Word: somerset
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...daughter never gave a rap about me," snorted craggy old Author W. Somerset Maugham, 88, and now the feeling was mutual. In a Nice court, Maugham filed a petition to disinherit Elizabeth Mary Maugham, 47, and recover some $2,000,000 worth of gifts he lavished on her since she was born. His penny-novel grounds: Elizabeth is not his legitimate daughter because she was conceived while her mother was still married to another man. He also cited Article 955 of the French Civil Code, which permits the recovery of gifts if the beneficiary is not properly grateful, and Elizabeth...
Magical Power. At first glance, the six objects of Wescott's literary affection-Katherine Anne Porter, Somerset Maugham, Colette. Isak Dinesen, Thomas Mann and Thornton Wilder-seem to have little in common. But all illustrate Wescott's passionate belief in the magical power of a story to hold those brooding truths about human behavior that cannot be abstracted as philosophy or illuminated in the swift lightning of poetic metaphor...
With that belief established, Wescott lavishes high praise on the storytelling insights of Somerset Maugham and cheerfully states that Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain would be improved by pruning 300 pages of extraneous erudition out of it. Wescott's main critical contribution, however, is his experienced literary sightseer's infectious enthusiasm. "Let me not bully you about this novel that I love," he says engagingly of Christmas Holiday, a little-known book of Maugham's that he thinks is the best novel ever written about Europe just before World War II. His account...
...potentates at Universal were articulately querulous. Said one: "What audience would ever believe that the hero would want to get her at the fadeout?" The turning point of her career came in 1934 when she peroxided her hair and stole the show as Mildred, the mean little waitress in Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage. Says Davis: "She was the first leading-lady villainess ever played on a screen for real. I was the female Marlon Brando of my generation...
...week's heist from the respected O'Hana Gallery in London was the biggest in British history. Gone from the gallery's choice "Summer Exhibition" were 35 paintings, including works from the recently sold Sir Alexander Korda collection, Renoir's magnificent Andree Assise from the Somerset Maugham collection, and the well-known Tilling the Vineyard, by Toulouse-Lautrec. The market value of the haul was estimated at about $1,200,000, and the thieves were obviously connoisseurs. They not only took the best; they also knew which paintings were too delicate to be cut from their...