The writer Alexandra Jacobs, an editor at the New York Times, discusses her biography Still Here: The Madcap, Nervy, Singular Life of Elaine Stritch (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019), with Joseph Planta.

Still Here: The Madcap, Nervy, Singular Life of Elaine Stritch by Alexandra Jacobs (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Still Here

Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.

The book Still Here: The Madcap, Nervy, Singular Life of Elaine Stritch by Alexandra Jacobs is one of the more entertaining books of last year. She writes of such a fascinating life in the theatre, that touched the worlds of film, recordings and television in a long career right up to her Emmy Award winning guest performances on 30 Rock. Stritch was a captivating performer, whether it was the quips and sass that infused an inflection or performance, or the physical frame of a woman in a shirt and tights, one couldn’t help but be drawn in. Ms. Jacobs, who joins me now, investigates the appeal, as well as breaks open the challenges that confounded Stritch throughout her life and work, as well as the challenging nature of her outsized personality. She worked with people like Richard Rodgers and George S. Kauffman, Cole Porter and George Abbott, to Noel Coward, Stephen Sondheim and Harold Prince, through to James Gandolfini, Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, and so many others in between. I’ll ask Alexandra about writing this book and the uniqueness of its subject. Alexandra Jacobs is an editor and writer at the New York Times. She has written for The New Yorker, the Observer, and Entertainment Weekly. The Twitter handle is @AlexandraJacobs. The book is published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Alexandra Jacobs; Ms. Jacobs, good morning.

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