Marvin
Based on The Way I Was by Marvin Hamlisch
Published on 28. February 2020
Book
Paperback/Softback
64 pages
978-0-7643-5904-0 (ISBN)
Description
An illustrated biography of one of the greatest composers and conductors of the 20th century, Marvin Hamlisch, for any young reader who loves music, the theater, and movie scores.
As only the second person in history to be awarded the PEGOT (Pulitzer, Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony), Marvin Hamlisch has quite an incredible story. This graphic novel adaptation of the biography of the renowned musician, composer, and conductor also includes his family's flight from Nazi-occupied Austria and their immigration to the United States.
Accepted into the prestigious Juilliard music school at age 6, Marvin had to work hard to overcome intense anxiety before every performance. Despite his struggles and his self-doubt, he celebrated his first radio hit in his teens, wrote songs for a young Liza Minelli, worked with Barbra Streisand on Funny Girl, and won his first major award before the age of 30.
As only the second person in history to be awarded the PEGOT (Pulitzer, Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony), Marvin Hamlisch has quite an incredible story. This graphic novel adaptation of the biography of the renowned musician, composer, and conductor also includes his family's flight from Nazi-occupied Austria and their immigration to the United States.
Accepted into the prestigious Juilliard music school at age 6, Marvin had to work hard to overcome intense anxiety before every performance. Despite his struggles and his self-doubt, he celebrated his first radio hit in his teens, wrote songs for a young Liza Minelli, worked with Barbra Streisand on Funny Girl, and won his first major award before the age of 30.
Reviews / Votes
"Mar-vin, a graph-ic nov-el adapt-ed and illus-trat-ed by Ian David Mars-den based on The Way I Was by Mar-vin Ham-lisch, tells the sto-ry of Ham-lisch, a famous film com-pos-er, through a Jew-ish lens. A large por-tion of the graph-ic nov-el fol-lows Mar-v-in's par-ents in flash-backs as they escape Nazi Ger-many to come to Amer-i-ca, where Mar-vin him-self is born. Explor-ing his par-ents' sto-ry allows for a greater under-stand-ing of his Jew-ish her-itage and what his par-ents had to do to sur-vive Nazi Germany. The book shines when it show-cas-es Mar-v-in's suc-cess-es. Once he starts to make it as a com-pos-er, he nar-rates the sto-ries behind some of his biggest tri-umphs, such as his break-out score for ?"The Swim-mer," and his Gold-en Globe Win-ning song for ?"Kotch." The graph-ic nov-el illus-trates his writ-ing process, often uti-liz-ing some of the skills he learned from his edu-ca-tion at Jul-liard, detailed at the begin-ning of the book. Mars-den includes celebri-ty cameos and behind the scenes looks at Hol-ly-wood which add sparkle and recog-ni-tion to the story. Mars-den's art style invites in all graph-ic nov-el read-ers. The car-toon-ish yet vivid faces of the char-ac-ters are warm and friend-ly, and make Mar-v-in's sto-ry feel famil-iar and acces-si-ble. Mar-vin is a fun read for any film fan who wants to learn about musi-cal scores, iron-i-cal-ly one of the medi-um's most unsung aspects." -- Richard C. Kraus, Jewish Book Council "It isn't only that Marvin's story offers a roller coaster of life events. It also speaks of a different time when social interaction is based on being a stand-up person, where integrity speaks for itself. It is hard to imagine it was the norm not so long ago, especially when this book and its story are pitted against what passes for the norm now. But adapted from the self-authored The Way I Was, Ian David Marsden captures the tone and look of Marvin Hamlisch, in both his penmanship and illustrations. No doubt that, there was real love for Marsden's subject matter. And without upholding Hamlisch's integrity in this adaptation, there is also no doubt this book would hold its weight." -- Picture This Post "God gave Marvin Hamlisch a life that has made for some great storytelling and this graphic novel is proof. It's a great read, historically fascinating and 100% Marvin in its wit and wisdom. I never wanted it to end." -- Lucie Arnaz, Emmy award-winning producer and actressMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Atglen
United States
Target group
Primary & secondary/elementary & high school
US School Grade: From Third Grade to Sixth Grade, Interest Age: From 8 to 12 years
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Illustrations
fully illustrated in color
Dimensions
Height: 226 mm
Width: 150 mm
Thickness: 8 mm
Weight
200 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7643-5904-0 (9780764359040)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Born in 1967, Ian David Marsden spent his formative years in Zurich, Switzerland. He later worked and lived in places all over the world, now residing in the Pic Saint Loup region of the south of France with his wife and three daughters, who are his pride and joy, and an ever-growing cast of pets.