This tender, personal story reveals the public and private lives of show-business genius Alan Jay Lerner and his personal assistant, Doris Shapiro--the outsider he took along with him for the ride. Photographs.
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This tender, personal story reveals the public and private lives of show-business genius Alan Jay Lerner and his personal assistant, Doris Shapiro--the outsider he took along with him for the ride. Photographs.
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Seller's Description:
Good. Good condition. Good dust jacket. A copy that has been read but remains intact. May contain markings such as bookplates, stamps, limited notes and highlighting, or a few light stains. Bundled media such as CDs, DVDs, floppy disks or access codes may not be included.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good in Very Good jacket. This tender, personal story reveals the public and private lives of show-business genius Alan Jay Lerner and his personal assistant, Doris Shapiro--the outsider he took along with him for the ride. Photographs. Octavo. In DJ with mild edgewear. Quarter bound: blue cloth covered spine with silver lettering & grey paper covered boards. Dark blue end pages. Sticker residue front pastedown. First/first. Complete number line. Dust staining top edge. Foxing fore-edge. [245 pp]
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Seller's Description:
Fine in Very Good jacket. First edition. Fine in very good plus dustwrapper. Dustwrapper rubbed with stickers. Please Note: This book has been transferred to Between the Covers from another database and might not be described to our usual standards. Please inquire for more detailed condition information.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good- jacket. FIRST ED. Very Good in Very Good-unclipped dust jacket. Gently used with NO markings in text; binding is tight. Pasadena's finest independent new and used bookstore.
This author's writing is enchanting: facts and observations are related with an economy of words, yet all that the reader needs to know seems to be included. Doris Shapiro's account begins like a fairytale. She goes along to work for Alan J. Lerner (half of the dream team of Lerner and Loewe) and stays for fourteen years, seeing the birth and glorious maturity of "My Fair Lady", being there through the growing pains and acclamation of "Camelot" and the film "Gigi". But then the magic is programmed to sour: Lerner discovers Dr. Max Jacobsen, "Dr. Feelgood" with his injections of vitamins and what-all, mixed with methedrine, and persuades Doris to partake as well. Gradually it is normal not to sleep at all, sometimes not going to bed for over three days, and increasingly we see from Doris' point of view how debilitating are the times between the shots. Functioning becomes impossible unless another needle is soon injected into the vein. There are sordid scenes, bloody needles and messy wrappers, while neither Lerner nor Shapiro seem to realise they have become addicts.
Soon Loewe leaves the picture, and Lerner joins up with Burton Lane for "On A Clear Day You Can See Forever", but the alchemy of success is dissipating as Doris and her boss manifest a voracious dependency on the doctor's shots.
This is a stunning book, with frankness, self-cleansing and anecdotes about the well-known and famous, but what makes it even more memorable is the author's generosity in filling us in on the fates of the main protagonists through chance meetings and conversations she had, so we are not left wondering. There is a glimpse of Fritz Loewe with a young blonde, and a meeting with Beatrice, the one-time receptionist to Dr. Jacobsen and news of him, and finally the poignant last meeting between Doris and her old boss who is hoping for a return to the glory of the old days with "Coco", his latest musical. A very unusual and absorbing memoir.