Underfoot in Show Business

As a young adult, Helene Hanff won a contest and a $1,500 prize from the Theatre Guild that sent her to New York and an attempt to make it as a playwright in the 1940s. But as she tells you at the beginning, she completely failed at this and learned the "immutable truth" of Flanagan's Law: "whatever happens to you, it's unexpected."

Hanff's memoir is an absolute delight. She may not have made it as a playwright, but her stories of dealing with agents and producers, becoming friends with a usually-out-of-work actor named Maxine, or the shenanigans an aspiring playwright goes through to have a roof over her head and still watch as many shows as possible, are unfailingly entertaining and frequently hilarious.

Like any reasonable person who has encountered the fabulous Helene Hanff in 84 Charing Cross Road, I became instantly obsessed and knew I had to read everything else she had written. Underfoot in Show Business was published in 1962 and is about Hanff’s time as a young, determined playwright and television writer in the 1940s and 50s.

Reading this felt like listening to the coolest, wackiest older person you know tell stories about when they were younger, with all sorts of twists and turns you don’t expect. It started off a bit slow, but became more and more delightful to read as I went, culminating in 5 star favorite status. So hang in there, it’s worth it! The characters and their descriptions are so fun. Hanff encountered so show more many eccentric, interesting people throughout her career, and she captures them with insightful precision.

If you liked 84 Charing Cross Road, this will be right up your alley! I feel like this would be a fun read even without knowing much about the 1940s and 50s, but if you have some general knowledge of that era, it’s even more of a blast because you feel the full significance of the names she drops. show less

This was a delight. Hanff really brought to life what being an out-of-worked, unknown, starving playwright in the 40s and 50s was like. I know that I wouldn't have lasted a month in that life, but she made it sound so fun that I was half tempted to give it a try myself.

UPDATE 27.12.15: While staying with my parents for Christmas, I rediscovered this book on their shelves and felt compelled to re-read it. It is just as much of a charming delight the second time around, as well as wonderfully easy to relate to some eighty odd years after events begin. I firmly believe that Flanagan's Law applies outside the theatre.
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This book is an absolute delight and several times caused me to commit the social faux pas of laughing to myself on public transport. I think I unsettled my train seat neighbour, who was reading Les Mis on a kindle. In any event, this autobiographical romp recounts Helene's adventures with her friend Maxine, attempting to show more get into show business and mostly doing terrible jobs for low pay. The sense of friendship, joy, and ingenious attempts to get things for free greatly appealed to me and reminded me of happy times as an undergraduate. Hanff is an extremely engaging writer, always witty and self-deprecating. I can hardly fault a book that fully distracted me from the annoyance of a cancelled train and one hour delay. Highly recommended. show less

This is my original review posted to my blog in 2008 It stills matches my thoughts even after reading this book for the 2nd time - some 12 years later!!

**** SPOIILERS****

This is the story of Helene's life in New York trying to break into show business as a playwright. She was never successful. But she did write a funny book about her life in show business. This book was originally published in 1961. Her second book was published in 1971. That second book, was the one that made her famous.

Helene was born and raised in Philadelphia by parents who loved the theatre. The family went to see theatre plays on a regular basis. Helene was inspired to write plays herself. After the end of the depression (I'm thinking around 1936 when she was show more 20), Helene submitted several plays to a playwriting competition run by the Theatre Guild in New York City. Then she received a letter from Theresa Helburn, the renowned Director of the Theatre Guild. Helene rushed up to NYC and was interviewed by Theresa Helburn. Helene underwent 4 days of playwriting tutoring. She travelled to NYC every Tuesday to be tutored by Theresa Helburn.

When the three winners of the scholarships were announced, Helene was one of the winners. By this time Helene had done one year of college and another year of working in various jobs as a secretary. So Helene packed up and moved to NYC permanently.

Helene writes about being involved with the Theatre Guild. Many of the Theatre Guild plays were flops but there was one musical that became a huge success. It was called Oklahoma, but that's not the name it started out with. It had another name, and Helene writes about what the PR team had to go through to change thousands of media releases, posters, programs etc.

As a theatre guild scholarship winner, Helen was required to attend a play during the entire scholastic process, from rehearsals to performance to reviews. In one of these plays, Helene met a young actress Maxine who was about the same age. They became fast friends and Maxine shows up a lot in this book. Because Helene was a poor writer, she would frequently have meals and sleep at Maxine's parents house.

Helene also writes about her roommates - or rather the others who lived in her floor. She writes about having to move from one building to a second to a third. She even mentions the orange crate book shelves. But not once does she mention writing letters to London, England. We know she was writing the letters during this time, because of her address changes. If you remember in 84 Charing Cross Road, she had her address at the top of all the letters. The two addresses in that book are the second and third apartment buildings she lived in. I believed she lived at the third apartment address until the year she died. (Helene died in 1997)

This is written in exactly the same humorous style as all the others. There is no change. No matter if you read this book first or last of all the 6 books that Helene wrote, the style is exactly the same. There are two reasons why I like Helene so much. One reason is because of her humour. And the second reason is because just like me, she loved history and was not keen on fiction. show less

Helene Hanff is best known for her much loved memoir [84 Charing Cross Road]. This book, also a memoir, was published almost a decade previously. This is about Hanff's life in the forties and early fifties when she is trying to become a playwright and writer in New York City.

The first half of the book is about the early years when just surviving is being successful. The last half of the book is about the period when she has begun to become established and I found it the most interesting. I particularly enjoyed reading about her experience as an outside writer, a person who is the first reader of a manuscript for a publisher. One of those she read was [The Lord of the Rings]!

Underfoot in show business is Hanff's account of her failed start as a play writer who moonlights as a script reader for movie studios and then discovers her talent as a TV writer. Unfortunately, the industry moves from NY to LA which robs Hanff of her success (as she is unwilling to leave New York).

As always, following her ups and downs is hilarious and bittersweet. In no way is reading her "mental torture", which she claims to have experienced in speed-reading and summarizing Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, charging 40 dollars extra to the studio (duly paid). Still her later works are a bit better,