Quote of the Day (Moss Hart, on How to Approach a Theatrical Memoir)

“There is no point whatever in writing or reading a book of theatrical reminiscences if either the writer or the reader is to be hampered by incredulity, an aversion to melodrama, or even the somewhat foolish glow of the incorrigibly stage-struck.” —Moss Hart, Act One: An Autobiography (1959)

I cannot say it often enough: this is the best memoir by a theater professional that I have ever read. Had I read it in my teens, as so many other theater people have done, I would have probably done something crazy like try to become an actor. That’s how exhilarating it is. The only sad thing when you finish is the knowledge that Hart died before he could write another volume, about his years writing a Pulitzer Prize-winning play (You Can't Take It With You) and directing some of Broadway's greatest hits (My Fair Lady, Camelot).