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Clive Francis has compiled four books of caricatures and theatrical anecdotes, Laugh Lines, Sir John: The Many Faces of Sir John Gielgud, There's Nothing Like A Dane, and There's Nothing Like A Thane. He has also contributed illustrations to several books, for example Alec Guinness's Blessings in Disguise.
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Laugh Lines, published in 1989, with a foreword by Sir John Gielgud, was not published in the USA, probably because most of the caricatures were of English stage actors who wouldn't be familiar to US audiences? It is available from www.abe.com, a huge compendium of used books stores on the web. Click on the URL, type in Francis, Clive as author. |
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There's Nothing Like A Dane: The Lighter Side of Hamlet. Apparently out of print, it is available used from Amazon.com (click on the cover), or you get it used from www.abe.com as well. |
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There's Nothing Like A Thane: The Lighter Side of Macbeth.
Still in print. |
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Sir John: The Many Faces of John Gielgud. This book is still in print.
My review: As Mr. Francis states in his introduction, John Gielgud has been his favorite actor since he was a mere spear-carrier. So this opportunity to do the book for Gielgud's 90th birthday had a very special meaning for him. And anyone who is a fan of Gielgud will enjoy this book. The caricatures are very clever, the anecdotes are interesting. My only question is on the use of very large print, used a couple of times, for some of the anecdotes. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to it. Fortunately this only happened a couple of times so, although the book is relatively thin, it is chock full of goodies. |
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