{"product_id":"9781504048439","title":"Notes on a Cowardly Lion: The Biography of Bert Lahr","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA son’s funny, frank, and “endlessly fascinating” memoir of his father, \u003ci\u003e Wizard of Oz \u003c\/i\u003e star Bert Lahr \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e( \u003ci\u003eHarper’s Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e ).\u003c\/b\u003e    Bert Lahr, best known for his role as the Cowardly Lion in \u003ci\u003eThe Wizard of Oz\u003c\/i\u003e , made audiences laugh from burlesque stages to vaudeville to Broadway—and impressed them as Estragon in the American theater debut of \u003ci\u003eWaiting for Godot\u003c\/i\u003e . But reality wasn’t always funny for the legendary actor and comedian, or his family.   Drawing on personal recollections and the memories of his father’s colleagues, a veteran writer for the \u003ci\u003e New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e and renowned theater critic brilliantly explores both the long and glorious professional career of a Hollywood icon and the experience of growing up with him. Here, in rich detail, is Bert Lahr evolving from a low-comic star to a Ziegfeld Follies sophisticate, hamming it up with the Scarecrow and Tin Man on the set of \u003ci\u003eThe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eWizard of Oz\u003c\/i\u003e , and garnering rich praise as he performed in Samuel Beckett’s masterpiece. But while Lahr could be equally raucous and polished in public, in private he was painfully insecure and self-absorbed, keeping his family at arm’s length as he quietly battled his inner demons. “A work of literature, a work of history, a subtle psychological study,” \u003ci\u003eNotes on a Cowardly Lion\u003c\/i\u003e is more than one man’s quest to understand his father. It is an extraordinary examination of a life on the stage and screen ( \u003ci\u003eHarper’s Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e ).   From a writer with an intimate knowledge of the theater and show business world, this is both a “frank and objective” ( \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e ) family memoir that will appeal to readers of Carrie Fisher’s \u003ci\u003eWishful Drinking\u003c\/i\u003e or Alan Cumming’s \u003ci\u003eNot My Father’s Son\u003c\/i\u003e , and a “book-length love letter. To open it is to enter a life, to participate in a sensibility and, perhaps most important, to laugh. Uproariously” ( \u003ci\u003eLife)\u003c\/i\u003e .  \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Open Road Media","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47039037735152,"sku":"9781504048439","price":17.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781504048439_p0.jpg?v=1763711269","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781504048439","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}