I'm Not Rappaport - Herb Gardner

 

I picked this up at a used book sale out in Carefree last spring and finally got around to reading it in a couple of nights.  Written 20 years ago I was pleasantly surprised how the theme centered around the lives of a pair of older men surviving in a world where they are largely irrelevant. It was different to read a play, to imagine the characters and see pictures of the actors that performed the play on Broadway.  An enjoyable read and a thoughtful commentary on aging.

Quotes:

page 47 - [Nat's lecture to Danforth on older people] "you collect old furniture, old cars, old pictures everything but old people. Bad souvenirs, they talk too much. Even quiet, they tell you too much; they look like the future and you don't want to know. Who are these people, these oldies, this strange race? They're not my type, put them with their own kind, a building, a town, put them someplace. You idiots, don't you know?  One day you too will join this weird tribe. Yes, Mr Chairman, you will get old; I hate to break the news. And if you're frightened now, you'll be terrified then. The problem is not that life is short it's but that it's very long; so you better have a policy....don't you understand? The old people, their the survivors, they know something, they haven't just stayed late to the party....you tell him that he is unnecessary, that he is a sin, that is a sin against life, that is abortion at the other end."

Published: 1986  Read: August 2026  Genre: Play 

Act One - Moss Hart

I picked this up at the half price book store for my October trip but finished it before I left!

Moss Hart was a famous playwright and theatre director in the 30's and 40's, dying in the late 50's, married to Kitty Carlisle of the "What's My Line" game show. His auto-biography is considered a classic in the description of life in the theatre. It's an intimate portrayal of his difficult early poverty with alcoholic and disturbed parents and his escape from that life to the magic of Broadway.  I enjoyed the insight into play writing and the collaborative method he used to create many of his plays.

He does come off as rather pompous and overwrought, working himself into a tizzy with worry and doubt.  He was a tremendously hard worker and relentless in writing for his audience.  In any case, the story vividly reveals the behind the curtain activities of the theater and the people who create it. If you know anyone who wants a life in theatre, this is a good gift.

Published: 2014 (2nd edition, originally 1959  Read: October 2015  Genre: auto-biography

• ISBN-13: 978-1250050892