Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 25, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba Sunday free press n c a pm Winnipeg. May 25, 1997 do nation has Long Active comedy history canucks Are a funny crowd stand and delivery Andrew Clark Doubleday 259 pages. $30__ reviewed by Williamson a Winnipeg comedian Toronto journalist Andrew Clarks first Book stand and deliver inside Canadian comedy is a vigorous captivating look at our nations Long and remarkably Active comedy history. It maintains a fresh fast paced style while being densely packed with information on Many of your Favourite comics As Well As quite a few you May never have heard of. For instance if you re in your Early 30s and assumed that Canadian comedy began with Wayne and Shuster then meet the dumbbells soldiers who formed a popular comedy troupe during the first world War and even made it to Broadway. And How Many of you remember Frank Pep Piatt and John Aylesworth who went on to create that institution known As a wait for it a Hee Haw reference stand and deliver is a Fine reference work a front Row seat to the fascinating drama of Canadian comedy and even a source of Pride. After All any country that can turn out such Success stories As Carrey and Mike Myers is no place to be laughed at. Along with relating our history of Humour Clark Best known for his comedy column in the Toronto Star makes several stabs at defining comedy As Well As analysing what makes a comedian tick. He suggests it Isnit merely a Case of a fall comedians Are really tragic rather Canadian comedy represents our frustration As a nation that we All feel under appreciated and second rate All because we re next door to the United states. We absorb every drop of american culture but add our own potent dash of off Centre some would say British sarcasm and irony to the mix. Not that some Canadian comics Arentt maniacally driven. Witness Mark Breslin comic and also founder of the Yuk Yuk Schain of comedy clubs a i feel i am mentally ill. A lot of the language and iconography is the same for the mentally ill and a comic. Instead of thinking a by they think a a Green three. Comedians idolize the concept of madness because it represents the ultimate mental portraits Breslin a is one of several vivid skilfully drawn portraits in the Book including the maddening career ups and Downs of such notables As one woman show Queen Sandra Shamas and the acerbic stand up Mike Macdonald. One especially riveting portion of the Book deals with the evolution of interface stand up comedy in Canada from Creepy strip clubs to the Yuk Yuk a Empire. The stories of life for a comic on the Road Are hilarious and harrowing and in the Case of the late great Colin Campbell deeply moving As Well. But what really carries the Book is Clark s refreshingly a patronizing tone regarding the comedic lifestyle. Its Crystal Clear that he likes and respects comics. He manages to strike a consistent balance Between comedy historian and excited fan. Never before has the soul of the comedian and the comedy Industry been so thoroughly and satisfyingly , mystery mix a Welcome escape by Roswitha Dudar a Winnipeg teacher librarian the adage a hell hath no fury like a woman scorned is reinforced in Janet Dailey a illusions hardcover Harper Collins. Rita Cole a fading Starlet targets her successful sex Lover for elimination. Good thing she a a poor shot or Lucas Wayne would have had a Short career. Enter Delaney Westcott a Security expert hired to protect Wayne on the set of his new movie. Things appear to be under control until a grim twist of Fate sees Delaney charged with murder. Dailey who has criss crossed the United states with a variety of set Mimm novels Tings locates this Story in ritzy Aspen. Her description of Hollywood parties held amid the mountains of Colorado will satisfy even the most voracious of celebrity watchers. This is a Welcome escape from the reality of everyday life. Getting caught in the Rhododendron Bushes spying on your Lover is hardly the Road to a lasting relationship. But what if your Lover was part of a decaying family with a mysterious past in on the night table Timothy Findley Canadian novelist and playwright Quot in be just finished a wonderful biography about Lillian Heilman and Dashiell Hammett. Ifs called Heilman and Hammett and is written by american Joan Mellon. Ifs a splendid piece of work. I m starting Ann Marie Macdonald s Book fall on your Knees. I m very much a fan of bestsellers based on sales at Mcnally Robinson booksellers As of May 19 harsh overs mass Markut 1. Without a doubt Marcia Clark. Issues. $35.00 2. 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Of you re not from the Prairie David Bouchard and Henry Ripplinger. Canadian pict rebook. $19.95 5. Love you forever Robert Munsch. Canadian pict rebook $4.99 6. Slinky Matinki Lynley Dodd. Picture Book. $5.99 7. Franklin goes to Day Camp. Paulette Bourgeois. Canadian activity Book. $3.95 8. Of you could Wear my sneakers Sheree Fitch. Canadian poetry. $16.95 9. Goosebumps 56 curse of Camp cold Lake . Stine. Series fiction. Ages 8-11. $4.99 10. How can a Frozen detective stay hot on the Trail Linda Bailey. Cana Dian fiction. Ages 8-12. $4.95 Manitoba authors just before Sunrise by Carla neggers paperback pocket Star Sooksart dealer Annie Payne has her hands full trying to keep warring factions of the Macrae family apart. At stake ownership of a mysterious painting and the Resolution of a double murder. Neggers develops a great description of san Francisco and her peripheral characters lighten up a dark mystery. Annie a dog a not your stereotypical Rottweiler has some hilarious scenes As does Zoe a Ditsy Aroma therapist who is forever trying to talk some scents into Annie. These insertions sometimes take away from the flow of the plot but they make for a Nice break. Deathbed murmurings and mistaken identities Are the key to Patricia potters latest Book the scotsman wore spurs paperback Bantam books. Set in the old West its Story focuses on a Young girl seeking the Man responsible for her fathers death. She joins a cattle drive disguised As a boy expecting the Leader to be the culprit. An errant Scot takes pity on her and assists in uncovering the truth. This Book starts off with Good intentions but does no to go anywhere with its plot. The plodding Pace Only picks up near the last few chapters too late to hold the attention of All but the most dedicated of readers. Part of a consistently Good series of books Petticoat rebellion paperback Regency Romance by Joan Smith is a Short Breezy read. Strike viewed from new Angle profiles in dissent by Harry and Mildred Gutkin newest press 385 pages $25_ reviewed by Allan Levine a Winnipeg historian and writer few events have defined Winnipeg a history like the general strike of 1919. Its legacy divided the City a civic politics for at least 50 years after. For about six weeks in May and june of 1919, tens of thousands of workers walked off their jobs effectively shutting Down the City. When it was All Over and the combined Power of the Federal government police and establishment had broken the strike to men had been arrested on charges ranging from seditious conspiracy to inciting a riot. Nine were tried and six were eventually convicted and sent to prison for Brief terms. In this elegantly written Book aimed at a general audience Winni Eggers Harry and Mildred Gutkin examine our tumultuous labour history and the lives of the arrested strike leaders. Harry has written extensively on the history of the City a North end with an emphasis on Winnipeg a jewish Community. Mildred taught English literature at the University of Manitoba for 30 years. Several of the labour leaders profiled by the Yutkins Are still Well known including . Woodsworth one of the founders of the Kcf John Queen who later became Winnipeg mayor in 1935, and . Russell who was honoured Many years after the strike when a vocational school was named after him. Others such As Fred Dixon Bill Pritchard and George Armstrong have faded from memory. While the 1919 strike has not lacked its historians the Yutkins do offer a new twist on a familiar Story by probing the personal lives of the main participants. In particular their research into the role of Helen Armstrong George Armstrong a wife As Well As other women adds an important new dimension to the Saga. While the various strike leaders Woodsworth strike Leader were portrayed by the press and authorities As a United group of radicals and conspirators they were in fact As the Yutkins show quite diverse in their political religious and social views. Not All were adherents of communism nor did the majority want to Start a revolution. Their chief goal was simply to improve the lives of the working people whom they represented. The one flaw in this Book is in the collective biography format itself. As such this would be difficult to remedy unless the volume were organized differently. In each chapter As the Yutkins retell the Story of the strike from a different perspective they Are forced to repeat Many of the same facts and recount yet again the strikers arrest and trial. The general strike had a lasting effect on the lives of its leaders and their families. For most As the Yutkins Point out this moment in time was the Climax of their struggle for workers rights. A virtually every life a they write a ends in decline and fall in disappointment and at the same time by resurrecting several of the less Well known labour leaders profiles in dissent is a significant contribution to the literature of the strike. It will be useful to students and readers of Canadian history alike. The Opportunity to escape the confines of education is a godsend for the boarders at miss Slatkin a school for Young ladies. These girls soon create their own agendas when invited to visit a wealthy country estate. They Are intent on finding appropriately wealthy husbands. Their school mistress who has a penchant for Art is Only hoping to sneak a peek at some priceless a Vinci drawings. Plans go hopelessly awry when a member of their party goes missing. Smith adds some suspense to her work with the addition of some unsavoury characters to act As possible villains. This Story is pretty Basic but engaging and it captures the essence of victorian times. Briefly noted the universe below by William j. Broad Simon amp schuster 432 pages $40 with so much scientific attention focused on the skies a Galileo a images of Europa the Hubble telescopes achingly Remote galaxies our own sights of Comet Hale Bopp a the other great Frontier of exploration is not much on our minds these Days. But we stand says pulitzer prize winning science writer William j. Broad on the Edge of an age of discovery that will open the deep seas to us in the same Way that we have recently explored near space and that 15th and 16th-Century explorers mapped the world. Zyvith More and More advanced technology becoming available Broad sees a new age before us. A some Day a Broad concludes a we will visit the stars. Until we do out in our own backyard is the universe Knight Ridder newspapers Veritas by William Lashner Harper Collins 454 pages $35.50 you be come to the right place if you agree that a Money has its own gravitational pull stronger than anything Newton imagined and what it Drew along with fast cars and slim hipped women was the worst of anyone who fell within its these sentiments abound in Veritas the second Book by lawyer and author William Lashner. And no one in the novel is As unrepentant by greedy As Carl Victor its Philadelphia lawyer protagonist. His first words Are a i suppose every Hundred million dollars has its own sordid Story and the Hundred million i am chasing is no the last paragraph finds him still rationalizing that a obscene wealth is the great american obsession and i am nothing if not a perhaps you can spot a theme Here. Knight Kidder newspapers Canadian comedy did no to Start with Wayne and Shuster it just seems like it a ;