Final Dress

Memoirs #3

by John Houseman

Final Dress

Genres: Biography

592 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

John Houseman was an English-American actor and film producer who became known for his highly publicized collaboration with director Orson Welles from their days in the Federal Theatre Project through to the production of Citizen Kane. But he is perhaps best known for his role as Professor Charles Kingsfield in the TV series The Paper Chase and for his commercials for the brokerage firm Smith Barney.

Reviews

[David]

Houseman seems honest. At least he tells stories of himself that illustrate his bad points as well as those which celebrate his strengths. Sometimes he even refers to these moments disparagingly. I was amused to discover that The Paper Chase was, essentially, his debut as an actor. It was my first encounter with him, and I didn’t realize he had been almost exclusively a director/producer/educator beforehand. It was interesting to see other figures, later famous for more conventional reasons, appear (Rene Auberjonois as teacher/director for example). The book immerses the reader in the intricacies of producing performance art, as well as in the mind of the theatre teacher (near and dear to me), and the mercurial nature of fame as, time after time, well-known performers in their youth are discussed as equals with totally unknown individuals whose memory has faded, or simply never was.

[Stephen Raguskus · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book to learn more about Houseman’s time with the American Shakespeare Theatre in my hometown of Stratford, CT and I did enjoy the chapters on that period in his life. But I really didn’t care for Houseman’s writing style. He lived a busy life and he records pretty much everything he ever did, but I didn’t feel he told his story so much as listed his activities and achievements. And his constant use of footnotes to clarify his stories was beyond annoying. A good editor could have incorporated most of these notes into his text, or just left them out completely. And a good editor could have condensed this memoir, one of three volumes, to hold it well under 500 pages.

[Christopher Heaney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Third volume of Houseman's memoirs. Found this one, like Vols. I & II, well worth reading, but not as compelling.