While the subtitle of this book calls Elaine May "Hollywood's Hidden Genius," it also gives full attention to May's theatrical career, which has included writing, acting, and directing.
May first came to prominence doing comedy evenings with Mike Nichols. They practiced a form of comedy that was satirical, pointed, compassionate, and ground-breaking. They achieved a great deal of acclaim and made connections that would help them through their careers for the next many decades.
Author Carrie Courogen discusses May's work in great detail and she shares fascinating stories and quotations from existing interviews. May herself clearly had nothing to do with the book, which is in keeping with her lifelong desire to maintain extremely private privacy.Courogen deals with the absence of May's point of view by guessing what it might be. Too many sentences begin with "Perhaps" and similar conditionals. Did May quit job A because she didn't like her boss or didn't feel well or thought the work wasn't good enough or or or? Courogen doesn't know the answers, but that doesn't stop her from guessing.
Courogen also make the sort of mistakes that can make one wonder how accurate any of the book is. For example, she writes
What she's actually referring to is not a 50-point word but a 50-point bonus, which you get for using all seven of your tiles in a move. This is not only not "near-impossible," it is actually pretty common. Many Scrabble players, not only the best of the best, get this bonus regularly. Tournament players get these bonuses multiple times a game.
This mistake is not a huge deal in and of itself, but it is only one of many. So how careful and accurate is Courogen with May's life?
I ended up finding this book worth reading/skimming, but with a big ole' grain of salt.
Wendy Caster
