... Marlene Dietrich My Life (Weiden- feld Nicolson £14.95) Dietrich is almost as old as our century and now lives as a recluse in Paris. Her career is unique in that, like Garland, she succeeded in both cinema and on stage, but unlike Garland she has remained always in apparent perfect control of her public image, smoky and glamorous. Only Garbo has perhaps succeeded in controlling the public ...

... The Death of Rhythm and Blues, by Nelson Georse (Omnibus Press. £12.95) We are all vaguely aware that pop music is a business, and is not necessarily to do with giving people what they want. But it takes a Nelson George, generally considered the best black music journalist in the States, to show us just what a business it is. His theme, by and large, is the taking over of black music by the ...

... When the Music's Over: the Story of Political Pop, by Robin Denselow (Faber and Faber, £14.99) Some may think that politics has no place in pop music, and it is true that it has not contributed a lot musically. But as the most potent force in modern culture, it was inevitable that it should be used for political purposes, though there does seem to be a considerable difference between pop in ...

... a study of a group of plays which appeared during one theatrical season in London. Elegant and informative in style it is written with clarity and a mass of research and textual analysis is conde nsed succinctly. Because theatre is uniquely placed to reflect the external world it has always served as an instrument of propaganda, but generally, until the period covered by this book, ...

... for its author is the mece of Teddy Knox, a mainstay of the Crazy Gang with his partner Jimmy Nervo. She spent some of her teenage years in that Angmering estate which could have been named Showbiz-on-Sea, as most of the Gang lived either in or near it, as did George Black, who presented the pre-war Crazy Gang shows, Jack Hylton, who pro duced all the post-war ones, and the Gang's agent ...

... 'MR MUSIC' And The Brezhnev Mafia SIDNEY VAUNCEZ reports on a bizarre book and its extraordinary author WITH THE widening influence of glasnost, some extraordinary stories are emerging from the Soviet Union. None more strange than the tale Stanley Laudan has to tell in 'Galina Brezhnev and her gypsy lover' published this week by Quartet Books. It started as a novel Stanly tells me. I wrote ...

... Harrap's Book of Film Directors and their rilms, by Alison J. r timer and Andre Golay (Harrap, £14.95) This book, listing over 26,000 films made by over 3,300 directors, is a complement to other film reference books, which generally list only the most significant films in a director's output. This one includes practically every known English language direc tor, and it is noticeable that the ...

... British Theatre Yearbook 1990. edited by David Lemmon (Christ opher Helm Publishers Ltd, £12.95) It is good to see that this book, which first appeared last year, looks like lasting, for it is an excellent guide to the year in the theatre, not just the West End and the major subsidised companies, but the best of the fringe, including the Gate, Latchmere and New End, and the regional theatres. ...

... the ravishing Garance in Les Enfants du Paradis and of other films directed by Marcel Came, but the largest part of her career was devoted to the theatre, where she created, among countless other pans, that of Blanche in the French version of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. But her long life would be fascinating even if she had not been an immensely gifted and beautiful ...

... Life of variety for Joan and Jackie's father Peter Hepple on the autobiography of retired, distinguished agent and manager Joe Collins For some years now Joe Collins has become used to being interviewed and introduced as Joan Collins' father--or Jackie Collins if you are a literary type--but those of us who have been around a while are inclined to think of Joan and Jackie as Joe Collins' ...

... Awesome Welles Orson Welles: the Rise and Fall of an American Genius, by Charles Higham (New English Library, £12.95) Orson Welles was perhaps more of a prodigy than a genius, for at 16, already possessed of an imposing physique and with precious little acting experience, he bombarded his way into the Gate Theatre, Dublin and persuaded those doughty actor-managers Michael MacLiammoir and ...

... a glamorous film star was nearing its inevitable end, she did not throw in the towel. At the age of fifty-two, she started on another, not as well known in this country, but highly successful in North and South America, France, Germany, Austria, Japan and even in countries behind the Iron Curtain. Trained in her youth as a musician, she had always been able to put over a song for all it was ...