... A View of the English Stage by Kenneth Tynan has been paperbacked by Paladin at £1.75. This welcome edition brings Tynan s universally-acclaimed book within a greater range of pockets, and now all good bookshelves ought to have a copy Always provocative. Tynan's influence on theatre continues to exert itself unlike almost any other critic past or present How To Make It In Hollywood Wende ...

... The Lite of Noel Coward. Cole Lesley. Jonathan Cape. £7.50. AN INTIMATE friend of Noel Coward for many years, as well as a house-servant and secretary. Cole Lesley has written a life of the Master which is highly readable, and incidentally, provides much information which will be valuable start- ing-off material for Coward graphers of the future. One could hardly expect the book to be objec ...

... Das Braune Buch--Richard Wagner, edited by Joachim Bergfeld. (Atlantis Verlag, Zurich, Sw. Fr. 48) Of the writing of many books about Richard Wagner there is no end. and they may well become, as the Scripture says, a weariness of the flesh. But the one under review is something else again nothing less than an intimate journal he kept from 1865 to 1882, the year before his death, and never ...

... Reducing music to words is, as every critic knows, the devil's own impossible task. No amount of print can begin to convey the reality of a symphony, for instance, however much one may quote themes or describe orchestration. With an opera rather more can be done: one can give a synopsis of the plot, mention arias and highlights, add a bit Of historical background and analyse the composer's ...

... The Unnatural Scene a study in Shakespearian tragedy. Michael Long (Methuen paper. £2.95; hardback £6.50) This scholarly and original study from the University Paperbacks series which brings out the Arden Shakespeare editions, will surprise many in demystifying the Bard. The schoolroom complexities of plot, allegory, symbolism, history and so on, are replaced by a clear delinea tion of modern ...

... Ragtime. E. L. Doctorow. (Macmil- lan £3.50) This novel has sold a quarter of a million copies in America. The paperback rights have been sold in the U.S.A. for the record sum of $1,850 million (£900,000). It is already a best-seller in Great Britain so nothing I write can alter these amazing claims made by the lishers. It might well be that the author will disagree with everything I say ...

... Judy Garland Anne Edwards (Constable, £4.50) This, the last in the recent cascade of books about Judy Garland, is also the best, because although it is not as exhaustive (nor as exhausting) as Gerold Frank's monumental volume and although it covers the same ground, it has been written with a combination of detachment and concern that makes interesting reading. It is not until somewhere near ...

... Erte: Things I Remember: An Autobiography (Peter Owen, £7.50). This giant of twentieth century stage and fashion design tells a curious story: in the real sense of memoirs, he recalls impressions of countries and people as well as the events that befell him. His impressions show no great insight or originality, nor is the book a literary masterpiece; but for all that, it bounces with life. ...

... possible, briefly to feel some sym pathy for the near demented noble man as he flails the air before the airy nonchalance of the man he believes to have stolen his son Hyde is particularly good on Wilde before and after the climax, revealing little of comfort for those who favour retribution on those who offend. Wilde came out of his punishment a good deal more sor didly dependent upon his ...

... Writings on Dance, 1938-68. A. V. Colon (Dance Books, £3 paper, £6 cloth). DANCE AND pop music have one thing in common in that they both collect vast numbers of partisan admirers, often hysterical and usually non-performing. In the case of dance, even certain critics are not far from that lunatic fringe which pays more than due homage to the cult of personality. The late A. V. Coton was ...

... Robert William Elliston: Manager. Christopher Murray. (The Society for Theatre Research £3.50) WE HAVE another of the excellent Society for Theatre Research publications in this biography of one of our finest actors. It is especially welcome because Elliston has largely been forgotten and is neglected by writers. But in his day--he lived from 1774 to 1831--he was dered by some critics to be ...

... Flat Broke? Flat Broke: A Guide to Almost-Free Furnishing, Barbara Chandler. (Pit man, £2.95) You have to look at it line tnis, really. The book costs £2.95--and I'm neither God's gift to interior decorating, nor frantically interested in squandering my few ill-gotten-gains on 'improving' the quality of my domestic bliss--but can it put a few of those elusive green or even blue notes into ...