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Presenting Lily Mars (1933) by Booth Tarkington ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Opening the book, this un-captioned illustration is a scene from the book, and I think it’s kind of cool that you don’t understand the weight of the picture until you read the book.
My copy of this interesting book has a small stamp on the first title page. It says Public Libary of Gladstone & Peapack, Discard. This is a library in Gladstone, NJ. Curiously, it is listed as Peapack & Gladstone Public Library on the internet, flipping the town names.
My copy was published by Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc.
Presenting Lily Mars opens with 29 year old Owen Gilbert, playwright, arriving in his home town to meet the players who will begin rehearsing his third play, Catalpa House. His mother tells him about a local girl who wants to be an actress, and urges Owen to give her a hearing so she can show her stuff. This is 18 year old Lily Mars, who has a sick older sister and is the daughter of an invalid mother. The father died many years ago, so Lily and her sister have been working their butts off to take care of the mother who was paralyzed in an accident.
In this sad situation, the Mars family look to Lily, who they know will be a big star if she can just get her break. Owen knows that there is little chance, and it is pointless for him to go over there and watch her audition. After all, he’s only the playwright, not hte casting director. Besides, there’s no part in his play for her, anyway, and the players have already been set. Well, Owen’s mother has already told Lily’s mother that Owen will give her a hearing, so he is forced to go.
This is the beginning of the tumultuous acting career of Lily Mars. My overall opinion of Lily is that she’s a selfish, erratic, empty headed ninny who doesn’t even know who she is herself. No one else does, either. Everything she does is an act, from arguments, to apologies, to tears, to bursts of happiness. She acts on her whims without thought of what it could do to anyone else. It’s all a big game to her, thought there really isn’t much maliciousness in her actions. She’s just a kid, after all.
There are a string of other wonderful characters, including Isabelle, the leading lady, who is erratic and selfish herself. The whole band of players in this play that is to be put on are like carnival people, each one with their own strange quirks.
Overall, this is a good story and an enjoyable read. I think the reader will enjoy being able to sit back and watch the story unfold, especially with the train wreck that is Lily.
Now, in 1943, there was a movie starring Judy Garland called Presenting Lily Mars. From the summary I just read, it bears no resemblance to the book except in name, and it’s a bit of a shame, actually. This is really a good, well written story of the legitimate stage, and to turn it into an MGM musical and change the story entirely is doing it a disservice.
This wasn’t the first time I’d read Presenting Lily Mars, and I remember loving the book. I think it was mostly the writing style that made me love it so much. Reading it again, I still really liked the book. I didn’t remember much about the book from last time’s reading, and had no idea that Lily Mars was such a tumultuous character. I’d definitely recommend this!
Booth Tarkington was a successful author, and I have a few of his books, so there will be more of his stories to come.
