Lenny Bruce: The Making of a Prophet (English Edition) [Kindle-editie] beoordelingen het boek quotes

The author's memoir of his ten year collaboration with Lenny Bruce, the most controversial comedian of the twentieth century, from before Bruce's rise to fame in the late 1050's until Bruce's untimely death, ostensibly caused by a drug overdose, in 1966. History records Bruce as a martyr in defense of the First Amendment's freedom of speech. His material touched the sensitive issues of sex, politics, and religion, exposing deception and hypocrisy, which led those social, political, and religious leaders he targeted to attempt to use the law to shut him up. Although Bruce's material had no more adult language than other nightclub comedians of that time, the establishment harrassed him with arrests for 'obscenity,' even though such charges were unfounded and reversed in higher courts which declared the charges unconstitutional and violations of his First Amendment rights, making Bruce's trials the milstone cases for defense of the First Amendment which provided the artistic freedom todays entertainer's enjoy.Bruce's life and martyrdom were the subject of Tom O'Horfgan's 1971 Broadway musical Lenny, Bob Fosse's 1974 bio-pic Lenny, starring Dustin Hoffman in the title role, the Julian Barry 1971 play Lenny which was revived in 1999, Bob Weide's Oscar nominated 1998 documentary Swear To Tell The Truth which contained a considerable amount of Thomas' photos and cinematography, and numerous other stage plays and television retrospectives.Thomas worked on Bruce's autobiography, How To Talk Dirty and Influence People, but, of all the many books about Bruce, Thomas' memoir is the only one written by someone who knew him, and knew him as an friend and collaborator. As such, it imparts an intimate insight into the ten year sustained effort to achieve fame, an effort that morphed into a crusade for defense of the First Amendment rights of all entertainers. It exposes the personal and professional people and places that influenced Bruce, in particular his mother, Sally Marr, and his earliest and longest manager and mentor, Frank Ray Perelli, who had also collaborated with Thomas on earlier screenplays. The transition from hipster to folk hero, and the toll it took on Bruce's health, happiness, and associates, is told in Thomas' classic American prose style.Critics have described Thomas' work in terms such as: (Manchester Guardian) ''Thomas can write...he superbly evokes the seedy atmosphere of the cheap Hollywood clubs and coffeehouses...his work sometimes reads like a Bogart script.'' (Screw Magazine) ''Thomas begins with his own story, and his narrative shows us no modest chum of the late and famous, but a man who is the forthright hero of his own life.'' (Library Journal referring to The Trials of Lenny Bruce) ''This book should be read in tandem with Lenny Bruce: The Making of a Prophet.'' Thomas' latter career as a book author has produced a body of work that brilliantly paints America's social revolutions of the twentieth century. His childhood memoir, The Genteel Poor, tells the history of four generations of a colorful talented family from The Civil War throughn The Great Depression and up to World War II. His novel, The Josan And The Jee, reveals how three women survived massacres and rape during The Korean War, and how an American GI helped them survive the postwar period. His civil rights era novel, Cleo, features a talented beautiful black female journalist who is an intimate friend of black entertainment and political celebrities, and her life makes a quantum leap when she crosses paths with an equally talented but cynical white male publicist. Thomas' latest book is the biography of a woman who entered an iron lung at the age of four, survived as a quadriplegic, and became an inspirinig and charismatic activist for people with disabilities.