Sandra Takes Command

by Constance M. White

"Sandra didn't just want to be any kind of actress; she didn't see herself as a film star or anything like that. No, acting for Sandra was a serious, dedicated business - the most important thing in her school life. That's why she tried to form a Drama Group among her schoolmates; that's partly why she failed; failed because she was too ambitious, too keen to take command."

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1950

About the author

Born in Croyden in 1903, Constance Mary Lockett was the daughter of a City accountant, and had three siblings. She was educated at Croyden Secondary School (currently Selhurst Grammar School), and briefly attended art school before becoming a photographic colorist. She was married to estate agent Henry Victor White when she was twenty-two years old, and had one daughter, born in 1928. White's first book, The Adventurous Three, was published in 1939, and was based upon stories the author told to her daughter, Jeanette. After the interruption of the Second World War, White returned to writing, publishing forty-three more books from 1947 to 1971.

Reviews

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sandra can’t bear it when the school drama club is cancelled for a term, so she determines to start one of her own. But she is also determined to choose a particular play, produce and play a leading role. A chance encounter with the local repertory theatre company might just be what is needed to save Sandra from disaster…

I usually enjoy Constance M. White’s 1950s young teens dealing with school and whichever of acting/ballet/ponies/mystery/Guides/music is the subject of each book. Here it’s acting, and just at the right moment Sandra encounters actual actors who are able to give her a helping hand. No unrealistic child star discoveries here: Sandra bites off more than she can chew (interestingly, Gordon Daviot’s Richard II is the play that takes her fancy) and needs to learn to dial back her ambition and her ego. Once or twice Sandra crosses the line from being amusingly focused on her own ideas into annoyingly self-centred, and best friend Lynette is a bit of a doormat, and another author would have made more of that dynamic, but in general this is a good straight idyllic read. Oh for the days when rep company directors could afford large houses in the country…