Product Description
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Customer Reviews (5)

Be aware there are two versions! 5 star book with 'new' illustrations, be sure you've got the one you want
For me the ORIGINAL illustrations by Doris Lee are essential to the book. They're the ones chosen by Thurber himself. For many fond readers of the original, the most recent version (with the illustrations by Steven Kellogg) will be a sad disappointment. In a book like this where the illustrations are as important as the words, the wonderfulness of both in the original publication was particularly magical. Perhaps if one came upon the Kellogg version without being aware of the original one wouldn't know what was being missed, but for me it's like reading Laura Ingalls Wilder or E.B. White's 'children's' books without the Garth Williams drawings. It isn't clear to me why a publisher would do this. So at least be aware there are two versions and make sure you're getting the one you're expecting. Absolutely no offense meant to Mr. Kellogg (I certainly wouldn't want to be the 2nd illustrator of Stuart Little or Charlotte's Web or Little House in The Big Woods) but from my point of view I very much agree with James, an earlier reviewer who made the same point. The Doris Lee illustrations are magical and sweet in the best minimalist senses of the words. From the original reader point of view the new illustrations might even be said to miss the point of the words, or refute them, and are really rather frightening in comparison, in a way they shouldn't be. Very distressing to Quillowites.

Skillfully Quixotic Paintings
Originally penned by the irrepressible James Thurber in 1944, "The Great Quillow" comes to life once more through the skillfully quixotic paintings of Stephen Kellogg.

Don't miss this superb recreation of the story of the little toymaker who becomes a hero when he saves his village from menacing giants.

What happened to the Great Quillow???
As a fifth grader,I was enthralled by this book, partially because of the illustrations in the orginal edition.I have thought of it often during the past 55 years (I am now almost 64) and was overjoyed when I found that it was avaiable, and in print. I ordered it, and waited for it to arrive with eager anticipation. Imagine my horror when it arrived with illustrations totally out of keeping with the spirit of the Great Quillow, and certainly a far cry fro the originals.The great Quillow was a peaceful person, did not require force of arms or strength to overcome the Giant.The ugly and distorted illustrations in the new editions are a travesty.Is there any way to find a copy of the original edition?

WONDERFUL story
Even though the story is rather long (it takes me about 30 minutes to read it aloud cover to cover), it keeps our children fully engaged, and the illustrations are absolutely fantastic.This is one of those books we will always keep and pass on from one generation to the next.

Wonderful story for ALL ages.
Marvelous illustrations.Great story about how brains can win out over braun.The Great Quillow is a character to be admired. Told with humor and feeling.I purchased my own copy to keep.One of the best. ... Read more

Product Description
This heavily illustrated volume features behind-the-scenes production shots and cast photos from current popular soaps alongside cult and long-running serials from the past. A specially created "family tree' of soap creators and their shows and interviews with leading writers, producers, actors, and directors further illuminate the birth and growth of this television staple. 140 illustrations, 60 in color.Amazon.com Review
Perhaps when a museum dedicates a three-month exhibit to thesubject of soap operas, it's time to hang up our cultural hats andadmit that we now occupy a world of overstimulated philistines. Withthat confession happily concluded, what could we want more than thisgorgeous volume documenting the Museum of Television & Radio's soapopera show. Exhaustively chronicling the life of the soap opera,Worlds Without End covers the form from its roots in radio upto the late '90s. It not only reviews the histories of every soapseries ever to air (up through late 1996), but also provides a generalhistorical overview of the changes in subject matter, racial casting,and filming styles of the genre as a whole. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A Writer's Dream
This book was so fascinating. I enjoyed reading about the different soaps that have come along throughout the years. I also loved the fact that there was a section on African-Americans in the soaps. As an aspiring writer, it gave me better insight on a business that I would love to be in one day. I appreciate that world of television, and I am certainly glad that someone took up the opportunity to explore it in a book. A fine read!!

Soaps get no respect!
Let's face it, Soaps, because they are generally geared and attracted to a largely female audience has never received the respect that it richly deserves. Think about it, where else is one hour episode done per day with constant revisions and a good memory to memorize all the lines. Of course, there is romance which women crave but it doesn't take just sex and romance to sell a soap. The soaps are largely family oriented in small towns or cities like Genoa City, Salem, Springfield, Llanview, Port Charles, and Oakdale. I was reading a British soap actor, Mike's Reid's autobiography, where he was dismissed by other actors on a morning show because soaps are still considered to be trash television. Unfortunately, American soaps which was as many as 14 and now as few as 8 on the networks today are seen as too expensive and the audiences are not the same as they were in their popularity. But I love soaps and so does my whole family including my late father who watched him, the soaps provide a different form of entertainment. You're not going to get Shakespeare every day and you don't want it. Some episodes are just brilliant and phenomenal while others are just typical much like life itself. The shows are quite conservative in nature and are very sensitive to delicate topics like homosexuality and abortion. Besides Luke and Laura, there is Roger and Holly on Guiding Light who fought more than made up and they were as equally complicating and intense. I'll never forget actors and actresses who has passed on and neither have the cast members who continously work. Soaps have provided roles for women on daytime like Erica Kane on All My Children or Marlena Evans on Days Of Our Lives as well as Reva Shayne Lewis on Guiding LIght. The actors and actresses as well as the cast and crews of these shows deserve a lot more credit. A few years ago, I tried to get the attention of the Kennedy Center HOnors to recognize William J. Bell, soap's Shakespeare who wrote for 35 years, and actress Helen Wagner who epitomize the good wife on As the World Turns since day one for the last 52 years. Sadly, Bell has died and Helen will turn 90 years old. Nowhere else would you have such longevity, dedication, or devotion. Every day is different from yesterday. With Soapnet, I hope more people tune in to watch, give it a chance, you can't just decide in one episode. Some soaps like General Hospital has had their share of crazy storylines. We have RADA graduates like six time Emmy Winner Erika Slezak and Jennifer Bassey among them. Soaps are better than any play, musical, or even films on television or at the cinema. You don't know what you got until it's gone and soaps are now endangered of being extinct with network politics. It is easier and cost effective to have another court show or talk show in it's place. I never gotten over the cancellation of Another World in 1999. I have watched many soaps kick the bucket before their time. These shows launched some of the finest actors and actresses of our time. It's time to show respect to the soaps in America.

Essential for all die-hard fans of the afternoon serial.
A beautifully illustrated book with plenty of information on the history of soaps, this book may be as interesting to sociologists as it is to soap fans. Most noteworthy, is the way it differentiates the soaps from one another in terms of issues that each tackles and why. It is interesting to trace how soaps such as "Painted Dreams" began on radio and what appealed (and didn't) to various audiences throughout the decades. Eg: Isn't it hard to believe that "Guiding Light" (On Cable In Sydney) was orginally a 15 minute radio serial about four ministers?Many soaps mentioned in the book will probably be unknown to younger Sydney audiences such as "Search For Tommorrow" and "As The World Turns" which haven't been on the air for years (decades?) but there is good coverage on todays lineup as well. If you like this book you may want to check out A book by Jean Rouverol called"Writing For The Soaps" (1984) and "Soapbox" (1990) Hopefully a television special of a similar nature to this book could be done because the archive material itself would be priceless viewing. ... Read more

Product Description
Contains "The Greatest in the World", "Car We Had to Push", "Which", "Split Infinitive", "Adverbial Advice", "Interview with a Lemming", and more. Includes commentary by E.B. White, Frank Sullivan, Kenneth Tynan, Marc Connelly, Dorothy Parker, Clifton Fadiman, and Peter de Vries. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

This is my awesome review
This book Su ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

WUNDERBAR!
I LOOOOOVE THIS BOOK! It's the best book ever! And I'm not just saying that because my sister wrote it! It made me see Thurber in a light not uncommon to that which shines down upon saints. Sarah Elearnora Toombs, I thank you.

WUNDERBAR!
I LOOOOOVE THIS BOOK! It's the best book ever! And I'm not just saying that because my sister wrote it! It made me see Thurber in a light not uncommon to that which shines down upon saints. Sarah Elearnora Toombs, I thank you. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Radiant Candor In West Cornwall
Selected Letters of James Thurber, Helen Thurber & Edward Weeks (eds.); Little, Brown & Company (1980)

The brilliance of these letters motivated me to plot our recent vacation trip so that we could stop for a few minutes in West Cornwall, Ct, before having lunch in Litchfield & then ultimately arriving in Maine on the following day.

We pulled into the town post office's parking lot.I got out of the car & at that moment, coming out of that office, came the only man in a 15-mile radius who:

In all likelihood would talk freely & candidly to a stranger;

One of the few people, 49 years after Thurber's demise, who knew anything about the writer; &

Hadn't thought he had met an asylum escapee when he heard that the town's otherwise-celebrated residential roster of actors & actresses were of little interest to me (since I don't watch television & haven't been inside of a movie theatre since 1989).

His candor was positively radiant: "He [Thurber, a vehement alcoholic who, when inebriated] was an AH-TACK-KURR!"

And in grateful deference to his having been so open & eloquent, I'll leave it at that.

I'm not planning on pushing my luck by acquiring the seven-hundred & ninety-eight page, 2003 Hernia edition of "The Wit, Wisdom, & Surprising Life of James Thurber."There is such a thing as too much wit.

But I would like to thank the asleep-at-the-switch publishers who in 1980 somehow produced a hardcover copy 1st edition of "Selected Letters" (purchased 2nd hand at The Lyrical Ballad in Saratoga) whose pages - beginning on page 115 & running to page 146 - were printed upside down.

I like to think of the book as being truly representative of Mr. Thurber:

When Sober, a creative genius & all-round good-guy to his close friends; & When Plastered, "An AH-TACK-KURR!"
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