The Studs Terkel Interviews: Film and Theater collects the Pulitzer
Prize-winning oral historian's remarkable conversations with some of the
greatest luminaries of film and theater. Originally published under the
title The Spectator, this knowledgeable and perceptive (Library
Journal) look at show business presents the actors directors,
playwrights, dancers, lyricists, and others who created the dramatic
works of the twentieth century.
Among the many highlights in these pages, Buster Keaton explains the
wonders of unscripted silent comedy, Federico Fellini reflects on
honesty in art, Carol Channing reveals that she is far more serious than
she lets on, and Marlon Brando turns the tables and wants to interview
Terkel. We learn about crucial artistic decisions in the lives of Arthur
Miller, Tennessee Williams, and Edward Albee and hear from a range of
film directors, from Vittorio De Sica and King Vidor to Satyajit Ray. We
even get to witness Terkel playing straight man to a wildly inventive
Zero Mostel. Because Terkel knows his subjects' work intimately, he asks
precisely the right questions to elicit the most revealing responses. As
the New York Times Book Review noted, Terkel's knowledge and force of
personality make him fully a player alongside his famous guests.
