Melnick (library director and instructor of religion, William Northampton Sch., Massachusetts) focuses here on the obsession of journalist and thwarted playwright Meyer Levin in bringing to the world Anne Frank's story. Levin believed he had the rights to bring to life the stage production of the Diary as Anne Frank had meant it to be, after repeated discussions with her father. Otto Frank rejected Levin and his proposed work, hiring instead Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, a husband-and-wife team whose version was "safe." This purported bastardization of Anne Frank's diary led to Levin's 30-year obsession, which consumed him. Melnick gives every detail of the affair (too much for general readers), convincingly enough to refute Lawrence Graver's recent An Obsession with Anne Frank (Univ. of California, 1995). For those who never questioned the completeness or accuracy of Anne Frank's Diary, the resulting arguments and revelations are enlightening, yet "the Diary, now 50 years old, remains astonishing and excruciating."?Kay Meredith Dusheck, Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The New York Times Book Review, Robert Leiter
Melnick, who is library director and instructor of religion at Williston Northampton School in Easthampton, Mass., builds a credible case ... But a credible case does not mean an airtight one.... so many elements would have had to click for Hellman to push aside a producer and a possible playwright and then take over the reins that it strains credulity. Still, Melnick does show that once the playing field was clear, Hellman managed to dominate the proceedings and the players.
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