Say Darling edition by Richard Bissell Literature Fiction eBooks
Download As PDF : Say Darling edition by Richard Bissell Literature Fiction eBooks 
A riotous story about Indiana author, Jack Jordan, who packs up his family and moves 900 miles (by car in a heat wave with four children) to take up residence in Connecticut where he will commute to New York City to work with the team who will transform his book into a musical comedy. Say Darling is based on Richard Bissell’s own collaborative experience of turning one of his novels, 7 ½ Cents, into the smash Broadway musical, The Pajama Game. Say Darling was also turned into a musical and became a Broadway success.
The road to fame isn’t easy – but, when Richard Bissell is in charge, usually hilarious. For Jack Jordan the adjustment to big city life is frazzling. “Elapsed time from home to place of business 98 minutes. Condition of feet and nervous system on arrival at work Poor. Permanent addition to one's valuable store of information from reading newspapers two hours per day Doubtful. Friendly companionship on train Zero. Views of sordid home life through track-side windows between 125th Street and 101st Street Excellent. Status of Anxiety Neurosis Thriving.”
And when it’s all said and done, after months of work (and scores of lunches and no sleep), the setbacks keep coming. The first reviews are scathing. “The dusty script tells of life and love in a small town in Indiana, a state henceforth to be avoided like the Black Death. “ Oooo! Cringe! How does one rise from that? But come back they do.
The people of the theater world –actors, producers, song writers, stagehands, directors, press agents – are all keenly drawn and intelligently and humorously portrayed. Richard Bissell’s remarkable ability to recall conversations and to recreate a time and place through dialogue will fascinate and delight all lovers of the theater world.
For anyone interested in musical comedy in New York City in the 50’s, Richard Bissell’s novel, Say Darling, is a book not to be missed.
Say Darling edition by Richard Bissell Literature Fiction eBooks
I love this story, and it's fascinating back story!!Product details
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Say Darling edition by Richard Bissell Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews
Richard Bissell was a fascinating writer who, with George Abbott, turned his early novel "7 1/2 Cents," about a labor dispute, into the delightful musical "The Pajama Game." Here he writes a novel about a Midwestern novelist who packs up his family and moves to the outskirts of New York City, so he can adapt his novel about a factory into a musical. He works with two tyro producers, a veteran writer-director and a whole bunch of people who more than vaguely resemble the people who brought you "The Pajama Game."
Bissell's cynical, sometimes self-critical novel is told mainly in dialog he heard as he experiences the world of New York and the theater. No rube (I believe he went to Harvard), Bissell has a keen, intelligent and cynical take on the whole affair. His characterization of the young, outlandish producer (modeled on Harold Prince?) may be a bit off-putting, until you realize that Prince actually was a budding talent trying to find his way in the theater. It took awhile for me to track the novel down. I had always wanted to read it, because of my deep interest in musical comedy, and I wasn't disappointed. I wish someone would bring it out again -- perhaps a theater publisher like Applause.
I used to marvel at Richard Bissell. What a polymath he was. He wrote books--humorous nonfiction and funny fiction--he drove a riverboat, he worked in a pajama factory, put on at least one Broadway musical; and on top of all that he held down a long career in the spy racket, spending a while as deputy director of the CIA.
I was slightly mistaken. There were two Richard Bissells. One went to Harvard, the other one went to Yale. The CIA guy was the Yale one.
It was the Harvard guy who worked in the pajama factory and wrote the novel that became 'The Pajama Game.' He also wrote the novel under review here.
I picked it off the shelf at the Elliott Bay Book Company while devouring a bowl of chili in 1997. To coin a phrase, I was blown away. This was the funniest, most engaging comic voice I'd ever come across. Unfortunately it was not my book and I could not take it home.
I didn't get around to finishing the book for another seven years, when I happened across another copy. The opening chapter was as rip-roaring as ever, but the rest of book was a letdown. It soon became clear that this was scarcely fictionalized autobiography, dealing with Bissell's adventures on Broadway. He paints himself as a cardboard-suitcase rube from the sticks, hopelessly in over his head as he negotiates with big-wheel producers George Abbott and Hal Prince (or their thinly disguised equivalents), meets the hot young songwriters (Adler and Ross), and has a limp, abortive romance with the leading lady (Julie Wilson?) as they take the show on the road. The actual musical was a smash-success and so is the fictionalized one--which is too bad, because you really need heartache and failure to exploit the comic potential.
And what of the title? "Say, Darling" is a song, the hit that tops the charts just before the musical opens. In other words, "Hey There (You with the Stars in Your Eyes)." I think this would have been a better book if Bissell had chosen a title inspired by one of "The Pajama Game"'s lesser numbers...say, "I'll Never Be Jealous Again."
Typical Richard Bissell. Hils books do not disappoint.He had inimitable style. Always refreshilng. Fun reading during the summer. Basis for famous play .
I love this story, and it's fascinating back story!!
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