Up with the sun / Thomas Mallon.
Material type:
TextPublisher: New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2023Copyright date: ©2022Edition: First editionDescription: 337 pages : illustrations ; 25 cmContent type: - text
- unmediated
- volume
- 9781524748197
- 1524748196
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book
|
Main Library | Fiction | MALLON, THOMAS | Available | 33111010957815 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
A WASHINGTON POST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR * Through the curious life of Dick Kallman--a real-life celebrity striver, poisonously charming actor, and eventual murder victim--the unforgiving worlds of postwar showbiz and down-low gay sexuality are thrown into stark relief in this "page-turning blast" (James Ellroy, author of Widespread Panic )
"Engrossing...[A] keen portrait of 1980s New York...a pensive, often gorgeous depiction of...gay life in Manhattan before Stonewall and life on the cusp of the AIDS epidemic." -- The Washington Post
Dick Kallman was an up-and-coming actor in the fifties and sixties--until he wasn't. A costar on Broadway, a member of Lucille Ball's historic Desilu workshop, and finally a primetime TV actor, Dick had hustled to get his big break. But just as soon as his star began to rise, his roles began to dry up and he faded from the spotlight, his name out of tabloids and newspapers until his sensational murder in 1980.
Through the eyes of his occasional pianist and longtime acquaintance Matt Liannetto, a tenderhearted but wry observer often on the fringes of Broadway's big moments, Kallman's life and death come into appallingly sharp focus. The actor's yearslong, unrequited love for a fellow performer brings out a competitive, vindictive edge in him. Whenever a new door opens, Kallman rushes unwittingly to close it. Even as he walks over other people, he can never get out of his own way.
As Matt pores over the life of this handsome could-have-been, Up With the Sun re-creates the brassy, sometimes brutal world that shaped Kallman, capturing his collisions with not only Lucille Ball, but an array of stars from Sophie Tucker to Judy Garland and Johnny Carson. Part crime story, part showbiz history, and part love story, this is a crackling novel about personal demons and dangerously suppressed passions that spans thirty years of gay life--the whole tumultuous era from the Kinsey Report through Stonewall and, finally, AIDS.
"This is a Borzoi book"--Title page verso.
"Up with the Sun is a fictional look back at the life of a little-known, C-list celebrity striver who met a bad end in New York City in the 1980s. Dick Kallman was an up-and-coming actor-until he wasn't. From co-starring in Broadway shows, to becoming part of Lucille Ball's historic Desilu workshop, and then finally landing his own short-lived primetime TV series, Dick's star was clearly on the rise. But his roles began to dry up and he faded from the spotlight - until his sensational murder in 1980. Told from the perspective of Matt Liannetto, Dick's occasional pianist and longtime acquaintance, we see the full story of Dick's life and death. Liannetto is a talented journeyman pianist, often on the fringes of Broadway history's most important moments. He's also a gay man who grew up in an era when that sort of information was closely held, and he struggles with accepting the rapid changes happening in the world around him. Up With The Sun takes readers on a journey that spans more than thirty years, from the studio lots and rehearsal sets of the 1950s to the seedy streets of 1970s Manhattan. It is a busy, bustling world, peopled by a captivating cast of characters all clamoring for a sliver of the limelight. Readers will bump elbows with Sophie Tucker and gossip about Rock Hudson during intermission at Judy Garland's comeback show. Newsweek has called Mallon a "master of the historical novel," and here he proves himself a veteran of the genre, doing what he does best: conjuring figures from history who feel real enough to walk right off the page. This is a crime story, a showbiz story, a love story, and a deeply moving story about a series of pivotal moments in the history of gay life in the post-war era"-- Provided by publisher.