Tracey Takes on [Hardcover]

Tracey Ullman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1998

Hands down one of the most talented and beloved comediennes of our time, Emmy-winner Tracey Ullman has mugged her way into the hearts of America with a stunning array of wicked and lovable characters. Now, for the first time, Tracey brings her chameleon comic genius to the printed page, with this profile of favorite characters--their likes and dislikes, their thoughts on their childhoods, even what they think of Tracey herself. Photos Ad in "TV Guide". 2-week author tour. HBO tie-ins.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

From the mouths of Tracey Ullman's myriad personae comes this scrapbook of soliloquies, photographs of characters in action, and yes, paper dolls. Tracey Takes On, adapted from her HBO series of the same name, showcases the protean and prolific actress and comic chameleon. Surely 20 characters and alter egos is some kind of a record. There's Trevor Aylii, gay airline steward; Hope Finch, 19-year-old student at Sweetbriar College ("She is not currently a lesbian, but she's young and impressionable."); Fern Rosenthal, a Long Island homemaker and a member of the Royal Family known only as H.R.H. (Her Royal Highness). Sparing neither Great Britain nor its former colony, Ullman lampoons or impersonates types with aninimitable style that sometimes seems too tackily real to produce an innocent giggle--more like an "Oh, no" groan.

First come the character's biographies, followed by commentaries; each character opines on such pressing subjects as royalty, mothers, crime, family, sex, fame, movies, and politics. There's some new material, but most of the book consists of schtick from the first two seasons of the TV series; new is a patently absurd screenplay by Hope Finch and an encounter between H.R.H. and President Clinton. For those who insist on living dangerously, paper dolls of each persona may be cut out and let loose in one's home. What will Tracey Ullman take on next?

Product Details

• Hardcover: 259 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion Books; 1st edition (January 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786863404
• ISBN-13: 978-0786863402
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,368,128 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tracey Ullman's show translates well to dead tree medium, September 3, 2000

By 

Author Bill Peschel "Writers Gone Wild" (Hershey, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tracey Takes On (Paperback)

Tracey Ullman can't be pigeon-holed. Call her a comedienne whose Fox television show launched "The Simpsons," and you short-change her work as a pop singer, able to attract Paul McCartney to appear in her first music video, and as an actress who has appeared in movies directed by Lawrence Kasden, Robert Altman and Woody Allen. She's a comic chameleon in more ways than one, successfully working in any area she takes a mind to.

Her biggest strength is her ability to slip into a variety of characters, and in her HBO series "Tracey Takes On," from which this book is based, Ullman has created 15 women and men, each immediately recognizable and all daffy in their own way.

There's Linda Granger, the sexpot star of the 70s TV series "VIP Lounge," making a living from her residues, her autobiography ("I'm Still Here") and her line of Recovery dolls ("each one of them marks a milestone of survival in my life"); Sydney Kross, demon lawyer (motto: "You name it, we'll sue it"); Rayleen Gibson, "stuntwoman to the stars," who was raised by dingos in the Australian outback and is married to a dwarf; and gay airline steward Trevor Ayliss ("his favorite destinations remain Amsterdam, San Francisco and the Greek island of Mykonos").

With them, Ullman creates stories and incidents whose humor are rooted in character. But she doesn't stop there. "Tracey Takes On" combines series footage, scripts, essays and material created especially for the book to give the characters as much realism as they appear on the show. A lot of effort went into this book, and the result is a lovely comic gem of a book.