What do you think?
Rate this book
Original Story By: A Memoir of Broadway and Hollywood
Director, playwright and screenwriter Arthur Laurents -- author of Gypsy, West Side Story, Anastasia, The Turning Point, and other plays and films -- takes us into his life, and into the dazzling world in which he worked, among the artists, directors, actors and personalities who came of age in the theatre and in Hollywood after the Second World War.
He takes us into his boyhood in Flatbush and his days at Cornell, where he learned to write plays, learned he was homosexual, learned what his politics would be as he organized support for the Spanish Civil War and protests against campus witch hunts (these undergraduate years became the basis for The Way We Were ). He takes us into his days in the Army as a sergeant (in Astoria, Queens), writing training films with Irwin Shaw, William Saroyan, John Cheever, sunbathing with Bill Holden and competing to see which of them could outdrink the other.
Laurents describes a wartime New York City that was vibrant, eager and sexually alive, where he wrote for radio (The Man Behind the Gun; Lux Radio Theater) . He confesses his methods for devising make a list of twists and turns from successful movies, number them from one to fifteen, choose at random and link them up. He describes the writing of his first successful play, Home of the Brave , about anti-Semitism (later made into a movie about racism by Stanley Kramer), and writes about getting on with pals -- among them Jerome Robbins (an imp who loved to play parlour games, the sillier the better; later he testified before the House Committee of Un-American Activities and named names), Leonard Bernstein and Nora Kaye, later Laurent's lover and beloved friend, then a new star in Antony Tudor's Ballet Theatre.
In and out of bed with men as well as women, in and out of success with his work, Laurents describes his Freudian analysis with Theodore Reik, who insisted he could "cure" Laurents of his homosexuality, and cure him of what Reik diagnosed as Laurents's "selfishness" by being paid "ten percent of vot you make." Laurents gave; Reik took.
We see Laurents going off to Hollywood, reporting for duty at MGM, then a "feudal domain, a prisonlike fortress behind stone walls" . . . driving up to Irene Mayer Selznick's house for the first time and having a sense of deja vu (he had seen it all before in MGM pictures of tastefully grand English country houses -- "No bulter but yards of maids") . . . writing the script for The Snake Pit . . . Laurnets playing volleyball and charades at Gene Kelly's with lots of liberal talk and pot-luck meals . . . playing in Charlie Chaplin's round-robin "Cockamamie Tennis Tournaments" . . . going for a Memorial Day weekend sail with Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy on a 125-foot yacht, Hepburn changing into identical spotless white ducks and shirts every hour on the hour with Tracy lolling in a chair, crocked the whole trip, and Hepburn patting pillows behind his neck . . . Laurents writing the script for Rope , a movie with three homosexual men at its center, just as he is beginning a long affair with one of the picture's stars, Farley Granger, as well as an intense, complicated but happy collaboration with the picture's director, Alfred Hitchcock . . . and being propelled out of Hollywood for a life in Paris when his agent, Swifty Lazar, tells him, "You're blacklisted, dear boy . . . the studio said you're too expensive before I mentioned money."
Laurents writes about his return to New York and his smash hit play, The Time of the Cuckoo , with Shirley Booth, later made into a movie called Summertime with Katharine Hepburn, then into a musical ( Do I Hear a Waltz? , with music by Richard Rogers, words by Stephen Sondheim). He writes about jump-starting Barbra Streisand's career by casting her in her first Broadway show, I Can Get It for You Wholesale ("There was one part available -- a fifty-year-old spinster. Streisand was nineteen. She came in with her bird's nest of scraggly hair and her gawky disorganized body, clumped across the stage, took her wad of gum out of her mouth, stuck it under the chair and began to sing; eight bars into the song, I knew she had to be in the show. I checked later, no gum"). He writes about the creation of Gypsy with Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim (Laurents to Ethel "Rose is a monster. How far are you willing to go?" Merman to "I'll do anything you want.") . . . about the directing of La Cage aux Folles . . . and about coming together in a complex, fraught collaboration with his three old pals Robbins, Bernstein and Sondheim for West Side Story
Funny, fierce, honest -- a life richly lived and told.
(With 80 photographs)
He takes us into his boyhood in Flatbush and his days at Cornell, where he learned to write plays, learned he was homosexual, learned what his politics would be as he organized support for the Spanish Civil War and protests against campus witch hunts (these undergraduate years became the basis for The Way We Were ). He takes us into his days in the Army as a sergeant (in Astoria, Queens), writing training films with Irwin Shaw, William Saroyan, John Cheever, sunbathing with Bill Holden and competing to see which of them could outdrink the other.
Laurents describes a wartime New York City that was vibrant, eager and sexually alive, where he wrote for radio (The Man Behind the Gun; Lux Radio Theater) . He confesses his methods for devising make a list of twists and turns from successful movies, number them from one to fifteen, choose at random and link them up. He describes the writing of his first successful play, Home of the Brave , about anti-Semitism (later made into a movie about racism by Stanley Kramer), and writes about getting on with pals -- among them Jerome Robbins (an imp who loved to play parlour games, the sillier the better; later he testified before the House Committee of Un-American Activities and named names), Leonard Bernstein and Nora Kaye, later Laurent's lover and beloved friend, then a new star in Antony Tudor's Ballet Theatre.
In and out of bed with men as well as women, in and out of success with his work, Laurents describes his Freudian analysis with Theodore Reik, who insisted he could "cure" Laurents of his homosexuality, and cure him of what Reik diagnosed as Laurents's "selfishness" by being paid "ten percent of vot you make." Laurents gave; Reik took.
We see Laurents going off to Hollywood, reporting for duty at MGM, then a "feudal domain, a prisonlike fortress behind stone walls" . . . driving up to Irene Mayer Selznick's house for the first time and having a sense of deja vu (he had seen it all before in MGM pictures of tastefully grand English country houses -- "No bulter but yards of maids") . . . writing the script for The Snake Pit . . . Laurnets playing volleyball and charades at Gene Kelly's with lots of liberal talk and pot-luck meals . . . playing in Charlie Chaplin's round-robin "Cockamamie Tennis Tournaments" . . . going for a Memorial Day weekend sail with Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy on a 125-foot yacht, Hepburn changing into identical spotless white ducks and shirts every hour on the hour with Tracy lolling in a chair, crocked the whole trip, and Hepburn patting pillows behind his neck . . . Laurents writing the script for Rope , a movie with three homosexual men at its center, just as he is beginning a long affair with one of the picture's stars, Farley Granger, as well as an intense, complicated but happy collaboration with the picture's director, Alfred Hitchcock . . . and being propelled out of Hollywood for a life in Paris when his agent, Swifty Lazar, tells him, "You're blacklisted, dear boy . . . the studio said you're too expensive before I mentioned money."
Laurents writes about his return to New York and his smash hit play, The Time of the Cuckoo , with Shirley Booth, later made into a movie called Summertime with Katharine Hepburn, then into a musical ( Do I Hear a Waltz? , with music by Richard Rogers, words by Stephen Sondheim). He writes about jump-starting Barbra Streisand's career by casting her in her first Broadway show, I Can Get It for You Wholesale ("There was one part available -- a fifty-year-old spinster. Streisand was nineteen. She came in with her bird's nest of scraggly hair and her gawky disorganized body, clumped across the stage, took her wad of gum out of her mouth, stuck it under the chair and began to sing; eight bars into the song, I knew she had to be in the show. I checked later, no gum"). He writes about the creation of Gypsy with Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim (Laurents to Ethel "Rose is a monster. How far are you willing to go?" Merman to "I'll do anything you want.") . . . about the directing of La Cage aux Folles . . . and about coming together in a complex, fraught collaboration with his three old pals Robbins, Bernstein and Sondheim for West Side Story
Funny, fierce, honest -- a life richly lived and told.
(With 80 photographs)
448 pages, Hardcover
First published March 28, 2000
9 people are currently reading
223 people want to read
About the author
Arthur Laurents
52 books15 followersArthur Laurents was an American playwright, librettist, stage director, and screenwriter. His credits included the stage musicals West Side Story and Gypsy and the film The Way We Were.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
May 18, 2023
Ah, show business! Laurents lifts the backstage curtain and shows us how the sausage is made. This man worked on everything it seems, every big movie and big director, even with Hitchcock on "The Rope."
Now when I watch "West Side Story" (the movie) all I can think about is the gossip —who was sleeping with who. There’s one dancer, he really catches the eye and boy did he get around. It’s no wonder “show business” used to be a euphemism ("he's in show business" meant of course "a friend of Dorothy’s").
In the world of this memoir everyone is in show business in every possibly way. Highly enjoyable.
Now when I watch "West Side Story" (the movie) all I can think about is the gossip —who was sleeping with who. There’s one dancer, he really catches the eye and boy did he get around. It’s no wonder “show business” used to be a euphemism ("he's in show business" meant of course "a friend of Dorothy’s").
In the world of this memoir everyone is in show business in every possibly way. Highly enjoyable.
July 26, 2009
Captivating, frank, entertaining, and illuminating, this book follows the life and career of Arthur Laurents, one of the truly great figures of musical theatre. The book is a tremendous amount of fun; not only does the author provide a detailed accounting of his creative process, he also dishes on the myriad of famous names he's worked with, including Lauren Bacall, Leonard Bernstein, Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Alfred Hitchcock, Ethel Merman, Jerome Robbins, and Stephen Sondheim, to name a few. An engaging look into the creative process of a great and original artist.
March 2, 2019
It had been some time since I read a theater/film memoir. I used to enjoy them, but very few are written that interest me. I purchased this book years ago and finally got around to reading it. What a great read! Thoughtful, intelligent, candid, fun... I was wondering why it was taking me so long to get through...well, I was savoring every word. So well written. I was sad that it ended, but then I realized there was a concluding volume. I can't wait!
July 6, 2020
I read this book when it first came out, which I see was...could it be 20 years ago? I remembered this as being one of the best show biz memoirs I've read, and it still is. Irreverent, sort of snotty, and a lot of fun. And full of remarkable inside information.
September 5, 2019
I have to admire Arthur Laurents, not just for writing the book to a couple of the greatest musicals ever created, and not just for his deft direction, nor for his apparent ability to bed nearly every Adonis in Hollywood and on Broadway from the 1930s to the 960s. The man told things as he saw them, and this quality can make for incredibly interesting reading when the teller was integral to the creation and shaping of Westside Story, Gypsy, The Way We Were, and was up close and personal with such personalities as Barbra Streisand, Katherine Hepburn, Lena Horne, Shirley Booth, Ethel Merman, Jerome Robbins, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, and especially close with the paragon that was Farley Granger, as well as a guy who seems like cornfed virtue and robust sexuality all rolled up into one blond, bronzed, and youthful package... Tom Hatcher. I mean, for a gay guy with a penchant for showbiz history of the mid-twentieth century, this is metaphorical catnip.
Laurents is not afraid to tell tales, nor does he feel hemmed in by the traditional chronological structure of most bios, and there are great benefits and downsides to both of these qualities.
When it comes to his grudges, he is pretty plain spoken, and in some cases he really tears into those he feels betrayed him, while remaining equally unafraid to point up that same person’s virtues and occasional genius. Yet, as I read there were times I wondered just how self aware he was of the ways his own behaviors may have impacted others, possibly leading to later actions from them.
As for the structuring of the stories, it is very well crafted and provided a much better arc to the book than a lot of bios I’ve read. He naturally builds suspense by saving the bulk of the Gypsy and West Side anecdotes til the last third of the book, but don’t worry as there is plenty to learn and enjoy along the way. However, I do wish he’d been a little more up front about his choices in the first pages, as it may have freed him to make clarifications and transitions that would have been helpful to avoid confusion and a feeling of disorientation as we time hop from era to era.
Those reservations, along with some of his more callous observations that seem unnecessarily cruel, are why I’m only giving this really entertaining book three stars, but I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to dip into musical history, especially if that same person is the kind who likes to do additional research to get some perspective on his many observations.
Laurents is not afraid to tell tales, nor does he feel hemmed in by the traditional chronological structure of most bios, and there are great benefits and downsides to both of these qualities.
When it comes to his grudges, he is pretty plain spoken, and in some cases he really tears into those he feels betrayed him, while remaining equally unafraid to point up that same person’s virtues and occasional genius. Yet, as I read there were times I wondered just how self aware he was of the ways his own behaviors may have impacted others, possibly leading to later actions from them.
As for the structuring of the stories, it is very well crafted and provided a much better arc to the book than a lot of bios I’ve read. He naturally builds suspense by saving the bulk of the Gypsy and West Side anecdotes til the last third of the book, but don’t worry as there is plenty to learn and enjoy along the way. However, I do wish he’d been a little more up front about his choices in the first pages, as it may have freed him to make clarifications and transitions that would have been helpful to avoid confusion and a feeling of disorientation as we time hop from era to era.
Those reservations, along with some of his more callous observations that seem unnecessarily cruel, are why I’m only giving this really entertaining book three stars, but I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to dip into musical history, especially if that same person is the kind who likes to do additional research to get some perspective on his many observations.
March 7, 2015
Added 5/1/11.
I read this book in Feb. 2015. It's full of behind-the-scenes information, e.g., the difficulties of putting a show on Broadway. I'll never take "West Side Story" for granted now that I know how hard it was to finally make a success out of it.
Arthur Laurents was a playwright, director, and screenwriter. Among other things, he talks about the difficulty of adapting books to movies.
I read this book in Feb. 2015. It's full of behind-the-scenes information, e.g., the difficulties of putting a show on Broadway. I'll never take "West Side Story" for granted now that I know how hard it was to finally make a success out of it.
Arthur Laurents was a playwright, director, and screenwriter. Among other things, he talks about the difficulty of adapting books to movies.
May 10, 2021
This is my second time reading this book.
Arthur Laurents (1917-2011) led an extraordinary life. And in this fluid, articulate, glorious memoir he brings you into the intimate and astonishing personal and work stories that intersected with people like Lauren Bacall, Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Robert Redford, Barbra Streisand and Alfred Hitchcock.
Mr. Laurents was talented in so many arenas: screenwriting, playwriting, directing. He had a precociousness that lent itself to super achievements at a very young age. Yet somehow his empathy, tolerance, sensitivities and liberalism did not suffer from his healthy ego.
He faced, head on, the twin hatreds of anti-semitism and homophobia, but happily swam upstream with great successes in West Side Story, Gypsy, The Way We Were. He knew himself. His strong character is the foundation of this book.
He is open about his many affairs with men (and some women) and he has been criticized by some for "outing" people. Yet this book, written in the early 2000s, was way ahead of its time in its calm, measured and factual retelling of gay life in the mid 20th C.
There will never be another generation of people who came up when America was so vital in its theatre and film arts.
To live in NYC back then was to drink from a rich stream of culture, theatre and musicals, literature and ideas, now evaporated. It was also that time when the right wing launched its attack on "reds" and targeted liberals who had flirted with leftism in the 1930s. Many suffered when the blacklist pushed Hollywood into firing and exiling its smartest and most independent creatives.
Mr. Laurents writes powerfully against such big mouths who blackmailed their friends to stay in power, people like Elia Kazan and Budd Schulberg. He does not forgive them, even as he understands their financial and career motives for betraying others. He is equally as unforgiving against bigotry, remembering casual cruelties, such as "The Way We Were" Director Sydney Pollack who said, "You wrote this love story so well, and you are a homosexual!"
He calls out exploiters, mediocrity and phoniness. He writes on the shortcomings of Hollywood actors, and is unafraid to name people who he thinks fell short in either talent or character or both.
A personal, political and cultural history of a time lost.
Arthur Laurents (1917-2011) led an extraordinary life. And in this fluid, articulate, glorious memoir he brings you into the intimate and astonishing personal and work stories that intersected with people like Lauren Bacall, Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Robert Redford, Barbra Streisand and Alfred Hitchcock.
Mr. Laurents was talented in so many arenas: screenwriting, playwriting, directing. He had a precociousness that lent itself to super achievements at a very young age. Yet somehow his empathy, tolerance, sensitivities and liberalism did not suffer from his healthy ego.
He faced, head on, the twin hatreds of anti-semitism and homophobia, but happily swam upstream with great successes in West Side Story, Gypsy, The Way We Were. He knew himself. His strong character is the foundation of this book.
He is open about his many affairs with men (and some women) and he has been criticized by some for "outing" people. Yet this book, written in the early 2000s, was way ahead of its time in its calm, measured and factual retelling of gay life in the mid 20th C.
There will never be another generation of people who came up when America was so vital in its theatre and film arts.
To live in NYC back then was to drink from a rich stream of culture, theatre and musicals, literature and ideas, now evaporated. It was also that time when the right wing launched its attack on "reds" and targeted liberals who had flirted with leftism in the 1930s. Many suffered when the blacklist pushed Hollywood into firing and exiling its smartest and most independent creatives.
Mr. Laurents writes powerfully against such big mouths who blackmailed their friends to stay in power, people like Elia Kazan and Budd Schulberg. He does not forgive them, even as he understands their financial and career motives for betraying others. He is equally as unforgiving against bigotry, remembering casual cruelties, such as "The Way We Were" Director Sydney Pollack who said, "You wrote this love story so well, and you are a homosexual!"
He calls out exploiters, mediocrity and phoniness. He writes on the shortcomings of Hollywood actors, and is unafraid to name people who he thinks fell short in either talent or character or both.
A personal, political and cultural history of a time lost.
May 24, 2019
Just finished the first of Laurent’s autobiographies. As the writer of one the most important films in my life, The Way We Were I always wondered about the inspiration for the story and the characters. Like all great stories there was an authenticity about the narrative and the characters that meant someone knew them intimately and I always expected that they were based on the author’s own experiences, so it was nice to finely read Laurent’s explanation how the story developed. What I didn’t know before reading the book was how prolific Laurent’s was and how he was also involved in so many other important works, including Gypsy and West Side Story. The narrative which is very detailed about people and places with lots of name dropping bounces back and forth without any real chronological order and while fascinating could really use footnotes about who was who. A great read for anyone interested in the details of producing plays on broadway or how films were developed.
"Fiction can mingle genders with impunity." 5
"Then I switched over to the ritual I used whenever I was in trouble. I took a look at me in the third person as a character in a novel I was reading." 77
"Since you have to walk, you have to see and Venice is like one huge gallery, with so many twisted alleyways that it was easy to get lost-which we did with pleasure." 189
"Character rather than plot drives the better stories." 157
"In a way he was like the country he lived in: everything came too easily to him. But at least he knew it. And if, more often than not, he took advantage of everything and everybody, he knew that too. About once a month, he felt he was a fraud..." 259
"Monsters erode your feelings until you no longer care." 419
"Fiction can mingle genders with impunity." 5
"Then I switched over to the ritual I used whenever I was in trouble. I took a look at me in the third person as a character in a novel I was reading." 77
"Since you have to walk, you have to see and Venice is like one huge gallery, with so many twisted alleyways that it was easy to get lost-which we did with pleasure." 189
"Character rather than plot drives the better stories." 157
"In a way he was like the country he lived in: everything came too easily to him. But at least he knew it. And if, more often than not, he took advantage of everything and everybody, he knew that too. About once a month, he felt he was a fraud..." 259
"Monsters erode your feelings until you no longer care." 419
October 28, 2018
This is an indispensable book for anyone interested in theater and film in the twentieth century. Writer Arthur Laurents (1917-2011) was involved in a number of landmark projects -- "The Home of the Brave" (1945), "The Snake Pit" (1948), "The Time of the Cuckoo" (1952), "West Side Story" (1957), "Gypsy" (1959), and "The Way We Were" (1973). He was a gay man was who was very conflicted about his sexuality and only resolved his complex feelings through analysis, but from the very beginning he was a proud Jew and liberal. His bête noire was the blacklist, on which he appeared, and he disparages the many people who "informed" during the 1940s and 1950s -- Jerome Robbins, Elia Kazan, and many others. There are gossipy stories aplenty here about people whom Laurents did and did not like, but he has good reasons for placing people on either side. Those whom he disliked included Katharine Hepburn, Sydney Pollack, Robbins, and a good number of other people. He has kind things to say about Barbra Streisand, Shirley Booth, Farley Granger, Angela Lansbury (who redeemed his conception of "Gypsy" in the 1973 revival), and, most especially, his lover of many years, Tom Hatcher.
Much as I hate to say it, although Laurents was a superb writer about stage and screen, he doesn't quite have the knack for turning his life into a satisfying memoir. There are far too many tangents, murky sections, and (!) not very well written parts. But still, this is a book that leaves a lasting impression, and I am so glad I read it. And there is a sequel awaiting me -- "The Rest of the Story: A Life Completed."
Much as I hate to say it, although Laurents was a superb writer about stage and screen, he doesn't quite have the knack for turning his life into a satisfying memoir. There are far too many tangents, murky sections, and (!) not very well written parts. But still, this is a book that leaves a lasting impression, and I am so glad I read it. And there is a sequel awaiting me -- "The Rest of the Story: A Life Completed."
August 1, 2017
"Frank" is right - Laurents really tells all in this book!
I found it quite tough to read at first; he writes well, but the name dropping - using so many names of people I had never heard of in one sentence - was tough to follow. That got easier to keep straight as you got to know his friends and their "characters". He also tells the story of his life in quite a jumpy way, which I liked once I got used to. He starts when he is young but will often go off into tangents from later in his life without much warning. People talk like that, so why not write like that?
Overall, I think you have to already know something about Laurents' work and life before reading this book (which I didn't), and some of the people he talks about, but if that's your jam it's a good one to add to your reading list.
I found it quite tough to read at first; he writes well, but the name dropping - using so many names of people I had never heard of in one sentence - was tough to follow. That got easier to keep straight as you got to know his friends and their "characters". He also tells the story of his life in quite a jumpy way, which I liked once I got used to. He starts when he is young but will often go off into tangents from later in his life without much warning. People talk like that, so why not write like that?
Overall, I think you have to already know something about Laurents' work and life before reading this book (which I didn't), and some of the people he talks about, but if that's your jam it's a good one to add to your reading list.
April 17, 2018
If you are interested in Arthur Laurents or what it was like to be a gay man during his lifetime, read this book. If you are interested in stories about Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Robbins, Ethel Merman, Barbra Streisand, Herbert Ross, Hal Prince, Gene Kelly, Farley Granger and so many more, read this book. Too many fun stories to miss. I would give this book 3.5 stars if Goodreads did half stars but the photos pushed me to give 4.
August 10, 2023
Deliciously dishy, Laurents write a memoir that has more than a few you-had-to-be-there moments, but what he leaves out just compels you to keep reading. I was perplexed by the structure, and he has no concern for the rules of grammar; it all comes together, however, to give more insight into Broadway and Hollywood than any other memoir I’ve read. Arthur Laurents got people and he has no problem laying them bare to his readers. A pretty spectacular read.
June 9, 2017
For any lover of theater or, to a lesser degree, gay culture...a must read. Well-written, never boring or mired in uninteresting details, Mr. Laurents spins the story of his life well. I'm reminded often as to how angry he was in real life - but that aspect of his personality is mercifully kept at bay throughout.
July 13, 2025
Very interesting book as far as the backstage stories of West Side, Gypsy, etc. At times, I found him to be less likable when he was telling his truths, but the book remained entertaining even when I was over him.
June 28, 2020
I loved every page of this book. I started reading it when it first came out and didn’t get very far. Finally picked it up and I’m so happy I did.
July 18, 2020
VITAL, JUICY AND BLUNT
Now THIS is an autobiography! It is the story of a man, the last of his peer group, who, at 81, is healthy, athletic, sexual, productive in his craft, and in love. He is joyous and it reflects in his writing. Vitriol, if not burned away, has often been reduced to pithy one-liners that zing with word-play. Apathy seems to have replaced anger. Mr. Laurents is too busy living to show resignation or to bemoan the passing of relationships, so his book is vital, alive.
He is blunt and ruthless and he shows us the sage as scrappy youth and unformed man as well as (bad)businessman and lover, plus playwright, director and Hollywood hack. He has little respect for the movie industry and when black-listed, was more relieved than aggrieved! He spares himself nothing, is quick to offer accolades and in stories that are pay-backs, with time and accomplishment to back him up, chummy fact can be damning! He has a gift for knowing that someone loves and respects the famous people he mentions and he writes accordingly, whether he shares their regard or not, and even when a relationship has lapsed, if praise is due, he generously heaps it on.
Incidentals are rampant. Some add to the whole, like how Geraldine Brooks' breast cancer led to her marriage with HUAC informer Budd Schulberg and how this impacted her friendship with Mr. Laurents, or how Lillian Roth's fight with alcoholism helped Mr. Laurents direct her in I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE. Other tidbits just make juicy reading, like the stoicism of Hal Prince learning to water-ski. It is so easy to link the vision of Prince dropping rather than veer out of the boat's wake, with his dogged direction of PARADE a few years back! It is fascinating to hear how life experiences made their way into his work, to hear the power 'stars' had to pervert an author's intent, and to see how some events became motivations or mere moments of dialogue in a play, while others became entire works. Sometimes, Mr. Laurents himself was unaware of where a line or a thought came from, and when he recognizes the origin, his delight is triumphant! Bad psycho-analysts become saccharine characters in admittedly mediocre plays, a handsome Jew in love with a Nazi becomes a portly Italian shopkeeper/love interest, and the Hollywood Witch Hunt becomes THE WAY WE WERE, before politics were 'expunged', Robert Redford collided with his role and the climax of the movie (not film) was edited out. (It seems Katherine Hepburn had a knack for turning her character into herself too, not the reverse!) Included too, is director Laurents' dealings with star-in-waiting Barbara Streisand, manipulative producer David Merrick, sweating co-star Elliot Gould, and costuming goddess Theoni V. Aldredge. He loved working with Jule Styne, Len Bernstein and Steve Sondheim and has high praise for master craftsmen Shirley Booth and Angella Lansbury. It was fascinating to hear him revisit GYPSY over the years as his role changed from author to director. Reading about Miss Lansbury performing the bows at the end of "Rose's Turn" was electric. I wish I could have seen an actual performance!
There is over-lap between Laurents and the ballet world through Jerome Robbins, Nora Kaye, and Harold Lang, and superstar Erik Bruhn makes a moon-lit naked appearance. Robbins seems to be the only one of the four Laurents didn't sleep with, and I question his use of 'balletomane' as a verb! His friendship with Robbins runs as deeply as Nora Kaye's and Robbins plays a major part in the book, as friend, informer, collaborator on famous works, and betrayer. To hear his stories of W.W. II, where he wrote training films, gays in the military should NEVER be an issue. Actually, he finds handsome men all over the world and his search to not only accept what he is, but to prefer it, turns up in much of his writing. Too much so in fact, if there is anything to criticize about ths book. His exploits during the war read like fiction!
Early on, he announces his intolerance of bigotry of any kind, especially against homosexuals, Negroes and Jews but I find this odd since he flatly dismisses his Bar Mitzvah as 'meaningless.' This is really the first book I've read that deals pointedly with McCarthyism and the Hollywood Witch Hunt. He voices what many must have felt, sharing freely his feelings of the time and his feelings now! Informers are pariah, yet some who informed remained Laurents' friend, some did not and we learn the whys of each, first hand. Judgments are presented factually along with consequences of decisions that were made.
This book is a wealth of history but for those interested in fair play and looking at all sides of an issue, don't bother picking it up. This is Arthur Laurents' story, and I not only respect his right to tell it, I revel in it! Five stars for this one, and the moon has come out again!
Now THIS is an autobiography! It is the story of a man, the last of his peer group, who, at 81, is healthy, athletic, sexual, productive in his craft, and in love. He is joyous and it reflects in his writing. Vitriol, if not burned away, has often been reduced to pithy one-liners that zing with word-play. Apathy seems to have replaced anger. Mr. Laurents is too busy living to show resignation or to bemoan the passing of relationships, so his book is vital, alive.
He is blunt and ruthless and he shows us the sage as scrappy youth and unformed man as well as (bad)businessman and lover, plus playwright, director and Hollywood hack. He has little respect for the movie industry and when black-listed, was more relieved than aggrieved! He spares himself nothing, is quick to offer accolades and in stories that are pay-backs, with time and accomplishment to back him up, chummy fact can be damning! He has a gift for knowing that someone loves and respects the famous people he mentions and he writes accordingly, whether he shares their regard or not, and even when a relationship has lapsed, if praise is due, he generously heaps it on.
Incidentals are rampant. Some add to the whole, like how Geraldine Brooks' breast cancer led to her marriage with HUAC informer Budd Schulberg and how this impacted her friendship with Mr. Laurents, or how Lillian Roth's fight with alcoholism helped Mr. Laurents direct her in I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE. Other tidbits just make juicy reading, like the stoicism of Hal Prince learning to water-ski. It is so easy to link the vision of Prince dropping rather than veer out of the boat's wake, with his dogged direction of PARADE a few years back! It is fascinating to hear how life experiences made their way into his work, to hear the power 'stars' had to pervert an author's intent, and to see how some events became motivations or mere moments of dialogue in a play, while others became entire works. Sometimes, Mr. Laurents himself was unaware of where a line or a thought came from, and when he recognizes the origin, his delight is triumphant! Bad psycho-analysts become saccharine characters in admittedly mediocre plays, a handsome Jew in love with a Nazi becomes a portly Italian shopkeeper/love interest, and the Hollywood Witch Hunt becomes THE WAY WE WERE, before politics were 'expunged', Robert Redford collided with his role and the climax of the movie (not film) was edited out. (It seems Katherine Hepburn had a knack for turning her character into herself too, not the reverse!) Included too, is director Laurents' dealings with star-in-waiting Barbara Streisand, manipulative producer David Merrick, sweating co-star Elliot Gould, and costuming goddess Theoni V. Aldredge. He loved working with Jule Styne, Len Bernstein and Steve Sondheim and has high praise for master craftsmen Shirley Booth and Angella Lansbury. It was fascinating to hear him revisit GYPSY over the years as his role changed from author to director. Reading about Miss Lansbury performing the bows at the end of "Rose's Turn" was electric. I wish I could have seen an actual performance!
There is over-lap between Laurents and the ballet world through Jerome Robbins, Nora Kaye, and Harold Lang, and superstar Erik Bruhn makes a moon-lit naked appearance. Robbins seems to be the only one of the four Laurents didn't sleep with, and I question his use of 'balletomane' as a verb! His friendship with Robbins runs as deeply as Nora Kaye's and Robbins plays a major part in the book, as friend, informer, collaborator on famous works, and betrayer. To hear his stories of W.W. II, where he wrote training films, gays in the military should NEVER be an issue. Actually, he finds handsome men all over the world and his search to not only accept what he is, but to prefer it, turns up in much of his writing. Too much so in fact, if there is anything to criticize about ths book. His exploits during the war read like fiction!
Early on, he announces his intolerance of bigotry of any kind, especially against homosexuals, Negroes and Jews but I find this odd since he flatly dismisses his Bar Mitzvah as 'meaningless.' This is really the first book I've read that deals pointedly with McCarthyism and the Hollywood Witch Hunt. He voices what many must have felt, sharing freely his feelings of the time and his feelings now! Informers are pariah, yet some who informed remained Laurents' friend, some did not and we learn the whys of each, first hand. Judgments are presented factually along with consequences of decisions that were made.
This book is a wealth of history but for those interested in fair play and looking at all sides of an issue, don't bother picking it up. This is Arthur Laurents' story, and I not only respect his right to tell it, I revel in it! Five stars for this one, and the moon has come out again!
October 8, 2014
I was interested to read this because I directed a Laurents short play as my final project in my college Directing class. The book contains the event that inspired the play, and I discovered that my interpretation of the play was entirely wrong.
Laurents' life is eventful and surprising, and he's honest about himself and his flaws, so he doesn't always portray himself as likeable. His journey as he tells it is rather fragmented, as he jumps around in time quite a bit, not always stating beforehand what year events are taking place.
Laurents' celebrity/literary luminary dishes are the best. Out of keeping with all expectations, Katherine Hepburn is described as utterly humorless, her uppercrust New England persona a complete invention, and she's not above using a gay slur to attempt to take Laurents down a peg or two. Whereas Barbra Streisand, against all expectation, is described not as a diva, but as gangly, scattered, strong-willed, likeable, and full of, as Laurents puts it, “stormy self-loathing”.
The gossipy, scathing anecdotes about celebs and literary luminaries alone makes this worth the price of the ticket. Laurents is unsparing in his assessments, reserving his harshest ire for those who informed during the HUAC hearings. Laurents also covers his own personal journey from gay-but-trying-to-be-straight to self-accepting-gay-but-not-making-a-big-deal-about-it. The personal sections felt more rushed and thrown-together than the parts about his work and his life among friends, lovers, and fellow artists; Laurents self-examines, but he doesn’t linger there. He’s far too busy working on his next project.
Laurents' life is eventful and surprising, and he's honest about himself and his flaws, so he doesn't always portray himself as likeable. His journey as he tells it is rather fragmented, as he jumps around in time quite a bit, not always stating beforehand what year events are taking place.
Laurents' celebrity/literary luminary dishes are the best. Out of keeping with all expectations, Katherine Hepburn is described as utterly humorless, her uppercrust New England persona a complete invention, and she's not above using a gay slur to attempt to take Laurents down a peg or two. Whereas Barbra Streisand, against all expectation, is described not as a diva, but as gangly, scattered, strong-willed, likeable, and full of, as Laurents puts it, “stormy self-loathing”.
The gossipy, scathing anecdotes about celebs and literary luminaries alone makes this worth the price of the ticket. Laurents is unsparing in his assessments, reserving his harshest ire for those who informed during the HUAC hearings. Laurents also covers his own personal journey from gay-but-trying-to-be-straight to self-accepting-gay-but-not-making-a-big-deal-about-it. The personal sections felt more rushed and thrown-together than the parts about his work and his life among friends, lovers, and fellow artists; Laurents self-examines, but he doesn’t linger there. He’s far too busy working on his next project.
May 16, 2016
I bought it because Laurents had been blacklisted and I was interested in the history of the blacklist, and I figured I'd just read those parts. Instead I read the whole thing. Fascinating life, well-told.
Laurents wrote radio plays, theatrical plays, movies. He wrote the books for "West Side Story" and "Gypsy." He wrote "The Way We Were," which was supposed to be more about the blacklist but that story kept getting cut, sadly. He has great stories about Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford, and his lover Farley Granger. He writes about the famous and not-so-famous (and himself) with a clear eye.
A sample about Lena Horne: "In the early Sixties, when we were so close, I asked her what was in her head when she came out on the elegant floor of the Waldorf in New York or the Fairmount in San Francisco. She bared her teeth in the smile those expensive audiences waited for. 'Fuck you,' she said. 'That's what I think when I look at them. Fuck all of you.'"
For fans of theater, Hollywood, and good writing.
Laurents wrote radio plays, theatrical plays, movies. He wrote the books for "West Side Story" and "Gypsy." He wrote "The Way We Were," which was supposed to be more about the blacklist but that story kept getting cut, sadly. He has great stories about Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford, and his lover Farley Granger. He writes about the famous and not-so-famous (and himself) with a clear eye.
A sample about Lena Horne: "In the early Sixties, when we were so close, I asked her what was in her head when she came out on the elegant floor of the Waldorf in New York or the Fairmount in San Francisco. She bared her teeth in the smile those expensive audiences waited for. 'Fuck you,' she said. 'That's what I think when I look at them. Fuck all of you.'"
For fans of theater, Hollywood, and good writing.
December 15, 2016
My high hopes for Arthur Laurents's memoir Original Story were cruelly dashed. It bounced here there and everywhere, and the name dropping was excruciating. I know Laurents really knew all of these famous people, but there were just too many names to keep track of. Parts of the book were interesting, but it just really ran out of steam. I enjoyed his other book so much more (it was far more technical than this one). Maybe I just don't like the "celebrity memoir." I think I'd much rather read a really scandalously bitchy and gossipy biography, you know, one written with the secret help of the subject's friends and family and enemies.
May 25, 2014
Marvelous book about the ins and outs of creating and putting together plays on Broadway and screenplays in Hollywood. It also tells the story of the evil blacklisting that went on in Hollywood, friends ruining friends' careers to save their own skins by accusing them of being communists. It also relates the difficulties of being a gay man when, if one didn't stay in the closet, he could be ostracized from every area of society. I found the book to be profound, and also entertaining, with enough gossip to keep the story moving along!
May 1, 2011
While I'd love to hear the other side of some of Laurents' stories -- particularly regarding the tumultuous production process of The Way We Were -- he's a great storyteller, captivating, uncensored, and unapologetic. It's a compelling read.
May 5, 2011
Talk about a nasty conceited egomaniac!
January 16, 2016
Arthur has quite the bitchy chip on his shoulder, but it's still a dishy and entertaining beach read.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews