Jared Brown

Books by Jared Brown:

THE FABULOUS LUNTS (with a preface by Helen Hayes), was originally published by Atheneum in 1986. A 2005 reprint with some modifications to the original text is avaliable from AuthorHouse. This award-winning biography of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne details the lives and careers of the most famous acting couple in history. They generally acted together -- both on the stage (which they preferred to all other media), films and television -- but occasionally performed separately. The New York Times, in its 1986 review of The Fabulous Lunts, called it “the definitive biography . . . a thoroughly researched study of the Lunts that powerfully evokes a romantic age of the theatre. . . . A worthy testament to their art,” and named it one of the “outstanding books of the year.” Brendan Gill in The New Yorker said of the book, “Their story is an irresistibly appealing one, and Brown’s telling of it will help to speed their return to our common consciousness. As darkness threatens to fall on Broadway, we are more than ever in need of the memory of who they were and what they achieved.”

ZERO MOSTEL: A BIOGRAPHY, published by Atheneum in 1989, is currently out of print. Some used copies can be found, however. Zero Mostel was best-known for his portrayals of Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof and Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, but he was also a noted painter. He was blacklisted throughout most of the 1950s, but was one of the very few blacklisted performers to attain greater heights after the blacklist came to an end. This book was chosen as a selection-of-the-month by the Literary Guild and the Fireside Theater Book Club.

THE THEATRE IN AMERICA DURING THE REVOLUTION (1995, Cambridge University Press) is the only book to give a full accounting of the plays and theatrical productions during the American revolution, many of them offered by British officers stationed in America -- and a considerable number of others offered by American soldiers in response. The book also details the work of the few professional theatres active in America at the time. American Studies called the book “a valuable study. The fifteen page appendix alone, saying who performed what, where and when, is worth the price of admission.” Mark Tully, in For the Bibliomaniac, says: “I highly recommend The Theatre in America During the Revolution for anyone interested in the theatre and/or 18th-century culture.”

ALAN J. PAKULA: HIS FILMS AND HIS LIFE (with a preface by Harrison Ford) was published by Back Stage Books in 2005. Pakula was the director of such outstanding American films as All the President’s Men, Sophie’s Choice, Presumed Innocent, The Parallax View and Starting Over. He produced To Kill a Mockingbird and wrote (or co-wrote) the screenplays for All the President’s Men, Sophie’s Choice, Presumed Innocent and other films. His name may be unfamiliar to many, but his films are among the finest ever created in the United States. The Washington Post called this prize-winning book “absorbing and satisfying”; Directed By magazine said the book is “an excellent review of Pakula’s professional career, . . . notable . . . for its wealth of detail on the conception and production of some of the truly memorable film of the past forty years.” A reader posted this comment on amazon.com’s website: “This book is a truly absorbing read on a multitude of levels. I highly recommend it.”

MOSS HART, A PRINCE OF THE THEATRE (Back Stage Books, 2006) is an account of the playwright who collaborated with George S. Kaufman on two of America’s most beloved plays, You Can’t Take It With You (winner of the Pulitzer Prize) and The Man Who Came to Dinner. In addition to writing many other outstanding plays and screenplays (such as Gentleman’s Agreement and the Judy Garland version of A Star Is Born), Hart directed the original New York productions of several milestones of the American musical theatre, including My Fair Lady and Camelot. The critic for Publishers Weekly concluded his review of this book: “With exhaustive research (indicated by 40 pages of bibliographic notes) and access to Hart’s diary and letters, plus interviews with family and friends, the book is bursting with backstage anecdotes. Theater buffs will applaud this penetrating portrait of the stylish, incandescent Broadway legend.”

MIND THE GAP AND 2 OTHER MYSTERIES (AuthorHouse, 2009) contains a novel of suspense and two extended stories. In Mind the Gap, ten college students and their professors embark on a theatrical tour of London and Stratford -- when the tour is interrupted by a diabolical murder. “The Value of Books” reveals what happens when a seemingly insignificant little man resolves to eliminate his rival in order to win the woman of his dreams. “Midtown Detectives” is an affectionate spoof of the hardboiled mysteries of such writers as Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Robert B. Parker. Copies of the book can be purchased from amazon.com, the publisher (www.authorhouse.com/bookstore) or at a discount ($16.25 including shipping) from the author (jbrown@iwu.edu).

All of these books are available at www.amazon.com, which frequently offers significant discounts from the retail price; and Barnes and Noble (www.barnesand noble.com) -- although only used copies of Zero Mostel can be purchased.

Jared Brown can be reached at jbrown@iwu.edu

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