Stefan Kanfer

Irónico, mordaz, incomparable: Groucho Marx no solo reinventó la comedia, sino que desnudó a la sociedad norteamericana con una carcajada afilada como un bisturí. En ‘Groucho. La vida y la época de J

La vida personal y profesional de uno de los grandes iconos del siglo XX. «A Bogart no le hace falta tener un arma en la mano para parecer un tío con agallas.»Raymond Chandler Eso decía Chandler de u

Easily the years best Hollywood biog.Independent on SundayBall Of Fire reveals all about house- wife superstar Lucille Ball. She made the top-rated TV show in America before her husbands serial adulteries practically sunk it.Sunday Herald To viewers all over the world, Lucille Ball remains the ultimate screwball housewife, getting in and out of outlandish scrapes with hilarous finesse. But Stefan Kanfers biography looks behind the image, tracing Balls comedic genius to its beginnings in a lonely childhood in upstate New York. She yearned to make people laugh, to attain stardom and love. Then a Cuban bandleader called Desi came into her life to make her wealthy and famous -- and nearly destroyed her in the process. Kanfer chronicles the runaway success of I Love Lucy, the fiery marriage and eventual split from Desi, and Balls struggle to manage both a business empire and her own rebellious children. A wonderful and poignant book . . . Kanfer portays Lucille Ball as insatiably anxious and insecure, a woman whose search for a father-figure would only ever find the unlikely and unholdable Desi . . . Kanfer pulls no punches over Lucy the pain in the neck but he gives a superb picture of how she and Desi changed television. David Thomson

Marlon Brando will never cease to fascinate us: for his triumphs as an actor (On the Waterfront, The Godfather, Last Tango in Paris), as well as his disasters; for the power of the screen portrayals he gave, and for his turbulent, tumultuous personal life. Seamlessly intertwining the man and the work, Kanfer takes us through Brandos troubled childhood, to his arrival in New York in the 1940s, where he studied with the legendary Stella Adler, and at the age of twenty-three became the toast of Broadway in A Streetcar Named Desire. Kanfer expertly examines each of Brandos films - from The Men in 1950 to The Score in 2001 - making clear the evolution of Brandos singular genius, while also shedding light on the cultural evolution of Hollywood itself. And he brings into focus Brandos self-destructiveness, his lifelong dissembling, his deeply ambivalent feelings towards his chosen vocation, and the tragedies that shadowed his final years. This is a never-before-seen portrait of one of the most extraordinary talents of the twentieth century.

A Humphrey Bogart comes along only once in a century: someone who isnt conventionally handsome or particularly versatile, but who can convince an audience that whatever character hes playing is of great importance, because he represents something vital about themselves and their time.He honed his craft for years in the theatre only becoming a star at the age of 42 as Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon. In the 16 years that were left to him, he made an indelible mark on movies - such that film-makers as diverse as Woody Allen and Jean-Luc Godard paid homage to him in their films.At the heart of this biography is Bogeys love affair with the 19-year-old Lauren Bacall, who stole TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT - and his heart - by lolling in a doorway, tossing insolent remarks and teaching him to put his lips together and whistle.

Presents various examples of Groucho, one of the influential and well-loved figures in the history of comedy. From early scripts to complete screenplays, from magazine funnies to personal correspondence, via books, greedy banks, even greedier lawyers and the coming of television, this collection captures the essence of Groucho's comic genius.

Desde sus exactas 500 páginas, Groucho, una biografía propone una inmersión prolongada en la vida de Julius Henry Marx (1890-1977), más conocido por el apodo que tomó del personaje gruñón de un cómic hoy olvidado (Sherlocko, The Monk, de Gus Mager). A diferencia de lo que podria suponerse, no es un libro muy entretenido. Stefan Kanfer, editor en jefe de Time durante un par de decadas y autor tambien de El ABC de Groucho, expone datos mayores y minucias, a veces sin preocuparse de las jerarquias, que a traves de Groucho revisan unos 120 años de historia del espectaculo norteamericano. Se toma su tiempo como lo hicieron los hermanos para llegar al cine y el lector paciente observara que comenzando por 1870 con papa y mama Marx (interesantes especimenes, dignos de esa progenie) el libro anda por las 150 paginas y todavia la pandilla no arribo al cine. Justifiquemos a Kanfer: los hermanos dieron larguisimas vueltas por el vodevil y Broadway antes de entrar al cine con el sonido y atenuar algo las nostalgias de la comicidad muda. Aunque el precio a pagar no era poco (especialmente los interminables y soporiferos numeros musicales que deterioraron hasta sus obras maestras, guiones mediocres o colaterales intrigas amorosas que iban desde lo levemente nauseabundo a lo vomitivo), los Marx brillaron, y entre ellos Groucho fue tan grande como para sobrevivir a su culto. Tambien podra sobrevivir al sujeto que revela este volumen

Stefan Kanfer, acclaimed biographer of Lucille Ball and Groucho Marx, now gives us the definitive life of Marlon Brando, seamlessly intertwining the man and the work to give us a stunning and illuminating appraisal. Beginning with Brandos turbulent childhood, Kanfer follows him to New York where he made his star-making Broadway debut as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire at age twenty-three. Brando then decamped for Hollywood, and Kanfer looks at each of Brandos films over the yearsfrom The Men in 1950 to The Score in 2001offering deft and insightful analysis of his sometimes brilliant, sometimes baffling performances. And, finally, Kanfer brings into focus Brandos self-destructiveness, ambivalence toward his craft, and the tragedies that shadowed his last years.

In Stardust Lost, Stefan Kanfer brings the colorful Yiddish stage roaring back to life. Born of ancient traditions stretching back to the drama of the Old Testament, the Yiddish theater was a vibrant part of the immigrant experience. Kanfer invokes the energy, belief, and pure chutzpah it took to establish and run the thriving, influential theaters. He reveals the nightly drama and comedy that played out behind the scenes as well as onstage, and introduces all the playersactors, divas, playwrights, directors, and producerswho made it possible. A richly evocative chronicle of its brief but dazzling existence in America, this is both an elegy for and a tribute to Yiddish theaterlost, but not forgotten.

Humphrey Bogart: its hard to think of anyone whos had the same lasting impact on the culture of movies. Though he died at the young age of fifty-seven more than half a century ago, his influence among actors and filmmakers, and his enduring appeal for film lovers around the world, remains as strong as ever. What is it about Bogart, with his unconventional looks and noticeable speech impediment, that has captured our collective imagination for so long? In this definitive biography, Stefan Kanfer answers that question, along the way illuminating the private man Bogart was and shining the spotlight on some of the greatest performances ever captured on celluloid.Bogart fell into show business almost by accident and worked for nearly twenty years before becoming the star we know today. Born into a life of wealth and privilege in turn-of-the-century New York, Bogart was a troublemaker throughout his youth, getting kicked out of prep school and running away to join the navy at the age of nineteen. After a short, undistinguished stint at sea, Bogart spent his early twenties drifting aimlessly from one ill-fitting career to another, until, through a childhood friend, he got his first theater job. Working first as a stagehand and then, reluctantly, as a bit-part player, Bogart cut his teeth in one forgettable role after another. But it was here he began to develop a work ethic; deciding that there were two kinds of men: professionals and bums, Bogart, for the first time in his life, wanted to be the former.After the Crash of 29, Bogart headed west to try his luck in Hollywood. That luck was scarce, and he slogged through more than thirty B-movie roles before his drinking buddy John Huston wrote him a part that would change everything; with High Sierra, Bogart finally broke through at the age of fortybeing a pro had paid off. What followed was a string of movies we have come to know as the most beloved classics of American cinema: The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The Big Sleep, The African Queen . . . the list goes on and on. Kanfer appraises each of the films with an unfailing critical eye, weaving in lively accounts of behind-the-scenes fun and friendships, including, of course, the great love story of Bogart and Bacall. What emerges in these pages is the portrait of a great Hollywood life, and the final word on why there can only ever be one Bogie.

No, Groucho is not my real name, Im just breaking it in for a friend. Presenting the greatest and most hilarious examples of Groucho, one of the most influential and well-loved figures in the long and glittering history of comedy. From early scripts to complete screenplays, from magazine funnies to fascinating personal correspondence, via books, greedy banks, even greedier lawyers and the coming of television, Kanfers collection captures the essence of Grouchos inimitable comic genius. I never forget a face, but in your case Ill make an exception...

As a movie actress Lucille Ball was, in her own words, queen of the B-pluses. But on the small screen she was a superstararguably the funniest and most enduring in the history of TV. In this exemplary biography, Stefan Kanfer explores the roots of Lucys genius and places it in the context of her conflicted and sometimes bitter personal life. Ball of Fire gives us Lucy in all her contradictions. Here is the beauty who became a master of knock-down slapstick; the control freak whose comic alter ego thrived on chaos, the worshipful TV housewife whose real marriage ended in public disaster. Here, too, is an intimate view of the dawn of television and of the America that embraced it. Charming, informative, touching. and laugh-out-loud funny, this is the book Lucys fans have been waiting for.

Detrás de su personaje cómico, de sus eternos bigotes y su puro, Groucho Marx escondía un hombre marcado por la insatisfacción personal y profesional. En esta visión autorizada, afectuosa y honesta de la vida del gran artista, conoceremos sus origenes, junto a sus hermanos, en el teatro de variedades. Asistiremos a la ascension de Groucho hasta convertirse en estrella, los conflictos que surgieron con el declive, las a menudo dificiles relaciones con su familia y su sorprendente grupo de amigos. Una vision intima y sorprendente de un mito de la cultura moderna.

Stefan Kanfer ha querido reunir en este libro los clásicos del “sinsentido” de Groucho: fragmentos de sus libros y guiones cinematográficos, artículos escritos por él para las revistas The New Yorker

Detrás de su personaje cómico, de sus eternos bigotes y su puro, Groucho Marx escondía un hombre marcado por la insatisfacción personal y profesional. En esta visión autorizada, afectuosa y honesta de la vida del gran artista, conoceremos sus origenes, junto a sus hermanos, en el teatro de variedades. Asistiremos a la ascension de Groucho hasta convertirse en estrella, los conflictos que surgieron con el declive, las a menudo dificiles relaciones con su familia y su sorprendente grupo de amigos. Una vision intima y sorprendente de un mito de la cultura moderna.