CAN'T HELP SINGING: THE LIFE OF EILEEN FARRELL: "If the test of an autobiography is whether the reader comes to know (and like) the subject, than Farrell succeeds admirably with this frank and charming account of her extraordinary career." -- Library Journal "This is the kind of memoir everyone should be able to write but few are. It can be read in an evening or two, and you will be sorry when it's over." -- American Record Guide "CAN'T HELP SINGING: THE LIFE OF EILEEN FARRELL is the autobiography of the Irish lass from New England who became, surprising even herself, one of the greatest sopranos of the midcentury. It's written with Brian Kellow--executive editor--and superb columnist--of OPERA NEWS." |
My WorksEthel Merman: A Life
Ethel Merman was the most influential and successful star in the history of the Broadway musical. She made her spectacular debut in 1930, singing "Sam and Delilah" and "I Got Rhythm" in George and Ira Gershwin's Girl Crazy. She went on to star in such classic hits as Cole Porter's Anything Goes, Red Hot and Blue!, DuBarry Was a Lady, Panama Hattie and Something for the Boys, and Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun and Call Me Madam. In 1959 she crowned her career with the role of Rose, the domineering stage mother, in Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim's Gypsy. Ethel Merman: A Life takes an in-depth look at the life and career of this remarkable star, as well as the ways in which the musical changed during Merman's thirty-year conquest of Broadway. The book, which corrects many of the apocryphal stories that have clung to the star's legend, draws on more than 125 new interviews with Merman's friends and colleagues, as well as with her granddaughter, Barbara Geary. It also features never-before-published photos. From the dust jacket: "Thank you, Brian! I am so grateful to you for giving us the human Merman. She has been so often satirized, sent-up and imitated that it is wonderful to have a lucid portrait of her inimitable career. She lived and worked the whole history of Broadway. It's about time she rates this loving and truthful tribute." -- Tyne Daly The Bennetts: An Acting Family
“A page-turning saga of a fascinating family of American actors. From the stock theatres of the nineteenth century to the movie studios of Hollywood to network television, Kellow captures the drama and comedy of the Bennetts both on and off the stage.” --Helen Sheehy, author of Eleanora Duse: A Biography "A splendid bio" -- Harry Haun, Playbill "Bliss for buffs" -- The Toronto Globe & Mail [Kellow is] "a diligent researcher and a perceptive, graceful writer." -- Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times "I highly recommend it; theater families don't get any more interesting, and it's a true tale well told." -- Robert Osborne, The Hollywood Reporter Can’t Help Singing:
The Life of Eileen Farrell “A crackling good story.” --Associated Press “An energetic review of a robust life which, at the end, you can’t help admiring.” --Gramophone “Her racy language and disarming honesty about herself and the many famous musicians she worked with make an entertaining read.” --New York Magazine “Music buffs will love this spirited memoir.” --Kirkus Reviews “Mama’s Talkin’ Loud”
For decades, Ethel Merman was Broadway’s ideal brassy-voiced tough girl. In 1959, she found the most challenging role of her career: the monstrous stage-mother Rose in Gypsy (originally published in Opera News, November 2003). |
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