HIRSCH, Foster (Lance) 1943-

PERSONAL: Born December 20, 1943, in New York, NY; son of Harry (a real estate investor) and Etta (Goldberg) Hirsch. Education: Stanford University, B.A., 1965; Columbia University, M.F.A., 1966, M.A., 1967, Ph.D., 1971. Religion: Jewish.

ADDRESSES: Home—49 West Twelfth St., New York, NY 10011. Office—Department of Film, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, Brooklyn, NY 11210. Agent—Ruth Nathan, 80 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10011.

CAREER: Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, instructor, 1967-73, assistant professor, 1974-77, associate professor of English, 1978-85, professor of film, 1985—. New School for Social Research (now New School University), lecturer, 1970-72.

MEMBER: Authors Guild, Authors League of America, National Book Critics Circle, Phi Beta Kappa.

AWARDS, HONORS: Stanford Journalism Award, 1965.

WRITINGS:

Elizabeth Taylor, Pyramid Publications, 1973.

Edward G. Robinson, Pyramid Publications, 1975.

George Kelly, Twayne (New York, NY), 1975.

The Hollywood Epic, A. S. Barnes (San Diego, CA), 1978.

Who's Afraid of Edward Albee?, Creative Arts, 1978.

Laurence Olivier, G. K. Hall (New York, NY), 1979.

A Portrait of the Artist: The Plays of Tennessee Williams, Kennikat Press (Port Washington, NY), 1979.

Joseph Losey, Twayne (New York, NY), 1980.

Film Noir: The Dark Side of the Screen, A. S. Barnes (San Diego, CA), 1981.

Love, Sex, Death, and the Meaning of Life: WoodyAllen's Comedy, McGraw (New York, NY), 1981, revised edition, 1990.

Laurence Olivier on Screen, Da Capo Press (New York, NY), 1984.

A Method to Their Madness: The History of the ActorsStudio, Norton (New York, NY), 1984.

Eugene O'Neill, York Press, 1986.

Harold Prince and the American Musical Theatre, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1989.

Acting Hollywood Style, Harry Abrams (New York, >NY), 1991.

The Boys from Syracuse: The Shuberts' TheatricalEmpire, Southern Illinois University Press (Carbondale, IL), 1998.

Detours and Lost Highways: A Map of Neo-Noir, Limelight Editions (New York, NY), 1999.

Kurt Weill on Stage: From Berlin to Broadway, Alfred A. Knopf (New York, NY), 2002.

Contributor to books, including Contemporary Dramatists, St. Martin's Press, 1973, and Sexuality in Film, edited by Thomas Atkins, Indiana University Press, 1975. Author of afterword, Crime Movies, Da Capo Press, 1997. Contributor of reviews to periodicals, including Nation, America, New York Times, Commonweal, and Village Voice.

SIDELIGHTS: Foster Hirsch's A Method to Their Madness: The History of the Actors Studio describes the evolution of Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio, which trained such notables as Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, Shelley Winters, and Marilyn Monroe. Strasberg's method-acting techniques were derived from a system formulated by Konstantin Stanislavsky in Europe but differed in significant ways, eventually causing a great rift in the American theater between those who favored Stanislavsky's original theories and those who followed Strasberg's more dogmatic beliefs. Hirsch's study not only examines Strasberg's professional influence but explores his controversial personality as well.

The first half of A Method to Their Madness gives a thorough analysis of the development of Stanislavsky's system. "Hirsch's imagination endows this history with new life, enriched with interviews of people who participated in the events," noted New York Times Book Review contributor Marshal W. Mason. The second part of Hirsch's book follows Strasberg's development of Stanislavsky's philosophies and the problems encountered therein. "His history of [the Studio] . . . is far from conventionally deferential, and his assessment of its accomplishments is properly sceptical," noted Times Literary Supplement critic Benedict Nightingale in appraising Hirsch's analysis.

Much of Hirsch's scepticism regarding Strasberg and his techniques arises from his concern that method acting produces actors able to portray only those aspects of a character with which they can literally identify. Hirsch's first-hand accounts of Strasberg's unusual training methods are included in his book. "The tone degenerates from historical to anecdotal as he switches from researched opinion to on-site observation," wrote Mason, who noted that Hirsch's highly critical view of Strasberg colors his subject as "a man with a monstrous ego and destructive eccentricities." Hirsch's negative assessment of Strasberg's personality is based on numerous interviews where the biographer alternately heard the famed acting teacher compared to figures as disparate as Jesus and German Chancellor Adolph Hitler. In any case, Nightingale noted, "Strasberg was rude, cowardly in a crisis, and abjectly impressed by the stars and celebrities whose glitter the Studio was in the business to resist." Nightingale maintained that Hirsch's conclusions regarding Strasberg and the Actor's Studio are more moderate and "more just" than other studies of Strasberg have been.

In The Boys from Syracuse: The Shuberts' Theatrical Empire, Hirsch writes about the Shubert brothers who moved south from Syracuse, New York, early in the twentieth century to find success in the theater in New York City. Although brothers Sam, Lee, and J. J. earned their share of enemies for what were perceived as tough and ruthless business tactics, they dominated New York theater in the early part of the century. The list of stars the brothers worked with includes the biggest names in the theater of their time: Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor, Fanny Brice, and Fred Astaire are but a few notables. Rachel Shteir, reviewing The Boys from Syracuse in Nation, called Hirsch's book "elegantly written."

With the publication of Detours and Lost Highways: A Map of Neo-Noir, Hirsch builds on the success of his earlier study of film noir by refuting the belief that the genre died with Orson Welles's classic film Touch of Evil. In his study of noir theory, Hirsch writes that many connections can be made linking classic noir to many modern films, including those in the horror and blaxploitation genres. Film Criticism reviewer William B. Covey acknowledged that "Hirsch is to be congratulated for being the first film critic to publish a book-length examination of neo-noir." Detours and Lost Highways includes a filmography, bibliography, and index.

The history of the Broadway musical stage is studded with giant names like Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers, and Cole Porter, yet many have forgotten the name of another great, Kurt Weill. Hirsch hoped to renew interest in the composer with the publication of his Kurt Weill on Stage: From Berlin to Broadway. In his biography Hirsch incorporates an impressive amount of interviews and letters with Weill and others. He also includes a thorough list of Weill's productions, including his collaborators and the conditions he worked under to create his music. Although the musician died young at the age of fifty he left behind a catalogue of exceptional work, most notably the score to The Threepenny Opera. "This absorbing and well-researched work should be especially appealing to those interested in the history and evolution of musical theater," pointed out Carol J Binkowski in her review for Library Journal.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Theatre, May, 2002, Benjamin Ivry, review of Kurt Weill on Stage: From Berlin to Broadway, p. 66.

Choice, March 1, 1999, Rachel Shteir, review of Boys from Syracuse: The Shuberts' Theatrical Empire, p. 31; April, 2000, W. P. Hogan, review of Detours and Lost Highways: A Map of Neo-Noir, p. 1476.

Film Comment, January-February, J. Hoberman, review of Film Noir: The Dark Side of the Screen, p. 69; fall, 2000, William B. Covey, review of Detours and Lost Highways, p. 83.

Film Quarterly, summer, 1983, Peter Hogue, review of Film Noir, p. 55; summer, 1985, James Nare-more, review of A Method to Their Madness: The History of the Actors Studio, p. 43.

Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 2002, review of KurtWeill on Stage, p. 159.

Library Journal, April 1, 1981, review of Film Noir, p. 811; September 1, 1984, Marshall W. Mason, review of A Method to Their Madness, p. 1683; March 15, 2002, Carol J. Binkowski, review of Kurt Weill on Stage, p. 83.

Los Angeles Magazine, December, 1991, Steve Root, review of Acting Hollywood Style, p. 93.

Nation, March 1, 1999, Ralph Shteir, review of Boys from Syracuse, p. 31.

New Republic, October 22, 1984, Robert Brustein, review of A Method to Their Madness, p. 39.

New York Times Book Review, November 4, 1984, Marshall W. Mason, review of A Method to Their Madness, p. 31; February 18, 1990, Andrew Harris, review of Harold Prince and the American Musical Theatre, p. 21.

Notes, March, 1991, David M. Kilroy, review of Harold Prince and the American Musical Theatre, p. 788.

Opera News, July, 2002, William V. Madison, review of Kurt Weill on Stage, p. 72.

Publishers Weekly, January 16, 1981, Sally A. Lodge, review of Love, Sex, Death, and the Meaning of Life: Woody Allen's Comedy, p. 76; July 8, 1983, Marshall W. Mason, review of Film Noir, p. 64; August 3, 1984, Marshall W. Mason, review of A Method to Their Madness, p. 57; February 11, 2002, review of Kurt Weill on Stage, p. 175.

San Francisco Chronicle, March 17, 2002, Steven Winn, review of Kurt Weill on Stage, p. 3.

Theatre History Studies, June, 1999, Joseph Kissane, review of Boys from Syracuse, p. 195.

Times Literary Supplement, June 27, 1986, p. 717.

Variety, June 7, 1989, review of Harold Prince and the American Musical Theatre, p. 81; March 2, 1992, Fred Lombardi, review of Acting Hollywood Style, p. 77; April 22, 2002, Joel Hirschhorn, review of Kurt Weill on Stage: From Berlin to Broadway, p. 32.

Washington Post Book World, December 5, 1999, review of Detours and Lost Highways: A Map of Neo-Noir, p. 8.*