volume, read them there; you'll enjoy the experience more. This is really an amateurish product that does disservice to the creativity of two fine pros.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful collection, October 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Three Comedies (Paperback)

I am a fan of both authors, Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman. They wrote beautiful plays together that are particularly charming! Royal Family is a great play that I am currently in as the character Gwen so I have explored the show quite well. I highly recommend this collection of plays to anyone who enjoys humor and drama! Thanks for reading :)

2 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as funny as I expected, May 20, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Three Comedies (Paperback)

I was told that the play "The Royal Family" would be hilariously funny. I must say, it seemed somehow outdated and the jokes were not funny at all. I do not understand Tony's character. The character development is poor, except for the authors' development of Fanny Cavendish. Don't bother reading through this waste of words!