... Doing justice to a detached personality P.G. Wodehouse, by Frances Donaldson (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, £10.95) Lady Donaldson's book comes trailing along a year behind the other volumes published in 1981 to celebrate the Wodehouse centenary, so it is necessary that this one should include material that the other testaments and testimonials have not got. One aspect is that Frances Donaldson, a ...

... Victim of Hollywood Lulu in Hollywood, by Louise Brooks (Hamish Hamilton, {8.95) The late Kenneth Tynan rediscovered Louise Brooks, bringing to our attention a long-forgotten face and reminding us of a talent that once threatened to light up Hollywood. Hers was a very striking face, with the expression of a sophisticated waif, and allied with a natural grace for she was a dancer who trained ...

... Solid as rock Who's Who in Rock Music, revised edition compiled and edited by William York (Arthur Barker, £8.95 paperback) York set himself one of the most gargantuan tasks of all time when he first brought out this book in 1978, and the passage of another four years has not made it any easier, the volume now con taining over 12,000 entries. The selection process seems to have been any artist ...

... The evolution of dancing U Ballet, by Andre and Vladimir Hofman (Editions Bordas, Paris) I REVIEWED recently in these columns a sumptuous coffee-table book purporting to give in one volume the whole history of opera. It was a delight to look at, but not entirely adequate in its letterpress. The companion volume on ballet is no less magnificent in its iconography, but more satisfactory in its.. ...

... Not so trivial! Trivial Fond Records by Leslie Howard, edited by Ronald Howard (William Kimber. £9.50) The late Leslie Howard must go down in history as surely the actor most chronicled by his own family. Following his daughter Ruth Leslie Howard's biography A Quite Remarkable Father, son Ronald filled in a number of personal gaps in his recent In Search Of My Father and has unearthed. ...

... A tribute to scholarship The Meininger Theatre 1774-1928, by Steven DeHart (UMI Research Press; Bowker Publishing Company, £27.50) The Meininger Theatre is largely unknown to the average theatre enthusiast and even the serious student might well have to scratch his head before attempting an explanation of its significance. It is therefore a tribute to American scholarship that Steven DeHart ...

... Strong flavour P.S. We Love You the Beatles Story 1962-3, by Tony Barrow (Mirror Books, {1.25) Twenty years after the release of Love Me Do, charting much better than it did on its initial issue, comes the latest in the series of Beatles' memorabilia and nostalgia, with pictures which prove the humble origins of the world's greatest supergroup. Not a long read, and aimed at the fans rather ...

... Superstition and 'Scottish Play' The Curse of Macbeth: with other theatrical superstitions and ghosts, by Richard Haggett (Picton Publishing, £7.95) Kicnara Huggett s diverting miscellany of superstitions connected with the state is a delight. If you have to remember rabbit's feet, teddy bears, old pieces of even older dressing gowns, photographs of one's nearest and dearest, telegrams and ...

... Academic skills applied to entertainment American Popular Stage Music 1860-1880, by Deane L. Root (UMI Research Press, Bowker Publishing r.n f>l IT IS sometimes stated that The Black Crook was the first American musical. The truth is that it could more accurately be described as the first Broadway success, though in 1868 the New York theatre was not concentrated in one area but spread from ...

... The Bard's theatre Shakespeare and His Theatre, by John Russell Brown, illustrated by David Gentleman (Kestrel Books, £5.50) CHARMING ILLUSTRATIONS by David Gentleman, all of them in colour, bring a charming look and flavour to John Russell Brown's story of the Elizabethan Globe, where so much of Shakespeare's work was accomplished. Russell Brown describes many aspects of the Globe: how it ...

... on Record, this book is essential for anybody collecting big band records, listing as it does currently available albums (which are mainly, of course, compilations) and those issued in recent years which might be obtainable from specialist dealers. But it is more than that. In effect, it is a history of big bands, for each listing is preceded by a biography of the leader concerned and there ...

... early death in August 1977, has waited until this book for an analytical and dispassionate assessment of his work. One feels that, despite the millions of words that have been poured out in print on the subject, the complete pic ture of his true personality, as opposed to the meticulously cultivated myth has hitherto been lacking. Albert Goldman, after exhaustive research, has come up with ...