Mae West; wise-cracking vaudeville performer; was one of the most controversial figures of her era. Rarely; however; do people think of Mae West as a writer. In Three Plays By Mae West; Lillian Schlissel brings this underexplored part of Wests career to the fore by offering for the first time in book form; three of the plays West wrote in the 1920s--Sex (1926); The Drag (1927) and Pleasure Man (1928). With an insightful introduction by Schlissel; this book offers a unique look into to the life and early career of this legendary stage and screen actress.
#3086971 in eBooks 2013-01-11 2013-01-11File Name: B00AZKV6W6
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Excellent illustrations; astonishingly horrible organizationBy A. Kent-IsaacThe book opens with an exquisitely detailed illustration of a beautiful cuirassier armour and horse bard which I immediately recognized as having been made for Louis XIII of France; now located at the Musee dArmee. Every articulation and every rivet of the armour is detailed; every shadow on the steel expertly rendered in cross-hatching.The caption reads: German (17th century.)This is a good preview of the rest of the book. Incredible illustrations; totally bizarre; inaccurate; sketchy descriptions.Each page is scattered with illustrations; usually one or two large central depictions of armours or weapons and then several other assorted pieces of armour or weaponry. Then the caption at the bottom will say something like: "French; German and Italian." There is absolutely no indication of WHICH of the illustrations corresponds to which of those descriptions. It doesnt even say "left to right; top to bottom" or whatever.Heres a sample page: a detail of a gauntlet; a round shield; a man in Gothic-style plate armour; a group of Medieval archers; two swords; and a Maximilian-style bellows visored close helmet. At the bottom: French; German and Spanish (15th century.)Uh...which is which? No explanation at all. Also; many times there will be items on the page which are not remotely within the stated time period - as in this example.Page 32 shows some sort of brigandine or "jack of plate;" next to a munitions-grade cuirassiers harness probably from some time during the Thirty Years War (1600s.) The caption claims that all the items on that page are from the 14th and 15th centuries. No. No way in hell.It would have been great if someone with the most cursory knowledge of a chronological timeline of arms and armour had been involved in the creation of this book. I would really like to be able to know more about all of the interesting pieces shown. But there is no text accompanying the drawings; other than the wildly-inaccurate dates and countries of origin at the bottom of each page.However; the illustrations are all top-notch. Theyre all done in the same cross-hatched style; all extremely detailed. It is similar to the look of late 19th century engravings and newspaper illustrations; like the cartoons by Thomas Nast. That same kind of intricate line style. Very nice to look at.If youre an artist trying to draw historical battle scenes; this would be an absolutely invaluable resource; since one could easily learn to draw basic sketches of armour and weapons by first copying the drawings in this book; and then experimenting with modifying them.Overall I would recommend this book. I just need to point out how totally lacking in context all of the illustrations are. But its really not that much of a problem. If youre just buying this book to look at the drawings; dont let that deter you. But if you want to actually learn about the armour and weapons; buy books like the Osprey series (Men at Arms) and read the articles on myarmoury.com.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. This is a Christmas present so i liked what came in but ill have to wait until ...By ChickeyThis is a Christmas present so i liked what came in but ill have to wait until after christmas to see if my grandson likes it.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Four StarsBy Mary A. Olsenvery nice reference