Reviews
Notes on a Cowardly Lion: The Biography of Bert Lahr, With a New Preface by the Author by John Lahr
attytheresa's review against another edition
5.0
I'm going to rhapsodize here for a bit, so just settle in.
Everyone knows and loves Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion from 'The Wizard of Oz'. He speaks to all of us, touching our hearts, young and old.
When the Cowardly Lion admits that he lacks courage, everybody’s heart is out to him. He must be somebody who embodies all his pathos, sweetness, and yet puts on the comic bravura. ... Bert had that quality to such a wonderful degree. It was in his face. It was in his walk. It was in himself.
Bert Lahr is often cited as the greatest American comedian ever. He was also the last of the generation whose comedy was developed in the worlds of burlesque and vaudeville - highly physical relying most on body and face to cause laughter, less on words and intellectual subtlety, although inventive word-play was critical and one of Bert's gifts. But underlying Bert's physical and verbal comedy was a great sadness and pathos, and that's what made it memorable. Born at the very end of the 20th Century, growing up in poverty in the German/Jewish Yorkville section of Manhattan (now an enclave of the Upper Middle Class and well-to-do), entering the performance world at the age of 15, Bert never lost that sense of imminent doom, of struggle to survive, experienced in his childhood. It was in the very core of his being, informing both personal and professional lives. Every single one of his performances reflects that -- from his early days in burlesque through his final acting days in films and commercials (he was the Lay's Potato Chip spokes person in the 60's - "can't eat just one"). You can see it even in his Cowardly Lion.
Bert always had artistic hopes and feelings; but the life he was given squelched that. His comedy was always conscious of a lack of privilege. He wants to be the artist; he wants to have the vignette of the enlightened guy. He knows he can never attain it; and so he laughs it off. The audience laughs with him, while he’s slipping on an intellectual banana peel.
Bert was a uniquely focused performer, working harder and longer and more intently than anyone on his routines. He was intent on being acclaimed but also on making money. He'd take roles just to make money, even if he knew the script was poor, because he saw something in it, believed he could overcome the weaknesses, and he was being paid well. He frequently described himself as 'being in it for the money'. In his personal life, he was aloof, remote, often depressed and unable to interact. He isolated himself from his family, intent on his crossword puzzles, scripts, own worries and anxieties. Bert was a difficult demanding performer -- the bane of many directors -- because he required a lot of attention -- to assuage his anxieties, his worry (he worried constantly about every little detail of the show, the performance), his demands to change scripts and staging, his insistance on working non-stop hour after hour. And yet, those same directors saluted him as the best and deserving of the attention. Lahr was incredibly self-absorbed, not 'seeing' his first wife's mental illness for too long yet feeling guilty throughout the remainder of his life for not seeing it and even contributing perhaps to it. Today he'd be described as suffering from OCD, maybe even bi-polar. During his lifetime, he was essentially considered a gifted artist, one allowed his eccentricities. His second family (this son John Lahr is the author of this biography) always knew he loved them even if he was not vocal or demonstrative. He was always worrying and fretting when he was not working or anticipating a project. He was only really happy working.
Bert essentially left home and joined burlesque, performing in skits on the boards, gradually honing skills, routines, and even gimmicks that he carried over into vaudeville as burlesque died, then onto the Broadway stage in musical reviews put on by Ziegfeld and others. He became a headliner and in the late 1930s, was offered a role in a movie in 1938 and moved to Hollywood, convinced this was where his future success rested. After making 'Wizard of Oz' in 1939, he expected to be in high demand in the movies but it didn't happen -- because he'd been a lion, not himself. He moved the family back to NY and Broadway where he stayed, occasionally taking another movie role but mostly sticking to live theater and commercials/television work (he did many of his famous routines from burlesque and vaudeville on the Ed Sullivan Show for example, which was filmed in NYC.). One of his greatest performance opportunities, and perhaps the one I wish I'd been able to see (I was 2 years old when he gave it) was his originating Estragon in Samuel Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot' in the premier performance of the play in the US, playing opposite first Tom Ewell (Seven Year Itch) as Vladimir in the failed Miami production then opposite E.G. Marshall. I have seen many many productions of this play, have read it in both French and English, yet reading John Lahr's chapter on it was revelatory. It should be required reading for everyone who has studied or attended 'Waiting for Godot.' I cannot imagine anyone more perfect that Bert Lahr to perform Estragon.
Bert described the play as follows: When I first read it, I realized that this was not stark tragedy. Beneath it was tremendous humor, two men trying to amuse themselves on earth by playing jokes and little games. And that was my conception. ... Lahr understood the play not from a literary point of view but strictly from a theatrical one.
And here is where the genius of John Lahr's biography really shines; it's not just a biography of his father, it is also a biography of the comedian as artist and the comic threater from burlesque through Beckett and beyond. He details the shows, skits, actors, directors, studio heads, and even the critics. It should be required reading for anyone performing live comedy or in musical comedies. Interestingly, in spite of his self-absorption in performance, or maybe because of it, and his hunger, his desperate need to get the biggest - and last - laugh, Bert was a mentor.
He taught me about the craft of comedy,” says Miss Lansbury. “He taught me about the signposts and props that hold up a funny situation and how you build it. The rules have to do with movement. (yes, that is Angela Lansbury, whose first stage appearance was in the Feydeau French Farce 'Hotel Paradiso' in which Bert starred).
Bert Lahr died in December 1967, while filming 'The Night They Raided Minsky's'. He'd been suffering periodic mysterious fevers off and on for a couple of years, but even after consulting many doctors and having many tests performed no one could find what was wrong. He dies never knowing he had cancer, an illness he feared getting. He died without seeing published this marvelous biography written by his son, but not before it was finished. The copy I read was a re-issue with an updated forward by John Lahr, whose love for his father shines through. John Lahr himself is a famed theater critic and author of several award winning books, mostly biographies of either individuals (Tennessee Williams for example, and Dame Edna) or of the theater itself. I will read anything this man has written, he is so good, so engaging.
Yes, there were moments where the reading felt as if here was just a little too much minutiae about the development of a show or Bert's thought process in developing a performance. But that's also where it is a valuable reference for anyone who performs in or loves theater comedy. Those moments of feeling bogged down in detail are quickly forgotten when you whiz through sections like the making of 'Wizard of Oz' and development of 'Waiting for Godot', or the difficulties Bert faced in the French farce technique of 'Hotel Paradiso' (French farce is scripted physical comedy whereas Bert's comedy was improvisational or developed out of the text not the stage directions in the play - a difference I never knew or understood before and which explains why so few French farces are performed today -it's a style of comedy that is obsolete).
I found this ebook by accident and borrowed it from NYPL in early March, thinking, wrongly, that I would have time to read it while finishing Proust. Well between Proust and pandemic, I kept renewing it every 3 weeks until now. In that time, no one else put in a demand for it. I'm hoping at least a few people will now read this gem.
Everyone knows and loves Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion from 'The Wizard of Oz'. He speaks to all of us, touching our hearts, young and old.
When the Cowardly Lion admits that he lacks courage, everybody’s heart is out to him. He must be somebody who embodies all his pathos, sweetness, and yet puts on the comic bravura. ... Bert had that quality to such a wonderful degree. It was in his face. It was in his walk. It was in himself.
Bert Lahr is often cited as the greatest American comedian ever. He was also the last of the generation whose comedy was developed in the worlds of burlesque and vaudeville - highly physical relying most on body and face to cause laughter, less on words and intellectual subtlety, although inventive word-play was critical and one of Bert's gifts. But underlying Bert's physical and verbal comedy was a great sadness and pathos, and that's what made it memorable. Born at the very end of the 20th Century, growing up in poverty in the German/Jewish Yorkville section of Manhattan (now an enclave of the Upper Middle Class and well-to-do), entering the performance world at the age of 15, Bert never lost that sense of imminent doom, of struggle to survive, experienced in his childhood. It was in the very core of his being, informing both personal and professional lives. Every single one of his performances reflects that -- from his early days in burlesque through his final acting days in films and commercials (he was the Lay's Potato Chip spokes person in the 60's - "can't eat just one"). You can see it even in his Cowardly Lion.
Bert always had artistic hopes and feelings; but the life he was given squelched that. His comedy was always conscious of a lack of privilege. He wants to be the artist; he wants to have the vignette of the enlightened guy. He knows he can never attain it; and so he laughs it off. The audience laughs with him, while he’s slipping on an intellectual banana peel.
Bert was a uniquely focused performer, working harder and longer and more intently than anyone on his routines. He was intent on being acclaimed but also on making money. He'd take roles just to make money, even if he knew the script was poor, because he saw something in it, believed he could overcome the weaknesses, and he was being paid well. He frequently described himself as 'being in it for the money'. In his personal life, he was aloof, remote, often depressed and unable to interact. He isolated himself from his family, intent on his crossword puzzles, scripts, own worries and anxieties. Bert was a difficult demanding performer -- the bane of many directors -- because he required a lot of attention -- to assuage his anxieties, his worry (he worried constantly about every little detail of the show, the performance), his demands to change scripts and staging, his insistance on working non-stop hour after hour. And yet, those same directors saluted him as the best and deserving of the attention. Lahr was incredibly self-absorbed, not 'seeing' his first wife's mental illness for too long yet feeling guilty throughout the remainder of his life for not seeing it and even contributing perhaps to it. Today he'd be described as suffering from OCD, maybe even bi-polar. During his lifetime, he was essentially considered a gifted artist, one allowed his eccentricities. His second family (this son John Lahr is the author of this biography) always knew he loved them even if he was not vocal or demonstrative. He was always worrying and fretting when he was not working or anticipating a project. He was only really happy working.
Bert essentially left home and joined burlesque, performing in skits on the boards, gradually honing skills, routines, and even gimmicks that he carried over into vaudeville as burlesque died, then onto the Broadway stage in musical reviews put on by Ziegfeld and others. He became a headliner and in the late 1930s, was offered a role in a movie in 1938 and moved to Hollywood, convinced this was where his future success rested. After making 'Wizard of Oz' in 1939, he expected to be in high demand in the movies but it didn't happen -- because he'd been a lion, not himself. He moved the family back to NY and Broadway where he stayed, occasionally taking another movie role but mostly sticking to live theater and commercials/television work (he did many of his famous routines from burlesque and vaudeville on the Ed Sullivan Show for example, which was filmed in NYC.). One of his greatest performance opportunities, and perhaps the one I wish I'd been able to see (I was 2 years old when he gave it) was his originating Estragon in Samuel Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot' in the premier performance of the play in the US, playing opposite first Tom Ewell (Seven Year Itch) as Vladimir in the failed Miami production then opposite E.G. Marshall. I have seen many many productions of this play, have read it in both French and English, yet reading John Lahr's chapter on it was revelatory. It should be required reading for everyone who has studied or attended 'Waiting for Godot.' I cannot imagine anyone more perfect that Bert Lahr to perform Estragon.
Bert described the play as follows: When I first read it, I realized that this was not stark tragedy. Beneath it was tremendous humor, two men trying to amuse themselves on earth by playing jokes and little games. And that was my conception. ... Lahr understood the play not from a literary point of view but strictly from a theatrical one.
And here is where the genius of John Lahr's biography really shines; it's not just a biography of his father, it is also a biography of the comedian as artist and the comic threater from burlesque through Beckett and beyond. He details the shows, skits, actors, directors, studio heads, and even the critics. It should be required reading for anyone performing live comedy or in musical comedies. Interestingly, in spite of his self-absorption in performance, or maybe because of it, and his hunger, his desperate need to get the biggest - and last - laugh, Bert was a mentor.
He taught me about the craft of comedy,” says Miss Lansbury. “He taught me about the signposts and props that hold up a funny situation and how you build it. The rules have to do with movement. (yes, that is Angela Lansbury, whose first stage appearance was in the Feydeau French Farce 'Hotel Paradiso' in which Bert starred).
Bert Lahr died in December 1967, while filming 'The Night They Raided Minsky's'. He'd been suffering periodic mysterious fevers off and on for a couple of years, but even after consulting many doctors and having many tests performed no one could find what was wrong. He dies never knowing he had cancer, an illness he feared getting. He died without seeing published this marvelous biography written by his son, but not before it was finished. The copy I read was a re-issue with an updated forward by John Lahr, whose love for his father shines through. John Lahr himself is a famed theater critic and author of several award winning books, mostly biographies of either individuals (Tennessee Williams for example, and Dame Edna) or of the theater itself. I will read anything this man has written, he is so good, so engaging.
Yes, there were moments where the reading felt as if here was just a little too much minutiae about the development of a show or Bert's thought process in developing a performance. But that's also where it is a valuable reference for anyone who performs in or loves theater comedy. Those moments of feeling bogged down in detail are quickly forgotten when you whiz through sections like the making of 'Wizard of Oz' and development of 'Waiting for Godot', or the difficulties Bert faced in the French farce technique of 'Hotel Paradiso' (French farce is scripted physical comedy whereas Bert's comedy was improvisational or developed out of the text not the stage directions in the play - a difference I never knew or understood before and which explains why so few French farces are performed today -it's a style of comedy that is obsolete).
I found this ebook by accident and borrowed it from NYPL in early March, thinking, wrongly, that I would have time to read it while finishing Proust. Well between Proust and pandemic, I kept renewing it every 3 weeks until now. In that time, no one else put in a demand for it. I'm hoping at least a few people will now read this gem.
aftanith's review against another edition
2.0
A copy of this book was provided free via Netgalley for the purpose of review.
I was quite excited to read Notes on a Cowardly Lion, but unfortunately I found myself somewhat disappointed.
Most people know Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion from the famous film adaptation of The Wizard of Oz. In that role, his character is--as the name implies--not the most ferocious or intimidating of beasts. He's hilarious, really, and so I think I must have been expecting to see that reflected in this retelling of Lahr's life. But the vast majority of what I read was far from hilarious.
When deciding whether or not to read this book, I advise caution. If you're a fan of early Hollywood and are willing to see its stars with all their human flaws, this is the perfect book to help you explore Bert Lahr's life. Written by his son, it recounts his entire showbusiness career and much of his family life. And it certainly isn't shy about the shortcomings of its subject; Bert Lahr is presented with surprisingly little bias, considering who the author is. That's certainly admirable.
Unfortunately, it backfired on me. I, regrettably, am not one of those aforementioned Hollywood fans. I prefer to keep my creators--my actors and actresses, my musicians, my authors--a mystery; I've found that in my case, becoming aware of their flaws detracts from my enjoyment of their works. Notes on a Cowardly Lion reinforced this for me like nothing else has; by the time I was finished the book, I'd developed a strong dislike for Bert Lahr as a person... which is certainly hard to reconcile with my favorable opinion of Bert Lahr as the Coward Lion.
That's not to say that I didn't enjoy Notes on a Cowardly Lion. It truly is a fascinating book, offering priceless glimpses into a world I knew nothing about--vaudeville, Broadway during the first half of the 20th century, early Hollywood. I adored the chapter about The Wizard of Oz. I delighted in the peripheral name-dropping of some of my favorite early celebrities.
If you're the kind of person willing to embrace artists as people with all their flaws, I definitely recommend Notes on a Cowardly Lion to you. If you're not, you might be better served with a non-biographical look at Bert Lahr's world.
I was quite excited to read Notes on a Cowardly Lion, but unfortunately I found myself somewhat disappointed.
Most people know Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion from the famous film adaptation of The Wizard of Oz. In that role, his character is--as the name implies--not the most ferocious or intimidating of beasts. He's hilarious, really, and so I think I must have been expecting to see that reflected in this retelling of Lahr's life. But the vast majority of what I read was far from hilarious.
When deciding whether or not to read this book, I advise caution. If you're a fan of early Hollywood and are willing to see its stars with all their human flaws, this is the perfect book to help you explore Bert Lahr's life. Written by his son, it recounts his entire showbusiness career and much of his family life. And it certainly isn't shy about the shortcomings of its subject; Bert Lahr is presented with surprisingly little bias, considering who the author is. That's certainly admirable.
Unfortunately, it backfired on me. I, regrettably, am not one of those aforementioned Hollywood fans. I prefer to keep my creators--my actors and actresses, my musicians, my authors--a mystery; I've found that in my case, becoming aware of their flaws detracts from my enjoyment of their works. Notes on a Cowardly Lion reinforced this for me like nothing else has; by the time I was finished the book, I'd developed a strong dislike for Bert Lahr as a person... which is certainly hard to reconcile with my favorable opinion of Bert Lahr as the Coward Lion.
That's not to say that I didn't enjoy Notes on a Cowardly Lion. It truly is a fascinating book, offering priceless glimpses into a world I knew nothing about--vaudeville, Broadway during the first half of the 20th century, early Hollywood. I adored the chapter about The Wizard of Oz. I delighted in the peripheral name-dropping of some of my favorite early celebrities.
If you're the kind of person willing to embrace artists as people with all their flaws, I definitely recommend Notes on a Cowardly Lion to you. If you're not, you might be better served with a non-biographical look at Bert Lahr's world.
attytheresa's review against another edition
5.0
I'm going to rhapsodize here for a bit, so just settle in.
Everyone knows and loves Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion from 'The Wizard of Oz'. He speaks to all of us, touching our hearts, young and old.
When the Cowardly Lion admits that he lacks courage, everybody’s heart is out to him. He must be somebody who embodies all his pathos, sweetness, and yet puts on the comic bravura. ... Bert had that quality to such a wonderful degree. It was in his face. It was in his walk. It was in himself.
Bert Lahr is often cited as the greatest American comedian ever. He was also the last of the generation whose comedy was developed in the worlds of burlesque and vaudeville - highly physical relying most on body and face to cause laughter, less on words and intellectual subtlety, although inventive word-play was critical and one of Bert's gifts. But underlying Bert's physical and verbal comedy was a great sadness and pathos, and that's what made it memorable. Born at the very end of the 20th Century, growing up in poverty in the German/Jewish Yorkville section of Manhattan (now an enclave of the Upper Middle Class and well-to-do), entering the performance world at the age of 15, Bert never lost that sense of imminent doom, of struggle to survive, experienced in his childhood. It was in the very core of his being, informing both personal and professional lives. Every single one of his performances reflects that -- from his early days in burlesque through his final acting days in films and commercials (he was the Lay's Potato Chip spokes person in the 60's - "can't eat just one"). You can see it even in his Cowardly Lion.
Bert always had artistic hopes and feelings; but the life he was given squelched that. His comedy was always conscious of a lack of privilege. He wants to be the artist; he wants to have the vignette of the enlightened guy. He knows he can never attain it; and so he laughs it off. The audience laughs with him, while he’s slipping on an intellectual banana peel.
Bert was a uniquely focused performer, working harder and longer and more intently than anyone on his routines. He was intent on being acclaimed but also on making money. He'd take roles just to make money, even if he knew the script was poor, because he saw something in it, believed he could overcome the weaknesses, and he was being paid well. He frequently described himself as 'being in it for the money'. In his personal life, he was aloof, remote, often depressed and unable to interact. He isolated himself from his family, intent on his crossword puzzles, scripts, own worries and anxieties. Bert was a difficult demanding performer -- the bane of many directors -- because he required a lot of attention -- to assuage his anxieties, his worry (he worried constantly about every little detail of the show, the performance), his demands to change scripts and staging, his insistance on working non-stop hour after hour. And yet, those same directors saluted him as the best and deserving of the attention. Lahr was incredibly self-absorbed, not 'seeing' his first wife's mental illness for too long yet feeling guilty throughout the remainder of his life for not seeing it and even contributing perhaps to it. Today he'd be described as suffering from OCD, maybe even bi-polar. During his lifetime, he was essentially considered a gifted artist, one allowed his eccentricities. His second family (this son John Lahr is the author of this biography) always knew he loved them even if he was not vocal or demonstrative. He was always worrying and fretting when he was not working or anticipating a project. He was only really happy working.
Bert essentially left home and joined burlesque, performing in skits on the boards, gradually honing skills, routines, and even gimmicks that he carried over into vaudeville as burlesque died, then onto the Broadway stage in musical reviews put on by Ziegfeld and others. He became a headliner and in the late 1930s, was offered a role in a movie in 1938 and moved to Hollywood, convinced this was where his future success rested. After making 'Wizard of Oz' in 1939, he expected to be in high demand in the movies but it didn't happen -- because he'd been a lion, not himself. He moved the family back to NY and Broadway where he stayed, occasionally taking another movie role but mostly sticking to live theater and commercials/television work (he did many of his famous routines from burlesque and vaudeville on the Ed Sullivan Show for example, which was filmed in NYC.). One of his greatest performance opportunities, and perhaps the one I wish I'd been able to see (I was 2 years old when he gave it) was his originating Estragon in Samuel Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot' in the premier performance of the play in the US, playing opposite first Tom Ewell (Seven Year Itch) as Vladimir in the failed Miami production then opposite E.G. Marshall. I have seen many many productions of this play, have read it in both French and English, yet reading John Lahr's chapter on it was revelatory. It should be required reading for everyone who has studied or attended 'Waiting for Godot.' I cannot imagine anyone more perfect that Bert Lahr to perform Estragon.
Bert described the play as follows: When I first read it, I realized that this was not stark tragedy. Beneath it was tremendous humor, two men trying to amuse themselves on earth by playing jokes and little games. And that was my conception. ... Lahr understood the play not from a literary point of view but strictly from a theatrical one.
And here is where the genius of John Lahr's biography really shines; it's not just a biography of his father, it is also a biography of the comedian as artist and the comic threater from burlesque through Beckett and beyond. He details the shows, skits, actors, directors, studio heads, and even the critics. It should be required reading for anyone performing live comedy or in musical comedies. Interestingly, in spite of his self-absorption in performance, or maybe because of it, and his hunger, his desperate need to get the biggest - and last - laugh, Bert was a mentor.
He taught me about the craft of comedy,” says Miss Lansbury. “He taught me about the signposts and props that hold up a funny situation and how you build it. The rules have to do with movement. (yes, that is Angela Lansbury, whose first stage appearance was in the Feydeau French Farce 'Hotel Paradiso' in which Bert starred).
Bert Lahr died in December 1967, while filming 'The Night They Raided Minsky's'. He'd been suffering periodic mysterious fevers off and on for a couple of years, but even after consulting many doctors and having many tests performed no one could find what was wrong. He dies never knowing he had cancer, an illness he feared getting. He died without seeing published this marvelous biography written by his son, but not before it was finished. The copy I read was a re-issue with an updated forward by John Lahr, whose love for his father shines through. John Lahr himself is a famed theater critic and author of several award winning books, mostly biographies of either individuals (Tennessee Williams for example, and Dame Edna) or of the theater itself. I will read anything this man has written, he is so good, so engaging.
Yes, there were moments where the reading felt as if here was just a little too much minutiae about the development of a show or Bert's thought process in developing a performance. But that's also where it is a valuable reference for anyone who performs in or loves theater comedy. Those moments of feeling bogged down in detail are quickly forgotten when you whiz through sections like the making of 'Wizard of Oz' and development of 'Waiting for Godot', or the difficulties Bert faced in the French farce technique of 'Hotel Paradiso' (French farce is scripted physical comedy whereas Bert's comedy was improvisational or developed out of the text not the stage directions in the play - a difference I never knew or understood before and which explains why so few French farces are performed today -it's a style of comedy that is obsolete).
I found this ebook by accident and borrowed it from NYPL in early March, thinking, wrongly, that I would have time to read it while finishing Proust. Well between Proust and pandemic, I kept renewing it every 3 weeks until now. In that time, no one else put in a demand for it. I'm hoping at least a few people will now read this gem.
Everyone knows and loves Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion from 'The Wizard of Oz'. He speaks to all of us, touching our hearts, young and old.
When the Cowardly Lion admits that he lacks courage, everybody’s heart is out to him. He must be somebody who embodies all his pathos, sweetness, and yet puts on the comic bravura. ... Bert had that quality to such a wonderful degree. It was in his face. It was in his walk. It was in himself.
Bert Lahr is often cited as the greatest American comedian ever. He was also the last of the generation whose comedy was developed in the worlds of burlesque and vaudeville - highly physical relying most on body and face to cause laughter, less on words and intellectual subtlety, although inventive word-play was critical and one of Bert's gifts. But underlying Bert's physical and verbal comedy was a great sadness and pathos, and that's what made it memorable. Born at the very end of the 20th Century, growing up in poverty in the German/Jewish Yorkville section of Manhattan (now an enclave of the Upper Middle Class and well-to-do), entering the performance world at the age of 15, Bert never lost that sense of imminent doom, of struggle to survive, experienced in his childhood. It was in the very core of his being, informing both personal and professional lives. Every single one of his performances reflects that -- from his early days in burlesque through his final acting days in films and commercials (he was the Lay's Potato Chip spokes person in the 60's - "can't eat just one"). You can see it even in his Cowardly Lion.
Bert always had artistic hopes and feelings; but the life he was given squelched that. His comedy was always conscious of a lack of privilege. He wants to be the artist; he wants to have the vignette of the enlightened guy. He knows he can never attain it; and so he laughs it off. The audience laughs with him, while he’s slipping on an intellectual banana peel.
Bert was a uniquely focused performer, working harder and longer and more intently than anyone on his routines. He was intent on being acclaimed but also on making money. He'd take roles just to make money, even if he knew the script was poor, because he saw something in it, believed he could overcome the weaknesses, and he was being paid well. He frequently described himself as 'being in it for the money'. In his personal life, he was aloof, remote, often depressed and unable to interact. He isolated himself from his family, intent on his crossword puzzles, scripts, own worries and anxieties. Bert was a difficult demanding performer -- the bane of many directors -- because he required a lot of attention -- to assuage his anxieties, his worry (he worried constantly about every little detail of the show, the performance), his demands to change scripts and staging, his insistance on working non-stop hour after hour. And yet, those same directors saluted him as the best and deserving of the attention. Lahr was incredibly self-absorbed, not 'seeing' his first wife's mental illness for too long yet feeling guilty throughout the remainder of his life for not seeing it and even contributing perhaps to it. Today he'd be described as suffering from OCD, maybe even bi-polar. During his lifetime, he was essentially considered a gifted artist, one allowed his eccentricities. His second family (this son John Lahr is the author of this biography) always knew he loved them even if he was not vocal or demonstrative. He was always worrying and fretting when he was not working or anticipating a project. He was only really happy working.
Bert essentially left home and joined burlesque, performing in skits on the boards, gradually honing skills, routines, and even gimmicks that he carried over into vaudeville as burlesque died, then onto the Broadway stage in musical reviews put on by Ziegfeld and others. He became a headliner and in the late 1930s, was offered a role in a movie in 1938 and moved to Hollywood, convinced this was where his future success rested. After making 'Wizard of Oz' in 1939, he expected to be in high demand in the movies but it didn't happen -- because he'd been a lion, not himself. He moved the family back to NY and Broadway where he stayed, occasionally taking another movie role but mostly sticking to live theater and commercials/television work (he did many of his famous routines from burlesque and vaudeville on the Ed Sullivan Show for example, which was filmed in NYC.). One of his greatest performance opportunities, and perhaps the one I wish I'd been able to see (I was 2 years old when he gave it) was his originating Estragon in Samuel Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot' in the premier performance of the play in the US, playing opposite first Tom Ewell (Seven Year Itch) as Vladimir in the failed Miami production then opposite E.G. Marshall. I have seen many many productions of this play, have read it in both French and English, yet reading John Lahr's chapter on it was revelatory. It should be required reading for everyone who has studied or attended 'Waiting for Godot.' I cannot imagine anyone more perfect that Bert Lahr to perform Estragon.
Bert described the play as follows: When I first read it, I realized that this was not stark tragedy. Beneath it was tremendous humor, two men trying to amuse themselves on earth by playing jokes and little games. And that was my conception. ... Lahr understood the play not from a literary point of view but strictly from a theatrical one.
And here is where the genius of John Lahr's biography really shines; it's not just a biography of his father, it is also a biography of the comedian as artist and the comic threater from burlesque through Beckett and beyond. He details the shows, skits, actors, directors, studio heads, and even the critics. It should be required reading for anyone performing live comedy or in musical comedies. Interestingly, in spite of his self-absorption in performance, or maybe because of it, and his hunger, his desperate need to get the biggest - and last - laugh, Bert was a mentor.
He taught me about the craft of comedy,” says Miss Lansbury. “He taught me about the signposts and props that hold up a funny situation and how you build it. The rules have to do with movement. (yes, that is Angela Lansbury, whose first stage appearance was in the Feydeau French Farce 'Hotel Paradiso' in which Bert starred).
Bert Lahr died in December 1967, while filming 'The Night They Raided Minsky's'. He'd been suffering periodic mysterious fevers off and on for a couple of years, but even after consulting many doctors and having many tests performed no one could find what was wrong. He dies never knowing he had cancer, an illness he feared getting. He died without seeing published this marvelous biography written by his son, but not before it was finished. The copy I read was a re-issue with an updated forward by John Lahr, whose love for his father shines through. John Lahr himself is a famed theater critic and author of several award winning books, mostly biographies of either individuals (Tennessee Williams for example, and Dame Edna) or of the theater itself. I will read anything this man has written, he is so good, so engaging.
Yes, there were moments where the reading felt as if here was just a little too much minutiae about the development of a show or Bert's thought process in developing a performance. But that's also where it is a valuable reference for anyone who performs in or loves theater comedy. Those moments of feeling bogged down in detail are quickly forgotten when you whiz through sections like the making of 'Wizard of Oz' and development of 'Waiting for Godot', or the difficulties Bert faced in the French farce technique of 'Hotel Paradiso' (French farce is scripted physical comedy whereas Bert's comedy was improvisational or developed out of the text not the stage directions in the play - a difference I never knew or understood before and which explains why so few French farces are performed today -it's a style of comedy that is obsolete).
I found this ebook by accident and borrowed it from NYPL in early March, thinking, wrongly, that I would have time to read it while finishing Proust. Well between Proust and pandemic, I kept renewing it every 3 weeks until now. In that time, no one else put in a demand for it. I'm hoping at least a few people will now read this gem.
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