Waxing Mythical by Kate Berridge
Madame Tussaud is a name known all over the world. The queue to her exhibition is a landmark. Such is its phenomenal success, it has eclipsed the woman who started it all. But Marie Tussaud led a remarkable life. With grit and audacity she overcame reversals of fortune and built an extraordinary spectacle. Of lowly birth and uncertain paternity, Marie became apprentice to a charismatic showman in Paris who taught her the art of wax modelling. They plied their trade among a colourful cast of 'Italian singers, pastry cooks, restaurant keepers, marionettes, acrobats, giants, dwarves, ferocious beasts'. In her memoir she also claimed friendship with royals and revolutionaries including Marie Antoinette and Voltaire. But, as a born entrepreneur, did Marie's flair for publicity extend to moulding her own story After the Revolution, she came to England and took her show on the road. She pursued the punishing lifestyle of the travelling show for many years and secured a lasting reputation in the Dickensian world of 19th century popular entertainment. More than a biography, this captivating cultural history plunges the reader into popular culture of the past; the escapist delights of canine cabaret, living skeletons, phantasmagoria and of course waxworks. It reveals a truth that Madame Tussaud understood and harnessed from the outset - the mass-market appeal of glamour and gore is enduring and universal.
'Excellent.. Kate Berridge goes beyond the bounds of the conventional 'life-and-times' biography... Here, the background of 'the times' is painted with as much skill as the spot-lit figure in the foreground ... shrewd and myth-debunking.' -- John Adamson, Sunday Telegraph 20060716 'Spectacular and spellbinding biography of a great pioneer of mass-market illusion ... Thoughtful, original, never condescending, erudite and packed with vivid and sometimes horrifying detail, it is a model of how cultural history should be written.' -- John Carey, Sunday Times -- John Carey, Sunday Times 20060716 'In Waxing Mythical, Berridge patiently sifts for truth' -- The Times 20060716 * 'Berridge's descriptions of Paris before the revolution expose a society already firmly established, rather than the dichotomy of sans-culotte and aristocrat of popular legend' -- Literary Review 20060716 'An immensely stylish book: well researched, witty, perceptive and provocative' -- Daily Telegraph 20060701 'Informative' -- Financial Times 20060701 'Punters inching their way up the queue in Baker Street this summer might make the minutes fly faster if they take with them Kate Berridge's Waxing Mythical. Sparkly, entertaining, crammed with intriguing details, this cultural history reveals Madam Tussaud as canny, tough as old boots and with a knack for riding the storm' -- Indpendant on Sunday 20060827 'Waxing Mythical is great fun! its heady mix of glitz and fore captures the magic of Madame Tussaud's waxworks and the mysterious businesswoman who created them' -- Sarah Howard, Times Literary Supplement 20060827 'Engaging' -- Jeremy Lewis, The Sunday Times 20060827
Kate Berridge started her writing career with obituaries and progressed to writing a book about death, VIGOR MORTIS - her irreverent, witty and never morbid account of society's attitude to death. Kate has contributed to a wide range of broadsheets and magazines including Vogue, the Spectator, the Sunday Times and the Sunday Telegraph.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780719565519 |
| ISBN 10 | 0719565510 |
| Title | Waxing Mythical |
| Author | Kate Berridge |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | John Murray Press |
| Year published | 2006-06-29 |
| Number of pages | 368 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |