Underfoot in Show Business by Helene Hanff

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

 

I first encountered Helene Hanff’s writing in the delightful 84, Charing Cross Road which was composed of letters she wrote to a bookseller in London and his responses.  They formed a fast friendship, one that was later portrayed in the movie of the same title and starring Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft. (I can’t resist adding that I was not the only one charmed by the book.  Anne Bancroft loved it, and so her husband Mel Brooks bought the screen rights for her as a birthday gift.)

 

While that is by far her best-known book, she did write others including Underfoot in Show Business. I love this book for many different reasons.

 

First and foremost, Hanff has a wonderful way of telling a story.  As the book opens, it’s the end of the Great Depression. Helene has had to drop out of college and go to work as a typist in the basement of a diesel-engine school for twelve dollars a week “and all the grease I could carry home on me.” She wants desperately to become a playwright, so she writes plays in her spare time. She enters a contest for young authors with a $1500 fellowship as a prize, and ends up moving to New York where she writes plays, takes odd jobs, and scratches out a living among all the other aspiring actors and playwrights. Helene budgets very carefully, figuring out not only rent but the prospect of attending functions where free food is available.  And, of course, cigarettes.

 

What could have been a dreary tale is instead a comedic adventure in Hanff’s capable hands. Her first garret turns out to a be in a red light district, a fact she discovers only when a man knocks on her door at 1 a.m. and asks if she’s open for business. Her second apartment is more respectable but caters to elderly women.  This means one needs to get used to seeing men carry out black body bags at regular intervals.  On the plus side, it also means that there’s a steady flow of merchandise for sale, cheap.

 

This book let me learn a bit more about the ultra-private Helene, as well as giving me insight into the way theatre works. It’s not all opening nights and reviews, but hard work behind the scenes for plays that may be a hit or a flop. When Helene does find lucrative work, it’s in the new medium of television where she writes and edits scripts for some of TV’s Golden Age shows. She drops some famous names but she’s no gossip; she guards their privacy as she does her own.

 

This may be one of my favorite books of the year.

The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M. Graff

 

            Reviewed by Christy

 Everyone of a certain age remembers where they were on September 11, 2001. I was 15 years old, and stuck in gym class followed by lunch. After initial rumblings of “something” happening, it was several class periods before I got any real information. (It was before smartphones after all.) While I remember those two classes vividly, the rest of the day is a total blank.

            In the subsequent years, I’ve watched retrospectives and read survivor accounts but I wanted to better understand the lead up to that day, as well as the devastating aftermath that reverberated throughout the world. For that, however, I will have to read something else. Fortunately, the author warns in the prologue that this was not that kind of book so I adjusted my expectations. The Only Plane in the Sky focuses on the stories of ordinary people on probably the most extraordinary day of their lives. We do hear from some big names such as Dick Cheney, Rudy Giuliani, and even Robert DeNiro, but mostly it’s every day folks who share their experiences.

            It probably goes without saying that this is an extremely difficult read. I think most people, listening to these stories, try to put themselves in others’ shoes. But it’s almost unfathomable. We hear from widows and widowers, schoolchildren whose nearby schools were evacuated, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers. One man called his parents to tell them he was okay, and then went back into the World Trade Center to try to help others. He never came out again. The stories lay heavy.

            However, it is a worthwhile read. I appreciate the way the narrative was organized. It’s roughly chronological, jumping back and forth between the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. It also has a small section from the perspective of those who were children or young adults on 9/11 – from a couple of months old all the way up to college students. It briefly touches on a few Muslim children (and adults) who almost immediately began experiencing prejudice after the attacks. I appreciate that it was addressed but it does feel slightly glossed over.

            The Only Plane in the Sky is a valuable resource for learning the stories of regular citizens on an unprecedented, historical day. Most of us can pinpoint the moment we learned of the attacks. With books like these, we can start to step outside of our viewpoint.

Nevermore: Girl in Translation, New York, Fatal Passages The Hill We Climb

 

Reported by Garry

 

Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok was our first book reviewed this week.  This historical novel centers on a young woman, Kimberly Chang, and her mother.  Both emigrated from Hong Kong to Brooklyn in the 1970’s, sponsored over by mother’s sister, who essentially abandons them once they arrive.  Kimberly leads a double-life in New York:   mathematical genius in school during the day, and sweatshop factory worker at night making $0.15 per garment, Kimberly must find a balance between the two cultures that she is a part of.  Our reader found this book to have an interesting awareness of what was going on even in the 1960s. 

 

 

Our next reader reviewed the sprawling New York by Edward Rutherfurd.  This detailed, well researched historical fiction tome (880 pages) covers the history of the now iconic New York City, from its humble beginnings as a trapping outpost, through the Revolutionary War, its growth as a world trading and financial center, through the tumultuous 1970s to its rebirth in the 1990s. Our reader thought this was a very good introduction to the history of New York City.

 

Fatal Passage:  The Story of John Rae, the Artic Hero Time Forgot by Ken McGoogan came next.  This is a biographical accounting of John Rae, a nineteenth-century explorer whose accomplishments were overshadowed by the political fallout of his speaking the truth of what happened to the famed Franklin expedition:  cannibalism.  Rae was an employee of the Hudson Bay Company, a Canadian company that controlled the fur trade throughout what was then British-controlled North America.  Born in Scotland, he was an accomplished surgeon who was also noted for his stamina, hunting skills and ability to live off the land.  His respect for and use of Inuit traditions and skills put him at odds with European culture of the time, which considered the Inuit people too primitive to offer anything of value (despite the fact that they had not only survived but thrived in an environment that brutally killed most European explorers.)  Our reader recommends this engrossing look at the legacy of one of the most important, but least know, explorers of the Artic.

 

Our next reader reviewed The Hill We Climb: An Inaugural Poem for the Country by Amanda Gorman.  Our reader was in awe of the power and strength of Gorman’s words, and heartily recommends this short, historic book.   

 

Also Mentioned: 

The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Old Patagonian Express by Paul Theroux 

Birthplace of the Winds: Storming Alaska’s Islands of Fire and Ice by Jon Bowermaster

Go and Come Again by Jerry Jones

The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui

Last Call by Elon Green

The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths

The Witch Elm by Tana French

Caste:  The Origins of Our Discontent by Isabel Wilkerson

I am Still Here:  Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown

All That We Carried by Erin Bartells

American Baby by Gabrielle Glaser

Mother May I by Joshilyn Jackson

 

Giant by Mikael

Reviewed by Jeanne

Set in 1930s New York, Giant is an impressive graphic novel about the workers (mostly immigrants) who were constructing the now iconic buildings of the city.  The story centers on “Giant,” a huge Irishman who speaks little but who harbors secrets.  One of them is that he failed to send Ryan Murphy’s death notification to Ryan’s family in Ireland.  Instead, he typed a note as Ryan and sent it along with some money.  Then he receives a reply. . . .

This was a new book which caught my eye when it came in.  I picked it up on a whim and found a much richer, deeper story than I had anticipated.  The action centers on what life was like at that time for a whole class of people.  Most are laborers who work hard and play hard in squalid conditions; they dream of those left behind while they re-invent themselves and sometimes try to leave their past far behind. It’s gritty, moving, sometimes violent, hopeful, and very human.

The art features sepia and olive tones, giving an historical feel while showing the emotional lives of the people. There’s the sweep of the city from the dizzying heights down to the tenements; bits of newspaper give the headlines of the day, while Walter Winchell’s commentary is in the background.  There’s a woman photographer trying to make a name for herself; a writer who can’t write who lets Giant use his typewriter; the new kid trying to learn the ropes; and Mary Murphy, Ryan’s wife who doesn’t yet know she’s a widow, sending news of the family and the Troubles.

Then there’s Giant.  Taciturn to a fault, he gives away nothing of his background. He’s a solitary man who doesn’t talk about his past or speculate on his future. Who is he?

In the brief foreword, it’s explained that part of the genesis of the book was an old photograph of several men sitting on a beam high above the city.  No one knows for sure who took the photo; except for two of the men, no one knows who the names of the rest much less what became of them.  This was the inspiration for the book, to give a life and story to some of those nameless people who created some of the landmarks we take for granted.

I recommend this to anyone who likes a bit of American history as seen through the eyes of the working

The Cat Men of Gotham: Tales of Feline Friendships in Old New York by Peggy Gavan

Reviewed by Kristin

People often have strong feelings about cats. They love them or hate them, and very seldom are ambivalent. Back in nineteenth century New York, felines had many more foes than friends and were often regarded as an annoyance. Perhaps a necessary nuisance as the rat population needed to be controlled, but cats (as well as other animals) were seen as creatures that needed to justify their existence by being of some use to humans. Nevertheless, many cats met a premature end as populations soared and they were seen as more trouble than they were worth.

Peggy Gavan has collected forty-two tales of noteworthy cats in old New York and the people who found value in those feline friendships. A whole chapter is devoted to fire cats, including an 1895 story about Tootsy, a kitten born in the Engine Company No. 27 in Lower Manhattan. Tootsy was high spirited, even learning how to slide down the pole from the third floor to try to hitch a ride when the fire alarms sounded. She was successful a couple of times, holding on to a suction pipe on the truck to ride along with the firemen. Captain Robert R. Farrell spotted her and tucked her away in his coat to keep her safe, as she meowed to the crowd watching the conflagration.

One cat lover mentioned in the book was not a man, but Lulu Grover of East Harlem. Grover was a huge fan of President Theodore Roosevelt and left instructions upon her death in 1906 that all her belongings be given to the President, including her two Angora cats Magistrate Joseph Pool and Queen Fairy Snowdrop. Grover was perhaps not the most mentally stable woman, as she did take her own life with a vial of chloroform. Her estate included a gold ring which was set with two diamonds and a tooth that may have belonged to, you guessed it, President Roosevelt. Although the president claimed not to have known Grover and to have been surprised by her bequest, he did make sure that she received a proper burial and her cats did live out their natural lives in luxury at the White House.

Seafaring cats, hotel cats, theatre cats, police cats, sports team cats—all have stories in this volume. Each short tale can be read in just a few minutes, and are all well documented with over thirty pages of endnotes. This meticulous research has contributed to a lovely collection.

Note for cat lovers who might read this book: (and I can’t imagine that cat haters would be remotely interested, so if you have read this far, you must be a cat lover) we have already established that cats had a rough life a century or so ago. The introduction spends several pages explaining the scenarios where people wanted to be rid of cats and the methods by which they accomplished that goal. Just skip the introduction. Move on to the heart-warming stories of the people who did care about their little furry friends.