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Margaret Talbot

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The Entertainer: Movies, Magic, and My Father’s Twentieth Century Paperback – November 5, 2013

by Margaret Talbot (Author)

4.4 106 ratings

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Using the life and career of her father, an early Hollywood actor, New Yorker writer Margaret Talbot tells the thrilling story of the rise of popular culture through a transfixing personal lens. The arc of Lyle Talbot’s career is in fact the story of American entertainment. Born in 1902, Lyle left his home in small-town Nebraska in 1918 to join a traveling carnival. From there he became a magician’s assistant, an actor in a traveling theater troupe, a romantic lead in early talkies, then an actor in major Warner Bros. pictures with stars such as Humphrey Bogart and Carole Lombard, then an actor in cult B movies, and finally a part of the advent of television, with regular roles on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and Leave It to Beaver. Ultimately, his career spanned the entire trajectory of the industry.

In her captivating, impeccably researched narrative—a charmed combination of Hollywood history, social history, and family memoir—Margaret Talbot conjures warmth and nostalgia for those earlier eras of ’10s and ’20s small-town America, ’30s and ’40s Hollywood. She transports us to an alluring time, simpler but also exciting, and illustrates the changing face of her father’s America, all while telling the story of mass entertainment across the first half of the twentieth century.

Print length

432 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Riverhead Books
Publication date

November 5, 2013
Dimensions

6.04 x 1.13 x 8.99 inches
ISBN-10

1594631883
ISBN-13

978-1594631887
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Sharp and engaging . . . Talbot père comes across as a sort of Zelig-with-personality, a life-embracing man whose career spans, and illuminates, the first 60 years of the 20th century.”—The New York Times Book Review

"A well-researched and clear-eyed history of the early American entertainment industry told through the perspective of a Zelig-like figure who worked with everyone from Shirley Temple to Mae West to Ed Wood. Talbot fille draws from historical sources as well as her own recollection, and the result is less a walk down memory lane than a gateway to a bygone era."—Entertainment Weekly

“Margaret Talbot’s wry, wonderful new book . . . That Talbot is a writer gifted enough to evoke not just images but their attendant music through her words will come as no surprise to anyone who’s read her in The New Yorker or elsewhere. One of the things The Entertainer makes abundantly clear, though, is that she comes by her aesthetic sense naturally. . . . Talbot has woven a tale as romantic and vivid as any film could hope to be, while still seeing every bit of it plain. She is as clear-eyed about her father as she is about history—no easy feat. . . . [Lyle] never had even a starring role as dazzling as the one his youngest child, with history as her guide, has now written for him.”—Slate

"In The Entertainer: Movies, Magic and My Father's Twentieth Century, New Yorker staff writer Margaret Talbot succeeds at what Hollywood failed to do for her father: She makes him a star. . . . Talbot employs novelistic style in bringing this period to life . . . [and] vividly imagines her way into her father's world. . . . Lyle Talbot had one humdinger of a life story."—Los Angeles Times

"A tender but clear-eyed portrait . . . Like Lyle, this book is substantial but never heavy, with a sense of humor and an appreciation for the things that make life fun. While it may be true that Lyle Talbot 'led a resolutely unexamined life,' his daughter has written a story that gets to the heart of one of America’s luckier, happier sons."—Boston Globe

“Talbot, a staff writer for The New Yorker, has also accomplished something unusual. There are many books about actors written by their children. This may be the only one that's as much a century-spanning cultural history as a charming, affectionate tribute. . . . Talbot brings '30s Tinseltown to radiant life.”—Newsday

"Deliciously written . . . [a] gleaming tribute of a book."—More

"A frolicking, applause-worthy memoir."—Good Housekeeping

“This is simply one of the best books ever written about this era of show business and the people who populated that world. It is essential for anyone interested in film and theater history, in the social history of the 20th century, or simply in a fascinating story remarkably told.”—Library Journal

"New Yorker staff writer Talbot debuts with an affectionate biography of her father, stage, screen and TV actor Lyle Talbot. Mingling memoir and relevant social and cultural history, the author shows how her father’s career in many ways paralleled the changes in the 20th-century entertainment industry. . . . A thorough, lovingly researched paean to a father and a way of life."—Kirkus

"An endearing and insightful portrait of an actor and a father—and of a country that always enjoyed the thrill of being entertained."—The Associated Press

"A fascinating social history of America...at the same time, a warm father/daughter story."—USA Today

"The Entertainer, as much astute cultural history as biography, explored not only the passion to entertain, but also our changing relationship with entertainment itself, from small-town magic acts to gangster films to such 1950s cheese as Plan 9 From Outer Space to TV sitcoms. . . . Thanks to this wonderful book, it turns out that Lyle Talbot is indelible, not in pictures but in words."—The Washingtonian

“What a wonderful, loving, beautifully researched and touching story this is! Lyle Talbot lived a charmed life—a player's life—from the final days of vaudeville to the golden years of American television. Somehow through it all (the glamour, the hardship, the stardom, the rejection and the many transformations of modernity) he comported himself with a dignity that feels very much out of time to a contemporary reader. His daughter's tender yet clear-headed remembrance of him is a gift and a treasure—and a top-notch documentation of Hollywood history, besides.”—Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love
“The real life of consummate entertainer Lyle Talbot turns out to be his most unforgettable role. He seems to have been part of every stage of the rise of the modern entertainment industry, yet perhaps his greatest fortune was to have his story so beautifully rendered by his daughter. Weaving together cultural history, biography, and delightful backstage accounts, Margaret Talbot has created a classic of narrative nonfiction—one that would have enthralled even the great man himself.”—David Grann, author of The Lost City of Z

“Some people are born storytellers. Some people are born with a story to tell. Margaret Talbot is both. The Entertainer is a gorgeously detailed and relentlessly inventive portrait of her father's adventures in 1930s Hollywood and on the home front.”—Karen Abbot, author of Sin in the Second City
“Had Margaret Talbot devoted her beguiling prose simply to retelling her father's golden stories of Broadway and Hollywood, The Entertainer would be wonderful. Instead she has entwined those stories with a superb history of what used to be called 'the show business,' and written a brilliant and important book that touches the core of our national experience.”—Sean Wilentz, author of Bob Dylan in America

"In this beautiful book—part memoir, part history—Margaret Talbot tells a family story of the American movie industry."—Deborah Blum, author of The Poisoner's Handbook

About the Author

Margaret Talbot has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 2003. Previously, she was a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine and an editor at The New Republic. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Riverhead Books (November 5, 2013)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1594631883
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1594631887
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.15 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.04 x 1.13 x 8.99 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #499,070 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,429 in Author Biographies
- #4,416 in Actor & Entertainer Biographies
- #15,096 in Memoirs (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.4 106 ratings

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Margaret Talbot

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Margaret Talbot has been a staff writer at The New Yorker magazine since 2004, and was formerly a Contributing Writer for The New Yorker magazine, Executive Editor of The New Republic, and a founding editor of Lingua Franca: The Review of Academic Life. She's been a recipient of a Whiting Writer's Award and a New America Foundation Fellowship, and lives in Washington, D.C., though she left her heart in California, where she grew up.

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4.4 out of 5

106 global ratings

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Frederic B. Martin

I enjoyed every page ...

Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2020

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It's funny how we readers have expectations when we pick up a book. What we want it to be. What we hope it will be. Margaret Talbot wrote the book she wanted to write and wrote it exceedingly well. If some felt she went down some rabbit holes she shouldn't have, I found the context in which she placed her father's life and most importantly his career growth absolutely essential to achieving the effect she wanted. Movies, magic and her father's twentieth century is what you get with this wonderful book - and I was riveted every step of the way. Lyle Talbot was easy-going, handsome, impulsive and talented. What he wasn't was ambitious, business-savvy, or quite responsible enough to achieve everything he might have. Margaret Talbot's research, writing and unique perspective (she is his daughter after all) all make for a fascinating read.
Other things to that come to mind as I think about this book. Ms. Talbot wishes I think that her father had never met Ed Wood. But its in the Ed Wood movies where I finally realized what a great talent Lyle was. He gave more than anyone has a right to expect and these performances capture his professionalism almost more than any other work he did. She states how important the long Ozzie and Harriet gig was, but actually i was hungry for just a tad more about how he got the role - what Ozzie was like ("They werent close but Lyle respected Ozzie quite a bit). I love that the Talbots settled into studio city, across the street from Martin Milner. What other neighbors did they have. Anyway - i would love to read part two of this book. I want more. But it - you'll like it.

One person found this helpful

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Joel Canfield

Overlong, But Interesting (For the Most Part!)

Reviewed in the United States on March 22, 2013

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This is the second book in a row I've read where the main subject matter was overwhelmed by overlong, overdetailed history lessons (the other being the new book "The Searchers" by Glenn Frankel). Frustrating, because both books had a lot to offer and were written by talented writers. I can understand why publishers wouldn't be clamoring to put out a straight biography of Lyle Talbot, certainly not the best known actor of his generation (but one I still remember fondly, if only from TV shows of the 60's) - so there was most likely a need to create a bigger context to justify this book. But there were several sections, such as when the author went on and on about the popularity of hypnotist acts in the early 1900's, that had me skipping pages at an alarming rate. The parts of the book I did enjoy were the ones that dealt directly with the author's father's life and career, and her relationship with him. It would actually be great to read a stripped down version of this book that focused on that narrative - I did feel as though the author was straining to make the book more significant than it had to be by dealing at length with all the extra historical material. But I enjoy her New Yorker articles and I enjoyed MOST of this book!

9 people found this helpful

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ElkhornRich

I'm only about 30% of the way through this wonderful book, but I am really enjoying it

Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2015

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I'm only about 30% of the way through this wonderful book, but I am really enjoying it. I knew Ms.Talbot's family, but prior to her being born. My mother and her mother, Paula, were friends during the late forties, then reconnecting in the late fifties. They were a very kind and thoughtful family to us. I understand how Lyle recovered under the care of his wife.
One particular comment in her book made me laugh, "...he can put his slippers under my bed anytime." A favorite one of my mom's and always used in referenced to one Hollywood star or another. Living in Boston, poor as church mice, somehow my mother saved enough for us to take a bus to California. We'd been regaled with stories of Hollywood, but by '57 is was fading as the heart of the colony. But, we still saw a number of stars, ate at the Tick Tock Restaurant and went by one of the Brown Derbys. Ms Talbot's book is filling in, directly or indirectly, the Hollywood that my mother knew and would reminisce about. Riding in Griffith Park, ushering at the Pantages and waiting on various stars when she was a bank teller at Hollywood and Vine. The icing on the cake, when I was young, was meeting her family and then seeing her dad on Ozzie and Harriet and her brother on Leave It To Beaver.
Thank you Ms.Talbot for writing this book. Now, to continue my reading.

5 people found this helpful

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mbluth1

A charming book about an interesting actor.

Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2013

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As a longtime admirer of Lyle Talbot in his Warner Brothers' precode films (Three on a Match, etc.), I was glad to see Margaret Talbot's profile of him in The New Yorker and then to see the expanded version of his life in this book.

Margaret Talbot does several difficult things very well in this book. She infuses the contextual stories of early Hollywood and the days of theatrical barnstorming that Lyle did as a young man with interesting material even if you've already read a lot about the subject, and she makes the second half of Lyle's life (when he and his son Steve would go off to work on Ozzie and Harriet and Leave it to Beaver--"sidekicks together," as she puts it) as interesting as the more glamorous screen career of the early 1930s. She assesses her father's strengths as an actor--playing handsome but weak-willed men--and without any defensiveness or apologies provides some possible reasons why he never became the Clark Gable-class movie star that he seemed poised to become. Without glossing over his darker periods, she also presents him as a thoroughly professional actor and a genuinely nice guy, a family man and good father with a happy marriage.

Talbot does all this with an eye for amusing and vivid details and writing style that will make events stick with you after you've read the book--and will make you want to read the book all over again.

2 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Detour

A fascinating history of the evolution of entertainment in the 20th Century

Reviewed in Canada on March 12, 2015

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I've been a fan of Lyle Talbot, ever since I first saw him as Commissioner Gordon in the second Batman serial, back in the early 80s, when I picked up VHS versions of both Batman serials from Goodtimes. Since then, I have enjoyed him in many things, from Lex Luthor in ATOM MAN VS. SUPERMAN, to PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, as well as his numerous other film and television roles. So when I heard about this book, I was curious to see what his daughter (the author) had to offer.

I was quite impressed, and loved the book. Couldn't put it down and didn't want it to end. Not only does Margaret Talbot trace the arc of her father's career, from road shows and vaudeville to movies and TV, she charts the course of entertainment in 20th Century America. An immersive and informative read, I must add that THE ENTERTAINER, like its subject matter, is highly entertaining.

Highly recommended to fans of Lyle Talbot, bios in general and/or entertainment history.

2 people found this helpful

John Grant

Over-written but winning

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 22, 2013

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Margaret Talbot is strongest when she covers the less known areas of show business especially tent theatres on the prairie. But, she pads this book with far too much material about Hollywood. This world has been covered to death elsewhere and Talbot has nothing new to add. She suffers from "The New Yorker Syndrome" - she writes well but she over-writes. That said - her father and subject, Lyle Talbot, is a fascinating and charming example of a mid-table life in American show business.

2 people found this helpful

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