Twice Over Lightly: New York Then and Now [Hardcover]

Helen Hayes (Author), Anita Loos (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 343 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich; 1st edition (1972)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0151921504
• ISBN-13: 978-0151921508
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,843,905 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Light hearted fluff for fans of Helen or Anita Loos, October 15, 2007

By 

Wendy "Librarylover" (europe) - See all my reviews

Actually I think this books is a 3 1/2 star, 4 star is probably too generous.

This is a cute book if you are a fan of Helen Hayes or Anita Loos or live in New York. It's written by Anita Loos who is a fascinating person (although unfortunately this is not really revealed in this book - best to see her autobiographies) and basically they tour around NYC and write about what they see and who they speak with. It's suppose to be them revisiting places that were important to them in the 1920s and 1930s and it would have been quite interesting to hear their experiences from that time. It doesn't quite turn out that way, it's mainly fluff, there are some tidbits but they just touch on interesting things but then go no further.

It was written around 1969 or 1970 and it is fun to hear their thoughts on hippies and all that stuff going on at that time, I think it was quite alarming, particularly from their perspective although they try to keep an open mind about the "younger generation" (who are now entering retirement). And funny things that now are hard to believe, such as Greenwich Village was still a place with cheap rents in 1969.

I think if you live in NYC and it will be interesting to hear about locations and neighborhoods from the 1920s and then the 1960s and compare it to what you are familiar with now.

But unless you live in NYC or are a big fan of either of the authors, it's probably not too interesting.