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My Father was Carmen Miranda: Memoirs of an English Show Girl | 
 enlarge | Author: Nena Jover Kelty
Publisher: BearManor Media
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $18.45
You Save: $1.50 (8%)
New (14) Used (3) from $18.45
Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 1587417
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 232
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.6
ISBN: 1593931425
Dewey Decimal Number: 920
EAN: 9781593931421
ASIN: 1593931425
Publication Date: April 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
My Father Was Carmen Miranda is the story of music hall showgirl Nena Jover Kelty--part of the renowned Jover family who entertained in circuses, theaters and music halls throughout the world for three generations. When her father's act, "The Two Jovers," broke up in 1939--Tommy Jover drafted his children to form a new act, "Tommy Jover with Nena and Raf," and they played all over Britain through the dark years of World War II, from 1939 to 1946. Although buzz bombs were falling, food was scarce, and travel often dangerous, nothing would frighten the Brits into giving up their evenings at the Music Hall. In the best tradition of British variety, Tommy Jover did a raucous turn as a female impersonator--and Music Hall patrons screamed with delight when he topped his head with a fruit basket and made like Carmen Miranda--much to the embarrassment of young Nena, who played straight to her father's comic antics. "My Father was Carmen Miranda" offers glimpses of well known British headliners like Max Miller ("Mary From the Dairy"), George Formby ("With Me Little Ukelele in Me Hand"), Tommy Trinder (Champaigne Charlie), Vera Lynn ("We'll Meet Again"), Flanagan and Allen ("Underneath the Arches), Dick Henderson (Tiptoe Through the Tulips), and Tessie O'Shea ("No One Loves a Fairy When She's Forty"), and is a vivid backstage look at the vanished world of the English Music Hall.
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| Customer Reviews:
A fun and interesting read July 14, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I picked up this little gem in a bookstore in Glendale, the title and cover photo having caught my eye. The author recounts her days as a young woman performing (mostly in England) just before, during, and shortly after WWII. It's an easy read and quite entertaining. She really gives you a feel for English life during an incredible time in history. She obviously wasn't living the life of a typical English girl by any means, traveling extensively and entertaining civilians, troops, and officers, but she puts you right in there among the bombs dropping, the ration cards, the blackouts, and people carrying on living in houses which are missing an entire outside wall.
There are lots of stories about the different acts that shared the stage with her and her family and tidbits about what goes on backstage. Her style is breezy and she moves her story along quickly. I'm sure she cut out a lot. The book is short enough that she probably could've put in another 4 or 5 chapters and not bored the reader.
I'd recommend this book. At the very end, you find out that not only did she live a pretty interesting life in England, but then after she came to the U.S. as a newlywed, she and her husband went on to found Kelty Pack. That was intriguing enough for me to look up that information and find out that there's another book she wrote: Backpacking the Kelty Way. I intend to read that one next.
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