Author: Eve Golden File Type: pdf Comedic film actress Kay Kendall, born to a theatrical family in Northern England, came of age in London during the Blitz. After starring in Britains biggest cinematic disaster, she found stardom in 1953 with her brilliant performance in the low-budget film, Genevieve. She scored success after success with her light comic style in movies such as Doctor in the House, The Reluctant Debutante, and the Gene Kelly musical Les Girls. Kendalls private life was even more colorful than the plots of her films as she embarked on a series of affairs with minor royalty, costars, directors, producers, and married men. In 1954 she fell in love with her married Constant Husband costar Rex Harrison and accompanied him to New York, where he was starring on Broadway in My Fair Lady. It was there that Kendall was diagnosed with myelocytic leukemia. Her life took a romantic and tragic turn as Harrison divorced his wife and married Kendall. He agreed with their doctor that she was never to know of her diagnosis, and for the next two years the couple lived a hectic, glamorous life together as Kendalls health failed. She died in London at the age of 32, shortly after completing the filming of Once More with Feeling!, her husband by her side. The Brief, Madcap Life of Kay Kendall was written with the cooperation of Kendalls sister Kim and includes interviews with many of her costars, relatives and friends. A complete filmography and numerous rare photographs complete this first-ever biography of Britains most glamorous comic star. Eve Golden is the author of several biographies of actresses, Anna Held and the Birth of Ziegfelds Broadway, as well as a collection of essays on silent film stars. **From Library Journal British starlet Kay Kendall started in show business at the age of 11. Unfortunately, most of her films were box-office flops that received mixed reviews about her performance, a reality that did not deter Kendall from pursuing her desire to become a star. Kendall was likable, easily attracting friends and admirers she had a longtime relationship with Charlie Chaplains son Sydney and dated some minor royalty. Her scandalous affair and eventual marriage to Rex Harrison helped boost Kays struggling career, but her untimely death from leukemia ended her dreams of stardom. Golden, author of biographies on Jean Harlow and Theda Bara, has joined with Kendalls sister to write the first biography of this beautiful, ambitious woman. Goldens writing style is concise and evenly paced, and she uses firsthand information from the actresss family and friends. Although American audiences may not be familiar with Kendall, this is an enjoyable read. Purchase where there is an interest in show-business biographies. Rosalind Dayen, Broward Cty. South Regional Lib., Pembroke Pines, FL 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. Review The first biography of this beautiful, ambitious woman. Goldens writing style is concise and evenly paced, and she uses firsthand information from the actresss family and friends. Although American audiences may not be familiar with Kendall, this is an enjoyable read.Library Journal Kendalls life is filled with a sense of fun and mischief.Movie Review Index Considered to be a real life Holly Golightly by the British. A beautiful comedian everyone thought to be mad as a hatter. The book will tell you all about the woman and how she lived up to her reputation.Rainbo Electronic Reviews She was quite magic. Everywhere you went, people used to stop and stare . . . she radiated.Roddy McDowell Kendall has a presence that went far beyond her limited screen oeuvre.Washington Post Belongs in a bygone age of romantic movies filled with dashing heroes and honorable secrets.Wisconsin State Journal

Author: Aluísio Azevedo File Type: pdf First published in 1890, and undoubtedly Azevedos masterpiece, The Slum is one of the most widely read and critically acclaimed novels ever written about Brazil. Indeed, its great popularity, realistic descriptions, archetypal situations, detailed local coloring, and overall race-consciousness may well evoke Huckleberry Finn as the novels North American equivalent. Yet Azevedo also exhibits the naturalism of Zola and the ironic distance of Balzac while tragic, beautiful, and imaginative as a work of fiction, The Slum is universally regarded as one of the best, or truest, portraits of Brazilian society ever rendered. This is a vivid and complex tale of passion and greed, a story with many different strands touching on the different economic tiers of society. Mainly, however, The Slum thrives on two intersecting story lines. In one narrative, a penny-pinching immigrant landlord strives to become a rich investor and then discards his black lover for a wealthy white woman. In the other, we witness the innocent yet dangerous love affair between a strong, pragmatic, gentle giant sort of immigrant and a vivacious mulatto woman who both live in a tenement owned by said landlord. The two immigrant heroes are originally Portuguese, and thus personify two alternate outsider responses to Brazil. As translator David H. Rosenthal points out in his useful Introduction one is the capitalist drawn to new markets, quick prestige, and untapped resources the other, the prudent European drawn moth-like to the light and sexual heat of the tropics. A deftly told, deeply moving, and hardscrabble novel that features several stirring passages about life in the streets, the melting-pot realities of the modern city, and the oft-unstable mind of the crowd, The Slum will captivate anyone who might appreciate a more poetic, less political take on the nineteenth-century naturalism of Crane or Dreiser. **