Amazon sent out my order today.
Soon…
Soon…
I confess I had no idea who Anna Held was because I live with my head under a rock. But it sounds intriguing. I will go out and purchase the book first chance I get. I love biographies. Currently I am reading “The Real James Herriott.”
Congratulations and much success, Eve!
Lisa
Thanks, all! I hope the NYT review and all this calling and bugging bookstores you’ve been doing will result in my being carried hither and yon throughout the land . . .
Pundit, don’t feel bad–I never write about people anyone’s heard of! I figure, we get, what, 500 books about Marilyn Monroe per year? But who except ME would be crazy enough to write bios of Theda Bara or Anna Held? SOMEbody’s gotta do it . . .
$168 for a copy of my Harlow book? Yikes! I feel like Harriet Beecher Stowe . . . The day someone turns up with a copy of one of my books on Antiques Roadshow, I’ll know it’s time for the shawl and rocking chair.
The book came yesterday. I’m not sure how they got it to my house so quickly.
First impression: Damn, that’s pink.
I’ve just started reading it, and will get back with my thoughts when I’m done (this may take some time; I don’t read like I used to). So far I’m enjoying it.
And the picture of her on the ostrich is great.
C’mon, Lux, it’s not THAT pink.
My local independent ordered ANNA HELD AND THE BIRTH OF ZIEGFELD’S BROADWAY for me last week, called me Tuesday night to say it’d arrived, and I stopped in and picked it up after work yesterday.
I read the first thirty/thirty-five pages last night and can vouch for both the high scholarship level and the entertainment value.
On the first score, I learned not only about the early years of Held and Ziegfeld, but about what it was like to be a lower-middle-class Jew in late 19th century Warsaw, Paris, and London; a little bit about the Yiddish theater; what kicked off the infamous pogroms in Russia and Poland; and a whole bunch about Lillian Russell.
As for the entertainment side…well, you all know Eve’s writing style by her appearances on this board. The same sense of humor permeates the book. One example (page four): there’s a paragraph-long quote of Held maintaining furiously that she is Paris-born: NOT London, NOT America, but “Paris, Paris, PARIS.”
Eve follows up dryly in the next paragraph: “Actually, it was Warsaw.”
Also, I must compliment the Author Photo on the rear flap, which is stunning. I’ve spent at least a half-dozen social evenings with Eve, and I’ve NEVER seen her with her hair down before. Also, she’s smiling, which I’ve never seen either. Generally she gazes at the rest of us with a sort of vague, unbelieving horror.
I look forward to finishing the book, but I wanted to shove my first impressions out here this morning!
Cool! Is it too late to change professions?
Well, you know the old joke…
**How many publishers does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Three…one to do it, two to hold the author down.**
[blushing prettily]
Ike, I am printing that out and putting it in my scrapbook.
Umm, your critique, that is, not the light-bulb joke.
Chief: Called the B&N at 801 Nicollet. None in stock. Have special ordered the “item” and will report when it is in custody. Returning to safe house.
Is it truly gauche to request an autograph? I really do want to send you my book (with return postage enclosed, of course) so you can sign it for me.
C’est possible?
Of course, Cant, dear—I’ll even save you the return postage, and mail it from work (you did not read that!).
I am getting ticked off at these bookstores who “did not plan to carry it.” OK, it IS from a university press—but it also got a good notice in the Times; what the hell do these people WANT?
Checking in from Seattle:
I went to our local branch of the King County Library last night and did a catalog search for Eve, Golden. Eve, you must be popular around here because they had multiple copies of all three of your books! None at the branch I was in, of course, but they are sending them my way. Your new book was listed as “in CMS”, which I took to mean they had ordered it but it wasn’t available for shelving yet.
In contrast Carl Hiaasen, another author popular with the SDMB, is only available in large print! I don’t know what that means – he must have a big fan with poor eyesight somewhere around here and nobody else has heard of him.
I got it!!!
I got a call from one of the Borders stores where I’d ordered it. I went and picked it up today. I haven’t had a chance to start reading it, but your picture in the back is gorgeous! You are a stunning woman, Eve.
The guy at the book store said he had already read it and he loved it.
What address should I send it to for the autograph?
Zowie, that’s great, Jeannie–hope you like it too (cheap bookstore guy, not buying a copy . . .). I like the author’s photo because I don’t look particularly gorgeous or sexy, but I DO look happy and successful, which is so much better!
Already heard from Anna’s family, who are happy with it–her little great-great-granddaughter took it to school for Show & Tell, which I think is totally cool.
Anyone who wants it autographed, send it to me c/o More magazine, Meredith Corp., 125 Park Avenue, 20th floor, New York, NY 10017. Cash, naughty photos and pearls (natural, not cultured) may also be sent to the same addres
So HOW many Dopers are taking me to bed with them every night? Billdo, Jeannie, Sax, Ike . . .
Of course you’re right. It’s a very tasteful pink, too. (And with the black and white pictures, there’s a lot of gray. Pink and gray? Go Vassar!)
Today at lunch I attempted another field investigation at the Borders Books in the World Trade Center. I checked the New Non-Fiction section and Star/Director Biographies sections that had been directed to in the prior investigatory examination. It was not there.
I enquired at the information desk. They said that it would be located in the actor/director area of the drama section. I went downstares to the drama section and was unable to locate the subject volume. I enquired at the downstairs information desk. They said that the (admittedly inaccurate) computer said that there were three copies, and it should be on the shelf in Drama. After a second check, I can confirm it wasn’t.
At this point, my guess is that it was accidentally misshelved under Biographies of Portugese Philosophers or Vegetarian Cookbooks. Will continue my investigations.
(By the way, I agree with Ike and the gang about the author’s photo. Hubba Hubba.)
Today I had reason to hit a bookstore, and (since I was looking for something specific) I decide to hit the big B&N at the wharf. Taking the escalator up to the fun stuff (not cookbooks or self help) I was immediately faced with <b>New Biographies</b>. Right in the center, where it would naturally catch the eye first was Anna Held. So there - someone in SF is on the ball. Also, my brother read the review and is very impressed. He might read it when I am done, altho it’s not his usual stuff.
Eve, how about I send you my address and you return a note I can paste in my book? I hate to trust the postal service to take the proper care?
Today I had reason to hit a bookstore, and (since I was looking for something specific) I decide to hit the big B&N at the wharf. Taking the escalator up to the fun stuff (not cookbooks or self help) I was immediately faced with <b>New Biographies</b>. Right in the center, where it would naturally catch the eye first was Anna Held. So there - someone in SF is on the ball. Also, my brother read the review and is very impressed. He might read it when I am done, altho it’s not his usual stuff.
Eve, how about I send you my address and you return a note I can paste in my book? I hate to trust the postal service to take the proper care?
OK, hon—you can send a stickie to my work address (above) and I’ll sign and send back.
Anyone actually read the book yet? Any tips, suggestions, bouquets, brickbats? Whaddaya think of the photos? How about the ending? I really brought out the whole orchestra and gave her a three-hankie death.
By the way, to plug someone else’s work: the new Groucho Marx bio by Stefan Kanfer got not-great reviews, but I just finished it and thought it was top-notch. So run out and get that one, too!
P.S. I do not know Stefan Kanfer and he only paid me . . . I mean, he did NOT pay me anything.
Woo Hoo Groucho!!!
I am there
Osip
Hey, getta loada this—my publisher just told me they’re submitting my book to the Pulitzer Prize Committee!
That sound you hear is the Pulitizer Prize Committee simultaneously doing spit-takes all over their computers and falling out of their chairs laughing.