... Superficial look at a superstar I HAVE always thought of Gary Glitter more as a long-running acting role than a real-life rock star. Possibly his alter ego, Paul Gadd (a.k.a. Paul Raven), now feels the same way. The self-styled Leader Of The Gang's final stage name was chosen late one boozy night in 197 1 by Gadd himself and an assorted bunch of aides and mates in the bar of a posh Mayfair ...

... well as the film buffs for whom it was presumably intended, it is HalliweU's Film Guide, first pub lished ten years ago and now in its fifth edition. The Halliwell is, of course, the indefatigable Leslie, and one of his craftier ploys, for which all enthusiasts will readily forgive him, is to slightly alter the format of each edition so that we have to keep buying them. This one, for instance, ...

... Catch up on a few French lessons for theatre snobs IN THIS country we are inclined to be a bit snooty about the theatre. Even though most of us may not go to it very much, we somehow assume that our theatre is the best developed in the world, forgetting the contribution made to world theatre, not to mention opera and ballet, By rrance. The Theatre Industry in 19th Century France (Cambridge ...

... Yes, women do have a sense of humour ONE OF Macmillan's Women in Society series, Women and Laughter (£10.99) is obviously written from a feminist perspective and often gives the impression of having been devised to fit the construct. The problem is that its author, Frances Gray, Lecturer in Drama at the University of Sheffield, while demolishing satisfactorily the myth that women have no sense ...

... Practical advice from from Honest Ed ED MIRVISH is every American's dream come true. American? Surely Honest Ed is Canadian? Yes, he is, and proud of it, but he was born in Colonial Beach, Virginia, son of Russian Jewish immigrants who had gone to the States to make their fortune. They didn't but Fid did, in Toronto, to where his father had moved when Ed was nine to sell Masonic encyclopaedias ...

... The violence of The Untouchables THE third volume of Mr. Eric Barnouw's history of American broadcasting, published last week, covers the period from 1953 to the present day and puts the emphasis on the medium's effect on public issues and its imperial role in furthering American policies. While obviously written for an Amercan readership people working in British television will be ...

... ACTORS probably have more need than most for a guide listing London restaurants where it is possible to eat for under a pound, so Fuel Food by Mike Bygrave and Joan Goodman (Wildwood House. 95p) should represent a good investment Naturally enough. in this price range it helps if one has a preference for Chinese, Indian. Italian or Greek food, for English restaurants are remarkably thin on ...

... The Little Woman's Always Right. Jack Hulbert. W. H. Allen £3.75 TWO OF THE most popular and gifted of entertainers. Jack Hulbert and Cicely Courtneidge, are the joint heroes of this autobiography by Jack. They met when they were very young and became close immediately (they were in Robert Court. neidge's company). They struggled together, learned their craft together, got work together, ...

... IT IS strange, and even fortuitous, that only a couple of weeks after Theatre in Britain appeared, two more books have turned up to further plug the gap I mentioned previously. Regarding the first of these, Theatre Review '73 (W. H. Allen, £4), let me declare that this paper has a vested interest, in that the book's editor. Eric Johns, was my predecessor in my present chair and that some of ...

... Perchance to Dream: The World of Ivor Novello. Richard Rose. Leslie Frewin £4.95 AN AFFECTIONATE portrait is drawn of Ivor Novello by Richard Rose in this lavishly illustrated book. Mr Rose, an American, met Novello when the star was in the States, and they became great friends. In 1931 Rose came to London, where he was closely associated over many years? with the production ot Noveno shows. ...

... ANNE MORLEY- PRIESTMAN ONE TAKES one's life in one's hands at the moment, it would appear, by mentioning drama in education or even young people's theatre; however, a definition of this currently fraught area was one of the positive results of the one-day conference at the Cockpit Theatre on June 24. The overall theme was the Schools Council and the Arts in Education and the speakers ...

... £2.95) Local theatre buffs, historians, re searchers and students alike will find all they need to know about theatre in the London Borough of Havering from this publication. Research carried out by the late Gordon Humby is collated here in two sections, listing, in date order, plays from both the old and new Queen's and decorated with black and white produc tion photographs. For the record, ...