Claude Rains: An Actor's Voice (Screen Classics) Review

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Claude Rains: An Actor's Voice (Screen Classics) ReviewI did enjoy this book, a biography of Claude Rains, featuring recollections of his daughter, interviews with actors with whom he worked, notable Bette Davis, and a description of his early years of poverty. Also, Mr. Rains own recollections were drawn upon for much of this book. The successful stage career is analyzed and the years in Hollywood where Rains appeared in such classic films as The Invisible Man, Now Voyager, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Casablanca, Juarez, Anthony Adverse, Deception, and Lawrence of Arabia. The author details his turbulent private life and six marriages, the longest lasting was his fourth marriage to Frances Propper. I agree with another reviewer that not much information is given re: his wives, particularly to Frances Propper--she disappears for a time in the narrative. It would have been helpful had their daughter Jessica discussed more about her mother and what happened to her after the divorce. Also, it would have been interesting to learn more about Jessica and what she is doing today.
Overall, a good biography but I was hoping for more.Claude Rains: An Actor's Voice (Screen Classics) OverviewLate in Claude Rains's distinguished career, a reverent film journalist wrote that Rains "was as much a cinematic institution as the medium itself." Given his childhood speech impediments and his origins in a destitute London neighborhood, the ascent of Claude Rains (1889--1967) to the stage and screen is remarkable. Rains's difficulties in his formative years provided reserves of gravitas and sensitivity, from which he drew inspiration for acclaimed performances in The Invisible Man (1933), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Casablanca (1942), Notorious (1946), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and other classic films. In Claude Rains: An Actor's Voice, noted Hollywood historian David J. Skal draws on more than thirty hours of newly released Rains interviews to create the first full-length biography of the actor who was nominated multiple times for an Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor. Skal's portrait of the gifted actor also benefits from the insights of Jessica Rains, who provides firsthand accounts of the enigmatic man behind her father's refined screen presence and genteel public persona. As Skal shows, numerous contradictions informed the life and career of Claude Rains. He possessed an air of nobility and became an emblem of sophistication, but he never shed the insecurities that traced back to his upbringing in an abusive and poverty-stricken family. Though deeply self-conscious about his short stature, Rains drew notorious ardor from female fans and was married six times. His public displays of dry wit and good humor masked inner demons that drove Rains to alcoholism and its devastating consequences. Skal's layered depiction of Claude Rains reveals a complex, almost inscrutable man whose nuanced characterizations were, in no small way, based on the more shadowy parts of his psyche. With unprecedented access to episodes from Rains's private life, Skal tells the full story of the consummate character actor of his generation. Claude Rains: An Actor's Voice, gives voice to the struggles and innermost concerns that influenced Rains's performances and helped him become a universally respected Hollywood legend.

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Rauschenberg Review

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Rauschenberg ReviewI didn't originally like Rauschenberg's art from the 1960s, which I had seen locally. So I was amazed to chance upon a show of his I loved at the National Gallery of Art in the early 1990s. I spent hour upon hour looking at this show. Each was a masterpiece of modern art using multiple devices and techniques. It was dizzying. Then, I HAD to have this book so I could study this marvelous artist and take in the whole of his career. It's hard for me to now imagine how anyone could dislike his work as he seemingly does it all in art. He can incorporate the real with the abstract seamlessly. He flows from one medium to another, seemingly without effort, incorporating them all together into one "painting" (I don't know what else to call them but they are unlike anyone else's paintings). I like his art best from the 1980s and 1990s but he was always pushing the envelope. Published by Abrams, the book itself is perfection and displays the art beautifully. If you want to open yourself to modern art and mixed media, this is the artist for you to embrace. This book is your starting point.Rauschenberg OverviewIconoclastic, generous, inventive, impulsive, sensitive, gregarious, prodigious, always amazing - these are just some of the words to describe Robert Rauschenberg and the art he has been making for the past 40 years. In this book - the only fully illustrated account of his life prepared with his full cooperation - we come face to face with Rauschenberg, one of the towering artists of the twentieth century.
The reader travels along the crazy odyssey that is Rauschenberg's life, beginning with his childhood in the oil town of Port Arthur, Texas, his unhappy experience in the navy, and his eventual decision to pursue a life in art. We follow him to Black Mountain College, where he studies under the stern but brilliant Josef Albers, and becomes friendly with Merce Cunningham and John Cage; to New York and classes at the Art Students League; We are told of his early marriage to Susan Weil, his friendships with Jasper Johns, Cy Twombly, and encouragement from dealers Betty Parsons, Leo Castelli, and Ileana Sonnabend; and of roundtable drinking sessions with such artists as De Kooning and Pollock at the legendary Cedar Tavern in Greenwich village.
We experience the astonishing dexterity and range of Rauschenberg even as an emerging artist, with his forays into set and costume designs for such dance masters as Paul Taylor, Merce Cunningham, Trisha Brown; the creation of his now-famous combines (among them "Bed" and "Monogram" ); and his eagerness to bridge technology and art, with the help of scientist Billy Kluver and others. In short, there seems to be no artistic medium or form that has escaped Rauschenberg's grasp.
In preparing this highly readable book, the author interviewedjust about everybody who has been important to Rauschenberg over the course of some six decades. Fresh anecdotes complement those already familiar to Rauschenberg followers, and new contributions from the artist further personalize and update this biography.
With 200 illustrations - 92 in full color - "Rauschenberg / Art and Life" is a richly impressive portrait of the artist. In addition to the scores of works of art reproduced (paintings, combines, floor and wall constructions, prints made at U.L.A.E., and more), and personal photographs of Rauschenberg and his friends and family, creating in sum an intimate portrait of this living legend. A special feature of the book are the many reproductions, for the first time, of his most recent and significant work - ROCI (Rauschenbert Overseas Culture Interchange) - a continually evolving body of work developed and exhibited in countries all over the world.
From the age of 38 when he received the grand prize at the Venice Biennale in 1964, Rauschenberg has proved himself to be a pivotal figure in the art of our time, in "Rauschenberg / Art and Life, the story of this joy-filled, adventurous artist is wonderfully told.

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