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The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius by Carrie Courogen
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A book that does not look new and has been read but is in excellent condition. No obvious damage to the cover, with the dust jacket (if applicable) included for hard covers. No missing or damaged pages, no creases or tears, and no underlining/highlighting of text or writing in the margins. May be very minimal identifying marks on the inside cover. Very minimal wear and tear. See the seller’s listing for full details and description of any imperfections.
- Buy It NowThe Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius by Carrie Courogen
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Located in: Los Angeles, California, United States
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Estimated between Wed, Aug 27 and Tue, Sep 2 to 94104
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eBay item number:205514660429
Item specifics
- Condition
- Very Good
- Seller Notes
- “Very Good Condition”
- Brand
- St Martins Press
- Color
- Multicolor
- ISBN
- 9781250279224
About this product
Product Identifiers
Publisher
St. Martin's Press
ISBN-10
1250279224
ISBN-13
9781250279224
eBay Product ID (ePID)
5062277420
Product Key Features
Book Title
Miss May Does Not Exist : the Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood's Hidden Genius
Number of Pages
400 Pages
Language
English
Topic
Women, Entertainment & Performing Arts, Film / Direction & Production
Publication Year
2024
Illustrator
Yes
Genre
Performing Arts, Biography & Autobiography
Format
Hardcover
Dimensions
Item Height
1.2 in
Item Weight
20.8 Oz
Item Length
9.5 in
Item Width
6.6 in
Additional Product Features
Intended Audience
Trade
LCCN
2024-005589
Dewey Edition
23/eng/20240227
Reviews
"Elaine May is simply one the funniest people to ever live on this planet." -- Phil Rosenthal, creator of Everybody Loves Raymond and star of the Netflix hit Somebody Feed Phil "I have loved Elaine May ever since I fortuitously saw A New Leaf at age eleven, just as I was discovering my own sense of humor. But I revere her even more now, after reading Carrie Courogen's essential biography Miss May Does Not Exist . I already knew May was a force, but Courogen's no-stone-left-unturned account enlightened me as to just how much her vision and inimitable voice have pervaded the culture for decades. And learning about May's process and trajectory has galvanized me to dive back into my own creative self. Just as Nichols and May brought each other to life on the stage, Courogen and May bring each other to light on the page. And this book might just inspire you as well." -- Wendy Liebman, stand-up comedian, star of Showtime's Wendy Liebman: Taller on TV "Carrie Courogen has achieved the impossible: she has written the first (and very likely last) full-scale biography of Elaine May, the most beguiling, infuriating, thrilling, comedy genius -- and let's not use that word casually -- of the twentieth century, and she has done it splendidly, with admiration, welcome outrage, and scrupulous attention to detail. We all of us who have loved and wondered at this creature Elaine May owe Courogen our thanks, money, food -- whatever she wants -- for having written this book." -- Sam Wasson, NYT Bestselling Author of The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood and Fosse "Don't miss Miss May Does Not Exist by Carrie Courogen, a brilliant mix of stalker-thriller, quest-saga, and awe-inspiring biography. Drop-dead talented, funny, singular, gorgeous, and imperious, Elaine May is a figure both elusive yet professionally impossible to overlook for women interested in standup, in humor, in comedy, in film, in theatre, in writing--and in the world. Spotlighting the grueling, finally triumphant trajectory of May's inimitable career and strewn with new insights and commentaries from May's friends and colleagues, Courogen's well-researched book is at once hilarious and very, very important. In Miss May Does Not Exist , Elaine May is finally, wonderfully, and delightfully captured by Carrie Courogen." -- Gina Barreca, PhD , Board of Trustees and Distinguished Professor of English Literature at The University of Connecticut, author of They Used to Call Me Snow White, But I Drifted and It's Not That I'm Bitter, "Carrie Courogen has achieved the impossible: she has written the first (and very likely last) full-scale biography of Elaine May, the most beguiling, infuriating, thrilling, comedy genius -- and let's not use that word casually -- of the twentieth century, and she has done it splendidly, with admiration, welcome outrage, and scrupulous attention to detail. We all of us who have loved and wondered at this creature Elaine May owe Courogen our thanks, money, food -- whatever she wants -- for having written this book." -- Sam Wasson, NYT Bestselling Author of The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood and Fosse "Don't miss Miss May Does Not Exist by Carrie Courogen, a brilliant mix of stalker-thriller, quest-saga, and awe-inspiring biography. Drop-dead talented, funny, singular, gorgeous, and imperious, Elaine May is a figure both elusive yet professionally impossible to overlook for women interested in standup, in humor, in comedy, in film, in theatre, in writing--and in the world. Spotlighting the grueling, finally triumphant trajectory of May's inimitable career and strewn with new insights and commentaries from May's friends and colleagues, Courogen's well-researched book is at once hilarious and very, very important. In Miss May Does Not Exist , Elaine May is finally, wonderfully, and delightfully captured by Carrie Couragen." -- Gina Barreca, PhD , Board of Trustees and Distinguished Professor of English Literature at The University of Connecticut, author of They Used to Call Me Snow White, But I Drifted and It's Not That I'm Bitter, "Carrie Courogen has achieved the impossible: she has written the first (and very likely last) full-scale biography of Elaine May, the most beguiling, infuriating, thrilling, comedy genius -- and let's not use that word casually -- of the twentieth century, and she has done it splendidly, with admiration, welcome outrage, and scrupulous attention to detail. We all of us who have loved and wondered at this creature Elaine May owe Courogen our thanks, money, food -- whatever she wants -- for having written this book." -- Sam Wasson, NYT Bestselling Author of The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood and Fosse "Don't miss Miss May Does Not Exist by Carrie Courogen, a brilliant mix of stalker-thriller, quest-saga, and awe-inspiring biography. Drop-dead talented, funny, singular, gorgeous, and imperious, Elaine May is a figure both elusive yet professionally impossible to overlook for women interested in standup, in humor, in comedy, in film, in theatre, in writing--and in the world. Spotlighting the grueling, finally triumphant trajectory of May's inimitable career and strewn with new insights and commentaries from May's friends and colleagues, Courogen's well-researched book is at once hilarious and very, very important. In Miss May Does Not Exist , Elaine May is finally, wonderfully, and delightfully captured by Carrie Courogen." -- Gina Barreca, PhD , Board of Trustees and Distinguished Professor of English Literature at The University of Connecticut, author of They Used to Call Me Snow White, But I Drifted and It's Not That I'm Bitter, "Carrie Courogen has written the biography Elaine May deserves. Shimmering with insight and grounded in deep research, this book is as iconoclastic, engaging, and challenging as Miss May herself." -- Claire Dederer, author of Monsters: A Fan''s Dilemma "In Miss May Does Not Exist , Carrie Courogen pulls off quite the feat; she manages to capture, with nuance and wit, the life of a woman who is as hilarious as she is complex, as sparkling as she is serious, as ambitious as she is aloof. Courogen makes an undeniable case for May''s permanent place in the cinematic canon as a major director and singular comedic talent; after reading this book, I will be saying ''justice for Ishtar!'' to anyone who will listen." -- Rachel Syme, Staff Writer, The New Yorker "Carrie Courogen has achieved the impossible: she has written the first (and very likely last) full-scale biography of Elaine May, the most beguiling, infuriating, thrilling, comedy genius -- and let''s not use that word casually -- of the twentieth century, and she has done it splendidly, with admiration, welcome outrage, and scrupulous attention to detail. We all of us who have loved and wondered at this creature Elaine May owe Courogen our thanks, money, food -- whatever she wants -- for having written this book." -- Sam Wasson, NYT Bestselling Author of The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood and Fosse "What an upbeat, positive and perceptive take Carrie Courogen has given us on one of our funniest and most interesting film artists, the extraordinarily elusive and talented Elaine May! Her research has followed her subject''s "factual fiction" crumb-trails to hell and back with great love to elucidate on May''s truth, even if it means she''s going to get an excoriating tongue-lashing for giving a younger generation a story it needs to know if they want to be half as smart as May. We get the feeling that Carrie Courogen understands Elaine May really well. Their intelligence has no gender." -- Tina Weymouth, Tom Tom Club and Talking Heads "Elaine May is simply one the funniest people to ever live on this planet." -- Phil Rosenthal, creator of Everybody Loves Raymond and star of the Netflix hit Somebody Feed Phil "I have loved Elaine May ever since I fortuitously saw A New Leaf at age eleven, just as I was discovering my own sense of humor. But I revere her even more now, after reading Carrie Courogen''s essential biography Miss May Does Not Exist . I already knew May was a force, but Courogen''s no-stone-left-unturned account enlightened me as to just how much her vision and inimitable voice have pervaded the culture for decades. And learning about May''s process and trajectory has galvanized me to dive back into my own creative self. Just as Nichols and May brought each other to life on the stage, Courogen and May bring each other to light on the page. And this book might just inspire you as well." -- Wendy Liebman, stand-up comedian, star of Showtime''s Wendy Liebman: Taller on TV "Don''t miss Miss May Does Not Exist by Carrie Courogen, a brilliant mix of stalker-thriller, quest-saga, and awe-inspiring biography. Drop-dead talented, funny, singular, gorgeous, and imperious, Elaine May is a figure both elusive yet professionally impossible to overlook for women interested in standup, in humor, in comedy, in film, in theatre, in writing--and in the world. Spotlighting the grueling, finally triumphant trajectory of May''s inimitable career and strewn with new insights and commentaries from May''s friends and colleagues, Courogen''s well-researched book is at once hilarious and very, very important. In Miss May Does Not Exist , Elaine May is finally, wonderfully, and delightfully captured by Carrie Courogen." -- Gina Barreca, PhD , Board of Trustees and Distinguished Professor of English Literature at The University of Connecticut, author of They Used to Call Me Snow White, But I Drifted and It''s Not That I''m Bitter, "Carrie Courogen has achieved the impossible: she has written the first (and very likely last) full-scale biography of Elaine May, the most beguiling, infuriating, thrilling, comedy genius -- and let's not use that word casually -- of the twentieth century, and she has done it splendidly, with admiration, welcome outrage, and scrupulous attention to detail. We all of us who have loved and wondered at this creature Elaine May owe Courogen our thanks, money, food -- whatever she wants -- for having written this book." - Sam Wasson, NYT Bestselling Author of The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood and Fosse, "I have loved Elaine May ever since I fortuitously saw A New Leaf at age eleven, just as I was discovering my own sense of humor. But I revere her even more now, after reading Carrie Courogen's essential biography Miss May Does Not Exist . I already knew May was a force, but Courogen's no-stone-left-unturned account enlightened me as to just how much her vision and inimitable voice has pervaded the culture for decades. And learning about May's process and trajectory has galvanized me to dive back into my own creative self. Just as Nichols and May brought each other to life on the stage, Courogen and May bring each other to light on the page. And this book might just inspire you as well." -- Wendy Liebman, stand-up comedian, star of Showtime's Wendy Liebman: Taller on TV "Carrie Courogen has achieved the impossible: she has written the first (and very likely last) full-scale biography of Elaine May, the most beguiling, infuriating, thrilling, comedy genius -- and let's not use that word casually -- of the twentieth century, and she has done it splendidly, with admiration, welcome outrage, and scrupulous attention to detail. We all of us who have loved and wondered at this creature Elaine May owe Courogen our thanks, money, food -- whatever she wants -- for having written this book." -- Sam Wasson, NYT Bestselling Author of The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood and Fosse "Don't miss Miss May Does Not Exist by Carrie Courogen, a brilliant mix of stalker-thriller, quest-saga, and awe-inspiring biography. Drop-dead talented, funny, singular, gorgeous, and imperious, Elaine May is a figure both elusive yet professionally impossible to overlook for women interested in standup, in humor, in comedy, in film, in theatre, in writing--and in the world. Spotlighting the grueling, finally triumphant trajectory of May's inimitable career and strewn with new insights and commentaries from May's friends and colleagues, Courogen's well-researched book is at once hilarious and very, very important. In Miss May Does Not Exist , Elaine May is finally, wonderfully, and delightfully captured by Carrie Courogen." -- Gina Barreca, PhD , Board of Trustees and Distinguished Professor of English Literature at The University of Connecticut, author of They Used to Call Me Snow White, But I Drifted and It's Not That I'm Bitter
Dewey Decimal
791.4302/33092
Synopsis
Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Awards, 2024 Miss May Does Not Exist , by Carrie Courogen is the riveting biography of comedian, director, actor and writer Elaine May, one of America's greatest comic geniuses. May began her career as one-half of the legendary comedy team known as Nichols and May, the duo that revolutionized the comedy sketch. After performing their Broadway smash An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May, Elaine set out on her own. She toiled unsuccessfully on Broadway for a while, but then headed to Hollywood where she became the director of A New Leaf, The Heartbreak Kid, Mikey and Nicky, and the legendary Ishtar. She was hired as a script doctor on countless films like Heaven Can Wait, Reds, Tootsie, and The Birdcage. In 2019, she returned to Broadway where she won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in The Waverly Gallery. Besides her considerable talent, May is well known for her reclusiveness. On one of the albums she made with Mike Nichols, her bio is this: "Miss May does not exist." Until now. Carrie Courogen has uncovered the Elaine May who does exist. Conducting countless interviews, she has filled in the blanks May has forcibly kept blank for years, creating a fascinating portrait of the way women were mistreated and held back in Hollywood. Miss May Does Not Exist is a remarkable love story about a prickly genius who was never easy to work with, not always easy to love and frequently often punished for those things, despite revolutionizing the way we think about comedy, acting, and what a film or play can be.
LC Classification Number
PN1998.3.M3955C68
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Seller feedback (997)
- 3***a (98)- Feedback left by buyer.Past 6 monthsVerified purchaseA translation of Pushkin’s verse novel by Vladimir Nabokov, this item was exactly as described in the listing. The packaging was well done for shipment, and the book was delivered faster than expected. The introduction where Nabokov discussed the various difficulties in translating verse alone was worth the price of the book- a modest price for such a fascinating novel. buy of a fascinating novel
- s***i (1)- Feedback left by buyer.Past 6 monthsVerified purchaseBook came earlier than expected was in very good condition and the seller was very easy to communicate with overall a really good experience. The book was as described. It was heavily packaged and safely contained in bubble wrap, a protective bag, and a plastic wrap and it’s 100% worth what I spent for it I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison 1967 Pyramid PB 1st Printing (#205271651849)
- 7***7 (48)- Feedback left by buyer.Past monthVerified purchaseReally quick shipping (arrived earlier even though it was coast to coast) and thoughtfully packaged. Condition of books was as described and really happy with overall value of the offer! Hope to find other books from your store!