... with actresses, and one of the main impressions is of the varying routes these actresses took to reach what is in all cases an established niche in the profession. Only one, Eileen Atkins, had a mother who really wanted her daugh ter to go on the stage hui as a singer and dancer rather than a serious actress. Most of the others made a con- ?cious dedsior to gc into the theatre, out from ...

... HOW FORTUNATELY coincidental it is that three books recently published about the theatre cover between them three of its most important strands- the establishment, the fringe and the committed. What they all have in ;ommon, of course, is a shortage jf money, except that on the Tinge it does not matter quite so nuch, love will find a way. Peter Lewis' The National: a Dream Made Concrete ...

... Denison must be the most fully chronicled theatrical married couple of modem times, including the jointly-written The Actor and his World, two autobiographies by him self, Overture and Beginners and Double Act and now the eagerly awaited one by herself which, along with 24 other books, one of which, The Glanville Women the story of a theatrical family is at least part autobi ographical, is a ...

... Way to go PETER HEPPLE on the latest literature BROADCASTERS, it would appear, are even more likely to write books than actors, and two of our best-loved voices have shot into print recently, though, neither, I am glad to say, have finally hung up their headphones. In the case ot bnan Johnston he is far from being a novice at the writing trade. Down Your Way (Methuen, £14.99) is his 11th book, ...

... JAZZ MARSHALL W STEARN'S The Story of Jazz (Oxford University ress, £6.99 paperback) was first published in 1956, and it says a good deal for its thoroughness and scholarship that no revision has been deemed necessary for this, the first paperback edition for 20 years. Naturally, a great deal has happened in jazz over the past 35 years, but by the same token little that is startling has come ...

... age would do it (King Joh, Ppl 12) In the light of the ESC's world tour of the Histories and Adrian Noble's production of The Plantagenets, it is easy to overlook the importance of the 1963/64 pio neer production of The Wars Of The Roses by John Barton and Peter Hall. The line quoted above serves as a handy epigraph to this daring event. In many respects, this was an iron age, or at least ...

... band era is greatly enriched by the publication of this book, a labour of love if ever there was one. Most books about this period concentrate on the personalities-the bandleaders and vocalists. This one is based on the songs they played, but along the way there is a great deal of information about the artists as well, not least their dates of birth and death. Many of the songs the dance bands ...

... MAX JAFFA, a man about whom a few jokes have been made in his time, has had an extraordinarily interesting career. Bom to a Jewish family in the West End, and in those days West End Jews, while not necessarily higher up the social ladder, were a different breed from the East End variety he had a brilliant career at the Guildhall School, winning all the violin prizes going, but found himself ...

... Micheal MacLummoir was without doubt one of the world's greatest and most flamboyant actors-even though in this major biography it is somewhat alarming to discover that he was no Irishman at all-but born in Willesden, North London. Still he kept the image up until his death in Dublin in March 1978 which robbed the international theatre scene of one of its best loved and most endunng ...

... BOOKS THEATRE reference books are thin on the ground this year, but there is a new edition of the Bloomsbury Theatre Guide (£14.99), by Trevor R. Griffiths and Carole Woddis. This struck me three years ago as one of the best of the directories, mainly because it has a strong bias towards contemporary theatre and leads the casual reader into a series of connec tions, so that it is virtually ...

... Getting a little extra help Not at the Moment, by John Dodd (published by the author, 121 St Benedict's Close, London SW17 9NX, £5.99) You might be surprised to learn how many enquiries we get about becoming a film extra, so John Dodd's enterprise in publishing this book ought to pay more div idends than he might expect. So how does one become a film extra? The short answer is that one joins ...

... NO NEW theatre reference books unless one counts The London Theatre Scene (Frank Cook Publications, £4.95) and The Pocket Guide to London Theatre, by George Kimball (Xanadu, £4.99), both of which cover the same ground, namely a handy guide to all the London theatres. The first has seatmg plans of all the major London theatres and concert halls; the second does not have so many, or such ...