Hirsch, Foster 1943- (Foster Lance Hirsch)

views updated

Hirsch, Foster 1943- (Foster Lance Hirsch)

PERSONAL:

Born December 20, 1943, in New York, NY; son of Harry (a real estate investor) and Etta Hirsch. Education: Stanford University, B.A., 1965; Columbia University, M.F.A., 1966, M.A., 1967, Ph.D., 1971. Religion: Jewish.

ADDRESSES:

Home—New York, NY. Office—Department of Film, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, Brooklyn, NY 11210. Agent—Ruth Nathan, 80 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10011.

CAREER:

Writer and educator. Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, instructor, 1967-73, assistant professor, 1974-77, associate professor of English, 1978-85, professor of film, 1985—. New School for Social Research (now New School University), lecturer, 1970-72.

MEMBER:

Authors Guild, Authors League of America, National Book Critics Circle, Phi Beta Kappa.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Stanford Journalism Award, 1965.

WRITINGS:

Elizabeth Taylor, Pyramid Publications (New York, NY), 1973.

Edward G. Robinson, Pyramid Publications (New York, NY), 1975.

George Kelly, Twayne (New York, NY), 1975.

The Hollywood Epic, A.S. Barnes (San Diego, CA), 1978.

Who's Afraid of Edward Albee?, Creative Arts (Berkeley, CA), 1978.

Laurence Olivier, Twayne (New York, NY), 1979.

A Portrait of the Artist: The Plays of Tennessee Williams, Kennikat Press (Port Washington, NY), 1979.

Joseph Losey, Twayne (New York, NY), 1980.

Film Noir: The Dark Side of the Screen, A.S. Barnes (San Diego, CA), 1981.

Love, Sex, Death, and the Meaning of Life: Woody Allen's Comedy, McGraw (New York, NY), 1981, revised edition, 1990.

Laurence Olivier on Screen, Da Capo Press (New York, NY), 1984.

A Method to Their Madness: The History of the Actors Studio, Norton (New York, NY), 1984.

Eugene O'Neill, York Press (Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada), 1986.

Harold Prince and the American Musical Theatre, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1989, reprinted, Applause Theatre and Cinema Books (New York, NY), 2005.

Acting Hollywood Style, Harry Abrams (New York, NY), 1991.

Crime Movies, Da Capo Press (New York, NY), 1997.

The Boys from Syracuse: The Shuberts' Theatrical Empire, Southern Illinois University Press (Carbondale, IL), 1998.

Detours and Lost Highways: A Map of Neo-Noir, Limelight Editions (New York, NY), 1999.

Kurt Weill on Stage: From Berlin to Broadway, Knopf (New York, NY), 2002.

Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King, Knopf (New York, NY), 2007.

Contributor to books, including Contemporary Dramatists, St. Martin's Press, 1973, and Sexuality in Film, edited by Thomas Atkins, Indiana University Press, 1975. Contributor of reviews to periodicals, including Nation, America, New York Times, Commonweal, and Village Voice.

SIDELIGHTS:

Foster Hirsch's A Method to Their Madness: The History of the Actors Studio describes the evolution of Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio, which trained such notables as Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, Shelley Winters, and Marilyn Monroe. Strasberg's method-acting techniques were derived from a system formulated by Konstantin Stanislavsky in Europe but differed in significant ways, eventually causing a great rift in the American theater between those who favored Stanislavsky's original theories and those who followed Strasberg's more dogmatic beliefs. Hirsch's study not only examines Strasberg's professional influence but explores his controversial personality as well.

The first half of A Method to Their Madness gives a thorough analysis of the development of Stanislavsky's system. "Hirsch's imagination endows this history with new life, enriched with interviews of people who participated in the events," noted New York Times Book Review contributor Marshal W. Mason. The second part of Hirsch's book follows Strasberg's development of Stanislavsky's philosophies and the problems encountered therein. "His history of [the Studio] … is far from conventionally deferential, and his assessment of its accomplishments is properly skeptical," noted Times Literary Supplement critic Benedict Nightingale in appraising Hirsch's analysis.

Much of Hirsch's skepticism regarding Strasberg and his techniques arises from his concern that method acting produces actors able to portray only those aspects of a character with which they can literally identify. Hirsch's firsthand accounts of Strasberg's unusual training methods are included in his book. "The tone degenerates from historical to anecdotal as he switches from researched opinion to on-site observation," wrote Mason, who noted that Hirsch's highly critical view of Strasberg colors his subject as "a man with a monstrous ego and destructive eccentricities." Hirsch's negative assessment of Strasberg's personality is based on numerous interviews where the biographer alternately heard the famed acting teacher compared to figures as disparate as Jesus and German Chancellor Adolf Hitler. In any case, Nightingale noted, "Strasberg was rude, cowardly in a crisis, and abjectly impressed by the stars and celebrities whose glitter the Studio was in the business to resist." Nightingale maintained that Hirsch's conclusions regarding Strasberg and the Actor's Studio are more moderate and "more just" than other studies of Strasberg have been.

Harold Prince and the American Musical Theatre chronicles the life of work of Prince, a major figure in musical theatre in the United States during the 1970s and 1980s. Hirsch describes in detail Prince's career as a producer and director of iconic works such as Evita, Fiddler on the Roof, West Side Story, and other highly popular and well-regarded works of musical drama. Hirsch covers a number of more recent works by the venerable Prince and offers insight into the many enduring works he produced and directed. The winner of more than twenty Tony Awards, Prince is a key player who has profoundly influenced musical theatre in the United States. A Library Bookwatch reviewer called the volume a "‘must’ for discriminating audiences" of Prince and his work.

In The Boys from Syracuse: The Shuberts' Theatrical Empire, Hirsch writes about the Shubert brothers who moved south from Syracuse, New York, early in the twentieth century to find success in the theater in New York City. Although brothers Sam, Lee, and J.J. earned their share of enemies for what were perceived as tough and ruthless business tactics, they dominated New York theater in the early part of the century. The list of stars the brothers worked with includes the biggest names in the theater of their time: Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Fanny Brice, and Fred Astaire are but a few notables. Rachel Shteir, reviewing The Boys from Syracuse in Nation, called Hirsch's book "elegantly written."

With the publication of Detours and Lost Highways: A Map of Neo-Noir, Hirsch builds on the success of his 1981 work Film Noir: The Dark Side of the Screen by refuting the belief that the genre died with Orson Welles's classic film Touch of Evil. In his study of noir theory, Hirsch writes that many connections can be made linking classic noir to modern films, including those in the horror and blaxploitation genres. Film Comment reviewer William B. Covey acknowledged that "Hirsch is to be congratulated for being the first film critic to publish a book-length examination of neo-noir." Detours and Lost Highways includes a filmography, bibliography, and index.

The history of the Broadway musical stage is studded with names like Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers, and Cole Porter, yet many have forgotten the name of another great, Kurt Weill. Hirsch hoped to renew interest in the composer with the publication of his Kurt Weill on Stage: From Berlin to Broadway. In his biography, Hirsch incorporates a number of interviews with Weill and others. He also includes a thorough list of Weill's productions, noting his collaborators and the conditions he worked under to create his music. Although the composer died at the age of fifty he left behind a catalogue of exceptional work, most notably the score to The Threepenny Opera. "This absorbing and well-researched work should be especially appealing to those interested in the history and evolution of musical theater," pointed out Carol J. Binkowski in her review for the Library Journal.

Hirsch explores the life and career of another controversial film figure in Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King. A large man who was prematurely bald and spoke with a thick German accent, Preminger was a well-known movie director during the late 1930s and beyond. Once an actor himself, Preminger was born in Vienna and came to New York in 1935 to make Broadway productions. By 1936, however, the talented director was creating movies for the legendary Darryl Zanuck at Twentieth Century-Fox. Known for his meticulous and exacting directorial style, Preminger directed such notable films as Laura, Anatomy of a Murder, and Advise and Consent. In the 1950s, he became an independent film producer whose work challenged the movie industry's restrictions on the depiction of sex and drug addiction. He also helped break the notorious practice of blacklisting writers and others in Hollywood. Preminger was also well known for what some considered a dual personality: warm, generous, and loyal to friends and family, he was a tyrant on the movie set, known for his volatile temper and borderline abuse of actors. Hirsch chronicles Preminger's many clashes with such famous individuals as Marilyn Monroe, Faye Dunaway, Paula Prentiss, and Dyan Cannon, and his bullying of lesser stars such as Tom Tryon and Jean Seberg. Hirsch "proves a good guide through the perplexing duality of Preminger's life: Privately a sybarite of charm and elegance, on the set he was a mortal terror—screaming and abusive," noted Scott Eyman in the New York Observer. The author also covers, to a lesser extent, Preminger's personal life, including his relationship with Gypsy Rose Lee and the couple's son, Erik.

Hirsch "has written a balanced, intelligent, compelling biography of a very erratic director," Eyman mused. "This is a long-overdue critical biography of the temperamental titan with a genius for self-promotion," commented a Publishers Weekly contributor. A reviewer in Hollywood Reporter concluded that Hirsch's biography "will endure as the definitive life story of one of film's most intriguing and volcanic personalities."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Theatre, May, 2002, Benjamin Ivry, review of Kurt Weill on Stage: From Berlin to Broadway, p. 66.

Booklist, October 15, 2007, Gordon Flagg, review of Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King, p. 17.

Choice, March 1, 1999, Rachel Shteir, review of The Boys from Syracuse: The Shuberts' Theatrical Empire, p. 31; April, 2000, W.P. Hogan, review of Detours and Lost Highways: A Map of Neo-Noir, p. 1476.

Entertainment Weekly, October 19, 2007, Tim Purtell, review of Otto Preminger, p. 131.

Film Comment, January-February, 1982, J. Hoberman, review of Film Noir: The Dark Side of the Screen, p. 69; fall, 2000, William B. Covey, review of Detours and Lost Highways, p. 83.

Film Quarterly, summer, 1983, Peter Hogue, review of Film Noir, p. 55; summer, 1985, James Naremore, review of A Method to Their Madness: The History of the Actors Studio, p. 43.

Hollywood Reporter, October 17, 2007, review of Otto Preminger, p. 11.

Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 2002, review of Kurt Weill on Stage, p. 159; September 1, 2007, review of Otto Preminger.

Library Bookwatch, August, 2005, review of Harold Prince and the American Musical Theatre.

Library Journal, July, 1980, review of Joseph Losey, p. 1536; April 1, 1981, review of Film Noir, p. 811; September 1, 1984, Marshall W. Mason, review of A Method to Their Madness, p. 1683; March 15, 2002, Carol J. Binkowski, review of Kurt Weill on Stage, p. 83.

Los Angeles Magazine, December, 1991, Steve Root, review of Acting Hollywood Style, p. 93.

Nation, March 1, 1999, Ralph Shteir, review of The Boys from Syracuse, p. 31.

New Republic, October 22, 1984, Robert Brustein, review of A Method to Their Madness, p. 39.

New York Observer, October 30, 2007, Scott Eyman, review of Otto Preminger.

New York Times Book Review, November 4, 1984, Marshall W. Mason, review of A Method to Their Madness, p. 31; February 18, 1990, Andrew Harris, review of Harold Prince and the American Musical Theatre, p. 21; November 11, 2007, Richard Schickel, "Anatomy of a Director," review of Otto Preminger, p. 55.

Notes, March, 1991, David M. Kilroy, review of Harold Prince and the American Musical Theatre, p. 788.

Opera News, July, 2002, William V. Madison, review of Kurt Weill on Stage, p. 72.

Philadelphia Inquirer, November 7, 2007, David Cohen, "Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King: Movie Director Was Truly a Creative Artist, but a Lousy Human Being."

Publishers Weekly, January 16, 1981, Sally A. Lodge, review of Love, Sex, Death, and the Meaning of Life: Woody Allen's Comedy, p. 76; July 8, 1983, Marshall W. Mason, review of Film Noir, p. 64; August 3, 1984, Marshall W. Mason, review of A Method to Their Madness, p. 57; February 11, 2002, review of Kurt Weill on Stage, p. 175; August 20, 2007, review of Otto Preminger, p. 59.

San Francisco Chronicle, March 17, 2002, Steven Winn, review of Kurt Weill on Stage, p. 3.

Theatre History Studies, June, 1999, Joseph Kissane, review of The Boys from Syracuse, p. 195.

Time, December 16, 1991, review of Acting Hollywood Style, p. 82.

Times Literary Supplement, June 27, 1986, Benedict Nightingale, review of A Method to Their Madness, p. 717.

Variety, June 7, 1989, review of Harold Prince and the American Musical Theatre, p. 81; March 2, 1992, Fred Lombardi, review of Acting Hollywood Style, p. 77; April 22, 2002, Joel Hirschhorn, review of Kurt Weill on Stage, p. 32.

Washington Post Book World, December 5, 1999, review of Detours and Lost Highways, p. 8.