Review by New York Times Review
Michael Lindsay-Hogg's memoir explores the vexed question of his paternity. ONE of the first interviews I ever did, in the mid-1980s for Elle magazine, was with Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who had just directed the original New York production of Larry Kramer's "Normal Heart." This, I must admit, interested me less than office gossip alleging him to be the unclaimed son of Orson Welles, by his mother, the actress Geraldine Fitzgerald. After the interview, I realized I'd been so busy noting how much he sounded like Welles, I never flipped the cassette tape. Further investigation revealed a dead battery; not one word had been recorded. I scribbled everything I could remember and confessed my carelessness to the fact checker; when she took double the time to check each word with Lindsay-Hogg, mercifully, it was all correct. He was a perfect gentleman, she said. And on the phone, he sounded exactly like Orson Welles. So I had two fears about "Luck and Circumstance." The first was that perfect gentlemen rarely make incisive writers, and the second was that the book would be filled with endless speculation about the identity of dear old Dad, without any resolution. Yes, I know it's all about the journey, but in this case, I'd already waited 25 years for enlightenment. Lindsay-Hogg waited far longer than that, and ultimately, his paternity is revealed. Although he can be a maddeningly inconsistent writer, veering from circuitous and slapdash to direct and thoughtful, as a memoirist he makes every effort to parse the practically Shakespearean drama that shaped his life. Epic love, mistaken identities, letters revealing secrets - they're all here. Michael was born in 1940 to Fitzgerald and her husband, Sir Edward Lindsay-Hogg, a British expat who seemed to drink more than he worked. He left America in 1943 to live the rest of his life in Ireland, Spain and Italy. Michael describes him as "a man of fragile temperament" who became something of a phantom in his son's life, seeing him only sporadically. Photographs show a tall, thin fellow with dark coloring and a narrow face. Fitzgerald divorced him, and when Michael was 6, she married Stuart Scheftel, a businessman whose nickname was Boy. An American Jew, he was a grandson of Isidor Straus, a co-owner of Macy's, who died on the Titanic with his wife, Ida. Scheftel and Fitzgerald later had a daughter, Susan. Lindsay-Hogg, eventually, was shipped off to Choate. By 14, he was overweight and nicknamed Pudge. On a school vacation, his mother invited him to her Off Broadway rehearsal of "The Doctor's Dilemma," directed by Sidney Lumet. He was smitten by the theater, dropping out of school at 16 to appear in a play. His stepfather supported this decision as he seems always to have supported Lindsay-Hogg, who insisted on keeping him at arm's length. Years later, Boy asked: "What went wrong between us? I love you but don't know if you love me. . . . Was it my fault?" "If he had a fault," Lindsay-Hogg writes, now regretting his hard heart, "it probably was that he'd married my mother, supplanting my little self." Then there is Orson the genius, his putative father, lurking not only in dogged rumor but in Michael's mirror, and in his own struggles with his weight. Lindsay-Hogg confronts his mother regularly on this issue, and regularly, she evades him. The facts are these: In 1938 Welles directed her in a Mercury Theater production of "Heartbreak House." Although they were both married to other people, by the following year he had split from his wife, Fitzgerald was pregnant, her husband was in New York and she was living with Welles in Beverly Hills. "We'd go out for dinner together," she told her son. "And you know how people can put two and two together and make three." Fitzgerald went on to work with Welles again, and in the mid-1950s, as a teenager, Lindsay-Hogg met him. As a young adult, he acted with him at the Gaiety Theater in Ireland. At the end of the fun, Welles offered him a job as his assistant on a play starring Laurence Olivier. Lindsay-Hogg was elated. Soon after, Fitzgerald gave a party, which Welles attended. But then, Lindsay-Hogg writes, "I didn't see or hear from Orson for three years." This pattern holds for the rest of Welles's life; the two would run into each other, have a warm conversation, then years would pass without contact. IS there really a mystery here? If you look and sound exactly like Orson Welles, why wouldn't you know who your father was? Because his mother didn't want him to. For all the intrigue surrounding Welles, Lindsay-Hogg's real unrequited love was for his mother. At the end of her life, when she was suffering from dementia, he found himself crying in a taxi. "I never got her," he writes. "Not when I was a little boy, she was always earning the rent; . . . not when she'd married my stepfather; . . . and now that Boy is dead, I could have had her. We could have gone to the theater, or for a walk, or out for a meal together, and I could finally be with her, the two of us only. And now I'll never have her, to myself, alone." Lindsay-Hogg may also have sensed that not knowing his paternity could be a blessing: with a genius for a father you can only fail by comparison. And he made quite a nice career for himself, starting at 24, when he directed the hit British TV rock 'n' roll show "Ready Steady Go!," followed several years later by the film "Let It Be," with the Beatles' last (rooftop) concert. He had hits on Broadway with "Whose Life Is It Anyway?" and "Agnes of God," made a number of films and directed parts of "Brideshead Revisited." When he completed a draft of this book, Lindsay-Hogg sent it to Gloria Vanderbilt, a former friend with benefits. The greatest benefit of all, it turns out, was her setting the record straight about Orson, who, it will surprise no one, was his father after all. And knew it. Vanderbilt wrote him about his mother: "She feared mostly what you might think of her. . . . She and O had been passionately in love and involved (one never regrets that) and . . . it continued on through the years." In another letter she added: "G married Boy because she respected him and loved him, and he could give her despite all a security that you can't find in Hollywood. . . . He . . . could be depended on, which Orson certainly could not." As I read this book, I kept wondering about its title. Where, exactly, is the luck? By the end of Lindsay-Hogg's account of life with his father, who always disappointed him; his birth father, who always eluded him; and his mother, who lied as fast as she could until she could lie no longer, you are left with a man - now 71, incredibly enough - who can look at his deeply imperfect family and find something to love in each one. That's the closest thing to luck most of us can hope for. Two and two together: Michael Lindsay-Hogg, left, at 18 in 1958, and Orson Welles at the same age in 1933. Lindsay-Hogg directed 'The Normal Heart' and 'Agries of God,' and he put the Beatles on the roof in 'Let It Be.' Alex Witchel is a staff writer for The Times Magazine.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [October 2, 2011]
Review by Booklist Review
British theater, television, and film director Lindsay-Hogg takes us through his life and career in an engaging memoir. Different parts of the book are interesting for different reasons. His early years as the son of film actress Geraldine Fitzgerald were spent in the company of some of Hollywood's elite, and fans of old-school tinseltown autobiographies will enjoy their stories and atmosphere. In his adult years, as a television director, Lindsay-Hogg hobnobbed with rock 'n' roll greats, including the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, for whom he directed the documentary that became Let It Be. In describing that era, the book takes a different tone, sounding more like a modern rock memoir. Looming over the whole story is a most tantalizing possibility: Orson Welles might be the author's father. As Lindsay-Hogg allows us to observe his own reassessment of his life, as old memories and snippets of conversation take on new meaning, the book becomes an illuminating mixture of traditional celebrity memoir and true-life mystery.--Pitt, David Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Lindsay-Hogg , whose mother was actress Geraldine Fitzgerald, delivers an entertaining view of his film and theatrical experiences, as he tells his childhood as a search for truth and answers, "with twists and feints and clues" against familial "lies and deception." His mother, who appeared in both film (Wuthering Heights, Dark Victory) and on stage (notably at Orson Welles's Mercury Theatre) was, as Lindsay-Hogg describes, a seductress who had affairs with Robert Capa and Henry Miller, and married Sir Edward Lindsay-Hogg and Stuart "Boy" Scheftel. Driven by ambition, Lindsay-Hogg at age 24 directed 1960's England's music program Ready, Steady, Go, and later recorded videos for rock and roll bands like the Beatles ("Let it Be") and the Rolling Stones. He offers clever accounts of directing TV's Brideshead Revisited (casting, locations, script work, and working with such actors as Jeremy Irons) and on Broadway (Whose Life Is It Anyway? and Agnes of God with Tom Conti and Geraldine Page). Questions of rumored paternity haunt him-the possibility that Orson Welles was more than a mentor is lastly revealed by socialite Gloria Vanderbilt, once his mother's confidante. The book is both a story of a boy's pursuit for honesty and a talent finding his own way to fame (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
A good celebrity memoir depends on one of three things-a rags-to-riches story, some kind of elemental tragedy, or a life filled with interesting anecdotes. Being the son of actress Geraldine Fitzgerald and a widely respected theater and film director (Waiting for Godot) in his own right, Lindsay-Hogg packs his memoir with behind-the-scenes episodes featuring a startling array of famous figures, ranging from Laurence Olivier and William Randolph Hearst to Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney. His has been a successful though somewhat unheralded career, so there seems to be a greater discovery factor in this book, especially concerning the fascinating dynamic among Lindsay-Hogg's mother, father, and Orson Welles and the questions of his paternity. This, then, is much more than a collection of anecdotes. It is, as the subtitle states, a coming-of-age told in the author's unique voice, with his language and style seemingly reflective of his British heritage and American experience. Verdict A wonderfully told story, presented in vignettes, that should please any reader. [Three-city tour; see Prepub Alert, 2/28/11.]-Peter Thornell, Hingham P.L., MA (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A famous director recalls his boyhood and working life as the son of the beautiful Warner Brother's movie star Geraldine Fitzgerald.At age 15, Lindsay-Hogg knew exactly what he wanted out of life. Following his first stint in the theater in 1956, when he spoke one line inTheTaming of the Shrew,he set his sights on a career in theater, film and television. After querying his mother on possible stage names, she casually mentioned how some people thought Orson Welles was his real father. His mother denied it, but just enough to create a mysterious script for the author's life. True to his dream, the author forged a career in the entertainment world where recurring hints of his connection to Welles resurfaced at odd times during his life.In the '60s, he directed a British rock 'n' roll show and developed an unusual technique for filming the bands. He went on to work with many of the greats, including the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Supremes. Lindsay-Hogg began working for BBC television during the '70s, "working with the stars of the time on dramas written by equally stellar playwrights." The author's story is a riveting insider look at popular culture, from his boyhood in Santa Monica, while his mother was under contract to Warner Brothers, through his direction ofThe Normal Heart in 1985. Lindsay-Hogg's descriptive vignettes reveal tasty tidbits about the famous musicians, actors and cultural icons of the time.An unusual story of a life lived among a galaxy of stars, told with enough insight and intelligence that even those who dismiss celebrity memoirs should enjoy this jaunt through the glitz.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by New York Times Review
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
