What do you think?
Rate this book
CLIFTON WEBB: A One-Person Play in Two Acts
Clifton Webb was one of those rare motion picture actors who became a major box-office star when he was in his mid-fifties.
Indeed, his first sound movie was LAURA (1944), and his role as “Waldo Lydecker” in that classic film noir earned him the first of three Oscar nominations.
Four years later, Clifton Webb became a household name when he played “Lynn Belvedere” and poured a bowl of mush onto a baby’s head in SITTING PRETTY.
He would appear as “Belvedere” in two subsequent films, and also star in such memorable entertainments as THE RAZOR'S EDGE, CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER, TITANIC (1953) and THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN.
Webb was no novice when he began his motion picture career. He started his journey in show business at age five, when his stage mother, Maybelle, left her husband in Indiana and took young Clifton to New York. Maybelle would remain the most important and influential person in her son’s life until she died when Webb was in his seventies.
Over the years, Webb would become one of the most revered actor-dancers in nightclubs, on Broadway; in London and Paris. He introduced Irving Berlin’s “Easter Parade” to the public, and worked with the likes of Noel Coward, Fred Allen and The Dolly Sisters, as well as enjoying troubled relationships with actresses Jeanne Eagels and Libby Holman.
Michael B. Druxman’s one-person play, CLIFTON WEBB, finds the actor in his Beverly Hills home, still mourning the death of his mother. He ponders returning to work in a new film while, at the same time, struggling with his and Maybelle’s unsettled relationship.
Indeed, his first sound movie was LAURA (1944), and his role as “Waldo Lydecker” in that classic film noir earned him the first of three Oscar nominations.
Four years later, Clifton Webb became a household name when he played “Lynn Belvedere” and poured a bowl of mush onto a baby’s head in SITTING PRETTY.
He would appear as “Belvedere” in two subsequent films, and also star in such memorable entertainments as THE RAZOR'S EDGE, CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, STARS AND STRIPES FOREVER, TITANIC (1953) and THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN.
Webb was no novice when he began his motion picture career. He started his journey in show business at age five, when his stage mother, Maybelle, left her husband in Indiana and took young Clifton to New York. Maybelle would remain the most important and influential person in her son’s life until she died when Webb was in his seventies.
Over the years, Webb would become one of the most revered actor-dancers in nightclubs, on Broadway; in London and Paris. He introduced Irving Berlin’s “Easter Parade” to the public, and worked with the likes of Noel Coward, Fred Allen and The Dolly Sisters, as well as enjoying troubled relationships with actresses Jeanne Eagels and Libby Holman.
Michael B. Druxman’s one-person play, CLIFTON WEBB, finds the actor in his Beverly Hills home, still mourning the death of his mother. He ponders returning to work in a new film while, at the same time, struggling with his and Maybelle’s unsettled relationship.
66 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 8, 2019
2 people want to read
About the author
Michael B. Druxman
121 books25 followersMichael B. Druxman, author of ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD: From the Secret Files of Harry Pennypacker, is a veteran Hollywood screenwriter whose credits include CHEYENNE WARRIOR with Kelly Preston, DILLINGER AND CAPONE starring Martin Sheen and F. Murray Abraham, and THE DOORWAY with Roy Scheider, which he also directed.
He is also a prolific playwright. Among his many works is the one-person play, JOLSON, which has had numerous productions around the country.
Additionally, he is the author of over a dozen other published books, including several nonfiction works about Hollywood, its movies, and the people who make them (e.g., BASIL RATHBONE: His Life and His Films, and MAKE IT AGAIN, SAM: A Survey of Movie Remakes), plus two novels, NOBODY DROWNS IN MINERAL LAKE and SHADOW WATCHER and a book of short stories, DRACULA MEETS JACK THE RIPPER & Other Revisionist Histories.
His memoir, MY FORTY-FIVE YEARS IN HOLLYWOOD...AND HOW I ESCAPED ALIVE, was published in 2010.
Mr. Druxman resides in Austin, TX.
He is also a prolific playwright. Among his many works is the one-person play, JOLSON, which has had numerous productions around the country.
Additionally, he is the author of over a dozen other published books, including several nonfiction works about Hollywood, its movies, and the people who make them (e.g., BASIL RATHBONE: His Life and His Films, and MAKE IT AGAIN, SAM: A Survey of Movie Remakes), plus two novels, NOBODY DROWNS IN MINERAL LAKE and SHADOW WATCHER and a book of short stories, DRACULA MEETS JACK THE RIPPER & Other Revisionist Histories.
His memoir, MY FORTY-FIVE YEARS IN HOLLYWOOD...AND HOW I ESCAPED ALIVE, was published in 2010.
Mr. Druxman resides in Austin, TX.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 17, 2021
Entertaining
Absorbing and interesting. The style of writing keeps this story moving through humour and sadness. Such a life I would think no longer exists.
Absorbing and interesting. The style of writing keeps this story moving through humour and sadness. Such a life I would think no longer exists.
Displaying 1 of 1 review